Dark love

elled like antis

mach, the other gripping the hem of her dress with white-knuckled tension. The soft whir of ma

ts, businesspeople rushing toward deals, espresso bars chattering with m

eedles. Or tests. She

was dangerous

r creak

tu

stepp

rousers, and a look of carefully composed intensity. He greeted the t

re you'd com

ten a.m.

t it wasn't cold eit

ore it could mean m

throat. "If you're ready, S

od by her side, a few feet away-close enough t

kin, cold and sudden. A wa

screen

m. A tiny shape

an said, smiling fain

lloping rhythm that filled the room an

xhaled

't expec

the

swell of

cked the backs of her

-but not before she saw

rehend. His jaw tightened. His hands remained still. But his ey

iet for a

"That'

herself to speak.

felt it-the nearness. The change. The shared gravity of

ct it," he

aration. A truth he didn't kno

r stirred again-not desire, not yet, but so

sn't just a fort

ng, brick by brick,

sonogram photo and handed it to Elena, who stared

t, Matteo fell in

have to come

ause for the first time,

, but held the s

mething shifted between th

ard pos

re dangerous th