body heat hugged his arm and leg as she snuggled in close, wrapping an arm across his chest. It was an easy closeness that he would normally attribute to a few glasses of prosecco. But she wasn’t drunk. And he was glad for that.
“You smell great,” she said. “Like a wild autumn night.”
“And you curl about me like a kitty cat.” He’d never cared for the feline species. Until now.
He opened the door, and before he could invite her inside, she kissed him there on the threshold. Bold, unexpected and only a little tentative. She was finding her way, not afraid to dive into the unknown. Could she handle him?
Perhaps he should wonder if he could handle her.
What was he thinking? Of course he could.
“You’re not afraid of cats, are you?” she asked.
“Here, kitty, kitty,” he murmured against her mouth. “Come in.”
With the proper invite into his home, the vampiress crossed the threshold, and Dante lifted her. Chest to chest, she wrapped her legs about his hips and swung her backpack onto the eighteenth-century tufted jacquard divan pushed up against the wall. She sought his kiss hungrily.
Dante eyed the backpack as he closed the door. It would be fine there. However, he would not be fine until he’d stripped this woman bare and made a thorough exploration of every inch of her skin.
* * *
Dante carried Kyler to the top of the stairs and into the bedroom. Rain spattered the windows, shrouded by sheer white curtains. The palazzo was dark, but moonlight illuminated this room brightly. Kyler had time to notice a bed with a white comforter and a chair with gray fabric as he set her down on the bed and then stepped back.
He stood there looking at her, unabashed sex clothed in a stylish suit and classy red tie. Drink me in with your eyes, she thought. The darkness shadowed half his face, and while that made it easier to stand in front of his admiration, it also made her want to see all of him. To share the admiration.
“Kiss me,” she said, fighting a nervous rise in her voice. She would not punk out on this opportunity. Being a little nervous with a new lover was okay, she told herself. She tapped her lips. “Come here, vampire.”
“You don’t like me looking at you?” He adjusted the tie knot, loosening it a bit.
“I do. But you can look much better with your fingers.”
“True.” He leaned over her and tangled his fingers into the ends of her hair. “Lush and soft. Like you. Alone in Venice on an art expedition. How I do want to discover what makes Kyler Cole tick. I’ll start with unwrapping you.”
He slid her turtleneck up her stomach and over her breasts. Her hair spilled in static snaps to her bare shoulders, and she was thankful she’d worn a lacy demi bra. The lace-trimmed edge danced just above her nipples, and the rosy buds hardened under Dante’s warm and desirous gaze.
He leaned in, the red tie tickling her stomach, and when she thought he’d kiss her above her breasts—and she lifted them expectantly—he instead hushed an exhale over her skin. A breath of desire. A shiver of want tightened her nipples. At her sides, her fingers curled into wanting claws and then relaxed. Heartbeats quickened.
Dante’s tongue lashed her skin a teasing three inches away from the lace bra. Her moan was unstoppable.
“You sound like the kitten you are,” he said as he wrapped an arm across her back.
As he glided his fingers up her stomach and rib cage to the base of her bra, Kyler gripped the tie and pulled him closer. The silken weave of his suit playing across her skin made her wonder whether or not she wanted him to get naked or stay clothed. Suit against flesh was an exotic sensation that heightened her desire even more.
He kissed her on the mound of a breast and nuzzled his nose across her skin, taking in her perfume. Yet she wore none. Couldn’t risk giving herself away tonight had she gotten close to human guards at the auction house.
The auction house. She’d abandoned the backpack downstairs without a care. She really should—
Kyler gasped as Dante’s lips closed over her nipple, still covered by the black lace. The heat of him and the firm pressure as his tongue teasing through the lace undid her rational thought. Whatever she’d been worried about mattered less than falling into his attentive discovery.
One of his hands pushed down her black leggings, beneath which she did not wear panties. She’d been going for a seamless look. He growled his appreciation at that and then nudged down the lace bra cups to fully take her nipple into his mouth.
Mercy, if it didn’t go any further than this, she’d be a happy woman. But tonight, happy had already been superseded by elation. So she was in it for the win. And an orgasm or two.
Hiking up one of her legs along his thigh, Dante grasped her ankle and held her there. He suckled at her nipple, lazing his tongue in circles and then sucking hard. He indulged in her. He’d likely had a lot of practice in pleasing women—no!
She wasn’t going to think like that. It was just the two of them. And she intended to enjoy every moment of his attention.
Shoving the suit coat from his shoulders, Kyler was able to shimmy it down his arms even as he drew a wet, exploratory line to her other nipple. He managed to unhook her bra in the back, and it fell away. She was now completely naked, and he was still dressed.
Dante pulled back to look at her. A sexy, know-too-much smile curled his mouth, preceding a low, whispery growl. He had her right where he wanted her.
And she was good with that.
Kyler leaned up onto her elbows and crooked a finger, inviting him to join her. When he stepped forward, she waggled that finger in a naughty admonishment.
“First, you get naked, too,” she said. “I want to look at you as you’ve been looking at me.”
“I can do that. But you won’t mind if I pick up my coat, will you?” He bent to retrieve the abandoned piece of clothing, then carefully folded it and placed it over the back of the tufted Louis XIV chair near the window. He turned, unbuttoning his cuffs. “I appreciate the lines of a well-tailored suit.”
Kyler leaned her head against her palm. “I appreciate the lines of a well-honed male.”
Pulling away the red tie with a fling, he relegated it to the top of the folded suit coat. A few expert flicks of buttons released the crisp white business shirt from protecting his sculpted lines and curves. Hard muscles pulsed with his movement, and the rise of prominent hip bones drew her eye to the angled muscles that arrowed toward his crotch.
Kyler murmured a satisfied coo. “Nice.”
Dante paused, his fingers teasing at his trouser buttons. “If you’re going to narrate my undressing I’m not sure I can continue.”
“Really? You are the last person I would expect to be shy. But I can keep quiet.” She drew pinched fingers across her lips.
Dante nodded, gifting her with the rest of the show. Beneath the trousers he wore briefs that
