Aurora

Aurora didn't understand what was happening.

Earlier in the day, she had been told that they would not be having a part for Matteo at Cordelia's house. Instead of doing that, they were going to have a dinner at a restaurant that Matteo used to love as a child.

The people who were supposed to be present were his relatives and his friends, including Aurora. However, she was the only guest that was present which confused her. It didn't make sense when Cordelia had told her to get out of the car and they would look for a place to park in the meantime when she entered the restaurant.

She had waited for a few minutes before the waiter had led her to a secluded area where she could wait for all of them to arrive. To her surprise Matteo was already there, dressed in a tuxedo and noticing he had a fresh haircut which meant that he had cut his hair today.

She blushed at how long he had been looking at her which a deeper gaze that he would previously had. He had examined what she was wearing, most likely surprised at the difference of what she would usually wear.

It wasn't her choice to be wearing something like his but the way it had captured his attention completely, Aurora mentally thanked his sister for picking out this dress for her. She was shocked as well when she stared at herself in the mirror and saw how different she had looked.

The dress an emerald color and the reason Cordelia had chosen this was because it went good with the color of her hair, which was styled in beautiful curls. The curls framed her face differently and was swooped the one side, showing her earrings. The dress was silk material, and it felt good against her skin and it slipped on nicely, even though the slight that went up her thigh made her a tad bit uncomfortable.

She, however, got used to it.

"Where is everyone?" she asked, glancing around the room. "I thought your friends would be with you?"

Matteo sighed. "They were but they left about fifteen minutes ago."

Aurora tilted her head to the side, not understanding what was going on. "They left you? Why?"

"Seems they had some intentions to leave us alone, don't you think?"

While Aurora began to realize that the two of them have been set up, a waiter had arrived. They got settled into their seats, her seat being next to his on purpose and the proximity of the two of them had her heart beating a bit fast.

They were told that an order has already been placed on the name of 'Reggie' and it would be served in about ten minutes. It seemed that Reggie had planned out the entire evening, and made sure to serve Matteo his favorite dish.

She inwardly giggled as she remembered that he had asked her what her favorite dish was, and realized that it was for this exact evening.

When she looked up, a light shudder had entered her body when she caught his heated gaze on her face. He was a bit close to her and she could smell the musky scent radiating from his body.

She gulped. "How has your day been?" she asked him.

He gave her a light smile. "Interesting." he said. "Just not as interesting as tonight."

The way he looked at her was something indescribable. It was as if he couldn't look away from her, and she found it difficult to speak to him.

"Yeah." she laughed, "I didn't know this was what they were planning."

"To have you alone with me, looking so fucking beautiful... Reggie did something good for once."

She blushed.

He was more open with her than he ever was before. The cold expression he once had permanently plastered on his face was now no longer existent, and he spoke more freely with her.

As their food arrived, they began to talk amongst themselves. It all started with Matteo saying that he had missed her even though she was gone for a day, and she nearly choked on her glass on white wine. They spoke about things that they hadn't really had a chance to speak about, and she started learning more things about him.

He was so close to her with his eyes focused on her face whenever it was her turn to speak to him, and even though she had known him for nearly three months, he still made her very nervous. She would tell him stories that he found amusing and he would smile at her, and she would giggle at the stories he told about Reggie when they were younger.

They had left the restaurant when Matteo felt that it was getting late, and they had finished their meal about an hour ago. Aurora saw none of the familiar cars parked in the parking lot and noticed that they had left them there to be alone amongst themselves.

She clutched his jacket tighter against her body that he had given her when they felt the decrease of the temperature in the night.

Aurora began to limp as the pain in her foot began to bother her. She knew that heels wouldn't be her thing but Cordelia told her that it would be okay. Well right now, it was anything but okay.

"Are you okay, Aurora?" she heard a concerned voice ask her.

Dang it.

She didn't want to draw his attention and make him worry about unnecessary things on his birthday.

She gave him a smile. "The heels. I can manage though."

"Are they hurting you?"

He stopped and looked at her.

"A little." she whispered.

