CHAPTER TWO
Eleanor
Two Months Earlier
WARMTH WRAPPED AROUND ME as I slowly roused from sleep, content to stay cocooned in this feeling of peace for the rest of my life. This was heaven. This was what people fought wars over, what people searched for their entire lives — security, happiness, love. And I finally had it. I finally found exactly what I needed, although I didn’t realize it until it was right in front of me…or across the aisle of a Boeing 777.
“Buongiorno, mia cara,” Dante’s raspy baritone murmured as the scruff of his chin scratched my shoulder blades. His hand pressed against my stomach, pulling me even closer to his body. Even a whisper of air was too much distance between us.
Brushing my hair over my shoulder, he exposed my nape. The closeness of his breath to my skin caused it to prickle. A chill crawled down my spine, which was at complete odds with the heat coursing through every inch of my body, like a wave covering the sand at high tide. When his lips finally met my flesh, his kiss tender, sensual, but still setting me off the way only Dante’s touch could, I melted into him, basking in everything this man was to me. He was my darkness and my light. My madness and my sanity. My joy and my anguish.
“How do you feel this morning?”
“A little sore.” My lips curled into a devious smile as I recalled the past thirty-six hours. We’d spent most of the previous day in this hotel room, making up for all the lost opportunities we’d endured the past several months. The only time we left was to go to my apartment so I could pick up a few things I would need, although Dante insisted clothes weren’t necessary. And they hadn’t been. “It’s been a while since I’ve had this much sex.”
Although I couldn’t see his face, I could picture him smiling. “I need to keep my woman satisfied.” He ground his hips against my back, the feel of his erection making me squirm.
“You certainly did.”
He ran a finger down my spine, tracing a delicate pattern on my skin. “What time do we have to be at Mila’s this morning?”
I glanced at the clock on the nightstand, seeing it was almost eight. “At ten,” I groaned.
“Then we need to get moving.”
I closed my eyes, groaning even louder. “Can’t I just stay in bed with your fine ass all day? I’ll let you tie me up and use me as your sex slave.”
“As amazing as that sounds…” He nipped my neck, sending another jolt straight to my core, “we need to leave our bubble at some point.”
“I like our bubble,” I protested.
“As do I.” He forced me onto my back, hovering over me. “I’d love to keep you all to myself, but I want to show you off, too.” He paused, his dark eyes peering into mine with an unrivaled eagerness. He leaned on his elbows as his fingers grazed my face like a blind man who could see for the first time. “I want the world to see us together, to know I’m yours and you’re mine, and nothing will come between that.”
He slowly lowered his lips to mine, a sigh escaping me when they met in an unhurried kiss. I ran my fingers through his hair, hooking a leg across his back as he explored my mouth, like it were the first time he’d ever kissed me. Everything with Dante felt like the first time, like we were learning about each other all over again.
“And I’m not doing it just to improve my approval rating, like that pathetic excuse for a human you were forced to date and almost marry.” He ran his tongue down the curve of my jaw, my neck, my chest. I threw my head back, allowing him better access. “I don’t want to parade you around in front of our friends, then treat you like you don’t exist behind closed doors.” He took a nipple between his fingers. It pebbled under his erotic touch. “I intend to show you off as the princess you are in public.”
When the warmth of his breath drew near my nipple, my breathing increased. I writhed, each second that passed an eternity as I braced for more.
“Then fuck you like the siren you are in private.” His mouth clamped over my breast, his tongue swirling, licking, sucking. I arched into him, panting. Too soon, he pulled back. I opened my eyes, his devious gaze peering at me with wanton lust. He tossed the duvet from his body and slid off me, standing up. “Come. Time to shower.”
I threw my arm over my head. “You’re seriously walking away from me?” It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. This man had been a tease since the moment we met. He loved the buildup, the chase, then the thought-erasing climax that resulted from all the tension.
“I’ll never walk away from you, Eleanor. But we’re on a tight schedule today.” He swooped me up, carrying me into the bathroom. After placing my feet on the floor, he headed toward the shower, turning the water on.
I propped myself onto the vanity, pulling my lower lip between my teeth as my eyes raked over his naked physique. Broad shoulders. Sculpted chest. Defined abs. Muscular arms and legs. I still couldn’t believe he was here, that I was here, that we’d finally found our way back to each other. I wanted to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, but as he strode toward me with determined steps and grabbed the back of my neck, our bodies clashing against each other, I knew this wasn’t a dream. I could feel this wasn’t a dream.
Before I had a chance to utter a single syllable, his mouth covered mine, his fingers combing through my hair. His kiss made me weak, greedy, desperate for more of him, to feel his hands scald my skin, to feel his teeth graze my thighs, to feel that flame ignite deep in my core as he thrust so savagely yet temperately inside me.
“What was that for?” I asked when he pulled back.
“A woman deserves to be made breathless first thing in the morning.”
“You always make me breathless, Dante.” My voice was barely louder than a whisper.
He took my chin between his thumb and forefinger, tilting my head back. “Over the past few months, I woke up too many times wishing I could get back some of those moments I wasted. I would look at the side of the bed that had become yours, the mattress still holding the shape of your body, wondering if I could have done something different so you’d still be there.” He brought my mouth close to his. “Never again. As long as you’re with me, I’ll never let you start the day without showing you how much you mean to me. That is my promise to you.”
I swallowed hard, soaking in everything about him. The fever in his gaze. The deep tone of his skin. The specks of gold in his dark eyes. His full lips. All things I’d never take for granted again.
“I didn’t think it was possible to fall in love with you even more, but I’m pretty sure I just did.”
“Being with you has taught me that anything’s possible.” He placed a soft kiss on my nose. “Now, come. Time to wash all that sex off your body.” When he tried to retreat, I wrapped my legs around him, preventing him from doing so. He cocked his head, a coy look about him.
“Since we’re showering anyway, may as well make it worth it, don’t you think?” I reached between our bodies, palming his erection.
He inhaled sharply, his muscles tightening, his jaw clenching. “You drive me crazy, Eleanor.”
“That’s the point.” I brought my mouth back to his, nibbling on his lower lip.
He groaned, his fingers digging into my hips as he lifted me up, carrying me into the shower. He pressed me against the tile wall, my legs still wrapped around him, both of us letting out a sigh of satisfaction when he entered me.
As he brought my body higher and higher, momentarily soothing the fire in my core, all the worries that had consumed me the past several months were nothing more than a distant memory. I no longer obsessively thought of my father, about his role in Lilly’s death, about whether Cynthia Edelman was dead, about Brock’s connection to all this. None of that mattered right now.
Maybe if I had allowed my brain to remain in control, if I hadn’t given in to my heart, my body, my urges, things would have been different. I would have seen through the smoke and been able to stop the freight train that was slowly gaining more and more speed. But I was finally back in the clouds with Dante…where I wanted to stay. Where I deserved to stay.
But fate had other plans.