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“I’ve never opened a bottle of my favorite wine for anyone else.”
He took another step. Eden felt goosebumps, and that wave of heat went down her stomach without any warning.
“I’ve never gone outside my territory for a woman... twice.”
Eden frowned. Twice? She could understand the time when he had come to get her and Loir in the basement after that fake gunfight, but... twice? Did he mean the first time, he had also come for her? It didn’t make sense. He was there to get Yang... Dante took another step. He was getting close, too close, but Eden wasn’t sure she wanted to move. She still had that kiss in her mind, and his golden eyes on her were the most efficient trap.
“I’ve never offered a woman to sleep with me... especially with no sex involved.”
Now she was getting annoyed again. She didn’t want to hear him brag about his other women, probably lined up by the dozen outside to throw themselves at him. Eden didn’t want to be one of those women, she didn’t want to throw herself, or her dignity, away. She was stubbornly holding on to it and trying to kill her desire despite its growth. Dante took another step, and this time, they were almost toe-to-toe, him right in front of her. Eden was still, but that fire in her eyes spoke volumes. She wanted to cry, or scream, that frustration out of her mind. Her conflicted emotions were at war with her survival instincts. She couldn’t decide, she couldn’t tell. She was no damsel in distress. She could have kicked him out of the way, ran out of the door. Maybe she would have made it outside and disappeared into the Italian district. However, this was all too... good. The sweet taste of rosé wine. The lemon cream, the pasta that filled her empty stomach. The amazing view most could only dream of. The music. And Dante. Dante De Luca, cooking for her, focusing only on her, spending an evening with her, and giving her few choices. Eden knew she was lucky right now. Most men wouldn’t have asked her anything before jumping on her. She had seen monsters in human clothing. This man was a monster that owned a tenth of the Suburbs, probably more. And yet, there he was, pretending to act like a tame cat in front of her. He was peeling off her layers one by one, going at such a slow pace that she was almost the one begging him to hurry. Eden’s heart was in bad shape.
He smiled.
“...And for sure, I’ve never been slapped before,” he whispered.
“Well, m-maybe you didn’t have enough,” she said in a breath, unsure.
Dante chuckled and turned his head.
“Want to try slapping the other one?” he said. “That could be a thing.”
Eden glared at him again. He was making her feel like a child.
“...I’ll save it for another time,” she finally said.
“Mh... how about another kiss, then?”
Eden’s cheeks flushed with red.
What about another kiss? Eden didn’t even know how to respond. One minute he was joking, and the next, he was looking dead serious and sexy as hell. Even now, his golden eyes were completely subjugating her. He was dangerously close, so close Eden wanted to run away, or... run to him. Her heart and her head were at war right now, while she was frozen there, unable to utter a word. She should have said no, told him to fuck off or something, stood her ground. But... she couldn’t. She had no words to answer back to him, nothing that came to mind. Not when he was so dangerously close; Dante and his confidence were like a high wall she couldn’t get past.
“...Can’t decide?” he whispered.
His fingers came to gently lift her chin, and Eden opened her lips slightly without thinking. She didn’t want to say yes, but she didn’t want to say no. It was this horrible thing. She couldn’t think straight, her survival instincts had suddenly been tamed by those of the woman inside her. Dante brought his face closer to hers, so close she couldn’t see or smell anything but him. He was hovering over her like a tiger over its prey, with that cunning smile on his face.
“Cat got your tongue?” he chuckled.
Eden blushed, but she had never been so vulnerable. He was mocking her, and she was mad at herself for not saying anything back to him. Dante was just too dangerous for her. She couldn’t even understand why. She had always been able to refuse any man. From an early age, she had understood her survival wouldn’t rely on how she could give men what they wanted, but on how hard she was willing to fight to resist them. Eden never froze out of fear. She had done so once, and it had cost her brother’s life. Adam’s life. She had sworn not to make that mistake again. She would fight with everything she had, she wouldn’t ever give up on her own survival.
In front of Dante, however, it wasn’t fear that made her immobile. It was a thought. One single, dangerous doubt that made her hesitate. A voice she had kept silent for years was making itself heard right now, dangerously. Very dangerously. The thought that maybe, maybe, she could finally rely on someone. Trust someone else. Trust Dante De Luca, trust that he’d really do what he was promising. That maybe there was a light of truth in those golden, playful eyes of his. Not only that but in his heart too. That maybe there was something real about this, in the way he looked at her, in the way he talked to her. Everything that had happened tonight was nothing like she had experienced before. Eden knew it was dangerous to give in, to be lured by that sweet trap the Tiger had laid out for her. Yet, it was so hard to resist a trap that promised everything she had ever hoped for...
“...One night,” she whispered.
Dante slowly pulled his face away. They had been as close as a kiss, but now, he was carefully looking at her, reading her face. Eden swallowed her saliva, trying to make up her mind as she spoke.
“...I’ll sleep with you just one night,” she said.
“And then?” he asked. “What will happen if I’m a good boy?”
“I don’t know.”
Eden honestly had no idea. She couldn’t even imagine anything past the next minute, let alone after a full night of sleeping in the same bed as him. Even now, a part of her was screaming that this was a bad idea. That the Tiger was going to betray her, devour her. Still, it was too late. Too late to take back her words, or that satisfied smile on his lips. She just didn’t want to promise him anything. It would have given him more room for demands, and she just wasn’t sure she could afford to take anything else right now.
Dante smiled and, to her surprise, still leaned closer.
“One night, then,” he whispered.
If Eden thought that was it, she was proven wrong right away. She felt his mouth on hers before she could react. This time, there was something a bit more ferocious than before. As if she had let him in, as if he suddenly had gotten some tacit permission. Eden took in his kiss with a little moan of surprise. She had trouble keeping up, but she still found herself trying. It was just too good to refuse. His lips on hers already felt strangely familiar, and it was so easy to just give in. She knew the more they kissed, the more she’d get used to this, and how dangerous it was, but it was too late. Eden didn’t feel like stopping. She wasn’t a child anymore, she was a young woman with desires too. Moreover, this was just a... kiss. A kiss to quench her thirst, or maybe to seal the deal. It wasn’t leading to more, but it was fulfilling in itself. Without moving, Eden let him kiss her, or maybe she was the one kissing him back, she couldn’t tell. Neither of them was in control, they were simply both enjoying this. Dante wasn’t even acting forcefully or dominating her. She could have pulled back and stopped this at any moment. She knew it. She just didn’t want to.
