Page 24 of Beneath the Sapphire Sky

He pulled back to look at her in the moonlight.

Her nervous laugh echoed up the empty street. She stood on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his again. “You taste nice.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s you.” He licked his top lip to prove a point. “Yep. Grape bubblegum lip balm.”

They crossed another street and headed toward the lake. She turned sharply and hurried down Mallory-Jayne’s short driveway. Dante craned his neck to see the tastefully lit hotel sign beneath the branches of the huge kurrajong tree to his left.

They went through the side door that Mallory-Jayne got all guests to use after nine PM and hurried into the ancient elevator. The steel cage rattled as he pulled it down. They stood side by side, not looking at each other while they rode up the single floor to the guest room level.

Belle pulled a key and her lip balm from the top of her boot as they came to her room. She stepped into the room and motioned him to follow, the tip of her tongue caught between her teeth.

He followed, flicked the door locked behind him, and watched fascinated as she stepped backward until her legs hit the end of the bed.

The massive, king-sized bed.

Holy crap. I have Belle in a hotel room.

Sure, they’d gotten ready in that same hotel room. But that was before she’d propositioned him.

The enormity of what they were about to do hit him. He almost couldn’t comprehend it. He’d wanted to do this for so long, he wasn’t sure if it was real.

She turned and pointed to her neck. “Can you help me out of this thing? I can’t reach.”

*

Belle turned andpretended she was confident and casual, and not shaking like jelly inside.

It’s Dante.

She kept repeating it over and over. Her best friend. The man she’d crushed on and lusted after for more years than she could remember, even after she’d given up on him ever returning thefavour. He was the one she wanted to go to bed with, and here he was—finally—looking like he wanted her, too.

He’s here, isn’t he?

She shook her head to get the nagging voice out of her head. She didn’t need to second-guess things tonight. She wanted tofeel. Kissing, touching…sex, if it came to that.

She desperately wanted it to come to that.

To have him as her first, she shivered at the thought. Even if he decided he couldn’t go through with actual sex, just having him there and touching her would be beyond her wildest fantasies.

Warm fingers touched her neck, then lowered the zipper all the way down, coming to a stop on the curve of her ass. The sides of the vinyl fell wide open, her back bare and begging to be touched.

She tried to swallow, her mouth suddenly dry.

A single dim lamp illuminated the room, its yellow glow hiding the front of her body in moving shadow. Gentle fingers stroked her spine. Goosebumps erupted and spread like wildfire over her entire body. He continued down to the hollow of her back, then lower to where the zip ended.

She felt him move, then the heat of his body radiated into her. He kissed her shoulder blade, making her jump.

“You smell like musk Lifesavers,” he murmured. “Fucking delicious.”

Belle huffed out a laugh. “The powder. I had to cover myself in it to get this damned costume on. Vinyl isn’t an easy fabric to get into. Is it a fabric, or plastic?”

“You’re babbling, B.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Mmm hmm. You are. You only babble when you’re nervous.” He licked the spot he’d just kissed, making her gasp,and pushed the creaking vinyl from her shoulders. “Are you sure about doing this?”

“Yes. I’m sure.”

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