I look at Aurei to see his eyes squinted in pain as he tries to concentrate on his phone. I lean over and say in his ear. "Shall we sing?"
He looks at me with a grumpy fuck frown. "What?"
"Shall we sing?" I frown and squint my eyes at him, mocking him.
He nods. "If you think it might help, please sing!" He focuses back on his phone trying to ignore the paralyzing scream. I glance over at the couple. The mother is digging into her diaper bag as the father gently holds the little body still. The screaming baby’s body is red with anger.
What do you sing to a baby? I don’t know any lullabies. I’ve never been around kids before. None of the nursery rhymes I heard as a child come back to me. I stare as the baby starts to turn blue while the mother calmly prepares to change the diaper. She is cooing to it, but that isn’t working.
I take a deep breath and start to hum loud my go-to song. I’ve sang it hundreds of time to the girls in Vegas. "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera. I hope it works on babies too. I’m competing to be heard so I let go of Aurei’s hand and step in front of him to sing directly to the precious thing. He swaps his phone to his other hand, and puts his arm around me, securing me as he buffers the bus movements for me.
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. Umm. 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.
Chapter Eighteen
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 position are the ones 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.
"Hello!" I tell him. "If my tour guy wants a serous 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, pulling 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 in order 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 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."
Chapter Nineteen
At the end of the tour, Aurei leads me off to the grass spectator area. I sit and he stands telling me more about the architectural details. I listen paying close attention. I love this shit! I study his face as he talks about the ancient lifestyle. I learn more from listening to him, than I learned in my college classes. All the while he talks, I can’t help but think about what he would look like in a Roman helmet. I try to envision it on him and how magnificent he would look. His thunderous piercing gaze coming from it. I grin up at him and he asks. "What?"
"I was just thinking how fucking ferocious you would look in a Roman Soldier’s helmet."
He grins. "You weren’t listening?"
"I heard every glorious word, but the atmosphere here has my imagination visualizing how awesome you would have been in those times. I want to hear more about your training."
He laughs. "I’m not going to get away without explaining, am I?"
"Absofuckinglutely NO! You are not." I laugh with him.
"Antonio and I played Gladiators until we were 8. We would pretend and were careful at first, but then." He looks away. "He struck me too hard and I got pissed." He looks at me with a sheepish smile.
I wait for him to finish, but he doesn’t. "And?" I encourage him.
He rolls his eyes. "And ... I beat the shit out of him."
"Oh."
"Yeah. I’m not proud of it, but he took a cheap shot because he was losing, and I punished him for it. When we went back to the house, he was covered in blood and I was clean. No one asked any questions. They took him in, cleaned him up, put ice on his bruises and told us to report to the arena for training the next day." He looks away again, thinking. He leans forward, resting his forearms on his knees.
I lay my hand inside his bicep. "I love this muscle. It’s so plump and round."
"Like your tits." He looks back at me and grins.
I bump him playfully. "Yeah. Something like that." He looks back out over the arena area. I lay my face on his shoulder and I caress his bicep. "The next day.... What happened?"
"We were told to bring our horses to the arena. When we got there, Augustus was waiting on us. He gave us a speech about our ancestry and the Roman Legions that conquered their world. I don’t remember everything he said, but he quoted Julius Caesar 'Divide et impera' which is latin for?" He asks me, not looking back.
"Divide and Conquer." I answer.
"He told us the Roman soldiers were dedicated and disciplined. They fought not for honor, but to win which gives you honor. He made a powerful compelling speech, then he told us if we agreed to the training, he would teach us horsemanship, long sword fighting, short sword and hand to hand combat. Neither of us hesitated. We both agreed, then he forbid us from fighting each other outside the arena. Inside we trained and fought each other, but knew we were working for each other, not against each other. We became like brothers. Antonio would die for me and I for him."
We are both quiet thinking for a few minutes.
"So when you got in fights at school?" I wait for his answer.
"I kicked everybody’s ass. Other than bloody knuckles, there was hardly ever a scratch on me when I was called into the Principal’s office to be suspended or expelled."
"You were already in training?"
"No. I didn’t need training to win fights. I needed training not to get in fights."
"Oh. You’re a bad ass then?"
"I don’t know about that, but I’m not afraid."
"Brutus is gonna like you."
He chuckles. "That would be a plus."
"Why were you fighting in school?"
"Ann was being bullied."
"Oh. You’ve been a hero your whole life, haven’t you?" I squeeze his bicep. The firm, softness and the warmth of it is comforting to me. His skin is so smooth. I open my kissed palm and run it down his forearm. The branded spot starts to tingle, shooting out shivers and I’m turned on again. What this man does to me without even trying! I tur
n my face to his back and kiss him. He rolls his hand over and I slide my fingers inside his. "Let’s find a quiet spot to explore. I’m feeling suddenly very needy."
His eyes touch mine. "Yes. Let’s." I see his need for the deep calm and peace we give each other. I know I have managed to get through a barrier he has had erected for who knows how long. There is a softness to his neediness and a loneliness. My heartaches for him. He was so lonely. I squeeze his hand. I was too. He pulls me to my feet and leads us back to the stadium walls where the partially enclosed box seats are. We find one on the end and he grips my ass as he pulls me against him then backs me into the corner. "So ... what if I told you I have a Roman Soldier’s helmet." His lips touch mine.
"Oh fuck! Yes!" I lean back and stare into his eyes.
"What does that do to you?" His face plays with mine.
"It makes me wet for you." I tell him as my eyes shine into his.
"What if I told you it has a red plume?"
"That makes my pussy drool for you!"
"Drooling pussy?" I feel his fingers inside my thighs. They start to tickle, teasing my skin with his strums and my tummy lurches hard.
"What if I told you it was gold plated?" His mouth tickles my ear, then he bites my earlobe and sucks it.
Fuck! My knees are weak. "That makes my pussy salivate for you!"
"Salivating pussy? Really?" His face moves across my cheek and I feel his breath. He leans away and I stare at his lips as his fingers start working upward. He slides them deep between my legs, then draws them out.
"What if I told you I have the whole leather uniform to match?"
"That makes the flood gates open."
He leans in. His cheek rubs mine and his whiskers scratch, then tickle my lips as he caresses my skin with his. His lips slowly nibble their way to mine, then they are kissing my lips with that soft, firm way that makes me melt. My breath hangs in my throat but his blows gently on my skin. When he sucks my bottom lip into his mouth, I feel his hand on my ass, sliding down to the hem of my skirt. I lose my breath all together when they curl up and slide between those cheeks. He nibbles my lips as his fingers strum. "Breathe, Baby Thang."
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