Kiss me.
What? No. That’snotwhat I want.
But the closer he gets, the less I can avoid looking at his lips.
He stops a half step away, close enough for his scent to hit me with full force. Pine, leather, smoke. “You look like a dream.”
My heart’s ignoring my head, and it’s now doing strange pirouettes inside my chest.
He lifts his hand and curls it around my neck, threading his fingers through my hair.
“What are you doing?” I whisper, feeling drunk even though I haven’t had a single sip of alcohol all day.
I should tell him to stop touching me, but the words die on my tongue when his thumb gently strokes the side of my neck.
A flutter appears in the pit of my belly before it moves lower.
“I got you something,” he murmurs, his breath coasting over my face.
His hand remains on my nape as he retrieves a small black velvet box from his pocket. With a flick of his thumb, he opens it and holds it up for me to see.
A wedding ring.
Andwhata ring.
Baguette diamonds set seamlessly side by side in a gleaming gold setting. They form a continuous sparkling band that dances with light.
“What do you think?”
It might be the most exquisite ring I’ve ever seen. It’s extravagant. Impossible to ignore.
And I fucking love it.
I love it so much.
“You don’t like it.”
My gaze lifts to Nero’s face. I must have been staring in mute shock at the ring for long enough to make him worried.
Uncertainty and a tinge of vulnerability dance inside his eyes, and for a moment, I almost give in to the urge to kiss him before I remember that I can’t.
Ican’t.
So instead, I force myself to speak. “How could I not like it? It’s beautiful.”
His lips quirk up. He removes his hand from my nape, drags it down my arm, and picks up my left hand. The ring he put on me inside that Vegas chapel comes right off, and then he slowly slides on the stunning new band.
It’s a perfect fit.
“What if someone steals it?” I whisper.
Nero huffs a low laugh. “That’s not going to happen. No one’s that suicidal.” He lifts my hand and presses his lips against my knuckles, making me lose my ability to breathe.
God.
How can he still have this much power over me? And why does it feel like it only grows with each passing day?
I have to pull it together. I can’t be weak.
