Page 86 of Beautiful Enemy

I cry out as I clutch the blanket underneath me. Trembles take over my body. All I can do is enjoy the pleasure.

Dante kisses up my body until he reaches my lips. “Taste yourself.” He kisses me deeply. It’s all consuming. It makes me think that I could have real feelings for Dante.

That we could somehow have a future, despite everything.

He pulls back and stares down at me with dark eyes. “God, I want to fuck you so badly.”

I shiver at his words. Nothing has ever turned me on like this before.

But there’s one thing that nags at me. “You just want sex from me? That’s all?”

He lets out a low breath and cups my face. “No, baby. If I could, I’d have all of you. Your body, your heart, your mind.”

“Why can’t you?”

“Because you want me to end this war and the only way to end it is to give you back.”

“You could give me back. I could tell Erik to stand down. We could all live.”

His eyes are slightly pitying. “I love that you think that. You’re so optimistic. But we both know that future doesn’t exist.”

“What happened tonight?” I whisper, clutching his shirt. “Did you…”

“Kill Ivan? If I said yes, what would you think of me?”

“I would think that… you were breaking my heart.”

“Oh, baby. You want me to be good. How can you even think I could be after everything that has happened between us?”

“Because I have to believe it. We live in a dark world. I’ve only ever known pain from my father. I want to know pleasure. I want to know happiness.”

His eyes search my face. “And you think you could be happy with me?”

“All I know is that I’m happy you’re not dead, even though I should be. You’re my enemy.”

“And I always will be, won’t I?” The way he asks it is so sad. It almost makes me cry.

“You don’t have to be. You can end this war, Dante. You have the power to.”

“How do you see any good in me? How is that possible?”

“It’s just my nature.”

He kisses me like he’s a dying man in the desert. I kiss him back just as hungrily. It’s like I’m aching for something I can’t have and I’ll die without it. Now that Dante has awoken these feelings inside of me, they refuse to go away.

Eventually, he pulls back and stands up, eying me over. Self-consciously, I slip my pajama bottoms back up.

“If you really want to know,” he says softly, “I didn’t kill him. Ivan. I couldn’t.”

I gasp. Knowing that Dante didn’t kill another person makes me elated. This is a good sign. “Why not?”

“It’s going to sound silly,” he says, running his hand through his hair.

“Tell me.”

“God. How do you have this effect on me? I didn’t kill him because of you. All I could think about was how disappointed you’d be in me. And I saw Ivan’s daughter there. She reminded me so much of you. It just didn’t feel right.”

“You did the right thing.”

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