Ava looked away from me as I slipped her boot back on. Her eyes gazed out at the passing scenery as the water taxi grew closer to Marco Polo airport. Her blond hair tumbled down her shoulders in chaotic waves. An edge of one of the strands was still stained with blood. But the way the dreary light haloed her…it made my chest ache in a way it never had.
My eyes consumed her beauty, as if they had been starved of anything with substance.
In a rush, she exhaled and popped up like her seat had gotten hot. A loudwhack!echoed from her head hitting the roof.
I could not stop it in time.
“Shit!” Her hands flew to her head.
I steadied her as she held her hands on her head as she sat down.
“Forgot that was there,” she breathed out. “But!” She pointed outside. We were just passing the place she’d been staying. “My things! I can’t leave my things. I don’t have the money to replace them. It’s bad enough that I lost my cloak last night. I checked it in at the event, but Rainer rushed me out and I didn’t have a chance to grab it. Ireallylove that cloak. It’s one of the most expensive things I own.Damn.” Her voice and eyes took on a sadness I felt in my chest.
An instinct I had never felt before rushed into my chest, and I felt the urge to find the root of her sadness and kill it. My hands ached to fix whatever troubled her. Even if it meant reaching deep into her heart and tearing out the darkness causing her to feel weak, scared, depressed, hurt.
The only thing I allowed myself to grapple with was the instinct.
I had to harden my chest to stop it from taking her in. I could not allow her to go any deeper than she had. I did not know if her intentions were pure, or how far she would go to get close to me, only to find my heart sacrificed to her pen later on.
However, her comfort level with me had changed. Before she was being quiet, demure, like she had been overwhelmed by the connection between us. But after I’d taken her boot off and we both seemed to harden toward each other, her words rushed out, and I could feel her energy soar.
This was either who she was, and the other version was a lie, or vice versa. Or perhaps the quieter version was a glimpse of who she would be with me. At peace with the silence, because we shared it.
She pressed against her head with both hands. “Ow.” She closed her eyes, locking me out of heaven, and took a deep breath.
Each of her features were soft and feminine. So was her body. I watched her, studying, memorizing, until she opened her eyes. “Your things have already been collected from the hotel.” I cursed the sound of my voice because it came out somewhat strangled, raspy, and too fucking vulnerable.
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. I turned and faced the front of the taxi until it sailed into a spot at Marco Polo Airport. I helped Ava out and we walked together until we met Beni. He was dressed in his co-pilot uniform.
His eyes were on mine, and he squeezed my shoulder. I nodded, acknowledging what the gesture meant. He was sorry to hear about what had happened to my father. Then I took the spinner suitcase he’d brought for me.
I told him her name and ordered him in Italian to watch her. “Do not let her out of your sight.” I glanced at her, and her face was pinched, trying to understand our words. I went on to say that I would explain after we took off what her business was. I also added that Luca Fausti had ordered it.
Beni stood taller, taking the order more seriously. He did not want his head to be severed from his body and put on a platter to be served at his family’s place for dinner.
I did not want to acknowledge that my movements were rushed as I washed off quickly and changed into my uniform. But they were. Even though I trusted Beni, Ava Girardi was going to be as hard to keep locked away as a wild bird.
My feet stopped in the middle of the crowded airport before I made it back to Beni and Ava. She stood with her back turned to me, gazing out the window as planes landed and took off. Beni was staring at the profile of her face.
She was fucking exquisite when the light hit her, and she was caught up in the glow—like she’d flown out of the clouds after a cleansing rain.
A second later, she turned, and our eyes met from across the airport. She took me in from head to toe, and her mouth fell open.
I would have paid millions to find out what she was thinking in that moment.
Beni said something to her, and she snapped her lips shut, blinking as she turned to him. He gestured toward me, and she nodded. She was taking her time, like she was in no rush to meet me, but her steps almost seemed exaggerated. She was forcing her pace.
Like an obstacle course fate had set down at my feet unexpectedly, this woman was going to be the greatest challenge of my life.
“Are we ready, cousin?” Beni asked in Italian.
“Where are we going?” Ava whispered.
“To Rome,” I said.
The Eternal City, she mouthed, and the three of us started to move through airport traffic. Her eyes kept flickering to me and then to the crowd.
“Is there a problem,SignorinaGirardi?” I asked her.
