Page 61 of Obsession & Oath

“You feel so fucking good.”

“Dante!” and there’s panic in my voice now because.Fuck.I’ve never felt like this before, like there’s something threatening to rip me open from the inside. It feels so good. So, indescribably good. I shouldn’t beallowedto feel like this.

A thumb brushes over my cheek, capturing the tear I didn’t know I’d shed. “It’s okay. You’re okay. Do you want me to stop?”

“NO.”

He chuckles through another deep groan as he slides to his hilt. “Do I feel good, princess?”

“Mmmhmm.”

“Let me make you feel good.”

With his permission, I let myself succumb to the sensation of him all around me. To that building, ripping, coiling pleasure. It bubbles higher and higher with every thrust.

Until Dante’s rhythm suddenly stutters. Until his body tenses over mine. Until I jolt right over the edge myself.

Dante has shown me pleasure before, butthis…

Our cries of release mingle into the warm air between us.

And for a moment, we stop falling and falling.

For a moment, we simply float.

* * *

The world feels softer in the quiet after.

Warmth lingers between tangled limbs and linen sheets. My head rises and falls with Dante’s breath, his fingertips tracing slow, aimless circles on my back. I’ve never felt like this before—light, unburdened,safe.

He presses a lazy kiss into my hair, his voice rough with sleep. “Well, that’s one less virtue for your father to auction off.”

I huff, tilting my face up to meet his gaze. “You assume there were many to begin with.”

Dante grins, teeth flashing in the dim light. “You’re right.Pureis not the first word I’d use to describe you.”

I swat his chest, and he laughs, catching my hand before I can pull away. Instead of letting go, he lifts it to his lips, pressing a slow, deliberate kiss to my fingers.

The teasing fades into something else. Something softer.

There are so many things we should probably talk about. So many things to figure out and decide and worry about. But this isn’t the time.

Instead, I watch him, feeling the steady beat of his heart under my palm. “Do you think your mother will be mad I stole you away from the marriage mart tonight?”

He exhales long and slow, stretching an arm behind his head. “I hosted the damn ball, didn’t I?”

“She’s terrifying.”

Dante chuckles. “You’rescared ofmymother?”

“I have sense,” I reply. “That woman could run a country if she wanted to.”

He shrugs. “She runsthisone well enough.”

I don’t argue—because he’s right.

The first golden streaks of dawn creep through the south-facing window, turning his skin warm under my fingertips. He shifts, propping himself up on an elbow, watching me with an expression so open it almost steals my breath.

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