"Aurora!" Luca beams. "Perfect timing. We're both hopeless at this."
She smiles beautifully, not the fake one she uses around Leo. "Let me guess. The ties again?"
"How'd you know?"
"Because you've never been able to tie a bow tie in your life, Dad."
She crosses to him first. I watch her hands work, deft and sure, transforming the mess into something elegant. She's close enough that I can smell her perfume, soft, floral, and expensive, which makes me want to bury my face in her neck.
Stop it, Axel.
"There." She steps back. "Perfect."
Luca examines himself in the mirror. "Thank you, my Princess." He kisses her forehead.
"Don't." She chuckles. “I’m a big girl now.”
“You will always be my little Princess.”
Something flickers in Aurora's eyes. Pain, maybe. Or regret.
"Thanks, Dad."
"Your turn," Aurora says, looking at me.
Oh no. Oh shit.
She crosses to where I'm standing, and suddenly the room feels too small.
"May I?" She gestures to my tie and takes another step forward.
I take a step back before stopping myself and clearing my throat. “Y-Yeah. Please."
She steps close.
Fuck, she’s too close.
I can feel the heat of her, see the pulse in her throat. Her hands reach for my tie, and when her fingers brush my collar, electricity shoots through me.
This is torture.
She's focused on the tie, not looking at me. But I can see everything, the way her breath hitches slightly, the flush creeping up her neck, the way her fingers tremble just barely.
She feels it too.
"Hold still," she murmurs.
I freeze. Let her work. Watch her face as she concentrates, the tiny furrow between her brows, the way she bites her lower lip.
I want to kiss her.
Right here, right now, with her father three feet away. I want to grab her face and kiss her until she forgets about Leo, about this engagement, about everything except me.
Her hands smooth down my lapels. Linger there longer than necessary.
"Done," she whispers.
Our eyes meet.
