Page 58 of Beautiful Enemy

“So why don’t you?”

“Because you don’t want me to. And I won’t rape you. I want you to come to me willingly.”

“But I’m your prisoner. I’ll never want you.” I state it like a fact because it is but I can tell it hurts Dante. He flinches slightly. “I’m confused. You hate me and yet you want me. It doesn’t make sense.”

“No, it doesn’t,” he murmurs. “You’re just so innocent. You don’t even realize what I feel for you. You don’t know what goes on in my mind when I think of you. All the dirty fucking things I want to do to your body.”

I gasp. No one has ever spoken to me like this before. The few times Viktor and I spoke before the wedding was always very formal. Both Erik and Anya were always there with me to prevent anything from happening between Viktor and myself.

But I don’t have Erik and Anya here to protect me from Dante. He’s a brute; raw strength. A force to be reckoned with. A man who wants to do dirty things to me.

And why do I want to know what those dirty things are? I should be repulsed. I am scared, I’ll admit. But I’m not disgusted. Disgust is for things like trash and vomit and gum on the bottom of your shoe.

Disgust is the last thing I feel for Dante.

Fear and anxiety and desire is what I feel for Dante. The first two things make sense but the last one doesn’t. I don’t want to be with him and yet my body seems drawn to his touch. To his sheer masculinity. He’s a black hole and he’s going to take me right down with him.

But to do that, I’d be going against Anya and Anya is my north star, reminding me of who I’m fighting for.

“Dante,” I whisper.

“Don’t say my name like that.”

“Like what?”

“You don’t even know. Like you’re such an innocent virgin. Like you want me to kiss you.”

“I don’t want that.” I say it but I end up licking my lips anyway.

“Would you push me away if I kissed you? You haven’t before.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say.” My hands clutch his shoulders. I tell myself it’s to steady myself but I think deep down, it’s just because I want to touch Dante’sstrong, muscular arms. I can feel the power underneath them and it’s doing strange things to me.

“I want you to say you want me to kiss you.”

“I can’t say that.”

He cups my face between both hands. “Then don’t stop me.”

Dante kisses me and at first, I resist it, but as he kisses me deeper, I find myself giving in. This kiss is just as good as the first one he gave me, if not better. I’m prepared now. I know what I’m doing.

Except, I really have no idea what I’m doing as Dante lays me on the bed and kisses me like he’s a dying man in the desert.

My dress rides up my thighs. I know Dante has already seen me naked before but for some reason, now feels even more intimate. I have clothes that are protecting me. Dante could just rip them off if he wanted to and I don’t think I would stop him.

I gasp when his hand grips my thigh and pulls it high around his waist. A flood of desire hits me. Desire to not be alone. Desire to be held. Desire to be loved.

But can Dante give me any of those when he hates me and my family?

The memory of Anya pleading with me with her eyes to run when Finn held that knife to her throat makes me go ice cold. Dante is the enemy. I can’t trust him.

And I especially can’t give my body to him.

I pull back and push on his chest. To his credit, Dante sits up but his eyes tell me he wants to ravage me in an instant.

“Stop. I can’t.”

“Can’t or don’t want to? There’s a difference.”

---