Aurora shouldn’t have been any different.

I didn’t love her. I didn’t have a crush on her. She wasn’t strikingly beautiful, and yet for me, I picked her out of a crowd with ease.

Staring at her now, with her soft body so close, I hated that we were in the restaurant. Along with the spark of attraction, she also held fear.

Even with her emotions all over the place, I liked her mouth. The way she talked back. Some men would have backhanded her. Not me. I didn’t want a puppet or a submissive that couldn’t think for herself.

This was the most refreshing moment of our marriage so far.

Tilting my head to the side, I looked at her, really looked at her. She possessed brown eyes. At first, I had thought they were dull, but they were anything but. They sparkled. There was a lot going on inside Aurora’s head, and I didn’t have the first clue what half of it was about. I had no doubt she was afraid I’d kill her. Tonight, she was safe.

She’d curled her long brown hair, and it fell around her like a frame. I happened to love the length. How long it looked, and there were times I wanted to run my fingers down it. I hadn’t taken nearly enough time to appreciate my wife.

She had a small nose, full lips, and nice cheekbones. Nothing was too sharp. She had curves on her as well.

Some people might think she needed to drop a few pounds, not me. The few times I’d fucked her, I’d loved there was more than a handful. I wasn’t afraid of pounding inside her. She wouldn’t break beneath me and could take all of me. That alone held an attraction.

Her tits. The dress I’d given her accentuated the size of her breasts, and again, I wanted them naked beneath me, swinging above me.

There were moments like these where I wanted the time to explore Aurora. Where our marriage, the treaty, the Bratva, or her mafia family didn’t get in the way.

Years of training were hard to let go. We both had our past.

“You want to sit and talk while we eat dinner?” This was new to me.

In the past, women had been more than happy for me to ignore them, just so long as I paid the bill. The same went with all areas. If I paid, they were happy to give me what I wanted.

Again, Aurora was different. She’d yet to use my money on anything. The clothes she’d gotten were the ones I brought for her.

“Yes,” she said, cutting through my thoughts.

“Then let’s go and talk.”

She nodded her head, but I hadn’t moved. “You need to step back.”

“I will, but it’s going to cost you,” I said.

“What?”

“Kiss me.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” I said. I could have taken the kiss. Aurora wouldn’t fight me. The training her family had thrust into her was hard for her to ignore. She’d let me do anything to her. This was our world. Women, unfortunately, were nothing more than a commodity. A price someone was willing to pay. For Aurora, the Bratva paid in peace as did her family.