Page 67 of Unstoppable Billionaire (The Hardcore Novels: Special Editions #2)

When I hum the high notes leading up to the lyrics, the baby catches its breath and pauses, listening.

I shake my head, and it stops crying to watch my hair float, then fall.

I sing using Aurei's trick of changing the words.

I laugh down at him as he stops crying, focusing on my voice.

I smile at the father as the mother quickly and efficiently changes the diaper.

I sing to the mother that his is beautiful, then I sing to the baby boy again.

She finishes and smiles at him, then up to me.

I hum a little more while she lifts her shirt, pulls her breast out, and puts him on it to suckle.

He cuts his eyes at me one more time before he closes them, enjoying his warm ready meal.

I spend the rest of the short bus ride playing peek-a-boo with the big brother while Aurei texts.

When the bus stops, the family exits. At the bottom step, the little boy, Big Bro, still clinging to his mama's skirt, turns to look at me one last time.

I give him a tinkling wave as the doors close, and I'm rewarded with a beautiful smile.

Aurei rolls his eyes and mouths. "Whew! I'm glad that's over."

The bus lurches forward, and I bump him playfully, then pooch my lips in a pretend pout. "I thought you liked my singing."

He laughs now. "I do like your singing. It was the baby's singing that I'm glad ended. You have a voice like an Angel." He tips his head and looks up to the left. "Reminds me of someone. I can't think of who right now, but it will come to me."

"That's a Christina Aguilera song."

"Yes, but although you sing it beautifully, your voice sounds like someone else's. It'll come to me."

"I know I've told you before that your voice is as smooth as butter."

He chuckles. "I'm hoping you have a butter fetish now."

I giggle. "But.... It's really more like rich, velvety chocolate and I def have a chocolate fetish."

"A fun fetish to explore. I like chocolate too. Especially tips of berries dipped in them. Mmm. A delicious delight. "

He looks at his phone again, and I think about the chocolate eyes of the little Italian boy, then the chocolate eyes of Antonio. I look at Aurei. He glances at me, and I muse softly. "I wonder if your kids will have green eyes or brown eyes."

He raises his eyebrows and mouths. "What did you say?"

"Do you want kids one day?"

"If you do." He answers immediately without thinking about it, then starts texting again.

My first thought is: Me? Kids? Wait a minute!

Then I realize how sweet what he just said was.

He didn't think twice before he spoke. He assumed if he had kids, I would be his Baby Mama.

I shake my head. Of course, we would have kids together.

We are forever now. But then I frown. I've never really thought about having kids before. Do I even want kids?

Aurei says as the bus arrives, "This is us. Come on. Let's go!"

On the way to the metro stop, he tells me more about his visits to Rome when he was a teenager, but once we enter the station, the crowd is large and loud.

We silently wait our turn to board, and when the train arrives, we maneuver with the others for position.

Taking small steps as we jostle, Aurei has my hand cinched so tight it is hurting.

As we go through the doors, the car is packed to bursting.

I take one misstep, and I get caught up in the wave of motion as people push to get in.

There is literally no room, and suddenly I feel small and vulnerable, not petite and feisty.

Panic begins to fill me with fear when I realize I've lost Aurei's hand, and I'm wedged so tight in the pack of people, I can't turn to see him.

I start to pant. Fuck! This is bad! Then I feel a strong hand grab a handful of my hair and halt my forward progress.

People push past, not concerned that I'm paralyzed by my head being pulled back, a prisoner of a death grip.

I stare up at the ceiling, blinking back tears of pain and fear as the image of a big cat clutching its kitten comes to my mind's eye.

Slowly the people around me are forced away, and there is breathing room, then I hear him.

My hero tells me. "I got you, my Sexy Kitten Thang.

" I feel his strong arm slide around my waist, and he pulls me tight.

His body feels like heaven against me. His grip changes, and he turns my face to his.

I look up into those pools of peaceful paradise.

His eyes are crinkled at the corners. "I'm never letting you go.

Don't you worry. Brutus may move mountains, but I'll move heaven and hell for you. "

I slide my arms around his waist and hold on tight. Thank Zeus! You are an alpha male! I lay my face on his chest and hear his heart beating. Fuck! That was a close call. I shudder.

We ride the rest of the way to the Colosseum, holding each other.

When we depart the tram, Aurei wraps his hand in my hair, and I lead the way out of the doors.

Exiting is much easier but still very intense.

The aggressive people jostling for a position are the one's boarding, and they stand fidgeting like racehorses waiting to jump through the gate and push each other to enter the bottleneck.

When we have cleared the danger zone, Aurei releases my hair and grabs my hand. As he leads the way out, he takes his phone out of his pocket and looks at it.

"Hello!" I tell him. "If my tour guy wants a serious tip afterward, then he needs to be in the game. No business texting!" He chuckles but doesn't put his phone back. He does stop looking at it, though, as he leads us out into the bright daylight.

