Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 40015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 200(@200wpm)___ 160(@250wpm)___ 133(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 200(@200wpm)___ 160(@250wpm)___ 133(@300wpm)
He kept saying that: his wife. Not me, Nora. Just a woman who would serve his needs and fulfil a role in his life.
“She abandoned me,” he continued roughly, eyes haunted. “She had to save herself from my father, so one day, she disappeared. She left Francesco and me at our father’s mercy. I won’t let the same thing happen to my children.” He brushed the tears from my cheeks. “I will make things right with you, Nora. I swear I’ll always see to your wellbeing and happiness.”
“It doesn’t have to be me,” I said quietly. “Listen to yourself, Dante. You want a wife and a mother for your future children. That picture has nothing to do with me as a person. Any woman would do. You can let me go.”
His big hands bracketed my face, holding me close. “I can’t,” he rasped. “I told you: you were the one I wanted from the very beginning. I didn’t know you well then, but I was sure you were the perfect partner for me. And now that I truly know you, I can’t lose you. You’re brave and loyal and cleverer than I could ever deserve, and I want you so badly that sometimes I think I might die of jealousy. I forget how to breathe when Luca touches you. I can barely think when you’re in his arms, not mine.”
I was the one who’d forgotten how to breathe. With each of his desperate declarations, my chest grew tighter, crushing down on my heart. He’d never been so vulnerable with me: raw and real. He’d never been vulnerable at all.
His mother had abandoned him. He was afraid that would happen again. He was afraid that I wanted to leave him.
And I did.
Didn’t I?
I loved Luca, but I couldn’t deny being drawn to Dante from the very beginning. He’d poisoned what could’ve been between us by using me for his revenge, but I could see the depth of his regret shining from his eyes.
Dante had become my dark savior, and I couldn’t hate him anymore. If I escaped the cage that he’d built for me and Luca, he’d be utterly alone again.
You’re not my prisoner; you’re my wife.
That was the marriage I wanted with you. It’s the happiness we could’ve had if Luca had never stolen you away from me and turned you against me. All I ever wanted was to make you safe and content.
In another world, under other circumstances, could I have been happy with Dante? He’d described me as his perfect partner, not simply a submissive wife, a woman to be left at home to quietly raise his children without a will of her own. He wanted me to challenge him; he liked my defiant spirit, my strength of character. He’d seen it in me before we’d even been engaged.
How long had this beautiful fallen angel wanted me?
Dante was capable of monstrous things, but he wasn’t my monster.
“Dante, I—”
“I can be a better man for you,” he forestalled me, something like longing roughening his tone. “I’ll prove to you that I will be a good husband, a good match. The right one for you. Because I can’t let you go, Nora. I need you to be mine.”
But I wasn’t his. I belonged to Luca. My heart belonged to my husband.
Even as I thought it, my head tipped back, and my lips parted. Dante’s raw vulnerability called to something deep inside me. He didn’t want to be alone anymore. He wanted me to be his companion, his wife. No one else.
His lips brushed mine, and I didn’t turn my face away. With the first spark between our bodies, desire ignited in my soul; more than simple physical lust. Dante knew how to make my blood sing in my veins, but this time, my heart tugged toward his. My arms twined around his shoulders, and I went up on my toes as I surged closer to his masculine heat, his intoxicating scent.
I’d never offered him a kiss before; he’d taken them from my lips, stealing them in moments of agonized ecstasy.
Now, we came together as equals for the first time. Desire crackled along my skin, lighting me up with awareness everywhere his body touched mine. His tongue plundered my mouth, and I met him with frantic, hungry strokes. He stepped toward me, his strong arms bracing my waist as he guided me back to the piano. His hands cupped my bottom, and he suddenly lifted me, setting me down on the polished black surface. He leaned over me, urging me to lay back with his hand tugging at my hair.
He tore his lips from mine, and a soft keening sound burst from my chest at the loss. He soothed me with primal, hot kisses down the column of my throat before nipping at my shoulder. My flesh tingled at the small bite of pain, and I arched into him. He made his way down to my breasts, sucking the tight peaks through the thin silk nightgown that barely covered me.