She shivers, and out of the corner of my eye I see her grip the edge of the desk. I smile. She can pretend she’s unaffected, but we both know the truth.
Hades gives a low sound, and we look over to see him standing beside the conference table. He nudges the chair at thehead of the table with his nose, and then moves along to the others and does the same.
“Clever fuckers,” Rori mutters, before swiftly climbing from my lap. It takes her seconds to find the bugs, crush them and send Hades off to find more. He finds a couple more near the door, and one hidden in a lamp shade, but finally she tosses all the pieces into the hallway, giving the guards outside a scowl before slamming the door.
“They’ll be in here in the next ten minutes once the guards tell them,” Rori gripes. She looks at me, and I lean back in Ilya’s chair, a sly grin on my face as I pat my thigh. Her eyes narrow, and I’m sure she’s going to tell me to fuck off, but instead she rounds the desk, each step making her hips sway, drawing my gaze and making my fingers flex.
When she reaches me, instead of sitting on my lap, she slips between me and the desk, leaning back against it, still close enough, but not giving me what I want.
My grin widens. Yeah, I’d have been disappointed if she’d done anything else. I reach out and grip her hips, and I see the slightest tilt of her lips. “I can do a lot in ten minutes,orsetta.”
“Ilya would probably shoot you.” But she doesn’t look concerned about that possibility.
“You’d protect me, wouldn’t you,orsetta? Especially if I laid you back and licked that pretty pussy so nicely, wouldn’t you? Making you come on my tongue and fingers.” I slide my hands slowly down the outside of her thighs, before gripping her and pulling them wider. She doesn’t fight me, just watching me.
“Are you trying to sex your way into my good graces again, Goliath?” she finally asks.
Elation fills me, but I’m careful not to let it show. She called me that during our little tryst in the woods, but this, this feels more significant. One more brick of her wall falling. “Is itworking?” I ask, leaning forward to press my mouth to the skin just above her exposed collarbone.
Goose bumps pebble her skin. “Perhaps. Though the rose you left on my pillow certainly helps your case today.”
Wait, what?
I pull back and look at her, arching a brow, confused. She gives me a careless shrug, but I see the softness in her eyes. “I don’t know how you knew I liked roses, but it was still sweet, even if you didn’t. And if you tell anyone that I’m a sucker for flowers, I’m going to have to kill you.” It’s said lightly, almost teasing, but I’m not laughing.
I can see the moment she registers my expression. I stare at her, fear and jealousy warring. “I didn’t leave you a flower, Aurora.” But I fucking should have. Another failure on my part if I’d have given it an ounce of thought.
Last night was emotional for both of us, but especially her. I should have realized that dealing with all of that might make her feel vulnerable. I should have taken the time to think about what that meant to her and not jumped out of bed, annoyed that she snuck out without waking me.
Now, however, knowing that someone got that close, got into her space without anyone knowing, or tipping her off, infuriates me.
Rori’s face doesn’t fall, but it tightens. She eases away from me, and I let her go, even though I want to snatch her back as she moves from the desk to the windows behind me.
Who the fuck was in her room? And what kind of message were they trying to deliver?
I turn to look at her. “I’ll have Ilya and Zakhar pull the footage. It was probably Simeon trying to be romantic or some bullshit to make you think he wants you as his fiancée. A way to convince you to play his idiotic game.” And I’m going to punch that fucker in the face again for even trying to attempt it.
Rori is mine. The only one who will be giving her flowers from now on will be me.
Something crosses over her face and I instantly recognize it. Grief. Sharp, clear. I get to my feet, needing to be close to her. To offer some kind of comfort. “What is it,orsetta?” I wrap my arm around her, pulling her back into me.
She doesn’t fight me, instead leaning her head back against my chest. “If it wasn’t you, it was a cruel statement by Simeon. Mishka used to leave flowers for me everywhere.” My grip tightens on her as I try to deal with my jealousy of a dead man. Even now, years later, she loves him. And what kind of an asshole am I to hate a man that’s lying six feet down?
“Always roses?” I force myself to ask. I need to push these emotions aside. This is about Rori. About helping her past whatever demons are rolling around in her mind.
“Not always, but mostly the majority of the time when he found out they’re my favorite flower. I like all the colors, but especially the red. Timur used to get so disgusted with Mishka for giving them to me, but it was mostly to cheer me up, knowing I was struggling being in that house. Or it was just his way of letting me know he was thinking of me.”
“He loved you.” Fucker.
“I loved him too, but neither of us loved each other in a romantic sense. I saw him as a best friend, and someone who understood me. Saw me struggling in the real world and not in a regimented torturous school. And I saw a man that was trying to live up to his father’s impossible standards to protect his older brother that was going to be the heir. It pissed me off to see him struggle all the time, but we had each other and we agreed we’d see each other through it.”
Another wave of grief slices across her expression. I tighten my hold on her and lean down to press a kiss to the top of herhead. “And then he was gone and you had to figure it out on your own,” I finish, understanding.
She nods. “It’s why I struggled so much until Timur let me leave. I was of no use to him, and he didn’t want to continue to see me moping. I’m still not sure what convinced him not to send me back to my father for re-training or just to get rid of me, but it let me live. It led me to Sienna.” A deep breath. “And you. Even if you have been a pain in the ass.”
I chuckle. “And you love it,orsetta. You’d be bored to tears with someone that didn’t challenge you and didn’t piss you off on a daily basis.” I nip at the top of her ear, making her hiss and tilt her head to glare up at me. “You never have to worry about that with me.”
“I have to worry about wanting to shoot you and feed you to my dog,” she agrees drily.