As soon as the sunshine hits our faces, I start to jump up and down again. Then I stop dead in my tracks. "Wow! Fucking, Wow!"

The giant skeleton looms larger than life, and I stand staring with my mouth hanging open! I can't take my eyes off it. "It's... it's simply ... awesome!"

"Yes. She is."

"The Majesty!"

"She is quite impressive."

"That's an understatement! Wow! Spectacular!"

"Yes. She is spectacular."

"The size of her!"

"She is larger than life."

"Yes! She is."

"She is simply stunning!"

"Yes. Photos don't do her justice!"

"No. I agree. They don't."

I grin, now knowing that he is a photographer. "No. Photos don't cut it! She is very beautiful!"

"She is very beautiful, both inside and outside, but she doesn't know just how truly beautiful she is."

"What?" I crinkle my eyebrows and look at him.

He laughs as he lowers his phone, grinning at me, then he puts his arm around me, turns me away from the view, holds his phone out away from us, and snaps a selfie pic.

I pucker my lips up to him, and he lays his on mine and snaps another.

I lay my cheek against his and pose. He snaps another pic.

I stick my tongue out at him. He snaps another pic.

I put a hand on each side of our faces and push, contorting them.

He snaps another pic. We die laughing. He snaps another pic.

I grab his hand, pull him, and back away. He snaps another pic.

"Come on! Let's go! This is a special place to touch and explore."

He smacks his lips. "And taste."

I giggle as he takes control again and leads me to the looming monument. I follow along behind him, looking around at everything, trying to take it all in. When we enter the actual Colosseum, it feels like we have entered sacred ground.

Aurei tells me that to go down to the gladiator area, we have to go on a guided tour.

When the tour starts, we join the others and listen as the guide fills us in on all the little details.

I'm fascinated by all she tells us, and I'm quiet as I listen.

When we walk past the small cells that held the gladiators before combat, I turn to Aurei.

"Aurei, how do you...." He is taking a picture of me, and I roll my eyes at him.

He grins and whispers. "Curious Thang, how do I what?"

"How do you feel down here?"

He looks surprised at my question. "What do you mean?" He furloughs his brow.

"You know. How do you feel down here?"

"Comfortable. Are you cold?" He asks with confused concern on his face.

"No! I'm not cold." I chuckle at him. "That's not what I meant. I'm not asking how do you physically feel. I'm asking how do you feel inside being down here."

"I don't know. How should I feel inside?" He is frowning now, totally confused by my question.

I look at him and can't help but laugh. He is clueless!

But he's trying really hard to understand.

His eyes search mine for meaning. I look away, tipping my head, and think.

Concise communication doesn't always mean the fewest words, I guess.

Concise also means comprehensive. Hmmm. "How does being down here, where gladiators stood before going to battle to live or to die, make you feel?

You know, inside." I touch my gut, then my heart.

"Oh!" He chuckles now too. "I don't feel anything inside being down here."

"Oh." I frown, now a little disappointed. "Don't you feel proud that you have Italian blood? Don't you feel a kinship with the ancient warriors of Rome?"

His eyes are soft as he explains. "Of course, I'm proud of my Italian heritage, and of course, I feel a kinship with the ancient warriors of Rome, but they were not gladiators. The warriors of Rome were the Legions of Roman Soldiers that conquered their world."

My eyes light up. "Ah! Yes! I stand corrected."

The tour guide calls to us. "Come. Now. We must stay together." As we walk to join the group, Aurei tells me. "When Antonio and I were young, we would pretend we were gladiators, though. It's hard to pretend you are part of a conquering army when there are only two of you."

I laugh. "Did you fight each other?"

"Yes. We had great battles."

"Weapons?"

"Of course, swords."

"Cool. Did you have shields too?"

"Oh yeah! We even had horses."

My eyes light up. "Horses? Did you have chariots?"

"No. No chariots. We would ride into our arena on our horses. Sometimes we battled with our swords on them. Sometimes we fought on the ground."

"That's fly!"

"They got pretty elaborate when I started spending the summers here."

I look at him, surprised. "Weren't you 14 when you started staying the summers?"

"Yes. Why the shocked look?"

"Weren't you a little old for pretend?"

He laughs. "We weren't pretending by that time. We were training."

My face is even more surprised. "Training?"

"Shhh." He winks. We've caught up to the group, and he listens attentively to the tour guide, completely ignoring me.

I whisper loudly at him. "Don't shush me! Explain training!" I see a trace of a smirk hovering around his mouth. "Aurei...."

"Shhh. Kitten Thang, it's time to listen now."

I give him a low growl, and he chuckles. "Where were the Tigers caged?" He speaks up and asks the tour guide.

"We will be visiting that area next." She smiles at him. "This way, everyone."

I pinch him. "Very funny!"

He looks down and grins at me. "I'm def surprising you tonight."