Page 153 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 5-8

She’d exposed herself, spoken freely about her past, taken some of her power back by exposing the truth. And for what? Their marriage had only ever been surface deep. It was a connection of bodies, not minds. Not hearts.

They had a contract. No emotional attachment, no love. Only them and a shared desire.A marriage strictly for passion with an inbuilt safety net and financial security guaranteed.

And...sex.

Lots of sex.

Questions, so many questions, caught in her throat.

Emma’s throat tightened.

But it was also beginning to make sense too. How they had found one another, why they both would have chosen to enter into a loveless marriage. They were the same, him and her. Their childhoods had both been unstable.And somehow, they’d found each other.

Each other’s constant in a world that had given them both nothing but inconsistency. That was why they’d governed their relationship with rules. Put precautions in place.

‘That’s how you did it, isn’t it?’

‘Did what?’

‘Convinced me to marry you.’

‘Yes.’

If he’d told her about the contract the night she’d fallen, would she have stayed?

No.

The woman she’d grown into was the one who had made this possible. A woman who would have been swayed by a secure future, who wanted to be reliant on nothing and no one. One who had seen what life had to offer and what it didn’t.

The younger Emma would never have risked that the intensity between them could have burned her alive. Wouldn’t have risked that she might not be able to walk away. Left it behind. Lefthimbehind. Because that would surely have been the easier choice.

And there was nothing wrong with choosing easy. All her life it had been hard.

Until him.

Dante had made things easier for her.

Never had she been treated softly. Never had anyone shielded her from the harshness of life. Allowed her to more than survive the endless cycle of days.

He’d come for her when she needed it the most. Taken care of her when she’d abandoned him.

Why had he done that? Was it really just about sating their desire for one another? Or had things changed over the course of their year together? Had this marriage been everything Emma had hoped for? Had she been sated? Had she had her fill of his competent mouth? His lips? His body on hers? Inside her?

She thought of the intricate lace of her underwear hidden beneath her dress. A bra. Suspenders. Stockings.

Never to her knowledge had she worn anything like it before, but she had instinctually worn them tonight. And that made her feel brave. Sensual. In a way that Emma at only twenty-two would never have been.

Ever since Dante had come to her aid in the hospital, she had felt a void in her open up. Was this the way to satisfy that void? To indulge in the very desire that she had denied herself?

The need was so desperate she could taste it.

And why should she deny herself now? She had found the source of that hunger.

In this moment, why should she worry about why she had walked away from Dante, from their marriage? About why she had returned to Birmingham? About why she hadn’t demanded a divorce and cashed in on the settlement she had been promised?

Dante was right; for whatever reason she’d written that note, she hadn’t fully severed the bond between them.

And neither had he.

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