I'd sat around this campfire before many times, enjoying stories and playing games around the flickering flames from the stone pit in the centre. Last time I had been here we'd toasted marshmallows and Billy Black had cooked burgers for us all to devour. That had been before Bella had moved to Forks, before my relationship with everyone on the Reservation had changed.
"Are you hungry?" Seth offers me a jam sandwich. This was the third time in the last twenty minutes he'd asked me the same question.
"No thank you," I reply. Again.
"You sure? Mum made them special, this was all kinda impromptu," he shrugs and shoves the Tupperware container in my face. "She'll kill me if you don't have one." His scared little face pushed me over the edge and I finally accepted a sandwich from him.
Giving a relieved smile he sits down beside me. "So Jake said this was about your new boyfriend," he says, pausing to munch a bite of his own sandwich before continuing. "Is he like the Cullen's?"
"Like the Cullen's?" I frown.
"Yeah, you know," he draws back his lips and snaps his teeth.
"Seth!" we both jump and turn to see his sister Leah scowling at her younger brother with her hands on her hips. "Get outta here," she hisses and Seth scampers away, taking the tub of sandwiches with him.
"We were just talking," I tell her and she glares at me harshly before turning and storming off after her brother.
When I turned back to the fire some other people had arrived. Billy Black was sat in his chair next to him was Jacob and Sam, and Embry and Paul were standing off to the side.
"Good evening, Celestine," Billy smiles warmly. "How are you? School going okay?"
"Yeah, everything's good, all on track for September hopefully," I smile.
"Excellent, that's really good to hear, I know Charlie is proud," he says with a firm nod of his head. "He needs to be proud of at least one of his daughters."
"Look, I'm not the biggest supporter of Edward either but that doesn't mean dad isn't proud of her. Now if this is some sort of hate Bella meeting then I'd like to leave," I state matter-of-factly.
"This doesn't concern Bella directly," Billy says. "We've already spoken to her, and she has made her decision."
"I really don't understand what you're trying to say," I draw my lip between my teeth, trying to stop myself from frowning too much.
"You've heard our history many times, the stories out ancestors used to tell us, the history of our tribe, how we once descended from wolves?"
"Yes, however those bonfires were slightly more inviting," I grumble and huddle my arms closer around myself. Not so much for warmth, just for comfort.
I had snuck into a council meeting with Jake when we'd been younger, we'd hidden in the shadows cast out by this very bonfire and listened to the fantasy tales Billy Black and Harry Clearwater had used to tell. I remembered them vividly, the story of how their tribe had been attacked by a man as cold as ice and hard as stone, with eyes the colour of fresh blood, just like the blood he'd sucked from the necks of his victims. He had been the creature to force the change in the men of the Quileute tribe, forced their bodies to twist and change and turn into giant wolves, strong and fast enough to destroy the creature that had taken and killed their tribes women.
"Do you remember why we changed into wolves," Billy asks, the others standing around him more like an audience than participants in whatever this was.
"Your ancestors apparently changed into wolves because of the emigration of cold dead people, are you trying to convince me that history is repeating itself?" my tone was dry, bored and borderline sarcastic.
"Yes," Billy replies seriously, and I hear laughter, it took me a few long seconds to realise that it was coming from me.
"I'm sorry," I can't help the laughing; it was bubbling up inside me, getting slowly louder and more uncontrollable. I put a hand to my stomach, my laughter becoming painful. "I've got to go," I mumble through my laughs and stand up away from the log I'd been sat on.
"Celestine, wait," Billy calls but he can't move the wheelchair through the sand by himself which gives me the chance to jump over the log and speed walk away from the fire as fast as I could without running.
"Celestine, you need to listen to us!" Billy shouts after me. "You are not safe with them, you can't trust anything they say or do, not even Bella."
I ignore his shouting and head towards the truck. Sam had parked it just at the edge of the sand but as I got to the door I realised he still had the keys. Before turning around I took a deep calming breath and twisted to see all six of them on my trail, they knew I couldn't run away as I'd planned.
"Please Celestine, I didn't ask the boys to bring you here for no reason, this man you are seeing, he is dangerous. He will do everything in his power to corrupt you, just like the Cullen's have corrupted Bella. Please, stay away from them, all of them, for Charlie, for you own safety please!" Billy wasn't pleading like a madman, he was pleading as if he was being deadly serious.
