" Do you remember what happened last night?” Falco asked.
“Some of it,” Cass admitted. “I remember seeing things that weren’t there.” The weird flashes in the mirror stayed with her. Hallucinations, maybe, but for some reason they felt like warnings, like pushing them from her mind completely would be a very bad idea. Then a terrible thought hit her. Maybe she had imagined everything, even the kiss. She lifted a hand to her mouth. Her lips pulsed with their own heartbeat. “Did you actually…I mean, we didn’t really…?”
Falco seemed to read her mind. He grinned. “No, that part really happened.”
Cass’s cheeks flushed with warmth. He was looking at her as if he wanted to kiss her again, like he’d be content to spend the whole day snuggled on the divan with his arms around her. Again, she fought the urge to tame his unruly hair with her fingers.
“I have to go,” she said, heading toward the door. “If the servants realize I’m missing, they’ll be frantic.” And they’ll tattle on me.
Falco stretched and rose from the divan. “I can come with you if you like. If you think you’ll get lonely on the journey home.” His blue eyes glimmered with mischief.
Cass imagined nestling beside Falco beneath the felze while a gondolier rowed them back to San Domenico. It was unlikely she would be able to resist his advances, and her own desires, during the ride across the lagoon. And she couldn’t go kissing him during the day. Anyone might see. She shouldn’t be kissing him at all. She was risking her whole future for this boy she barely knew. "

― Fiona Paul , Venom (Secrets of the Eternal Rose, #1)