Page 18 of Reckless Sinner
And I was right.
My heart beat wildly in my chest as Dante hailed a taxi. I appreciated that he took one. There were a lot of young hotshot lawyers who owned fancy sports cars and insisted on driving them around the city even though it was usually more convenient to take a taxi instead. New York City traffic was a study in constant gridlock.
We got in and Dante gave the driver his address. I could feel my legs trembling even though I was sitting down. I wanted this—but I was so nervous. What if this went wrong?
Don’t think about that part,I told myself. I took a deep breath. If Dante saw my nerves he’d think I didn’t want to sleep with him or something like that, and I very much did.Pretend that’s all this is. Pretend the lying and spying doesn’t exist.
Just for now, just for tonight, I would only think about being with Dante. I would ignore all the other expectations. It would just be the two of us, together.
I took a deep breath and turned to Dante. He smiled knowingly. “Over your nerves yet?”
That made a surprised laugh burst out of me. “How do you know me so well?”
Dante shrugged. “I’m supposed to read people for a living. And you,Delaney, are an open book.”
The way he said my first name made me shiver with heat. He’d done it on purpose, too. I could tell by the satisfied gleam in his eye. I’d told him to call me by my first name, and he was doing it in a way that was making me melt.
I was in so much trouble, in the best way. And suddenly, it became easy for me to forget about my father, the court case, my own role in all of it. I was just a woman, melting for the charismatic man in front of me.
“It’s been years since I was with anyone,” I admitted. “But I trust you. I want you.”
Dante leaned in, and I thought he might kiss me—but instead he put his hand on my thigh and brushed his lips against the curve of my jaw. I thought I might actually combust somehow.
“You have no idea how much I’ve been holding myself back with you.”
“Why?” I blurted out. My voice sounded strangely breathy and quiet to my own ears. Nothing like the seductive purr of his voice.
Dante pulled back a little and arched one commanding eyebrow. “Because you’re dangerous, Delaney Weston.”
If only he knew.
The taxi pulled up in front of the luxury apartment building where Dante lived and he offered me his hand to help me out. I was surprised at his restraint. Barely a kiss in the taxi and now helping me past the doorman and into the elevator like a complete gentleman?
On the one hand I appreciated the consideration but on the other hand… I didn’t want him to be a gentleman with me. I sensed good in Dante. I hadn’t lied to my father about that. But I could sense that ruthless, powerful darkness in him, too—the same one that made him a good lawyer and the one that I wanted to show itself in bed, with me. I wasn’t here for some knight in shining armor.
I wanted all of Dante, including his darkness.
We stood in the elevator and I summoned every ounce of courage, hoping that I wouldn’t ruin everything, and he wouldn’t push me away.
I leaned in and kissed Dante’s neck.
Dante stiffened as I continued to slowly press my lips to the side of his throat over and over again. His skin was warm, and I could feel hints of stubble, along with the thunderous pulse of his heartbeat.
“Impatient?” he asked, his voice rumbling low in his throat.
“And you’re not?” I shot back, that odd courage that I seemed to sometimes find shooting out of me without warning around Dante rearing its head once again. I slid my hand up his chest. “I’ve waited months for this… I worried you weren’t interested…”
Dante seized my wrist tightly. A warning. “Trust me,” he growled. “I’m very interested.”
“Then why wait?” I looked up at him through my lashes, something that seemed to drive him nuts.
Dante turned me, pressing me against the back wall of the elevator. I shivered in anticipation—but when he kissed me, slow and soft, I felt it.
Restraint.
I pushed at his chest until he pulled away to look at me. “Don’t youdarehold back on me,” I said. I practically snarled the words, shocked at my own assertiveness.
If I was going to get the man I wanted only to betray him and lie to him, then I was going to geteverything. I was going to get all of him.
