Her head turned slightly. “You are enjoying this.”
“Yes.”
“Disgusting,” she said.
“Focus.”
“You focus,” she insisted.
“I am.” The words came out lower than intended. Her breath caught. Tiny sound. Barely there. I heard it anyway. Every instinct in me sharpened.
No. Not here. Not like this. Not when she was still learning whether my hands meant danger. I stepped back. Cold air rushed between us. Aurora glanced over her shoulder. For one second, something flickered across her face. Confusion. Maybe disappointment. Then it vanished. Good. Probably.
She aimed at the target. Badly. Terribly. Adorably. I should have corrected her again. Instead, I noticed she’d put the earrings I’d given her on. But there was only one sparkling diamond, not two.
My entire body stilled.
“Aurora.”
She lowered the gun slightly and glanced back at me cheeks still flushed from the lesson. “What?”
I stepped closer eyes locked on her left ear. The single diamond caught the light mocking me. My jaw tightened. “Where’s the other earring?”
Her brows pulled together in confusion. She reached up automatically fingers brushing the lone earring. The moment she realized her face changed. The color drained from her cheeks. Her lips parted but no sound came out at first.
“I… I had both,” she whispered voice cracking. She touched her other ear frantically as if the missing diamond might magically reappear. “I put them both on before we came out here. I swear I did.”
She spun around eyes wide with growing panic as she patted her hair her neck the collar of her shirt. Nothing.
“No no no…” The gun forgotten in her hand she took a shaky step back. “Santino, I didn’t, I would never…”
Her voice broke completely. Devastation crashed over her features. Those dark eyes that usually sparked with fire or defiance now filled with something far worse. Guilt and loss so raw it hit me straight in the chest.
“That was your mother’s,” she said barely above a whisper. “Angelo’s… yours. And I lost it.” Her breath hitched. “I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry.”
She looked like she wanted the ground to swallow her whole. For the first time since I’d taken her Aurora Ventura looked genuinely devastated. Not angry. Not defiant. But heartbroken over something that belonged to me.
I stared at her, the single diamond glinting in her ear like a cruel reminder. Despite the irritation twisting in my chest at the loss all I could focus on was how fucking beautiful she looked standing there trembling with guilt. How badly I wanted to fist my hand in her hair, yank her against me and kiss that devastated look off her face until she forgot everything except my mouth on hers. How desperately I wanted to pin her to the nearest surface and remind her exactly who she belonged to.
It did matter. The earring. The memory. The last fragile piece of my mother I had left.
But the sight of Aurora like this her chest heaving her lips trembling her body practically vibrating with regret did dangerous things to me. My cock twitched at the worst possible moment. I wanted to devour her. To punish her. To comfort her. To claim her so thoroughly she would never lose anything of mine again.
And the look on her face told me she already knew exactly how deep in trouble she was.
My phone buzzed.
One glance at the screen killed every pleasant thought in my head. Marco.
COME TO THE OFFICE. NOW.
I looked toward the security post. Through the glass wall, Marco stood inside holding a tablet. His face told me enough. Trouble. Aurora lowered the gun. “What happened?”
“Nothing.”
She turned fully. “You are such a bad liar.”
“I’m an excellent liar.”