Page 21 of Modern Romance December 2025 1-4

Breath like dark liquid gold filled her. She swayed into him.

Fingers holding her firmly, he languidly increased the pressure of the kiss until the whole of their mouths fused into one and Athena was coaxed into her first taste of heaven.

The first stroke of his tongue against hers was electrifying, dizzying, a wave of sensation that fizzed through her skin and burned through her veins. She met his unhurried demands tentatively at first and then with increasing boldness, and when his arm slipped around her waist to draw her closer to him and her breasts pressed against his chest, the shock of desire that ripped through her blew what little lucidity she had left. Wrapping her arms around him, Athena closed her eyes even tighter and sank into the intoxicating taste and sensation of Draco.

Draco had kissed his share of women over the years, but never had he tasted such sweet hedonism. Athena tasted of creamy dark chocolate, an addictively moreish taste that drove out the last of his sanity.

There was relief in this newfound insanity. He was done with fighting. He wanted this. He wanted Athena. He wanted this infuriating, viperous, vulnerable, sexy, funny vixen and to hell with the consequences. He’d spent weeks living with Athena infuriating and enchanting him by day and hanging like a spectre in the periphery of his consciousness by night, and that day he’d suffered the imprint of her body as a compression on and beneath his skin, a thrum that had grown stronger with each passing hour, a complete takeover of his body and mind. The longer their meal had gone on, the stronger his awareness of her had grown until he’d been unable to look at her mouth without imagining what it tasted like… It tasted incredible. Her soft, pliant lips felt incredible, and when she splayed her fingers through the hairs on his nape the sensation was so powerful that he shuddered.

No more suffering. He wanted her, badly. And she wanted him. It was there in every passionate stroke of her tongue against his and every soft moan from her delectable throat.

‘God, Athena,’ he murmured, brushing kisses over her cheek and down the arch of the slender neck he’d stopped himself imagining kissing a thousand times. ‘You taste like nectar.’ Clasping her cheeks tightly, he kissed her again, his tongue plunging into the sweet depths, kissing her so hard and so thoroughly that by the time they came up for air he felt drugged.

One look in Athena’s mesmerising eyes was all the proof he needed to know the drugged feeling was mutual. ‘Are you going to invite me in?’ he whispered.

Her gaze locked on his, she blinked and then blinked again.

‘Or shall we go back to mine?’

Her lips parted, and he saw the faint apprehension clouding her stare. ‘I can’t.’

Breathing raggedly, he studied her, half-expecting her to crack a joke.

‘I’m sorry.’ Her words were so quiet he barely heard them above the roar of his heart. ‘I just…’ She shook her head, the apprehension now unmistakable. No, he recognised, not apprehension. Fear. And with this recognition came the remembrance of all she’d been through the night before, and he swore under his breath at his crass insensitivity.

She must have heard his curse because she shrank back, slipping away from him, which only made him curse himself in even stronger terms.

‘I’m the one who should be sorry,’ he said heavily. Painfully.

Chest heaving, her eyebrows drew in with confusion.

He took her hand and brought it to his lips. ‘The last thing you need after last night is for me to think I can help myself to you.’

She shook her head with more vigour. ‘No. It’s…’ Suddenly she smiled that bewitching smile that made his chest tighten so, and then sighed. ‘Thank you.’

Now he was the one to be confused.

‘For backing off.’ Before he could respond, she leaned over, cupped his cheeks and gazed intently into his eyes. ‘If it could be anyone, it would be you.’

And with those enigmatic words she kissed his mouth, a sweet lingering kiss, before pulling away and tapping on the door for his driver to open it.

Athena slumped against her closed front door and pressed a trembling hand to her pounding heart. The other hand she pressed to lips still tingling from the glorious kisses she’d shared with Draco.

She’d never known kissing could be like that. Feel like that. Never known she could feel like she did. Like she was drugged, and, contrary to popular belief, she didn’t take drugs.

In the living area, she hesitated before pulling back the curtains. Her hands were still shaking.

Draco’s car had gone.

She pressed her hand to her heart again and closed her eyes as a swell of dejection rose within her.

She’d wanted to. For one dizzying, lust-induced moment she’d wanted to lead him into her apartment. Into her bedroom.

But how could she? This was everything she’d never wanted and just because her body was telling her she did now want it… Oh, he wouldneverunderstand. How could he? It was impossible.

Her phone buzzed.

Her heart skipped to see his name.