“Never.” He used his hold on her hair to bend her back and lavish her breasts with rough kisses. “I’ve made up my mind.”
Rose was terrified that she had as well.
She slid a hand between them to stroke her clit, and Dante growled against her skin and set his teeth against the underside of her right breast. “I fucking love when you do that.” He looped an arm around her lower back and held her tight to him as he bore her to the floor.
She expected… She wasn’t sure what she expected because he kissed her and slowed them down, fucking her with a ruthless gentleness that had her toes curling. It didn’t matter how much she squirmed or tried to move, she was helpless to do more than take what he gave her. Slow, pleasurable waves that edged her closer and closer to orgasm. Every stroke had her clit grinding against him, a steady beat… “Don’t stop, d’yavol.”
“Never.” He traced the shell of her ear with his tongue. “You’re mine, amata. I’ll always give you what you need.”
A promise she had no business believing, and yet she couldn’t stop the surge in her chest in response to it. “Give me what I need now.”
He didn’t pick up his pace, didn’t change his stroke, just kept fucking her in exactly the way she needed. Rose tried to hold out, but her body was too primed for him, and he was hitting all her spots too perfectly. She clutched his back and buried her face in his neck as she orgasmed.
Dante shifted back just enough to claim her mouth, to swallow her sobs and moans, and he got rougher, chasing his own pleasure. He broke the kiss with a gasp. “In or out, Rose?”
No misunderstanding his meaning. This, too, was symbolic in its own way. “Come in me, d’yavol. Fill me up.”
“Ti amo così fottutamente tanto, amata.” He kissed her, making her head spin even as his thrusts lost their rhythm and he ground into her, coming hard. “I love you, Rose Romanov.”
I love you, too.
She couldn’t say it aloud. Not yet. It felt like promising something she wasn’t sure she should promise. Admitting she’d fallen for Dante even harder than she’d fallen for Jackson wasn’t the same as agreeing to marry him, but it wasn’t far off, either.
They lay there, entangled in the most perfect way possible, as the sweat on their bodies cooled and their heartbeats returned to normal. Rose turned her head and pressed a kiss to Dante’s jaw. “Let me up. I need to shower before I go home.” The longer she stayed here, the harder it would be to leave.
“Stay.”
“I can’t.” If her family woke up and she was gone, there’d be hell to pay. She needed to play things correctly, to break this news to her parents in the most favorable way possible, and it wouldn’t be by sneaking around, acting like a foolish teenager.
Dante eased off her and took her hand, tugging her to her feet. “I am not spending the next few months sneaking around while you work up the courage to tell your family. You have a week.”
She blinked. “You don’t get to decide that timeline.”
“Rosa.” He held her gaze. “Either you choose this, or you don’t. If you do, then straddling the line only gives your enemies longer to prepare and catch you unawares. Decisive action is required.”
Her stomach dropped out. He wasn’t wrong, but… “Easy for you to say. You’ve already made your choice. When your cousin takes over, he’ll give you carte blanche to do whatever the fuck you want. You don’t have the same responsibilities that I do.”
Dante didn’t move. “Do you think that would make a single fucking difference to me if I did?”
She opened her mouth to say yes but couldn’t quite get the answer out. He was so single-minded when it came to her. Even if he’d been heir instead of the muscle, would that have changed any of the events that led them here? “I’m not like you. Not when it comes to my family.”
“Si.” He finally released her from his intense look and headed into the bathroom, leaving her to trail behind. “But that doesn’t change the fact that you know attempting to avoid what comes next will only make it worse.”
He was right, and she hated that he was right. “We need to figure out a way around Romeo Capparelli. That’s the biggest hurdle right now, aside from your uncle.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
She stared up into his face and waited for doubt to come. This thing between them wasn’t rational. It wasn’t a good idea from the outside looking in. Anyone from their respective lives would agree… “What does your cousin think of all this?”
“He’s not happy with me.” Dante turned on the shower and held his hand under the spray, testing the temperature. “He’ll get over it.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
He shrugged. “When I marry you, I get excommunicated from the family on all official channels.”
Rose jolted. “What? Dante, they’re your family. You can’t do that. Not for me.”
“I’m more than capable of making those decisions and weighing the cost on my own, amata.” He grabbed her hand and stepped into the shower, tugging her after him. “My relationship with my cousin is separate from family business.”
“I don’t understand that,” she said faintly. “How can you separate family and Family?” She loved her various aunts and uncles and cousins. But she never stopped being aware that while they were connected by blood and marriage, there was a marked difference between Romanov and O’Malley and Sheridan. A part of her always watched what she said around extended family.
And her parents? Her sisters? No matter the bonds that held them, it was understood that their first responsibility was to their power base and territory. Toward the greater good, as it related to their goals. It was why her parents had laid out exactly one option once they discovered her boyfriend was actually Dante Verducci. It was why she hadn’t flinched at marrying a man who was basically an enemy. It was why Lorelei hadn’t hesitated to do whatever it took to prevent their peace talks from being derailed—even marrying the man Rose was supposed to.
If the choice came down to her family or literally anything else, she would choose family.
“No one’s asking you to make that choice.” He pressed a quick kiss to her lips and stepped away to start soaping himself up. “The Verducci family kicked my mother out when she needed them the most because they didn’t want their reputation tarnished. I have exactly as much loyalty as my history with them requires.”
“But—”
“You don’t have to understand it. Matteo and I do. It’s enough.”
She wanted to press, but the truth was that he was right. She didn’t have to understand it, not if she trusted Dante. And she did. Her mind could think of hundreds of reasons trusting him was a terrible idea, but her gut, her heart? They believed this man entirely. “What if Romeo kills you?”
“He won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
He gave a brief smile and ducked under the spray, rinsing quickly. “Si, amata, I do. Romeo is too smart to throw away a potential tool. It’s simply a matter of convincing him I’m useful.”