Page 10 of Daddies of the Underworld

Dante wheeled and curled around me.

The only light came from a thin gap near the bottom of the door, and I locked my gaze on it, counting the tiny cracks in the brick floor.

“Breathe.” Dante’s chest rumbled again, and I realized I was still tucked in his arms, our bodies crushed together. “In through your nose. Count to four.”

“I know how to breathe.”

“Then do it.”

The absurdity of being told to breathe by a man who looked like he’d been carved from volcanic rock while we stood chest to chest in a closet together brought out a bubble of hysteria.

Dante stood with his back to the door, his broad hands pressed hard against my spine. He tilted his head toward the door.

“Can you hear anything?” I couldn’t hear a damned thing over my pounding heart. He didn’t have that problem. His heartbeat was a steady metronome in my ear.

His posture shifted, his arms loosening a tiny bit. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“You don’t consider gunfire and screams out of the ordinary?” My head snapped up so fast the top of it clipped him in the chin.

He stared down at me, the tiniest hint of a smile on his lips. “No. I don’t.” His hands flexed on my spine and slid around to my hips. “However. Being trapped in a closet with a beautiful woman is extraordinary.” He gave me a single second to understand what was about to happen as his face lowered toward mine.

His lips skimmed my left cheek. Then my right.

My lips parted, and he claimed my mouth.

This was nothing like Luca’s kiss.

This was hot as the volcano I’d likened him too and just as dangerous.

He swept his tongue along mine and brought our bodies impossibly closer.

Close enough the hard ridge of his erection pressed into me. I made a low sound in the back of my throat, and Dante responded with a groan that sent heat pooling in my belly.

I’d never felt anything like this before. How was it even possible to kiss a man like this when I’d just kissed Luca last night?

Dante kissed with enough skill that my nerves sizzled and my thoughts took flight. Nothing else mattered.

By the time he ended the kiss, we were both breathless. My whole body felt like it might catch fire, and I’d twisted my hands in the back of his jacket to hold on.

“I should be out there.” Dante’s head tipped forward, and he brushed a kiss over the tip of my nose. “But I will not complain about the turn of events, though Matteo and Luca will think I orchestrated this to have time alone with you.” His laugh was rough, as though he never used it.

“Do you think they’re okay?”

“They know how to handle themselves. And I will take care of anyone who tries to prove otherwise.” He skimmed his knuckles up my spine, then down again. “We could be stuck in here for a while. Matteo will not look for us until it is over.”

I almost cracked a joke about how terrible it was being stuck with him, but with gunfire and screaming mere feet away, I resisted. “Why did you protect me?”

“Are you not worth protecting?” He asked the question while dropping his hands and moving away.

I felt the loss all the way to my toes and curled my arms over my stomach to try and stop the trembling. “To men like you? No.”

Dante had started toward the door, but he wheeled at my words. Heat filled the space, and even though I couldn’t fully see his face, I felt the anger rolling off him. “Never say that again. Your station means nothing. Heart does. And you have a beautiful one.”

My teeth clacked shut with a snap that reverberated up my jaw. I’d never had anyone talk to me that way. I liked it. Too much.

A scraping sound came from the other side of the door. “It’s me. Don’t shoot.”

Dante dropped his hand from his waist and took my hand. “Our rescue has arrived.”