‘Another one?’ Nico said.
‘I had better get on,’ Aurora said. She stood and put her bag over her shoulder. ‘Thank you for the drink, Nico. It was good to catch up.’
He walked her out and towards the elevators, and she could feel the thick energy between them. She dreaded that he might kiss her—but only because it would take a stronger woman than her to say no.
‘You had better go,’ Aurora said. ‘You have an early start. I know because I booked your driver.’
‘I should go,’ Nico agreed.
In fact, Aurora was the very reason he wasn’t staying at the hotel that night—to avoid just such a situation as this. And yet even with all his exit strategies planned here they stood, face to face.
‘I will see you at breakfast before I leave?’
‘I await my invitation,’ Aurora said.
‘It will be on your pillow.’
She wanted him on her pillow—and far more dangerous than her want, which was perpetually there, was the clear arrival of his.
Nico’s hand came to her cheek and he smoothed a stray lock of hair. It wasn’t only Aurora’s resolve that was fading.
She floored him.
Always.
The sexual attraction between them was undeniable, for sure. But there was also this banter between them—this life they both knew and this world they had shared. And Nico, despite doing everything he could to avoid it, now did not want the night to end.
His hand remained, cupping her ear, and his fingers were in her hair.
She could remember that hand, pressed over her mouth as she came, and she fought not to kiss it, not to flirt.
She won the former battle but failed on the latter.
‘I packed your underwear,’ Aurora said in a provocative tone—and there went the express train of her mouth again, saying things it should not and being too familiar.
Not that Nico seemed to mind, for he was stroking her earlobe and his eyes were telling of his desire.
And the guard she had fought to keep up was dissolving, for she did not know how to be anyone other than the person she was. The person who was in love with him.
He brought out the Aurora in her.
‘Aurora…’ Nico said, and she heard in the sound of him saying her name a summons to bed.
She ached to turn her head just a fraction and kiss the palm that held her cheek, to give in to the bliss of him just one last time. To have Nico make love to her in Rome.
He was leaving in the morning and would return only after she had left. This was their only chance, and Aurora did not know how to resist him.
Her neck fought not to arch and her mouth not to part to kiss his palm.
But then her guardian angels dashed in.
They flew from their clouds, or wherever they’d been hiding, and there was no time for them to apologise for their absence. They hauled her back from the brink.
‘Goodnight, Nico.’
Well done, Aurora!
Though it wasn’t actually Aurora who had halted things, for she was desperate for his kiss. No, it was a force greater than she that had somehow gathered and dragged those words from her mouth.
‘It’s been a long day,’ she added, then gave him a smile and walked off.
It would be a long, lonely night.
But at least she would awake with her pride.
Tuesday:
Room Service breakfast
RSVP’d Marianna to decline Nico’s kind invitation to breakfast, explaining I had already made plans.
Social Media Training.
Room Service dinner.
Read for a little while
Cried.
Wednesday:
Breakfast in restaurant.
Forgot about Nico!
Bought a red dress during lunch break.
Worked the day on Reception and was shouted at.
Went to the hotel’s hair salon and drank champagne while hair was done!
Read some more.
Hate him.
Thursday:
Woke early
Coffee at sunrise in a café opposite the hotel.
Grateful that I didn’t sleep with him again…
Not really…
THERE WAS SOMETHING so special about Rome early in the morning. The gleaming cobbled streets, fresh from the street cleaners, the lack of people, the abundance of all things beautiful.
Everywhere she looked there was more to see.
The disgusting gargoyles with their erections and horrible tongues.
The timeless beauty of the Spanish Steps.
And there it was. The Trevi Fountain, standing resplendent.
Almost alone, Aurora gazed into the water and saw there were just a few coins, so it must have recently been cleaned out. Then she looked up to Triton and his horses and then back down to the water.
All she had to do was throw in a coin to assure her return to Rome.
Never.
Aurora wanted to return to her simple life.
She almost meant it.
She would find her fireman, or a man who worked the vines, and she would love him completely, and he would love her in return.
And she would not hanker for Rome.
Nor for sitting in a bar with Nico and the sheer exhilaration of being near him.
And she would not regret that abrupt goodnight. She would be proud of her resolve. For instead of kissing his palm, and going where that would have led, she had called a halt and said goodnight.
Good, Aurora!
And she would say this to her daughter, if God gave her one.
I knew a wicked man once. A man who made my heart both bleed and sing at the same time…a man who made me succumb to my wildest urges. A man who made me believe we had been together in another life, for even if I did not know him completely I recognised him in my soul.
But I walked away, dear daughter. I did not let him use me again and again. And I don’t regret it. No, not even for a moment.
So why was she suddenly crying and scrabbling in her purse for a coin? Throwing it into the water with her eyes closed as she wished with all her heart for her time again…?
Because she would always regret Rome and the decision to walk away from the man she would love until her last breath.