When I finally stopped talking, she looked thoughtful. Dangerous. That expression always meant trouble.
"What?" I demanded.
She tilted her head. "Did you ever want children, Santino?"
The question hit harder than expected. Silence filled the room. Rain tapped against the windows. A heavy punching bag swayed lazily nearby. Somewhere below us, the city continued moving. Cars. People. Lives. None of it mattered.
I looked at Aurora. Then looked away.
"No." The answer came fast. Honest. Simple. True.
Aurora blinked. Clearly surprised. "Really?"
I shook my head. "Never."
Because children meant attachments. Weakness. Loss. I'd spent most of my life convinced the universe enjoyed taking things from me. Why would I hand it another target?
Aurora looked thoughtful. Almost relieved. Then I continued.
"Until you."
Silence. Absolute silence. Her eyes widened. I kept my expression neutral. Matter-of-fact. Because I wasn't trying to be romantic. I wasn't. I was simply telling the truth. And the truth was usually worse.
Aurora stared. "Santino..."
I shrugged. "The idea never appealed to me."
Her cheeks were turning pink again. I enjoyed that entirely too much. "But now?"
I leaned back against the ropes. Watching her carefully. "Now I think about it."
"A lot?" she whispered.
"A concerning amount." Aurora made a strangled noise at my words. I continued before she could recover. "The idea of seeing a little girl with your eyes running around my house."
Her lips parted. "The attitude would be horrifying."
"The temper would be catastrophic,” I added. "The poor teachers.”
She covered her face with both hands. I laughed. Actually laughed. The sound echoed through the gym. "So… You've thought about this."
"Obviously,” I muttered.
Her hands dropped. She looked genuinely horrified now. Which only made it better. The answer came so naturally neither of us was prepared for it. Silence followed. Heavy. Meaningful. Dangerous. Because Aurora wasn't blushing anymore. She was simply staring at me. And for the first time since she'd asked the question, I let her see the truth. Not the joke. Not the teasing. The truth.
The silence stretched between us like a loaded gun, heavy and inevitable.
Aurora stared at me with those wide, dark eyes, her lips parted in raw, desperate hunger. My confession had cracked something open between us, and now the beast I kept chained beneath layers of blood and control was roaring to the surface.
I closed the distance in two powerful strides, my hand fisting roughly in her thick dark hair as I yanked her flush against my hard body. My mouth slammed down on hers in a punishing kiss, claiming every inch of her like territory I’d bleed for.
She tasted like storm rain and crisp apples, sweet sin wrapped in untouched innocence I was about to destroy. My tongue invaded deep, teeth scraping her lower lip until she whimpered and melted, her fingers clawing at my sweat-damp T-shirt.
I backed her up until her spine hit the thick ropes of the boxing ring. The canvas groaned under the impact as I pinned her there with my much larger frame, one muscular thigh shoving between her legs to spread her wide.
My hands roamed with brutal possession, gripping her hips hard enough to bruise, fingers digging into soft flesh that would wear my marks for days. She arched desperately into me, her full tits pressing against my chest, nipples hard through her thin sweater.
Thunder crashed outside, rattling the floor-to-ceiling windows as rain lashed the glass like it was trying to get in.