that’s not okay. I never want to hurt you. That was wrong. If you did that to me, I would me upset and feel more hurt than just physically.” Dante wraps his hand around my wrist while still cradling his face. “People shouldn’t hurt each other, Dante especially if they lo—” I stop before saying the entire word, “—care about each other; it shouldn’t ever be like that.”
“That was just a little nip, Laura, I don’t want you to hold yourself back from me. I know what that’s like. So please, don’t do that with me.” I look in his eyes, and he seems earnest, not upset in the least.
I resolve to make sure that doesn’t happen again. There’s a huge difference between the bites and nips Ares gives me in the heat of the moment and what just happened. I may not have intended to hurt Dante, but I was trying to punish him a little bit. I place a gentle kiss on his lips.
He grins at me, happy that I’ve dropped it. Leaning back in slowly so his intentions are clear, he keeps his eyes open and kisses my lips softly. I run my palms over the barely visible stubble on his jaw and delve into his thick dark hair. Dante’s eyes fall closed, the weight of his head dropping into my hands as he exposes his throat to me. He completely trusts me, even after what I just did, he doesn’t have any reservations. I place an open mouth kiss on his Adam’s apple, then tilt his face back to me.
Dante’s mouth parts on a sigh as I brush my lips across his. My heart is still heavy from what I did, so I keep the kisses slow and sweet, not taking anything more than what he’s giving me. Heat invades my senses, making me think I might be about to spark up, but the burn is low compared to what I feel when Ollie touches me, so I let the worry go and allow the heat to continue to build inside of me.
Dante makes a deep sound, almost like a growl, as the heat rises, and I shiver as goose flesh pebbles over my skin. With my thoughts solely on Dante, and the intention of never hurting him again, I release some of the heat building inside me.
The effect is immediate, Dante’s back bows, and his eyes fly open. Not a sound escapes his parted lips. But before I can ask him what’s wrong, I feel a shifting in my body, almost like my insides are rearranging. It only last seconds, but when the feeling is gone, I can’t help feeling like something just changed.
Dante sucks in a few deep breaths, his eyes still wide on mine. “Holy shit,” he mutters, his voice half growl.
He doesn’t need to say more, I already know what I’ve just done. I bonded him to me.
Chapter 15
“Well, I’d say as far as make ups go, that one was pretty damned successful.” Ares lays the sarcasm on thick.
I narrow my eyes at him, pissed that he’s making light of the fact I bonded another person to me without their consent. Dante, for his part, seems completely content—happy even—about the development.
He didn’t almost pass out the way Ares did, but he collapsed back into the couch, his eyelids drooping low. I made sure he was okay—brushing his hair way from his face and holding his hand—and thankfully I didn’t scream for help the way I did for his brother. I don’t think the hotel would appreciate me screaming bloody murder for all their guests to hear.
Ares gets a gleam in his eye, and I’m pretty sure that gleam doesn’t mean anything good for me as he rubs his hand over his lips, trying to hide his grin. “This is going to be easier than I thought.”
“What is?” I question, still running my hand over Dante’s thigh, because it seemed to help Ares recover when I was touching him. That’s the reason I don’t want to take my hands off him, it has nothing to do with the fact that it feels like another piece of my soul just slid into place.
“Convincing my mother to stay in Italy,” Ares answers cryptically.
“Wishful thinking,” Dante chimes in, his body languid as he relaxes back into the sofa and pulls me with him to lie across his chest. I don’t bristle at all. In fact, I curl into him, inhaling his scent into my lungs.