Chapter 26
SCARLETT
The kiss lasts longer than either of us expects, and I don’t mind. I open up to him, and he grabs my waist, pulling me closer until my chest is pressed hard against his.
A moan slips out of my mouth at the force, but I don’t pull away. Instead, I grind hard against him, pleasure coiling tighter inside me.
He groans and tugs at my hair, and a sharp wince escapes from my mouth. That seems to snap him back to reality. He stiffens and pulls away.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” he mutters, stepping back and rubbing his face. “I shouldn’t have.”
“Hey,” I call softly.
He turns to face me and what I see in his eyes makes my stomach flip. He looks tired. Not just physically, but emotionally. He looks like a man who’s carrying the weight of the whole world on his shoulders.
“You should sleep,” he says. “Tomorrow’s going to be—”
“I don’t want to sleep.”
He raises an eyebrow.
“I want you,” I blurt, and for a while neither of us utters a word.
Then his hand comes up to cup my face, his right thumb tracing along my cheekbone, and I lean into his palm.
“Scarlett,” he calls roughly, it almost sounds like a growl.
“Don’t think about the rescue,” I tell him. “Don’t think about Viktor or the cathedral or any of it. Just be here with me now, that’s all I’m asking.”
He stares at me silently and I meet his eyes, then his mouth comes down on mine.
The kiss is softer and slower now, his lips barely brushing mine like he’s asking for admission. I grab the front of his shirt and pull him closer, and that was it.
The kiss deepens and I taste whiskey and huskiness, and I want more.
His hands slide down my sides to my hips and he lifts me. My legs latch around his waist and he carries me toward the bed, his mouth never leaving mine. He lays me down on the mattress gently and pulls away to look at me.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Dante, if you ask me that one more time, I swear to god—”
I barely finish before he shuts me up with another kiss, harder this time, and a different level of pleasure awakens in me.
His fingers find the hem of my shirt and pull it up over my head.
The cool air in the room hits my skin, making my nipples taut, but his hands against my skin are warm, running up my stomach, over my ribs, and finally cupping my breasts through my bra.
I lean into his touch and he makes a low masculine sound in his throat that sends heat pooling between my legs.
“Off,” I demand, pulling at his shirt. “Take it off.”
He obeys and sits back, pulling it over his head. I’ve seen his chest numerous times, but it still leaves my mouth watering each time. The scars in a crisscross pattern on his skin are so beautifully rough. I’ve never seen a sight so rough yet appealing.
I reach up and trace the longest one, a jagged line that runs from his collarbone down toward his heart.
“This one almost killed you.”
“How do you know?”
“Because it’s right over your heart. Wounds close to the heart are always fatal.”
He catches my hand and brings it to his lips, pressing a kiss to my palm. “But I am here.”
“Yeah,” I agree. You are.”
He lowers himself over me, and his mouth finds my neck, and he kisses a trail down to my collarbone, then lower, his breath hot against my skin as he works his way down my body.
My bra is suddenly nowhere to be found. I don’t even recall him unhooking it, just suddenly his mouth is on my breast and I’m gasping, my fingers digging into his shoulders.
He takes his precious time there, his tongue swirling, teeth grazing, until I’m squirming underneath him and making sounds I’d be embarrassed about if I could think clearly.
“Dante, please.”
“Please what?”
“Stop teasing me.”
He laughs against my skin and the vibration makes me shiver more. “I’m not teasing, mi obsesión. I’m savoring.”
“Savor faster.”
His hand slides down my stomach and under the waistband of my pants. When his fingers find my core, I’m already dripping wet and aching for him. He groans in satisfaction, his eyes going dark.
“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.”
“I’m not. I’m just saying that if—”
“Stop, still.”
He stops.
I take his face in my hands, making him look at me. His eyes are red and if I didn’t know better I’d have concluded he was crying.
“I love you.”
The words fall out of my mouth before I can overthink them. They’ve been sitting in my chest for weeks now, getting heavier every day, and suddenly I can’t hold them anymore.
“I love you, Dante. I didn’t want to. I tried really hard not to.
You’re dangerous, and like you said you’ve done terrible things and being with you scares the hell out of me.
But I love you anyway. I love you because of who you are with Luca.
I love you because of who you are with me.
I love you because when I’m with you I feel safer than I’ve ever felt anywhere, which is insane considering what your life is like. ”
The tears fall freely now, down my cheeks and dripping onto his chest. I don’t bother wiping them away.
“So don’t you dare die. Don’t you dare leave me and Luca alone. You will fight and survive and you will come back to us. Do you understand me?”
He doesn’t answer immediately, just stares at me the way he pulls me down and kisses me like I’m oxygen and he’s been drowning.
“I love you,” he whispers against my lips. “I’ always have. I just didn’t know what to call it.”
“Took you long enough to figure it out.”
He chuckles, and it’s rare and beautiful to see.
“Yeah, well. I’m slow.”
I kiss him again and settle back against his chest. His arms wrap around me, holding me close, and I let myself sink into the feeling of being held by someone who loves me.
“We’re getting him back,” Dante growls. I’m not even surprised because I know lying beside me is a man who’s trying to act strong for me despite all that’s happening. “We’re getting Luca back and then we’re building a life together. A real one.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
I close my eyes and listen to his heartbeat and let myself believe him.