"Billy I…" I sighed. "I will be careful, I promise, but I couldn't avoid the Cullen's even if I wanted to. Bella is my sister, and Edward is a straight A bastard, I'm not going to run away and leave her at their mercy. I will look after myself, and I am grateful for this…" I pause a moment to think of the right word. "Warning," I finally settle on. "But I'm big enough and stupid enough to make my own mistakes, I'm sorry."
Billy rocks back in his chair, his face settling into one of silent acceptance. "I wish you all the luck, Celestine, you're smarter than Bella," he says. "Make sure you use that brain of yours."
Sam gave me back my keys and I thanked him with a wary smile before he nodded and strode off with the other two boys. Jake gave me a soft smile as he wheeled Billy away and I was left alone to clamber into the truck.
I'd left my bag inside and my phone was in the pocket of my jacket on the middle seat. I had seven missed calls from Aro, two from Bella and even a text message from dad asking where I was. I debated about texting dad saying how his best friend had gotten his son to commandeer my truck and take me to a secret meeting with him, but I ghosted over that and just said I'd visited Billy. I sent the same text to Bella as my excuse but rang Aro instead. Seven missed calls made me worried that something had happened.
He answered half way through the first ring. "Celestine?" he asks, his voice was rushed, not the usual silky smooth tone I'd heard him use.
"Hi, is everything alright you rang me seven times?" I ask while trying to shrug my jacket on now single handedly.
"Your sister and Edward were worried about you, you never returned home," he says. "I was equally concerned. Anyway, are you alright? Where are you, I will come and collect you."
"No, no, there's no need I'm fine, I just visited a friend nothing scary or dangerous," I laugh trying to ease the tension in his voice. I wasn't entirely sure why he sounded so concerned, looking at the clock I'd only been gone just over an hour; surely there wasn't cause for such a panic.
"Are you going home?" he asks.
"Yeah, I'll be back in about fifteen minutes…Aro, why did you ring me seven times?" I ask, this time my voice was more serious.
There was a pause on the other end of the phone, "Can we talk about it in person?" he asks.
"Sure," I nod, switching hands so I could thread my other arm through the sleeve of my jacket.
"Excellent, I'll meet you at the grocery shop," he says.
"Grocery shop?" I echo back but only receive static in reply. He'd hung up on me!
I pulled into one of the empty parking spaces outside the store and scrambled down out of the cab, tugging my jacket up higher round my neck as a cool wind swirled around me. Aro was stood in front of the dairy section; he looked surprisingly lost trying to choose which milk he wanted.
"Hey," I say and he turns to me with a wide smile. "Are you alright? Has something happened?"
His smile gets wider and he shakes his head turning back to the milk. "What is the difference between Semi-skimmed and Skimmed milk?" he asks.
"Um," I frown, was his emergency that he didn't know which milk he wanted? "Skimmed has less fat, semi is like half and half. But if you're stuck for choice get semi, it's not as bad as whole milk but it tastes much better than skimmed."
He nods, reaching out and selecting a carton of semi-skimmed milk before placing it into his basket. "Would you be offended if my concern was purely out of the sheer want to see you again before Friday?" he asks as we walk further into the store, Aro stops now and again, plucking things off the shelves seemingly at random.
My lips quirk up at his words but I try to smother my smile by focusing on the food stacked on the shelves. "I'm not offended," I reply. "Perhaps a little more shocked than flattered though."
"I thought showing up randomly at your house again might be a bit too much," he admits.
"But spamming my phone and convincing me to secretly meet you in at the grocery store isn't too much?"
His smile falters slightly as we pause next to some cereal. "Any recommendations?"
I pick up two boxes and give him the final choice between Weetabix and Choco-Pop rocks. He chooses the Weetabix and places them in his basket.
"I'm sorry I was too forward," he apologises. "I didn't mean to be so…keen."
"Keen is good," I shrug and peek up at him from under my eyelashes as he smirks. "I'm glad you've said it first, it won't make me feel so bad when I text you a hundred times just to find out your favourite colour," my chuckle doesn't sound quite as confident as I liked. Partly because I knew I was lying. Knowing that Aro wanted any excuse to see me wouldn't make me any less nervous when I was faced with contacting him, or finding an excuse of my own to randomly meet just to quell my desire to see him.
"I'd have to say red," he says.
"Sorry?"
"My favourite colour," he says. "A nice carmine red."
"Like blood?" I giggle and Aro's face falls as if I'd blurted out something offensive.
"Something like that," he says trying to pull up his mouth into a semblance of a smile. We fall into a slightly uncomfortable silence as we pace through the aisles, Aro doesn't ask for any more help with his shopping, but he randomly snatches things off the shelves as if coming here was just a means to an end in order to see me.
