Page 53 of Pretty Wicked Secrets

They don’t just have each other’s backs, they’re always actively looking out for each other and letting their different strengths support one another without any in-fighting or jealousy getting in the way. They’re so tight knit that there’s simply no room for anything to ever come between them. And I’m not jealous. Not exactly. But no matter how mad I am for all the shit with Chloe, I can’t deny that part of me wishes I could find something like that. That I could have that kind of connection, trust, and security beyond just me and Chloe.

“Yeah, almost,” Dante says, still holding my gaze. “Only one other person sees me down to my soul like that.”

Now Iamjealous, even though I shouldn’t give a shit.

“Who?” I ask, my voice tight.

Dante grins, my reaction making something flare to life in his eyes that’s so hot and bright it burns right through my pissy attitude and leaves me feeling vulnerable and shaken even though I don’t know why. At least, I don’t until he answers me.

“It’s you, Riley.”

I shake my head, because it hurts to hear. Hurts to want, to believe.

Especially since he’s already betrayed me.

Dante doesn’t break, though. Doesn’t crack a smile or say he’s joking. Instead, he reaches out and strokes the backs of his fingers down my cheek, then wraps his hand around the back of my neck, leaning in to rest his forehead against mine.

“It’syou,” he repeats softly, the vibrant green of his eyes pulling at me like a magnetic force. “Just you.”

I suck in a sharp breath, my heart starting to pound, and then, before I can figure out what the hell to say to something like that, his lips are on mine and an embarrassing sound escapes me as I fist my hands in the material of his shirt and hold on like he’s the lifeline I’ll never admit to needing.

Dante hums, and I can feel his mouth curling up in satisfaction. “I ain’t going anywhere, princess,” he murmurs against my lips.

“Shut up,” I whisper, letting my eyes flutter closed. Shutting out all the bullshit of today and everything that’s still fucked-up between us so I can just feel for a little while.

Notfeel all my messed-up, chaotic emotions, but just feel this. Him. What he does to me.

He’s still smiling against my mouth, the kiss soft, like a gentle promise that twists something up inside my chest. Something that’s already too bruised to bear it.

“Kiss me for real,” I demand, yanking him closer.

Our knees bash together and it makes it awkward given the angles we’re sitting at, but Dante just chuckles, a vibration in his chest that I feel through the tips of my fingers, and does it. He takes over and turns the kiss into everything I need right now. Hot and filthy, just like I’m asking for, but also tender, which I never would but suddenly want like air.

It’s like he’s telling me without words how bad he wants me, but also that whatever’s happening right now, it’s about more than just getting off. It’s everything that’s been simmering under the surface between us all these weeks, suddenly boiling over.

I moan without meaning to, and he thrusts his tongue into my mouth hard and fast, so much like fucking that I shamelessly whine and scoot closer, already wet for him. Wanting him. Wantingmore.

“That’s right,” Dante mutters, his hand tangling in the back of my hair. He tugs, forcing my head back, then trails hot, open-mouthed kisses over my jaw and down my throat. “Let me hear you, princess. Let me fucking taste you.”

He surges to his feet without giving me a chance to reply, lifting me with him and setting my ass on the edge of the sink before shoving my tight shirt up, bunching it just above my breasts.

“Damn,” he says appreciatively as they bounce free.

I’m just not large enough to worry about a bra half the time, so I don’t.

Then his mouth latches onto my left nipple, his palm completely covering my right one, and pure fire shoots down to my core.

“Dante.” I grab the back of his head to hold him there, arching up against him. “Oh fuck, yes, please.”

He makes the most delicious sound, as if I’m the one pleasuringhim, then starts to take me apart. Licking me like I’m candy. Sucking each nipple until I scream. Biting, just hard enough to sting, like he fucking knows what it does to me, until I’m a squirming, panting, begging mess.

No, notlikehe knows what it does to me. He does know. He said it himself. I see him… but he sees me too.

All the way down to my soul.

The thought rocks through me so hard I freeze, not wanting to look at it. And Dante, thank fuck, doesn’t let me. His mouth pops off me the moment I tense up, and his hands are suddenly everywhere, stealing my attention back. Lifting my ass. Opening my pants. Tugging my shirt the rest of the way off and sliding everything off me down below too.

“Fucking gorgeous,” he murmurs once he has me naked, running his hands all over me before settling me against the sink again and crowding between my legs.

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