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I give him a small nod in agreement.

The only place he’s touching me is his finger under my chin as he presses his lips to mine in a kiss so soft, I almost feel like I’m dreaming he’s kissing me at all. It’s magical, but I need more, so I lift up onto my toes and kiss him harder, forcing him to give us both what we want.

Santino growls and kisses me back with a fierceness that has the air leaving my lungs and my legs ready to give out. Except before I know it, he tears his lips away and steps back, leaving me to sag against the wall.

He looks at me with eyes that have me knowing exactly what he’s thinking, so I look at my feet, needing to gather myself again. I can hear his heavy breathing as he does the same, and when the elevator dings, signaling we’ve reached the garage, he grips me lightly above my elbow and walks us toward a sleek, gunmetal grey sports car, and opens the passenger door for me.

“Thank you,” I whisper, maneuvering my way inside the low car in my tight dress without flashing him. He’s already seen all of me, but I’m wearing a special lingerie set tonight that I know will drive him crazy once he sees it. I was feeling bold after the spa and picked it up on my way home, using the credit card he left me, of course.

The moment we pull out of the garage and onto the street, Santino places his hand on my thigh, and my mind can think of nothing but the searing heat of it through the fabric of my dress.

I went with a tight black dress that has a plunging v neckline and hugs my every curve. It’s not short, and hits me right below my knee, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel his touch right now as if he were touching my bare skin.

By the time we pull up to the restaurant and he removes his hand so he can give the keys to the valet and open my door forme, it feels as if I’ve lost a vital part of me without his touch. Like he’s suddenly an extension of me, and without him touching me in some way, I feel a little…empty.

I think I’m going crazy.

I think I’m under some kind of hex or spell that has me suddenly needing this man like I need to breathe or function.

I could freak out – and I should be freaking out – about this and hide away somewhere in his apartment where we can continue to not speak or interact, but what would that get me? Hiding only delays the inevitable.

Santino places his hand on my lower back as we walk into the restaurant and I feel centered again.

Maybe dating my husband won’t be such a bad thing. I just need to let go of what I think I should be feeling and instead just let myself feel.

I want to be here with him, and I like that his hand is on me to show everyone in here I’m his and I’m with him.

He makes me feel special.

He makes me feel wanted.

I’ve been on auto-pilot for so long, that the moment Santino pulled me into his arms in the club, it felt as if I were bolted awake by a strike of lightning.

I can’t go back to how I was. I can’t unknow what it’s like to kiss him and have his hands, lips, and tongue all over me.

“Are you alright?” he asks in my ear as he pulls my chair out for me at our table.

“Yes. Just lost in my head a little.”

“Good or bad?”

I smile. “Good.”

“That’s what I like to hear, my bride.”

My bride.

He says it in such an old-fashioned way that it’s endearing rather than condescending.

I sit down, and Santino helps me scoot forward before taking his seat across from me. Our server hands us menus and I thank him, and he gives me a little bow before walking away.

I look over the menu and tell Santino my choices, and when he orders for us, he takes on that commanding tone he has that gets me all hot and bothered.

I have the urge to run my fingers through his hair. I want to mess up the styling he did before mapping his every feature with my fingers as if I were a sculptor and needed to make sure I got every plane and line exactly right.

“What are you thinking right now, Mia?” he asks me when the server leaves, shaking me from my vision.

“That I want to touch you,” I tell him honestly before I second guess myself, and Santino’s answering smoldering look tells me he would like that very much.

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