He spins me around, and I can't help the giggles that come out, but when he sets me down, I fuss at him."For the love of Zeus!My mother tells everyone I'm a big shot headliner in a special Vegas dance troupe.How are we going to tell them I'm a stripper?They think I'm a good girl from Alabama who made a name for herself from our little redneck town.Not Seary, the Sex Pot."
His eyes laugh at my overreaction."Don't worry about it."
"Don't worry about it?Are you fucking kidding me?And blindside them?No way!As soon as everyone starts arriving, they will hear the truth.We have to tell them now before they hear it from someone else.I won't have them shocked that way.That's not fair to them.No!We tell them.Now."
"I agree.They want to know how we met, and we will tell them the truth."
"Oh great!The truth!That you saw me giving a lap dance to some other dude in a strip club in Vegas and booked me, but I vanished before we could fuck, only to have Karma bring us together in Alabama months later, and we fell in love at first sight?Sweet Zeus!Our story sounds crazy even to me!"He laughs out loud at me, and I swat his chest."It isn't funny!"
"Yes, it is.
"No, it's not.This is going to shock the shit out of them!I just hope that if they don't die from it, they won't hate me."I lay my forehead on his chest with a thud, and his arms slide around me.
"Listen, Siri.You have to trust me.I got this, ok?"He hugs me tight."It's going to be ok.A month from now, none of this will matter, and a year from now, we will all be laughing about it."
"You are being naive, Aurei."
He laughs."No, I'm being real."
My arms slip around his small waist, and I pull him tight against me."Why can't erotic dancing be seen as an artistic form of lovemaking instead of an expression of lust?Why does it have to be perceived as dirty?"I take a deep breath and let it out with a heavy sigh."Why is my life so fucking complicated?"
His hands slide from my ass, up my arms, and to each side of my neck.His thumbs slide over my necklace, and he kisses the top of my head."Look at me," he whispers.I tip my face to his, and he places sweet little butterfly kisses on it as his fingers slide to hold my face captive."There is nothing too complicated for two hearts that choose to be together.It's the choice that makes it work.Your words.Not mine.We have chosen each other.I know you.You know me.Everyone else, including my parents, and the entire Liotine family, if they don't like it, fuck 'em!"
I can't help but smile at him."You state that so eloquently."
"You are mio Bella Signorina, don't fucking forget it!"His lips touch mine, and his kiss shuts out the world.Us.When he lets me go, he smiles his beautiful smile at me."Better?"
"Yes, Sir.Better."
Inside, Marco has lunch prepared, and the table is set for the four of us in the sunroom just off the kitchen.Zita and Bob are already seated when we enter, holding hands.Their smiles are so warm and happy towards me.I hate the thought that I will be a disappointment to them now.
As Aurei pulls the chair out for me, I look down to sit and realize I'm wearing a bright pink shirt that says, "Just do it" on it.I pull my hair over my left shoulder and let it drape the words "do it," hiding them.He smirks at my gesture and rolls his eyes, then takes the seat on my right.I'm across from Bob, and he is across from Zita.She is unable to monopolize my conversation, having to speak across the table to me.The strategic move isn't lost on me and probably not them either.
Aurei always has things under control.Breathe.
The entire time we eat, Bob and Aurei keep the conversation light, and we talk pleasantries, the weather here and in Alabama, the Farm and the Villa, horses, and dogs.Finally, the conversation swings around to us.
Zita asks, "Ok.I've been patient, young man.Spill the beans."She smiles sweetly, then we both look at Aurei.
He grins sheepishly and nods his head to me."You go first."
I glare at him for a split second before my poker face slides on.Then I turn to face her and say, "Karma brought us together.I didn't actually meet Aurei until I was back in Alabama after my mom's accident.I met him in the lobby of my apartment building.I dropped my phone, and he picked it up."I smile lovingly at him."When he handed it to me, and our hands touched, then I looked into his eyes, I knew he was the one."
He takes my hand, kisses it, then picks up the story."But you were right, Zita.I caught her show before Thanksgiving and was blown away by her.I kept returning, trying to learn more information about her, but everyone was tight-lipped.No one would talk to me, and all my attempts to meet her were thwarted by her security detail."
"Security detail?"Bob chimes in, impressed with that tidbit of information.
"Yes, sir.You see, Siri is a big Star in Vegas.She's not only under constant guard but isolated from the audience too."He answers his father directly, then shifts his attention back to his mother."I kept going back again and again, trying to discover more about her and trying to meet her, but all I learned was how special everyone thinks she is and how competent her security is."
"It must be if you weren't able to penetrate it," Bob smirks at me."He doesn't like to lose."
I laugh at that.
Aurei continues, "She has one rule she never breaks for anyone, and everyone knows it, so I didn't even get a chance."
His mother smiles at me."What rule is that, dear?"
He is so competent!
