And a claiming?
Never more enamored with myliunissa, I released my hold on her only to hook an arm around her waist. “You’re full of compliments.”
“That’s me. Full of surprises and compliments. Better than being full of shit.” Her grin hovered between malicious and self-deprecating as she pressed her hands to my chest. “Are they really the bracelets you were looking for?”
Leaning back, I snagged the case then handed it to her.
Her beatific smile warmed my heart as she accepted them into her possession and opened the box. “You recognize them?”
“I do. I’d be surprised if Sofia would lie about something like this anyway. There was no need to even give them to me…” Shaking my head, I smoothed a finger over the cadre of diamonds that surrounded the large cabochon rubies. A design that made them obscenely gaudy.
“She gave you these for free,” she whispered dazedly.
“Nothing’s truly free in this world,duci. I think you’ve learned that by now.”
“You’ve done a lot for me for free.”
I’d done plenty more than she even knew about.
“You’re mine. Of course I have. That’s different.”
“I like hearing you say that.”
“I like hearingyousay it too.”
Trickling my fingers down her shoulders, I captured her hand before slipping first one cuff then the other over her knuckles and palms until both sat on a future Valentini’s wrists.
The bracelets, as well as the rest of the string of rubies, weren’t to any modern taste, but that didn’t take away the significance of them. In that moment, Kitty, already the sexiest woman I’d ever seen in my whole life, was infinitely more beautiful.
She wore the security of our reign.
Those rubies signified our longevity.
Now, we just needed one more piece.
“They’re heavy. I don’t know why I didn’t think they would be.” She maneuvered her wrist this way and that. “I don’t think I’ve…” She shook her head. “These must be worth more than my entire street.”
“Something like that.”
“Just the necklace until the curse is over. What will you do with them?”
“Bury them in a safety deposit box so that no one can ever steal them.
“Once we have the full set, we’ll get them out once a year, to remind people that we’re richer than Croesus and… well, superstition.” My smile turned sheepish. “The Valentini queen has to wear the collection for it to hold true.”
“That’s your brother’s wife.”
Nodding, I leaned into her so our noses were brushing. “Do you mind being only a Valentini princess?”
Her laughter lit up my soul. “Does the job come with perks?”
“Orgasms, designer shoes, and a man who’ll kill for you.”
She grew still, but before I could smack myself upside the head for the reminder of what I was, she surprised me again.
“I enjoyed that.”
I read between her lines. “The meal?”
