“You look gorgeous, Elle,” Maria complimented.
“Thanks to you and the time you spent to do so. Well, time to pull it off—”
“Wait, what time is it?” Maria looked over at the clock. “Eleven forty-five!” Maria grabbed Elle’s hand and dragged her to stand in the middle of her bedroom. “Wait right here.” Then Maria disappeared.
Um, okay…
* * *
Nero opened his bedroom door. “What the fuck, Maria?”
“Sorry, Nero. I needed her for something,” Maria tried to calm him.
“I told you to distract her for thirty fucking minutes, not the whole damn night. We just told her you wanted her here to fucking get her here.”
Maria rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, you can thank me later.”
“For what? Fucking stealing her from me?”
Maria started laughing, “All right, I’m leaving with Lucca. Elle’s in my room.” Maria started walking down the hall. “Oh, don’t be mad at me for the dress. I never actually got to wear it.”
What?
Chapter Thirty-Six
How Does It Taste?
Eleven forty-five? Elle hadn’t even realized how late it was, though she had known it was late when she had come over. Yeah, but dang, time flew.
Elle looked around Maria’s bedroom, wondering how long she was going to take. She tried waiting right where she’d told her to, but she spun around the room, bored, until she heard the bedroom door fly open.
Elle turned back around to face the door. “Final—” Her mouth stopped forming the words when she saw Nero standing in the doorway. She thought he looked just as stunned to see her as she did him.
Nero slowly started covering the distance between them, and Elle tried to move back. She thought Nero looked too much like a wolf trying to stalk his prey right now, and she started to feel uncomfortable with the way she was dressed.
I’m going to kill Maria. “Uh-uh, what are you doing here?”
Nero stood right in front of her. “I live here, remember?”
Right. Elle wondered where Nero had gone to tonight. He looked a bit sexier than he usually did with his buttoned up shirt that was a dark gray this time. It made his emerald eyes dance and gave him a more deadly and sexy appearance. Elle licked her lips from them suddenly starting to feel dry.
Nero reached out and took her hand, pulling her toward him. “You look fucking beautiful.”
Elle’s heart started beating as Nero leaned down to kiss her lightly on the lips. When he pulled away, he started pulling her out of the bedroom.
“Um, where’s Maria?”
“She left. Remind me later to thank her and kill her for that dress.”
Left? Elle’s heart began to race as he headed toward his bedroom. She suddenly felt like this whole thing might have been planned.
Nero smiled as he opened his bedroom door for her.
Elle looked into his room and saw a small table and two chairs had been placed by his balcony door. He did this for me?
Nero’s hand came to the small of her back and he gently pushed her into the bedroom before shutting the door. Then he guided her toward the table and pulled out a seat for her. Elle stared at the pink cupcake and strawberries on the plate in front of her as Nero sat down beside her.
He reached into his pocket and grabbed the two items he had been hiding. He placed a white candle on top of the cupcake and lit the end with a lighter.
“Happy Birthday, Elle.”
Elle looked over at Nero, shocked. “How did you know?”
Nero shrugged. “Josh told me.”
Should have known. The two had spent some time together and Nero had started rubbing off on Josh, who hadn’t been picked on since Nero had scared those bullies that day at the bus stop.
Elle smiled as she gave Nero a quick kiss on the lips. “Thank you.”
Nero smiled back at her. “You’re welcome, baby.”
Elle looked back at the burning candle and quickly blew it out.
“Did you make a wish?”
Elle thought about how drastically her life had changed in a matter of a month. “Yes, but I’m not going to tell, or it won’t come true.”
Nero picked up a strawberry off the plate. “I plan on making all your wishes come true.”
“I have a lot of wishes,” Elle teased.
“I think you’re worth it.” His expression was serious.
Elle’s heart melted. She never would have thought Nero could have been the sweet type.
As she watched him put the strawberry up to his mouth and take a bite, Elle went to pick up her own strawberry, but Nero swatted her hand away. He then picked another strawberry up and put it to Elle’s lips.
Elle slowly opened her mouth and took a bite. The taste was sweet and slightly sour, and she didn’t know if it was the best strawberry she had ever eaten because of the taste or because Nero was feeding it to her.