Page 6 of Flowers and Moonlight

I wish I could see more of her face, but the mask she’s wearing covers most of it. It would probably be a bad idea to stomp up to her and rip the mask off. I’m sure that would get me more than a few odd looks. That doesn’t mean it’s not difficult to refrain.

She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Everything inside of me is screaming to go and make her mine.

Her eyes roam over the party and her shoulders tense before her eyes dart around again and she steps into the mass of people in the room. I don’t need to see the woman of my dreams to find her, it’s as if there’s an invisible thread connecting us together.

I want to know what spooked her. I need to know. If she’s in danger, I need to know.

Not having eyes on her tears at me and my feet start moving before my mind has caught up to the action. I get a few steps before Tony is right there next to me, his brown eyes intense and focused as he looks at me. My eyebrows furrow together and my fists clench. Does he have any idea that he’s keeping me from the woman my dreams are made of?

I try and keep my voice level, but there’s a lethal edge to it, “What are you doing, Tony?”

“I saw you looking at her. She’s mine,” he grits out through his teeth.

I blink at him a few times, my brain having an issue processing his words. What the fuck? I have never put anything else above my loyalty to the family, but with a few words from Tony’s mouth I’m seriously contemplating throwing it all away.

“No.” I shake my head slowly, my muscles coiling and readying to strike. “She’s mine.”

Tony’s eyes soften as he looks at me, but I can also tell he’s not going to give this up. I look around the room, hoping to get another glimpse of her. I need to put my eyes on her. My heart rate starts to pick up at the idea of her being out of my sight. I don’t like it.

Tony sounds shocked, “You feel it too?” I scan the room without catching a glimpse of her and it feels like the darkness, which has been a hallmark of my life since I went to Angelo, is closing in on me. Tony’s hands grab my shoulders and my gaze snaps back to him. “Zeno,” he growls, “you feel it too?”

“Yes,” I snap. “I don’t like her being out of my sight,” the sharp look he gives me has me backtracking slightly, “our sight. She tensed when she saw someone, but I don’t know who. What if she’s in trouble?”

I have always been calm in the face of my job, of the life I have chosen, but right now it feels like the ground is shifting underneath me and I’m powerless against it. I could tumble down at any moment. It’s not an unwelcome feeling because I know it’s because of her, but it’s not easy to process.

“I saw it too,” his voice is grave.

He looks around and lets out a small sigh. His reaction tells me he has eyes on her and instead of feeling jealous, I feel relieved. Everything in me is screaming that she’s going to need more than just me, that she needs all the protection, compassion and affection that she can get. Why am I not jealous?

“She’s going to need you too,” the words slip from my lips, but I know they’re right.

Tony’s eyes snap to mine and bore deep. “It doesn’t bother you?”

“I should want to rip your head off for saying she’s yours too, but I don’t.” I shake my head and mutter, “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Yes, it does.” Tony releases my shoulders and I turn to find her across the room sipping on a glass of champagne. She holdsherself away from everyone else, almost as if she’s afraid to get too close to everyone. It shatters something inside of me. Tony falls in next to me and it feels…natural. “I think you’re right; she’s going to need both of us. You see what I see?”

“She’s skittish and afraid,” the words are laced with venom because it pisses me off that anyone would make her feel that way. “She’s like a moonbeam that’s about to be overtaken by a cloud.”

“We won’t let that happen,” there’s a finality in Tony’s voice.

“No, we won’t. Nothing will harm her from now on. I’ll lay my life in front of hers every time,” I vow.

When we start moving toward her, we do so side-by-side and in synch. Her whiskey-colored eyes sweep across the ball and land on us, a united front against whatever, or whoever, she fears. Her demons better pray they don’t meet us because we will always win.

The blush that rises up her exposed neck as her eyes dart back and forth between us as we stalk toward her speaks volumes. She doesn’t run. She doesn’t shrink away.

We’re coming for you,chiaro di luna, and we’re going to make you ours.

CHAPTER 4

TONY

For any other woman in any other situation, I would probably be beating Zeno into the ground for even thinking the woman who has bewitched me is his. This woman, apparently, changes everything. The idea of sharing her doesn’t make me want to kill the man who I’ve considered a brother for years.

It turns me on more.

I can almost hear her breathy moans as she comes apart in my friend’s arms and how pretty she’ll be putting on a show for me. Then there are the visions of us taking her together as she finds pleasure between us.