But I can’t stop it.Can’t help it.I think of Aurora kissing that old fuck Marco Messina at her first wedding, I think about me not kissing her now, and I cannot fucking breathe.
She lets go of my hands.And I am lost.I am fucking flailing.
I have to touch her.Have to keep my hands on her.At least for this moment, in the sphere of the ceremony that has locked us together, however ephemerally.
My fingers rise to her jaw, cupping, feeling the curve or bone, the silk of skin, the quicksilver rhythm of her pulse.
Her lips part in surprise.
She doesn’t get the chance to say a single word before I take them.Her lips, her breath, every fucking thought in her head.Her pulse jumps in response, hammering in the tender places below her jawbones, as I glide my mouth over hers.
It’s so slow I nearly miss it.The timid creep of her fingers to my waist, like she’s worried if she tries too hard to hold me, then I will disappear.
Even if that’s what we agreed on.Even if that’s what she wants.
For me to go.So she can build her new life without me.
Something a hell of a lot like pain spears through me.The pressure of my mouth on hers increases, turns demanding.I’m asking something of her, but I don’t even fucking know what it is.
She answers with the ruinous, glorious touch of her tongue to mine.
I tear myself from her, failing lungs on fire, knowing that if I don’t stop now, I’m going to be fucking her right here in the church, just like I did on the train.Aurora’s cheeks are flushed, her lips damp and swollen-looking.She touches her own mouth with a trembling hand while Lee clears his throat and tells us it’s time to sign the license.I sign it in a haze, like I’ve fallen headfirst into a dream.Aurora signs as well, as do Leo and Robbie, followed, finally, by Lee.
And then, the entire thing is done.
Aurora Bianchi is my wife.
Lee never took the money.I pull it from my back pocket and leave it on his podium as he heads for the doors that lead into the entry area.He pulls them open and waits expectantly.Robbie goes through first.I press a hand to Aurora’s lower back, guiding her forward, with Leo bringing up the rear.Tammy is back, busily arranging the final items for the breakfast.She straightens up at the sight of us, pursing her lips and eyeing Aurora.
“Congratulations?”She says it like a question.Aurora smiles thinly and nods.
Lee unlocks the front doors and holds one for us.As cold morning air blasts in, he says, “May God be with you as you embark on this new journey together.But be careful.”
I halt in the doorway, my attention slicing to him at the warning.
“A storm is coming.”
I don’t know if this is some metaphorical mumbo jumbo or something as simple as the goddamn weather forecast.Either way, I don’t like it.The words hit me from a weird fucking angle.I quickly crack my knuckles before I pull Aurora closer, closing myself over her like a shield.
Chapter15
Aurora
Outside the church, a thin crowd of people has gathered, hunching into themselves as the wind rises.I don’t have a coat on.We went straight from inside the house to the car in the garage, and I somehow managed to overlook that.In New York, when I wore nothing but my wedding lingerie, Curse gave me his leather jacket to wear.He doesn’t do it this time, perhaps because he doesn’t want to stop and spend any more time out here than he has to.He clutches me in a merciless grip, clamped against his side, as he practically sprints across the street with me towards the SUV.Once again, he comes all the way around to my side of the vehicle, standing close behind me, blocking the door – and me – with his body.
He’s so close I feel his heat seep through my sweater.
So close I can feel the stir of his breath at my scalp.
As soon as I’m seated, he’s slammed the door on me.I hear the door’s lock click into place.I only hear it unlock again when Curse is at the driver’s side, yanking open his own door.Does he really think someone could grab me from my seat in the two seconds it took him to jog to his side of the car?
I guess he can’t be too careful with his brother’s cash cow.
But Curse Titone wouldn’t bother kissing his brother’s cash cow.
I still can’t believe he kissed me at the wedding.Of all the things I might have guessed that he would do, that one would have registered at the very bottom of the list.I would have expected him to murder everyone in that fucking building before doing something like that.
He claimed my mouth like I belonged to him.