He stared at her for a while, then began to look around. He stopped turning his head when he had stopped something and turned back around.

"There's a park right across the street. We can take a seat on a bench and call the others to inform them that we're done. Okay?"

"Okay." she smiled at him.

She actually didn't want this night to end.

She followed closely behind him as he began to walk towards the empty road. As they neared the road coming to the end of the sidewalk, she had no choice but to clutch the sleeve of his shirt as her foot twisted to the side.

She let out an embarrassed yelp. His hands were quick to grab a hold of her, steadying her so that she had perfected her balance once again as she stood on her two feet.

"Fuck, baby are you okay?" he asked her hurriedly.

"I-I'm fine. I just-" she let out a small sound to signify that her foot caused her a bit of pain as she tried to walk.

This was so embarrassing for her.

"Shit." he whispered. "Where does it hurt?"

She bit her lip as she stared down at the floor. "My ankle."

He let out a deep sigh as he cussed again under his breath and she made sure to scold him about his constant swearing after the pain in her foot disappeared. She let out a surprise yelp as he swooped her up in his arms in on swift motion, her arms quickly wrapping around his neck tightly.

He ignored her protests of someone seeing them in this position and continued to cross the street and walked into the park. Once he found somewhere for them to sit, placed her down onto the bench and she, with some reluctance, let go off his neck. She was confused when he sank down onto the knee, crouched down in front of her feet.

She wanted to ask him what he was about to do but stopped when she saw what he did.

She blushed as he began to take the straps off of her heel, his fingers lightly brushing against her skin and she shivered, not because of the cold air but because of his slight touch. He slipped off the first heel and placed the shoe onto the ground, and did the same one with her other foot.

"Which one hurts?" he asked her.

"This one." she muttered as she raised up her right foot a bit.

With the pad of his thumb and as much gentleness as could come from him, Matteo rubbed her ankle that throbbed with a bit of pain from the impact of the twist. She watched him with cheeks set ablaze as he softly placed his lips against her ankle quickly, retracted them and rubbed his thumb against it again.

This man...

This wasn't supposed to be at all that attractive but having him crouched down onto his knees with her foot in front of him, a small gesture to just kiss it had her swooning.

She couldn't believe that a man such as Matteo, who had the wealth, the power to control an entire mafia and place a bullet in another person's head for whatever reason it might be, was doing such a small gesture for her. It had her heart fluttering at his sweetness and the feelings she possessed for him ate at her from the inside, wanting to surface and express themselves.

"Better?" he stared at up at her.

She was unable to communicate verbally and so she opted for a head nod in response, still feeling as if she was floating in the moment.

"Thank you." she choked out, barely audible, as he stood up and took a seat next to her on the bench.

It was silent between them for about a minute. Her cheeks were still very hot as she clutched the purse in her hands tightly against her, wanting to take out something from it. She didn't know why she was nervous, all she had to do was tell him "happy birthday" and hand him the gift. It sounded easier in her head but now that he was here next to her, she felt like a teenager who's high school crush sat next to her in class.

She mentally prepared herself as she opened her purse, staring at the black box in it. She took it out and quickly turned to face him, hiding the box behind her back.

"Uhm." she staggered back as his eyes were zoned in on her face, his attention on her making her forget the words she wanted to say.

He didn't say anything as he waited for her to continue to speak.

"I-I got you a little gift. I don't know if you will like it and I hope you do because I thought the idea was very cute..." she trailed off.

The corners of his lip raised a bit. "You got me a present?"

"Mmh." she nodded vigorously. "It's nothing special but I hope you like it."

She handed him the box and he took it in his hands. She watched him closely as he opened it, wanting to see his expression once he saw what she had gotten him. She couldn't read the look on his face as he examined it, and she felt her palms begin to sweat.

Please like it.

"I know you're favorite color is black and that's why I chose the color. I also noticed that you don't have one in that color so I wanted it to be different than the rest." she said nervously.

Her heart flipped when she saw him smile. Not the kind of small smile he always gave her. It was an actual smile this time that showcased his deep dimples in his cheek that mesmerized her.

