you.’
‘I would say it has everything to do with me, given our fathers agreed—’
‘Since when did I ever do as my father wished?’ Nico interrupted.
‘You rejected me.’
‘You were sixteen—and if you want to take offence that I was not attracted to some teenager who I looked at as a sister, then that is your choice.’
Aurora swallowed. She had never thought of it like that.
‘You think of me as a sister?’
‘I did.’
And now he did not.
‘Do you think of me the same way now? Or as a friend?’ she asked.
‘We can never be friends Aurora.’
Some might take that as an insult, Aurora thought, but it was true. She did not want to do the things she wanted to do to Nico with her friends.
‘What have you been doing?’ he asked again.
‘Trying to fit in—but as always I didn’t.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Chi-Chi is desperate to marry and Antonietta…’ She hesitated, and then told Nico what he might not know, as it was very recent news. ‘She is soon to be engaged to Sylvester.’
‘But isn’t he her cousin?’
‘Second cousin, I think,’ Aurora said, and watched as Nico pulled a slight face. ‘I don’t think she’s happy about it.’
‘I can’t say I blame her.’
Nico sighed. If Aurora was fire, then Antonietta was ice, and did not show her feelings. If Aurora thought Antonietta unhappy, then she was.
‘So,’ Aurora continued. ‘There is Chi-Chi wanting a husband, Antonietta not wanting one, and as for me…’ She took a breath and told him, ‘I am twenty and only last week had my first kiss.’
‘Just a kiss?’ Nico asked, and she nodded.
‘I hated it,’ she admitted.
Nico wasn’t sure he believed her. ‘You need to hide your Pill better, Aurora.’
‘You were snooping?’
‘And you think your parents don’t?’ said Nico.
‘Usually I’m more careful. I was in a rush tonight.’
‘So, if you have just had your first kiss, and hated it, why are you on the Pill?’
‘If you build it they will come,’ Aurora said. ‘Or hopefully I will.’
He laughed.
So did she.
Oh, they laughed—and it was such a moment, such a shared flash of bliss, to see cold, immutable Nico lie there and laugh, that she did what she knew she should not and moved her hand to his cheek.
His hand went to remove it, but instead it held hers there.
‘It’s me who doesn’t fit in, Aurora. I don’t want relationships. I don’t want responsibilities.’
‘And you probably don’t want someone who can’t kiss.’
‘Aurora, trust me—you can kiss.’
‘Can I try it on you?’
‘No.’
‘I repulse you so much?’
‘You know you don’t.’
‘Then why not let me kiss you?’
‘I’m not your practice board.’
‘So I go back to my firefighter…’ Aurora said, and felt his hands grip her fingers tighter.
‘One kiss.’
He said it with authority, but the undercurrent suggested they both hoped he was lying.
How to kiss him? Aurora pondered. How best to claim her one kiss?
‘What are you doing?’ Nico asked.
‘I want to see you,’ Aurora said, and she climbed up so she sat on his stomach, and it made her insides melt that he helped her and that he smiled.
She had not looked at her firefighter. In fact she had closed her eyes—though not in bliss.
Now she looked.
His face was still beautiful in the dark: the shadows in the hollows of his cheeks, the dent in his strong jaw, and those delectable lips, and those black eyes watching her.
‘You know how to kiss, Aurora,’ he told her, and she lowered her head to his.
She felt the softness of his mouth, and his pleasurably rough jaw, and she lingered there for a moment, lightly kissing his full lips.
He had such a nice mouth.
She gave that nice mouth playful kisses that teased, that were almost friendly—but not chaste. It was like a little warm-up…like poking a big, sleeping bear.
She could feel his naked torso between her legs and the warmth of his belly on her sex as she practised her kiss on him.
‘Taste me with your tongue,’ he told her, and she saw that Nico’s eyes were now closed.
‘I’m too shy.’
That elicited another laugh from them both. It was nice to laugh as their mouths mingled, to share in each other’s breath—and then his hand came behind her head and Aurora received her first proper kiss, for with one sweep of his tongue he discounted all the others.
Finally, she closed her eyes.
Then, as he sucked her tongue and pressed her head into his, she knew she was right to be there, for her body was on fire for him.
He tasted of limoncello and water and skill. He gave her a taste of the passion beneath that aloof exterior and he made her crave him.
She rose on her haunches and his other hand came to her waist as he kissed her more deeply, tangling with her in indecent ways. His hand slipped down to her buttocks—and he pulled his head away.
‘Dio, Aurora, where are your knickers?’
‘I don’t wear them to bed.’ She smiled. ‘It’s too hot.’
His hands were on her ripe flesh and she could feel his fingers digging hard into her. And then
