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"Christian, I—"
"Christian, Aurora," Nonna’s voice sounds from the doorway.
"Oh, hell," she whispers, "it’s your grandmother." She begins to pull away, but I grab her wrist and stop her. Then I wrap an arm around her waist and turn to face the woman who’s decided to come between me and my plaything.
16
Aurora
"What are you doing in here?" Nonna strides in, followed by Cassandra, who wrings her hands.
"I … I couldn’t stop her," she grimaces.
"Damn right." Nonna fixes her with a stern look. "Don’t forget whose employ you are in right now, young lady."
"That’s not fair," I begin to protest, and Nonna turns on me.
"I know you young people like to pretend that we’re all born equal, but the fact is we are not, and the faster you reconcile yourself to that, the quicker you’ll be able to find some measure of happiness."
"Is that what you did?" I frown. "Reconcile?"
"Not a word you like, I take it?" She draws herself up to her full height. "It’s not as bad as it sounds. There’s a measure of comfort to be found when you acknowledge that things are not always in your hands. The sooner you learn to give in to the inevitable, the better it’s going to be for you."
"I’ll never do that." I fold my arms around my waist. "I am never going to settle for something that is below my expectations."
"Is that right?" Nonna’s lips curve in a smile.
Next to me, Christian stiffens. I sense him shoot me a look, but I don’t acknowledge it.
"And you?" Nonna arches an eyebrow at my fake fiancé. “Any words of new-age wisdom that you’d like to add to the conversation?"
"Me?" the rat’s ass says with an innocent expression on his features. "You know me, Nonna, I’m a man of simple pleasures. The basic needs of life are what I aim to fulfill, which is why I couldn’t stay away from my lovely fiancée."
What the—? I cannot believe he just said that. I try to pull away, but his hold around my waist tightens.
"You don’t fool me, either." Nonna scowls at the asshole who just seconds ago had his dick down my throat. Right before he pulled me to my feet and kissed me as if his life depended on it, as if he couldn’t go another second without twining his breath with mine and drinking from me. Because that’s what it was—him trying to inhale me, trying to claim me, trying to … share some of that grief that lurks inside of him with me? And then, just when I thought that he was going to release me, he softened the kiss. He held his lips to mine, shared my breath, gazed into my eyes as if he was searching for the answer to those secret questions that you ask yourself when you think no one else is listening. When you are on your own, adrift, alone and sure that you’ll never find another soul who’ll understand you, who’ll want to know you, to be with you, the one you’ll want to share your life with.
Do I want to share my life with this … this … overbearing, hard, overcome-with-sorrow alphahole? I glance at him sideways and find him training his gaze on his grandmother.
"You wound me, Nonna." He finally releases me and closes the distance to the old woman. "I was simply ensuring that my future wife is comfortable and has everything she needs."
"Hmph." Nonna looks him up and down. "I’m not that old that I don’t know when a man and a woman have been going at it."
"Please," I burst out, "will the two of you stop already?"
Both of them turn their gazes on me, and I freeze. "I mean," I raise my hands, "this was just Christian being Christian, and I know I should not have agreed to meet him without a chaperone, but you know how persuasive my fiancé can be, Nonna."
She glances between us, and a sly smile curves her lips. "Are you defending him?"
"Umm," I shuffle my feet, "not really." I hesitate. "Okay, maybe I am. I mean, it’s not like I don’t appreciate everything you’ve done for me, Nonna, truly, but he’s leaving now. My virtue is still intact"—technically—"so can we just forget about what happened?"
"On one condition."
"Which is?"
"You promise to turn him away the next time he turns up."
"And we both know how impossible it is to say 'no' to him."
