“Fuck, Scarlett.”
I lift my hips so he can pull my pants off, then I’m completely naked underneath him while he’s still wearing his. The unfairness of it strikes me and I reach for his belt, fumbling with the buckle until he takes pity on me and does it himself.
Then we’re both naked. Skin on skin, heat on heat, his body pressed against mine.
He doesn’t rush, and I take notice. Any other time, there’s usually an urgency to the way we fuck. Hungry, fast, and desperate to be together. But this time he’s slow.
His hands travel down paths over my body then his mouth follows. Down my arms, across my stomach. Leaving light touches and need across my body.
When he finally settles between my thighs, I’m shaking feverishly from want.
“Look at me,” he commands.
I meet his eyes, and they’re gentle despite being clouded with pleasure. Then he pushes into me slowly. I feel every inch, the stretch, and the warm feeling of him inside me. I gasp at the overwhelming feeling, and he stops, jaw clenching. None of us moves for a moment, as we just savor the feeling of being inside each other. Then he starts to move.
This is not fucking. I’ve fucked Dante before and I know what that feels like. This is making love, even though it sounds weird in my head. But that’s what it is.
I wrap my legs around his waist, pulling him deeper. He groans my name and drops his forehead to mine, our breath mingling.
“I can’t,” I gasp. “Dante, I’m?—”
“I know. Me too.”
His hand slides between us, his thumb finding the most sensitive spot. He starts circling and rubbing, and I can’t hold it anymore. I let myself go. It’s nothing like anything I have before, dragging and pulling at every nerve in my body, until I’m trembling and boneless beneath him.
He follows a moment later, burying his face in my neck, his whole body going rigid and then collapsing on top of me. We lie there panting, tangled together, hearts pounding against each other through our chests.
I don’t know how long we stay like that, but it takes a while. Our breathing eventually steadied and reality returns.
He rolls off me, pulling me against his side so my head rests on his chest. I can hear his heartbeat under my ear, and I close my eyes and let myself pretend that nothing else exists.
“Scarlett.”
“Mm?”
“I need to tell you something.”
I tilt my head up to look at him. His expression is serious, and a bit nervous. I pause. Dante doesn’t know what nervous is. Whatever he had to say must be really serious.
“Okay.”
He takes a breath. :Before you came back, I was barely a human anymore. I’d been running on autopilot for so long I forgot what it felt like to actually feel and want something. To care about something beyond just surviving and winning.”
I stay quiet, letting him go on.
“And then you showed up at my door with Luca and everything just…” He shakes his head. “I don’t even know how to explain it. Everything changed. Suddenly I gave a shit about something besides power. Suddenly I had a son. I had you.”
His hand comes up to stroke my hair, gentle and absent-minded, like he’s not aware he’s doing it.
“I’ve done terrible things, Scarlett. Things I can’t take back. Things I don’t deserve forgiveness for. But loving you and Luca has made me feel like a real person again. Like maybe there’s still something human left inside all this.” He gestures vaguely at himself and his scars.
My throat goes tight and I swallow hard. Of all the things I expected to hear from him, this was the least. It is so unexpected I feel my eyes burning.
“Dante—”
“No matter what happens,” he continues. “I need you to know that. Even if the worst happens. Even if I don’t?—”
“Don’t,” I interrupt for the first time, pushing myself up on my elbow so I can look at him properly. “Don’t say it like that. Like you’re already saying goodbye.”