We rounded the final corner and headed towards the checkout, I pick up a bar of chocolate just before we got to the till and pulled out a few stray dollar notes from the inside of my pocket. "Do you want one?" I ask waving the peppermint chocolate.
"No thank you," he shakes his head, his smile coming back with more ease. I dive ahead of him in the queue and the woman behind the till runs my chocolate through and racks up the bill to $1.20. I step back as Aro starts to place his shopping in front of the woman, I notice the shimmer of plastic at the back of the bundle of items he'd picked up, something I hadn't noticed him have before.
"I'm sorry," he says, one of his hands held a straining plastic shopping bag and his other hand held the stems of a dozen red roses. "Blood and I have a delicate relationship, how about we forget that comparison and say, cerise, like beautiful red roses."
My fingers wrap around the stems ad I draw the flowers closer smelling them deeply. They were gorgeous, their heady scent overwhelming my senses.
"Thank you," I blush and try and rub my cheeks to get rid of some of the pink causing my skin to go blotchy.
"You're welcome," he grins and leans down, my knees suddenly feeling weak as we stood in the carpark. His palm holds one of my cheeks while his lips gently ghost the other. "I am looking forward to our evening together tomorrow; I can barely contain my excitement."
"I'm quite keen as well," I smirk.
Aro's smile was beaming. "Fino a domani la mia splendida ragazza."
~V~
I'd hardly slept. I'd spent hours attempting to fashion something acceptable from the concoction of my wardrobe, but it was tricky as most of my clothes were flannel shirts and jeans. The only item of clothing that was a contender was the dress I'd worn to dad's promotion dinner, but that had been four years ago and now the hemline was indecently short for a first date.
Even when I had finally given up trying to salvage something, I hadn't been able to get to sleep, my mind was whirring crazily just imagining myself making every possible mistake I could and making Aro hate me for being useless and ruining his perfect night.
Perfect. The word kept echoing in my head, there was no way I was going to be perfect, nothing about me was perfect. I didn't have perfect clothes, perfect hair, a perfect face or body. Aro was perfect and for some reason he was interested in me, I couldn't work out why and it was making me more and more anxious by the second. The roses now in a vase on the kitchen table were more perfect than I ever could be and I felt the heavy pressure behind my eyes as the sorry thought.
"Celestine?"
"Huh," I finally came back to the room, we were sat around one of the tables in the canteen and when I looked between the faces staring at me I noticed that Bella, Edward and Alice were there.
"What do you think?" Jessica asks everyone else was staring at me; I'd obviously missed the question.
"Umm…yeah," I nod hoping that whatever the question was a yes would suffice.
"See," Jessica turns back to the others. "I'll make a great Valedictorian speech," she grins and taps her pen on the table.
"Were you listening to anything there?" Bella asks and I shake my head before grabbing a pear I hadn't remembered buying and forcing myself to eat it. "Well, Edward and I are going to Florida next weekend, to see mum, is that okay?"
I hadn't seen my mother in years, not in physical form anyway. Every Christmas she skyped me and we opened our presents via digital imagery, and she always sent me rather extravagant birthday presents as if trying to make up for not being in my life the way a mother should. Because Bella and I were less than a year apart, when mum and dad had split up they'd agreed to each take responsibility for one of us. Bella had moved to Arizona with mum, and I had stayed in Forks with dad, considering we'd had such different up bringing's it was a surprise that Bella and I were still so similar.
"That should be fun, maybe Edward can try and catch some sun, to stop him looking like such an albino - ouch!" Bella's elbow jabbed into my side, much harder than it ever had before.
"Why do you have to be so rude," she hisses.
"Hey, I don't like him," I argue and rub my sore side. "You shouldn't like him either, not after what he did."
"I have forgiven him Cel," Bella says bitterly. "If I've forgiven him then you should too."
I roll my eyes pretending to pay attention to what the others were saying. "Hey guys," Alice Cullen slides into a chair beside me and addresses the table. "I've decided to throw a graduation party, because you know," she giggles. "We only graduate once!"
"A party?" Jessica mouths. "At your house?"
Alice nods excitedly and Bella shifts uncomfortably beside me. "Another party Alice?" she asks. "They last one didn't go so well."
Alice's smile doesn't falter. "This will go without a hitch," she beams.
When the bell rang for the end of the day my heart felt like it was in my throat and I was battling the need to cry as I slid into the backseat of Edward's car and he drove Bella and I home. They hadn't let me drive this morning just in case I had any more random detours.
