Page 24 of Sev’s Blackmailed Bride (The Dante Dynasty #1)

She buried her nose in the crystal tumbler and took a quick sip.

Unable to help herself, she peeked at him from over the rim.

Memories from their nights together came storming back.

They’d made love right here in front of the fire at least a half-dozen times.

Several more times on the couch behind them when they’d been too impatient to traverse the short distance from there to the bedroom.

Most nights she shared with him, apathway appeared, one strewn with clothes spreading from front door tobed.

How she enjoyed those moments, especially when she wrestled him free of that last article of clothing.

He had the most incredible body, lean and graceful, yet powerful enough to lift her with ease, which he often did, then tip her onto silken sheets and cover her with that endless length of potent masculinity.

She drained the last of the whiskey and set the glass aside. “I need you to do me a favor,” she informedhim .

“If I can.”

“Oh, you can.” The only question was... Would he? “I want you to make love to me. Iwant to feel something again.”

He studied her for a long, silent moment and she could see him preparing a list of excuses.

She was too vulnerable. He didn’t want to take advantage of her.

There were still so many issues unresolved between them.

But something in her gaze, or perhaps it was something buried deep in his heart, must have convinced him otherwise.

Instead of turning her down, he tugged the towel free of her hair and tossed it aside before pulling her onto his lap and thrusting his hands deep into her damp curls.

Turning her to fully face him, her knees settling on either side of his hips, he closed his mouth over hers in a kiss hot enough to leave scorch marks.

She opened for him, welcoming him home. The duel was short and sweet, abattle for supremacy that neither lost, yet bothwon.

“Do you feel that?” he asked.

The question slid from his mouth to hers and she laughed softly in response. “I’m not sure. Imight have noticed a slight tingle.”

His eyes narrowed. “Slight tingle? Slight? ”

She blinked with patently false innocence and wiggled her bottom in a provocative motion against him. “Very slight.”

“Let’s see what we can do about that.”

He flipped her off his lap and onto her back.

Firelight lapped over his determined face and caught in his eyes, causing the gold to burn like wildfire.

She missed this. Missed seeing his abandoned reaction whenever they touched.

Missed the romantic soul that blunted the contours of his male sexuality.

Missed opening to him—physically and emotionally—in the darkest hours of the night and sharing all she hid within her heart.

And having him share what he kept locked away in his.

But most of all, she missed this. The intimacy.

The passion. Possessing and being possessed.

He kissed her again. Deeper. More thoroughly. He worshiped her with mouth and tongue until she went mindless with pleasure. “Tell me you feel that,” he demanded.

She groaned. “A tickle. Barely a tickle.”

“Right. That’s it.”

Uh-oh. Annoyed obstinance if ever she heard it.

He kissed a path downward, mixing the gentle caresses with love nips that had her toes curling into knots.

He ripped the towel open and bared her to a combination of firelight and heated gaze.

He shot her one last lingering look before applying himself to his appointedtask.

He glided his hands along the sides of her breasts, using just the very tips of his fingers so he barely connected with her skin.

She shivered at the sensation, shocked that so light a touch could provoke such a strong reaction.

She bit back a cry, forcing herself to remain silent, even though it just might kill her. No. Definitely would killher.

Around he circled, edging ever closer to the pebbled tips of her breasts. She fought with every ounce of self-possession to keep from begging him to take her, almost shooting off the plush carpet when his teeth closed over her nipple and tugged.

If she’d ever questioned The Inferno before, she didn’t now. It erupted, low in her belly, spilling over like molten lava. It liquefied everything in its path as it began an onslaught of hunger so deep and all-consuming, she literally shook with the effort to containit.

He moved lower, touching her belly with his fingers and mouth.

Lower. Brushing the nest of curls that protected her feminine core.

Lower. Took the heart of her with his mouth.

She went deaf and blind as her climax ripped her apart.

She fought to draw air into lungs squeezed breathless, barely aware that Sev had left herside .

She still hadn’t recovered when he returned, carefully protected, and settled between her thighs. “Do you feel alive now? Do you feel wanted?”

Sensations toppled one on top of another, so intense she couldn’t process them all. “Sev...” His name escaped in a husky cry, half concession, half demand. “Pleaseohpleaseohplease.”

He probed inward, ateasing, swirling movement. “Do you feel this?”

“Yes.” She moaned as he slid deep, driving all the way home. “I’m definitely feeling something I never have before.”

She wrapped her legs around his waist and held on.

She’d never felt more alive. Never felt more wanted or cherished.

Never belonged with anyone as she did with Sev in this moment.

Her climax approached again, every bit as powerful as before.

Only this time he joined her. To her amazement, it didn’t rip or shred, but melded, uniting them together in something so different, so special, she couldn’t at first find the word to name it.

And then it came to her and in doing so, overwhelmed her with the devastating knowledge.

In that brief moment, she no longer stood on the outside looking in. Love opened the door and she flew inside.