"You engraved my name." he said, staring at the ring in awe.

He twisted the ring between his fingers. His name was engraved on the inside of the band in white showing that it belongs to him. The band was black a single silver strand etched into the centre of it, circling around the entire ring.

"Yes." she replied. "Do you like it?" she asked shyly.

"I fucking love it." he said.

She giggled at how fast he placed it on his ring finger. It was like a little boy had gotten their desired present on Christmas and she held this memory close to her heart to see him smile like this. The ring stood out from the rest of the silver ones on his fingers and it looked really good on him.

"Happy birthday, Matteo." she said softly.

He turned around to fully face her in his seat. Her smile faltered as he cupped her jaw with his hand, placing a lingering kiss onto her forehead. She stared wide eyed at him, his nose nearly touching hers and he had a smile on his face.

"Thank you, my sweet girl."

She blushed at the new name and offered him a toothy grin in return. She wasn't fully aware at how close their faces were to each other until she noticed that his eyes had dropped to her lips. She gulped at how intently he was looking at them and she found herself leaning a few inches closer to him, desperately searching for that one touch that she wanted from him.

Their noses had now brushed against each other's, their gazes both transfixed on the others. He became serious, his smile had disappeared and something flickered in his eyes.

"You look so fucking beautiful, baby. So goddam beautiful." he whispered.

She craved his lips against hers, wanting the feeling of his placed on hers. Her mind screamed for him to just close the tiny gap between them, wanting nothing more than to just pull his face closer and kiss him. She longed for it for months, this moment to appear and it was here.

He was right in front of her, just a few centimeters away from touching her lips. She shivered at how his eyes darkened, even under the street lamp that they sat directly under, she could see it clearly. They way his eyes scanned her face, and yet it always went back to her lips.

Her heart slammed against her chest when he dipped his head, capturing her lips with his very own. It was as if he had read her mind, the desperation of wanting him to kiss her and begged him to do so had been answered, and she sighed the moment his lips were placed on hers.

She had no experience in the field of having a man ever kiss her, but she tried her best to follow whatever it is he was doing. She pulled away, flustered and embarrassed from how awful she must have kissed him.

She looked at him. "I'm sorry. I've never kissed anyone before."

He gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't ever apologize. Just follow my lead, okay."

After she gave him a nod to proceed, he wasting no time in claiming her lips once again and this time she paid attention the way his lips moved in a slow rhythmic dance. He kissed her deeply yet slowly, one filled with passion that electrocuted the blood that flowed in her veins and spread throughout her body.

He made sure to kiss her a bit slowly so that she could become accustomed to the way she should be moving her lips.

She shivered at the sensation of the feeling to have his firm lips moving against her own. His fingers moved further against the back of her head and tangled into her curly locks, and she let out a small moan when he gripped it between his fingers. He tilted her head to the side to make sure that the perfect angle would create a better kiss that they shared between them.

She had dreamed about kissing him for such a long time. The reality of what was transpiring between them had sunken in which resulted in a more clearer feeling of his lips moving against hers. She felt it now, a more clearer version of the kiss they shared.

He was kissing her.

She felt his hot mouth against her own. Parting her lips with his to open her mouth wider, she felt him savor the taste of this kiss as she relished in the feeling. It was nothing more than an euphoric feeling of heat washing over her from how overbearing and good it truly felt to be kissed by this man.

He groaned when the palms of her hands slid down his exposed chest, and the vibration that entered into her body from him was such a beautiful thing to experience. It was a humming melody coming from his as they kissed, and she could listen to him basking in this moment for so long.

Absence never felt so difficult to accept when her lips met the cold air of the night. She breathed heavily and so did he as they tried to inhale as much air as possible from how much they have been deprived from it. She knew that her face was flushed and she couldn't blame herself from that heavenly kiss that she had the chance to experience.

He was staring at her, as if wanting to see what it is she would do once she realized that something like this had actually happened between them.

But all she could whisper was,

"Wow."

Finally!!!!

I took so long with this chapter because I tried to perfect this scene as much as possible ;)