As soon as Edward stopped the car I was out and sprinting up the stairs to my room. The dress I had laid out this morning was still there, but next to it was a black garment bag, complete with a shoe box. I ditched my bag next to my bedside table and tentatively unzipped the bag.
The dress was a deep aubergine purple, the material felt almost silky but wasn't shiny, and the shoes in the box were a low set of black heels. I had no idea who had sent them; there was no note, just a large golden V embossed on the front of the garment bag.
I glanced at the clock on my bedside table, the neon numbers reading 15:24, Aro would be here in half an hour and with the two options before me the only ones I had, I made a decision and quickly stripped out of the clothes I'd worn to school.
The purple dress fit beautifully, the sleeves were off the shoulder, acting only as an accessory encircling my upper arms making the neckline perfectly horizontal across my chest. The whole upper-body of the dress was fitted, making me look like I had curves I never realised I had and the skirt flared out nicely at my waist, falling to just below my knees. I applied a sweep of mascara to each of my eyes and a dash of gold eyeshadow, and after a slight bit of dusty pink lipstick I stood back from the mirror and accessed my rushed appearance.
There wasn't anything special other than the dress I was wearing. In fact I felt possibly more disheartened now I was fully dressed. I didn't look perfect, far from it. I was like a child playing dress-up; the dress was beautiful but seemed far too ostentatious wrapped around my pale body. My hair was too short, I'd had it cut a few weeks ago to try and tame the unbridled curls but now they were lifeless, framing my young face. I didn't look like a woman who would be on Aro's arm this evening. Just as that thought passed through my mind the doorbell rang, the faint chime traveling up the stairs.
I grabbed the shoes and my purse before carefully navigating down the ladder, not wanting to snag my dress against the steps.
Aro was standing in the hallway, smiling brightly as he spoke to dad, who was also smiling surprisingly. Aro was dressed impeccably in a charcoal black suit, his shirt was starched to perfection, making the white collar stand sharply around his neck, his tie was a Windsor knot and the thick dark material looked more expensive than anything I owned.
"Here she is…" dad trailed off as he turned to look at me. "Whoa Ce," he shakes his head, completely taken aback as I descended the stairs.
"Hi," I force a smile even though I feel like I pale in comparison to the man I was just about to go to dinner with.
"You look wonderful Celestine," Aro says, his voice drawing me in, making me forget my own fears and focus purely on his beautiful smile. My eyes found his, they were dark, rich and he stared at me as if I was the most desirable thing he'd ever seen.
"Well," dad's voice cut through my dreamy thoughts and brought me back to reality. "Back by eleven." He eyed Aro, the smile from earlier gone and now he was giving him a threatening eye – return my daughter exactly as you found her or else.
"Of course Chief Swan," Aro nods and offers me a hand. I quickly pulled on my shoes and took it, his cold fingers encircling mine, holding firmly. "Celestine will be returned safe and sound, you have my word."
I gave dad a little grin and a small wave as Aro led me outside, I could tell he wasn't comfortable about letting me go, his little girl now all grown up and very willingly being escorted from his safe home and whisked away by a darkly handsome man.
It wasn't the Audi waiting outside like I had expected, instead there was a large SUV with tinted windows. "After you," Aro opened the rear door and gave me a hand up into the tall seat. In what felt like a heartbeat he was opening the door the other side and sliding into the seat next to me. "I hope you don't mind Felix driving?" he asks. "I selfishly wanted to spend more time with you," his smile took my breath away.
"That's fine," I whisper softly, my heart beating faster as Aro allows his hand to rest between us in the spare seat, once again our fingers brushing gently making my skin tingle. "Where are we going then?" I ask, Aro's compliment had cleared my mind of worried thoughts which allowed the faint bubbling of excitement to settle in my stomach. I'd never really been anywhere that served expensive food, but I had watched a few cooking shows and if the food we ate tonight tasted half as good as what the people of the screen had salivated over then I would be happy.
"It's just a little place I know," he answers cryptically. "How was school?" he asks, changing the subject.
"Oh, you-know, school like," I shrug. "Nothing special, I've got two more exams in mathematics and then that's it, graduation bound."
"Forgive me for sounding incompetent, but back home we don't graduate from education at your age, that's saved for higher education only."
"We graduate from every level of school, you even have kindergarten graduation over here," I chuckle.
"Ah," he hums in understanding. "So how many graduation caps will you have at the end of the month then?"
