Page 39 of Forbidden Until Midnight

‘Anywhere,’ she replied, and for the first time ever in one of these horrible New Year’s Eve events, Santo Sabatini felt joy.

Eleanor let him lead her away from the ballroom, down the stairs and out through doors, and she didn’t care who saw them. As he led her out into the frigid winter’s night air, she didn’t feel the sudden sharp icy sting, she felt alive, her blood burning through her body, a heat that had nothing to do with temperature and everything to do with the slow burn that had taken her over the moment he’d whispered into her ear that night.

They slipped through the throng of tourists hoping to celebrate the New Year; blurred faces stared after the two beautifully dressed people in masks racing across the cobbled square. He drew her into the entrance of his hotel, his hand in hers all but dragging her over the threshold and up an exquisite wooden curved staircase, towards a door on the uppermost floor, only four storeys above the street level.

And all she could think was,Now. Please, God, now.

After all the times that things had got in their way, after mistakes and wrong choices, she suddenly feared so much that this too would slip through her fingers, so much so that she thought she felt tears press against the backs of her eyes.

His pace slowed as he drew her towards the door at the far end of the corridor. And this was it, she thought, panicked. He was going to change his mind, and her heart wrenched as if she had already lost him.

With his key card pressed against the scanner for the room, the door partially pressed open, Santo looked down at her, something like alarm passing across his features.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, searching her eyes.

‘I...’ She bit her lip, worried about what she would say. ‘I...’ She shook her head and looked down.

He lifted her chin with his forefinger, forcing her eyes back to his.

‘Please don’t change your mind,’ she whispered. She couldn’t bear it if he turned her away now.

‘Why would...’ He trailed off, as if unable to finish the sentence, let alone the thought.

‘Because you see me,’ she whispered again. ‘All of me, from the very beginning. You have seenme. Not Edward, not money, not access, not a prize. And now I want you toknowme and...if you stop then I don’t think that I could bear it.’

‘Why would I stop?’ he asked, confusion clouding his gaze.

‘What if you don’t like what you find? What if I’m not good enough for you?’

‘Cristo, amore mio,that would never happen.’

‘Even if I’m...’ She could hardly bring herself to say it.

‘Innocent?’ he finished for her.

She clenched her teeth together and nodded, not ashamed but embarrassed. Because she wanted him to see her as a woman, not some silly naïve girl asking for more than she could handle.

‘Does that change things for you?’ she dared to ask.

‘Not at all, Eleanor. The only thing that will stop me tonight is a word from you,prometto cara.’

His promise skated over her skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake. But all thought stopped the moment that his lips met hers to seal the vow.

He kicked the door open with the back of his heel and enticed her across the threshold with a kiss promising so much that it filled her heart and soul. And she knew in that moment that wherever he went, she would follow.

Her fingers reached up to wrap around his neck as, at the same time, his hands reached for her, lifting her from the floor effortlessly and into his hands. With one hand supporting beneath her, the other cradled her head, fisted in her hair, pulling just tightly enough to angle her head where he wanted her, where he could plunge his tongue into her mouth, where he could possess her wholly, fully,completely.

In the second it took her to process the power of his kiss she realised just how much he’d been holding back before. Whether it had been decorum or the risk of discovery, it didn’t matter because, released from his restraint, he was so far beyond her wildest imaginings.

Overwhelmed by all the sensations flooding her system, her breath caught in her lungs and she forgot to breathe. Her pulse leapt and dipped when he plunged his tongue into her mouth, when he pulled her closer into his body, when his hands swept around her dress, as if trying to find a way beneath it to her skin, and she wanted that more than anything.

Holding her up above him, he walked further into the suite, not breaking the kiss until he put Eleanor down on the breakfast bar, where she was momentarily distracted by the most magnificent view. Not the nightscape across the Venice canals, but him. Staring at her as if he would never be able to tear himself away from her ever again.

He pushed at the thick skirts of her dress, closing his eyes as if in bliss when he finally found the sleek curve of her calf. Fascinated, she watched how young he suddenly appeared as he gently took her shoe in his hands, bending her leg a little between them so that he could dip his lips to the space just above, where her high heel was buckled.

It was perhaps the most erotic thing that had ever happened to her, her cheeks instantly flushing from the proximity of him, of hismouth, making her damp with want.

He looked up at her without bringing the kisses he pressed against her leg to an end, heat in his gaze, knowing...promise. He knew exactly what he was doing to her and he was watching her as intently as she was watching him, documenting each response, each reaction, the way that each touch thrilled, each kiss sent needles of sharp need into her lungs.

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