Page 141 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 5-8

This Emma and her questions, she made him question everything, including the way they had existed before.

Did he treat her like a pawn? Did he move her into position to welcome him back? Did he leave her behind?

Yes. But healwayscame back. Such were the rules. Such was their marriage.

These questions made his skin itch.

The plan he’d made had been simple. And it remained unchanged. There was no need to change it. Even with all the questions.

He’d seduce her with all the things he hadn’t needed the first time. He’d treat her like a client. Cater this work trip around her. Show her a side she’d never seen of him. A side she’d never needed to see before because they’d been playing by a different set of rules.

But now, the rules had changed. And he’d use all the tools in his arsenal to bring back the status quo. He’d dazzle her with his lifestyle. With this jet. With Japan. The opulent life only he could give her. A life where the thrill came first. A life she could only live with him.

Emma might not remember, but he knew what she wanted.Him.

And he could see his plan was beginning to work already. She was returning to him, remembering their connection... She’d be in his bed by nightfall.

Triumph roared through him.

He sat very still.

He wouldn’t coax.

He wouldn’t push.

He didn’t need to.

She was in charge.

And he knew that when once she felt his mouth on her there would be no going back for her. No escape. Because there hadn’t been for him.

He waited, holding his breath, waited for Emma to deliver herself to him.

Her blond hair sat on her shoulder in a low-slung ponytail. Her burned orange shirt and ankle-length olive-green skirt sat against her pale skin with the vibrancy of autumn.

Her mouth was a hair’s breadth away from his now. And Dante couldn’t help it. He leaned in. Not all the way. But enough to push past any defence she had left against the current coursing between them.

Her lashes fell over her eyes. And then there was no space. No distance between them.

It was only the lightest touch of her lips against his, but need ripped through him. Dominating him.

Dante thrust his tongue in her mouth, meeting her need with his own.

All the blood in his body flowed to his groin in a tidal wave of heat.

It overwhelmed him now. Not only the need to taste her, but the warmth spreading over him as her hands held his face, pulled him closer. Invited his tongue to thrust deeper.

The feeling was familiar.

He’d felt it when the snow and the winds had pummelled his body as he climbed the highest peak in the Himalayas. When he’d been stuck between the summit of Everest and the base below.

Exhausted, but exhilarated.

Nature had tested his limits. His resolve.

The freak storm had hit, and no one had seen it coming. Without visibility, there had been no way of following the rope back to camp. His oxygen tank depleting, he’d sheltered as best he could. He’d found a ledge and stayed there. Waited it out.

It was the closest he’d come to death. And afterwards, after the storm had passed and the adrenaline had subsided, he’d craved warmth. Human connection, the need to know he wasn’t alone. It was a feeling that he’d found unwelcome. He didn’t need anyone.

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