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CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
Isaac
As much asI want to tense up, I don’t. I need her to believe I’m asleep. But the truth is, I can’t sleep. I’m relaxed but very much awake, soaking up every second I can of Aurelia sleeping like a baby against my chest. It’s taken all my willpower to keep from getting hard. If I did that again and she felt it, I would feel so ashamed. I was happily lying here with my arms wrapped around her, her head turned slightly to the side so I could see her beautiful face whenever I opened my eyes. Then she woke up. I was curious to know what she’d do when she thought I was sleeping too. But I did not expectthat.
I felt her breath on my face, sweet and warm, as she peered over me. Then I felt her lips against mine, and fuck if she didn’t feel my heart pounding out of my chest. I laid there, soft and still, while she brushed her top lip against mine. It tickled, but the sensation of every single nerve ending firing up stopped me from laughing. Because it wasn’t funny. It was the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever felt. But I couldn’t open my eyes. I couldn’t break the spell. I couldn’t make it real, because we can’t go there. As well as all the other very valid reasons why we wouldn’t work, Aurelia hasn’t even lived. She may have traveled and experienced things most people never will, but she’s had only one boyfriend—one. She’s got no idea what she wants from a guy, or what she needs. But I do, and it’s not me. She needs to have fun with guys her own age, who are probably in the industry too and understand her life.
I waited until she settled back into my arms before I finally breathed out. Then when I was sure she was fast asleep, I gently carried her to her suite, laid her down on the bed and covered her with the comforter and blanket. Then I left the villa, nodding to Jax on the way out.
* * *
I can seethe boat already approaching, it’s distant lights looming large, until they are switched off, revealing on the surface of the sea only the glittering reflection of the stars. A truck has already been parked up, a tarp pulled taut across the back. As I get closer, I see Luca in the driver’s seat.
“Is Connor with Starling?” I ask as he rolls down the window.
“Yeah. They’re staying up in Miami. It’s just me and you, kid.”
I snort sarcastically. I’m ten years older than Luca and hardly a ‘kid’. Aurelia would be better off with Luca than me—he’s bound to be more on her wave-length. I push the thought away because it makes my stomach cave.
“So, what’s the drill? We just take the boxes and drive them straight up to the city?”
“Not this time. Bianchi’s getting nervous. We’re to take them as far as Islamorada, then change vehicle, you head back here and I continue up to Key Largo and we switch hands there.”
“Got it.” I look out to the deck and the boat is almost here. “Let’s get it over with.”
The two guys give us a cursory nod as we unload the boxes of ammo into the back of the truck. Bianchi is taking a risk letting us transport the goods in what is effectively an open top vehicle, but his view is the less suspicious it looks, the better. I pull the tarp across and climb in beside Luca who keeps the lights dead as we drive back through the resort and up onto the Highway.
“Does Aurelia know you’ve gone?” Luca says, glancing across at me.
“No, she’s asleep. If I told her anything, she’d ask too many questions.”
I get another feeling in my gut I’ve never felt before, and I suddenly realize, I’m lying to Aurelia and I don’t like it. Well, not lying exactly, but concealing the truth from her. She’s not the first woman I’ve kept the Bianchi stuff from—Paris is a case in point—but she is the first woman I wish I could share it with. Everyone on the Key knows we do this, and they each benefit from the extra money we make. Our wages for working on the Key are so poor, the additional ‘bonuses’ we get from the Bianchi work allow us to pay for stuff that helps our people and their families. But, we can’t let an outsider know what we do to support our Starling Key family. And as deep inside my head as Aurelia is, she’s still an outsider.
For the rest of the journey, Luca fills me in on what the rest of the team have been up to, while I feign interest, my mind still reeling from the sensation of Aurelia’s lips on mine. Two hours later, I take the steering wheel of the truck and watch Luca drive away in a non-descript car. Then, I put my foot down, my need to get back to Aurelia overriding everything else.