"I've hired all my gowns, so I don't get to keep the caps. But I might steal one of the Cullen's, they have a whole wall of graduation caps, have you seen them?"
"I have, I was wondering if you were going to make a mini copy from your collection," he smirks.
"However unique it is, it's not quite my style."
We continued to chat about everything and nothing; Aro was intent on getting to know me, avoiding my questions and turning his answers around to continue to interrogate me. I told him everything, my brain didn't have a filter and I answered everything truthfully, right down to my slight confusion as to why my own sister had prioritised her boyfriend over me on a trip to see our mum.
"I can see how it upsets you, would you like to go and see your mother?"
"I was kind of hoping that she would come over for graduation," I shrug. "But I'll probably see if I can get some cheap tickets over summer break and spend a week or two down there, the appeal of Florida is much better than Arizona."
The car slowed as we entered Seattle, the roads were busy even though it was settling into the evening and rush hour was long gone. The windows were heavily tinted so it was hard to look outside and enjoy the view but my eyes kept swivelling back round to Aro, whose eyes never left my face either.
When we stopped, Aro smoothly got out of his side of the car and came round to open my door. His hand enclosed mine, fingers lacing together as he helped me down from the car with a heart stopping smile. "Did I tell you how beautiful you look?" he says, drawing me closer so our chests were almost touching as he pushed the door closed behind me.
"Did you send the dress?" I ask.
Aro just smiles and leads me across the road, his hand clasping mine like he never wanted to let go. "Mind the steps," he tells me as we head down a narrow dark stairway to what seems like the basement level of a disused nightclub. I didn't ask any questions as we descended down into the darkness, the air felt damp and I did slip on the last step, but Aro's arm was around my waist in a flash, drawing me back upright and holding me close. "Careful."
I heard a lock slide open and dull light flooded the dark stairwell. "Mr Voltaire?" a deep voice asks.
"Yes," Aro responds to the darkness and the door opens wider revealing a small man dressed in a black tuxedo.
"Please follow me," the man turns and strides inside the building. Aro casts me a glance with another beaming smile before leading me inside. The first corridor was light but seemed no less dismal than the staircase outside. Another door was opened and we followed the man through into a modern dining space. The walls were painted white and grey, large pillars that towered up to hold the ceiling were wrapped in varying textures of grey-silver wallpaper. Tables were laid ready for dinner service, silver candles burned in the centre of the white table cloths and single red roses were the only other table decoration.
We passed a few couples already sat, chatting quietly over glasses of wine and eating plates of beautifully designed food. "Here, we are, your table as requested," the small man says and signals to a table right in front of a wall made entirely of clear glass. It looked out over Lake Washington, the lights from the city made the water sparkle like thousands of diamonds were encrusted into the surface.
"Aro," I turned to him with a smile. "It's stunning."
"I thought you'd like it," he smiles and pulls my chair out. "I made sure we got the table with the best view…however we could be sat in any restaurant in the city and my view would always be perfect."
I couldn't fight the blush that rose in my cheeks, again that word. Perfect. But now that we were sat opposite each other with the water only meters to my right and him sat close enough for our feet to knock together under the table cloth I almost agreed with him.
A waiter came over and filled one of my glasses with water and offered Aro to taste a bottle of white wine, he nodded affirmingly and the waiter poured two small glasses before disappearing again. "I hope you don't mind I ordered in advance."
"You've already proved you have excellent taste," I say and reach for my wine glass under his watchful gaze. His lips quirked up into a smirk as the pale liquid met my lips. "It's lovely."
"Excellent," he smiles.
"So, Aro Voltaire," I say, using the knowledge of his surname. "Tell me about yourself."
He relaxed forward in his chair, resting his forearms against the table. "What would you like to know?"
"Anything," I shrug. "And everything."
"Everything is a lot," he says.
"And we have all evening," I smirk taking another sip of wine.
~V~
I was feeling giggly; my brain was getting fuzzy as I finished off the fifth glass of wine that accompanied our fifth and final course of the evening. It may have been a mistake to try and think I could cope with a wine flight when I'd never really had more than the odd bottle of beer in my short lived alcohol experience.
Aro had answered my question, as each course arrived he told me a little about his life, how he'd grown up in Italy with his two brothers, gone over to England for university where he had met Carlisle, taken over his father's business and was now running it alongside his brothers back in their home country. He didn't say what the business was, other than it was family related, I wasn't sure if he was still trying to drag out his mafia joke or if the subtleness had a more serious undertone.
