Page 159 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 5-8

Outside she could see the bright lights on the city—gold and white and red.

How many rooms like this had she stood in with Dante? How many stories had they shared in rooms she couldn’t remember? How many beds had they found each other in until he had demanded they have just the one bed?

Before he had proposed they marry?

Did it matter? Tonight,thiswould be their bed. The only bed she’d remember sharing with him.

Her eyes moved to the white stone wall to her left, over the soft lights glowing like candles, down to the black wooden headboard carved with swirls, to the bed. An imposing bed of stark white pillows and black sheets.

Excitement pulsed through her in a tidal wave of heat.

She stepped towards the bed—

‘Wait.’ Strong fingers locked around her wrist. His large masculine hand commanded she be still.

‘I don’t want to wait,’ she said, her skin tingling, her body demanding she find release from this tension holding her every limb hostage.

His thumb stroked the pulse point on her wrist. ‘I want to undress you.’ He released her wrist. Breath hit her nape, a whisper of warmth on her skin, and the pulse in her core quickened.‘Slowly.’

He pressed in behind her, and her spine arched into him. The outline of his body penetrated hers, the heat of him seeping inside every pore of her exposed flesh.

Never had she been undressed with care when urgency demanded they were already naked.

It was dizzying.

‘Then undress me,’ she demanded, her voice smoky. And it felt like she was giving him more than the permission to remove her clothes. But to remove her armour too. Because never had anyone unwrapped her like a gift. Like she was somethingspecial. Or maybe Dante had, but she just couldn’t remember.

‘I will. But first I want to do this.’Click. Her hair fell from its high ponytail to fall to her shoulders.

His fingers speared into her hair, loosening the strands. ‘I have dreamed of your hair. Feeling it through my fingers. Wrapped around my fist.’

Her heart hiccupped. ‘You’ve dreamed of me?’

‘Yes.’ He swept her hair over her left shoulder, over her taut collarbone. And the touch was teasing. It was too light. Not what she wanted. She wanted his hands. She wanted his touch to imprint itself on her, to brand her.

When his knuckle grazed down her naked spine, she couldn’t hold it in. The gasp.

‘Every night—’ the whisper of his lips grazed her nape ‘—I have thought of nothing but kissing you here.’ Feather-light, he placed his mouth to the tip of her spine. ‘And here.’

His lips lifted from her skin to move to the flesh of her throat. Where her neck met her shoulder. And a noise was ripped from her lips. A wail that demanded he give her more.

His mouth climbed higher, a teasing caress of his mouth, to the spot behind her ear, and Dante whispered, ‘And here.’

And the lips that had fluttered gently across her skin now pressed deeper. Sank deeper into her flesh. He pulled the skin between them and sucked.

Until Emma panted. Until she was breathless with the sensations his mouth tugged from her core.

His fingers pressed into the dip of her spine and she gasped as he tugged the zip down her buttocks to the top of her thighs.

His hands spanned her waist as he brought her back into him, his arousal pressed into her bottom.

‘Please...’Emma could barely stand it any longer.

‘Turn around,’ he commanded, and on unsteady feet, she did.

Her breath hitched as black eyes caught hers.

‘Please what, Emmy?’

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