Page 49 of Black Widow's Kiss

“Hey,” Dante said, waking up finding me staring into his eyes from inches away.

“Hey,” I crooned feeling more rested than I had in my adult life.

After staring at me for a second, he looked down and lifted my arm. I think he was just trying to lift his own arm, but considering I had handcuffed his wrist to mine, it was a package deal.

“What’s up with this?” he asked still trying to wake up.

“What do you mean?” I replied knowing he could have been asking about a number of things.

“The handcuffs. Did you handcuff us together?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because we’re handcuffed together,” he explained.

“Oh!”

He looked at me strangely. “So, did you?”

“I’ve done so many things. You can’t expect me to remember all of them,” I replied doing my best not to express how silly his question was.

Looking confused for only a moment more, he quickly relaxed and returned to my eyes.

“You know I’m going to have to leave eventually, right.”

“Of course I know you’re going to leave. And you’ll be taking me with you.”

“Oh is that what this is about. What? You think because you’re married to me, you’re entitled to help run my family’s business?” he asked amused.

I laughed. “I am not a working girl.”

“So, what? You’ll just be cuffed to me for the rest of our lives like some sort of ball and…”

“If you call me your ball and chain, I will have to murder you. Which would be a shame considering what we did last night.”

Dante smiled and twisted my cuffed arm to wrap his arm around me.

“What we did last night, huh?”

“You do remember, don’t you? You made me choose a flog and then you whipped me on the balcony with people watching.”

“There were people watching?” Dante asked surprised.

I looked at him like he was an idiot.

“You were whipping a naked man on the balcony of your high rise in the middle of New York City. There was practically a crowd. The only reason a cop didn’t show up was because they probably thought you caught me trying to escape.”

Dante’s head snapped back. “That’s not funny.”

“We’re in America. Trust me, it’s a little funny,” I reassured him.

For whatever reason, that was what triggered him to try to get up.

“Uncuff me. I need to get ready for work.”

“No!” I refused surprised he would ask.

“I’m serious, uncuff me.”

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