He had taken his turn to quiz me and I had told him exactly what he wanted to know. What I had wanted to be when I was a little girl, my ideal holiday destination, what my hobbies were and even my preferred outfit on a day to day basis.
Vanilla panna cotta with strawberries and honeycomb, I had never had strawberries that tasted so strong, and the vanilla panna cotta was the creamiest dessert I'd ever had. "This is fantastic," I moan, placing another spoonful into my mouth and closing my eyes as I savoured the taste. "Mmh, what kind of food magic do they have?"
Aro laughs, he'd cleared his bowl before I'd even gotten half way through mine, I was too distracted by how wonderful it tasted. When we had both finished and our bowls were cleared Aro pushed my glass of water over, insisting that I drink it. I raised the glass to my lips and under the table I raised my leg and ran the toe of my shoe down the inside of his calf.
"Careful Celestine," Aro says, he hadn't moved an inch but his eyes had gotten darker, watching me with a silent warning as I ran my foot back up the inside of his leg. "Don't get carried away."
The wine had given me a courage I never knew I had, playing footsy wasn't something I'd imagined myself doing on a first date, especially not with a man like Aro. I didn't quite know what I was asking for. "Does it bother you?" I ask.
"Not at all," he replies, not moving anything except his lips, not even his facial expression changed when the waiter came over and asked if there was anything else we wanted.
"No thank you, it is time for us to leave, Celestine," Aro tapped my foot under the table making me jump slightly as he rose to his feet. He offered me a hand up out of my chair and I clung to him as the headiness the wine had given me made the simple task of walking wobbly. We didn't leave the same way we came in, instead we left through the main entrance and out onto the waterfront.
"I hope you enjoyed your evening. I would have hoped we could stay longer but I doubt either of us should miss your curfew," he chuckles.
"Yes, I would really like to keep seeing you, and that doesn't include visiting your grave," I smirk and squeeze his hand harder. "That is if you'd like to see me again too?"
Aro stopped walking and tugged my hand so I stumbled into him, his free arm wrapped around my waist and he released my hand to cup my cheek. "I would like nothing more than to see you every day, if you'd allow me too?"
"Yes," I whisper, my mind trying to focus on his words but also on the feeling of his hand against my face. His eyes looked into mine, they were dark and full of an emotion I couldn't place, his face seemed to get larger and it was only when I felt his breath on my face that I realised he was actually getting closer.
His lips were as cold as his hands, cold and firm yet kissed me with a gentleness that surprised me. My eyes closed and I kissed him back, the softness of his movements made my insides melt and I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around him and never let go.
Aro pulled away, still holding me tight and stroked a thumb over my cheek. "Thank you for a wonderful evening, I couldn't have thought of anything better, or anyone nicer to spend time with."
"I'm glad," he says with a smile. "I thought I may have over stepped slightly with the spooky entrance."
"You planned that?" I ask with a laugh. "Trying to play up to the whole mafia background story?"
"I am just trying to live up to your expectations," he grins and pulls me to his side, the glee never falling from his face. "Have I got you convinced yet?"
"Perhaps, but telling me your secrets like that kinda makes it a little less believable."
His arm loops around my waist as we walk, the glittering water beside us, I could see small boats bobbing around, moored up for the night but eager for the next day of sailing. I wondered idly if Aro owned a boat, maybe a yatch, I couldn't easily imagine him sunbathing off the coast of Italy, but with the wealth he quite obviously had, I wouldn't doubt my theory.
"I hope you will allow me to take you out again," he says.
"Is that an invitation?"
"This time there will be no terms to agree to, just your pure desire to spend more time with me," he teases with a smile. "Because I am certain I have captured your interest."
"My, aren't we feeling confident." My voice was slightly higher than usual, unable to disguise my racing heart and heaving lungs. "How can you tell you've captured me?"
"Well," Aro spins me round to another halt. "Shall I start listing my observations?"
I bite my lip, feeling my cheeks flush.
"For starters, every time I smile you blush, such a beautiful colour on your cheeks," Aro leans down and places a kiss against each of my cheeks. "Secondly, you got rather bold at the dinner table, a dangerous game to play for such a young girl." The toe of his shoe nudges my foot, a smirk playing on his lips as he raises his eyes to look at me. His face always smiled, but his eyes held far more emotion than his features let on, thankfully in this moment I could only see one. "And finally," his hands slide up my bare arms to hold my face in his palms. "You enjoy this as much as I do." His final words were simple before he lowered his head so his lips captured mine again.