Page 149 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 5-8

He moved away from her.

‘Dante—’ She reached for him.

He shook his head. Kept moving until the distance between them felt endless.

For months, he’d thought of nothing buther. The feel of her against him. Her skin. Her taste. She’d haunted his every living moment. In his waking hours and his sleep.

He shut his eyes against it. The something in his chest he didn’t recognise. A pain. A tug.

He didn’t want it. Whatever it was. Whatever she was bringing to the surface.

‘It’s late,’ he said.

He wanted her. But he didn’t want this. This new Emma who spoke of her feelings. Her pain. This Emma who wanted to know his pain.

He wanted none of it.

So tonight he would walk away.

He’d reset. He’d find another way to show her how they maintained the balance in their marriage.

No emotions. No discussions of childhood trauma. Only them. Only sex.

‘Good night, Emma.’

CHAPTER SIX

DANTE’SPLANHADalways been flawed. He could see that now.

He’d brought Emma to Japan to thrill her. But Emma had never cared to chase the thrill of worldly adventures. She’d wanted the extravagance ofnormalmany took for granted. She longed for security in the safety of his arms. A passionate marriage in the confines of a contract. But a loveless marriage.

He’d dismissed key information that he already knew about her. He understood she longed for financial security and passion without emotional attachment.

Now he understoodwhy...

Emma didn’t want to explore the heat between them, because she didn’t trust it.

Didn’t trusthim.

But tonight, he’d prove that she could.

For three days, he’d planned, and curated a campaign of seduction that had nothing to do with shared trauma. Nothing to do with emotions or feelings. Only what would excite and delighthersenses.

Tonight, he’d delight her. Win her trust. And then they would get this marriage back on track.

His body tightened in anticipation. He’d blocked out the intensity of his longing, his conviction to allow Emma the space she demanded. Tonight she needed to see it.

He opened his eyes and scanned his scene of seduction.

Fires burned in small ceramic pots, positioned at every corner of the square, white-clothed table set for two. A black gold-embossed menu sat prepared to be opened by her fingers and devoured by her senses as she read beneath long-stemmed candles. The menu was curated to tantalise her taste buds, to show her the man who’d written it, knew her. Her likes—dislikes.

He’d cater to her every worldly desire, while she dined with him in this man-made cherry blossom grove, under a night’s sky.

Then he’d meet her every physical desire too.

The black double doors opened. The two doormen held them open with white-gloved hands and dipped heads.

And she stole the breath in his lungs.

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