I turn to him, finding him closer to me than I thought he was. “So you’re finally ‘doing relationships’ again?”
“It’s just a date. In fact, if it wasn’t frowned upon, I’d tape her mouth shut, put her in the back of a car and have the driver take her home,” he deadpans.
I laugh.Dammit.
“Damien, I don’t think you should be here—with me,” I lie. I want him here. I miss him. But my anger towards him hasn’t diminished. He treated me like a leper.
I feel him closing the distance between us, pressing me against the cold marble pillar.
“I was wrong to push you away. I promised I’d be there for you, and that’s what I thought I was doing. I thought if I pushed you away, I could protect you. That it would keep you safe.” His voice breaks at the end and he blinks back a single tear.
“Damien, you ruined me,” I whisper through gritted teeth. “I needed you and you pushed me away. I left all I had to be with you.” I feel myself losing control. “I loved you.”
“Loved.” He exhales.
“Dammit, Damien! I hate you, and I love you, and I’m losing my fucking mind!”
He grins with his eyes flicking between mine. Saying nothing, but saying everything.
My walls crack and start to tumble, rock by rock and pebble by pebble. I know that if my eyes drop to his exquisite lips, this could be the beginning of my own personal hell. But then it happens. I let my eyes take in his features. He has more stubble than before, accentuating his kissable lips.
As his breath meshes with mine, my eyes flutter closed, hoping … dying for him to kiss me. His elbow is propping him against the pillar behind me as he brings his mouth to the shell of my ear.
“I still love you, Firefly. I willalwayslove you.” He pushes himself back slightly and finds my eyes.
“Avalyne?” A shout comes from down the hallway, breaking me out of this trance.
“Get away from me, Damien! We are never going to happen.” I push his chest and take a few steps away and lean over the banister to catch my breath.
“There you are. I’d thought you left,” Rocco says, eyeing Damien. “Alarie. Keeping my girl company?”
“She looked unwell, so I was making sure she was okay. But since you’re here now, I can go,” Damien says, frowning, but he musters up a grin and winks at me as Rocco stalks over.
I hear the door close and Rocco grabs me in his arms. “Come with me,bellissima.”
“Where are we going?”
“Sicily. We leave tonight.”
I’ve been to many different countries. My dad made sure I saw a lot of the world, but the one place I’ve wanted to go more than anywhere is Italy. The thought of going there excites me, but the one person I would want to share that experience with won’t be there.Damien.
But this is the thrill I’ve been looking for.Right?
AVALYNE
R
occo drops me off at my place to pack and picks me back up at two in the morning. I avoid calls from Mallory and Lilac all night, trying to duck out of their constant worries. We drive to the private airstrip and board his private jet. Lilac hasn’t reached out since I left her at the bar a while back. My friendship with her has crumbled, but right now I’m being selfish, and the less she knows the better.
Of course he has a private jet.
“Miss Ava. Would you like anything to drink?”
He answers for me. “We will have two mimosas. And cappuccino, yes?” he then asks.
“Actually, no mimosa, but I will have a black coffee and water if you have it, please.”
“Right away, ma’am,” the flight attendant whispers, scurrying away.
