The Emperor (Dark Verse, #3)

by RuNyx

her mouth trembled as she pulled but his grip...

“You didn’t fight for m...

He tugged her close, until she tipped into his chest, holding both her wrists with one hand while cupping her face with...

“I fight for you every fucking ...

God, she hated him for meaning it. She loved him too, even after all this time. A tear escaped her eye and Dante leaned in, kissing it from...

“You need to let...

she told him, her voice breaking, meaning more...

“I can still feel you haunting me here. I can feel you and I can’t live like that. You need to stop. Please....

she started sobbing against him, not realizing when his arms came around ...

“Let me go. Let me go. Pleas...

she hiccupped. He pressed his forehead...

“You’re in my blood, beating in my fucking heart. The only way you go is ...

God, he couldn’t say shit like that to her. Falling with him was so easy, so exhilarating. It was the crash that scared her. Wiping her cheeks, Amara straightened, looking at his tie slightly askew because of her shoving. Taking hold of it, she set it st...

“I’m in love with you...

she confessed to him, although th...

“But I won’t let you waltz in and out of my life as you please. You say you’re fighting for me, and you might even win the battle, but you wil...

Dante clenched ...

“Go to your apartment. I’ll come to talk ...

Amara nodded, took a deep breath, and stepped back from him, turning to go up the stairs. A hand suddenly spun her around and his mouth lingering close to hers, inches from her, so close she could feel the warmth of his breath over her lips, the air between them hard, intense, electric, making her tingle from the root of her hair to the tips of her curling toes. She leaned into him, soaking up the tension, the magnetism, the physicality she had m...

She saw his hand rise up in the reflection, coming around to her neck, a finger looping into the silk scarf, tugging it down. Her breathing hitched as she watched him expose her scar to their reflection slowly, his thumb brushing the horizontal mark, his face leaning down to brush his lips against her ear.

“Did he kiss you, Amara?”

Her nipples pebbled. Breathing heavily, her chest heaving, their gazes locked, something heady pulsing between them, Amara shook her head. Dante pressed his lips to her lobe again, the poss...

“Ask me to ki...

Her lips tingled, the memory of the last time she’d asked him for a kiss throbbing between them. She knew if she asked this time, it would change things. They had gone for months without seeing each other, without speaking to each other, living their lives. He had no right to come barging into hers, only to walk away as he pleased. She wouldn’t let herself be a pushover, not for the whim of a man, even if...

“You don’t have the right to demand anything, Dante. I’m not yours. You ...

He was in her space before she had spoken the last word, his hands spearing into her hair, tilting her face up, h...

“You and I, Amara, we will never be a...

he murmured, his words ghosting o...

“We could fuck a hundred other people but this, this will never go away. Do you fee...

Her heart was thundering by the time he finished speaking, his chest an inch away from her heaving breasts. She did feel it, much stronger than it had ever been before. Amara looked up at his lips, the mouth she had tas...

“Are you going to figh...

she whispered, the wound of his words still bleed...

“I am, A...

he told her, his eyes burning, taking...

“But I can’t give you more than that right now. I tried staying away, letting you live yo...

he pressed his forehea...

“I can’t, Amara. You’re the beat to my f...

And he was hers. Amara felt her eyes burning, remembering the feeling of love and safety she’d felt with him, the deep pain of loneliness that had become her constant over the last few months, her nose twitching. She believed him. For whatever reason, her heart had known even when breaking that he’d not done it out of disregard. And watching him, the anguish on his face, she believed him. But she didn’t know if this meant anything, or what tomorrow would bring. But she knew she wanted him, wanted everything with this man. Swallowing d...

“Kiss...

His lips crashed on hers before she had finished speaking, swallowing the last of her word. Finally. Her body trembled. Amara stretched higher on her toes, the pressure of his mouth making a shiver run down her spine. He tilted her head to the side, slashing his lips more firmly across hers, and licked at the seams of her closed mouth, the taste of him—smoke and wine and him—filling the gnawing hunger inside her. She felt her lips part on a soft moan, and he took the invitation, swooping in, tangling his tongue with hers. Dante’s kiss was fire through her veins, not the kind that burned her down to cinders and ashes, but the kind that warmed her from the inside out in places she hadn’t known she’d been cold and shivering. It lit up the corners in her being that had been shrouded in darkness, forcing everything malefic to the shadows as she basked in the warmth. He guided her mouth and she followed, this dance of a different kind, one they’d danced so many times before. He pulled back, and she opened her eyes, taking in his lips, painted the shade of hers, wet from her mouth. It sent a tendril of something possessive dispersing ...

“You need to stop if you don’t want to be ...

Heat snaked inside her body, coiling low in her belly, melting her insides. She wanted to be fucked. She wanted to be fucked by him. But she didn’t want to panic in the middle of it. She bi...

“Go slow, p...

His eyes flared and suddenly, she was flat on her back on the bed, her legs dangling over the edge, Dante kneeling between them, his gaze on hers, hi...

“Do you want me t...

She shook her head mutely, her heart hammering in a way that sent wetness pooling between her legs. He took a hold of her panties, pulling them down her legs and throwing ...

“Fuck, you’re dr...

His rough, hard voice noting that with his rough, hard fingers on her flesh just made her wetter. She push...

“Da...

She felt his hands get a hold under her knees, pushing her legs back towards her on the bed, splayi...