Whitney House was known by every person who lived in Detroit, from the paupers drunk on the street corner to the highest rollers of business and industry.  The elaborate mega mansion which was built about thirty years ago for David Whitney was a marvel of the New World.  A modern castle complete with stone walls, iron gates, stained glass windows, imported tile floors, and even turrets.

Cars were parked by valet as guests walked down the red carpet towards the massive front doors.  Music from inside was drifting out into the night filling the air with electricity which Aurora pulled around herself like a shawl.  A sign propped up on an easel at the door announced Mr. Thomas Woodward as the Republican Candidate for Governor in the upcoming elections and tonight every pocket was encouraged to open wide to fund his run against the long-standing Democrat who held office.

Prohibition had made it illegal to sell alcohol, but events like this never had a shortage of the good stuff.  The moment Rora entered she found herself being offered a glass of sparkling golden liquid which resembled the golden fabric which flowed across her body.  The dress far was more revealing than she was used to, thin straps held the top in place and the neck plunged low between her petite breasts. 

Normally it would have been too flashy for work.  In times like this she didn't want to stand out.  She didn't want to be remembered and this dress was definitely memorable, even though many women in the room wore far worse.  She'd chosen it simply because it was the only one in the shop which didn't need to be altered to fit her diminutive size, yet still a slit up the right side.  The slit was the important part.  It exposed the lioness tattoo on her thigh which her contact would be looking for and so all she had to do was keep moving until he or she found her.  

Unlike a ballroom event at a hotel where everything would happen in one massive room, the Whitney was a maze of rooms varying in size both on the first and second floors and out back on an illuminated patio.  Most of the rooms were made up in the theme of the event - Monte Carlo Night.  Blackjack tables, roulette, and even poker games were happening everywhere and massive amounts of cash were changing hands - meanwhile less than a mile from this spot families were waiting in a soup line for dinner - but Aurora, the like the other wealthy guests here, wasn't thinking about them.

Aurora sipped her drink and returned the smiles of young men she passed by, using her flirting as a means to check out as many people as possible searching for some face she might know.  She had come here tonight all-but unarmed.  One single thin throwing knife was stapped to her left thigh, hidden in the folds of her dress.  It was the hardship of any woman in the mafia.  While a man could hide guns under a coat, dames had no reasonable place to put a gun while in evening wear. 

Fortunately, she strongly doubted there would be trouble here tonight.  This wasn't the sort of party one found trouble at.  These people had the cops and feds around the perimeter and even if a petty thief got access to a place like this they were much more likely to be picking pockets and running cons than assaulting people.  You would either have to be a total fucking idiot or God himself to come into a joint like this waving a gun around.

Aurora had become a victim of the sirens, lured towards the sound of music in the heart of the house.  Here she found a place had been cleared out for performances by a band and dancing was going on.  Moving through the crowd gathered around the edges of the room she watched with a bit of excitement as men and women of the highest social circles moved about the dancefloor.  It wasn't like the dancehalls back home.  The music wasn't ruckus swing or jazz played by two-bit entertainers, but the sort of music played for Kings and Queens for hundreds of years.  The kind of dancing happening here was precise.  It was the sort of thing people paid good money to learn how to do competently, and very few could do exceedingly well. 

Aurora swayed to the music.  She might have been a trained killer, but even she knew she had the heart of a dancer, she always had and a part of her wanted nothing more than to put up her gun for the night and dance until the dawn.  Perhaps that was why she smiled so devilishly when she felt a tap on her shoulder and heard an older male voice with a British accent address her, "Miss?  Forgive my forward nature, but I don't suppose that you'd like to dance?'

"Do you waltz?"  The song was about done, but Aurora supposed it was likely that waltzes would be the order of the evening considering this was such a classy affair.

"I do.  Though I've been known to do a great many dances in my younger days."  He smiled at her and offered his hand.  "Benjamin.  Benjamin Walker."

"Nice to meet you Benjamin.  You may call me Lionessa... Lionessa Dell'Alba." 

Benjamin inclined his head politely.  "The pleasure is all mine, I assure you, Lionessa."

"Many dances, you say?"  Aurora's grin hadn't faded even slightly.

"Many."  he affirmed.  

"Would you be opposed to seeing if the band leader would provide us with something a little more uptempo?  I'm feeling lively tonight and I'd like to start tonight off with a bang."  

Benjamin smiled, "Samba, perhaps?"

"There isn't a dance you'd pick I'd say no to."

"Challenge accepted." He said inclining his head and heading off towards the band leader who was just wrapping up the previous song.  Aurora took the moment to put aside her glass.

The first notes violently ripped through the room and some people applauded, excited to have something more lively.  Aurora barely contained a cheer as the undeniable sound of a tango awoke something in her that had lain dormant for far too long.  Benjamin crossed the dance floor confidently, walking between dancers as if he owned the room and there was something incredibly sexy about that even though his man was nearly as old as Louis Mezzo and far older than she should find herself attracted to.

Aurora stalked out onto the floor, people parting for her as the red sea before Moses as a power oozed from her that she was unaware she possessed, something buried deep within her blood, gloria regalia that could only come from a woman born of and raised by the highest of the high.  

Hips sashay side to side and her hand extended towards the older man who pulled her body tight against his own, their faces inches short of kissing.  In unison, they cut a path one way and then back the other.  At first they were a couple among many, but a lifetime of dance had given Aurora the keen ability to detect the mood of her partner and respond to him without direction and the dance between them quickly became something much more extraordinary than two people acting upon muscle memory - repeating motions they'd been trained not to forget.  

Benjamin's every action, every placement of his foot, every turn, it was violent... almost angry.  Aurora, like any good partner, of course, followed his lead and responded in kind.  His grip was tight, his expressions a strange blending of what might have been excitement and menace.  She knew that she could outpace him.  She was a better dancer than he by miles, but the killer in her couldn't help but yield to his command. 

There was primal malice, something predatory to his artform which aroused her.  It raised every alarm inside of her that she'd been trained to pay attention to her whole life.  Maybe it was the music, or not knowing the man who was so willing to man-handle her body as if they were lovers, but some part of her screamed in the back of her mind that she needed to be VERY afraid. 

Silencing that instinct was difficult, but as she focused more upon the dance itself, it became easier and easier to let go the fantasy that this was anything other than what it was, an innocent dance not an actual fight.  Aurora became more and more fluid in his grip as the music began it's a crescendo.  She almost felt like she was letting Benjamin carrying her through the motions rather than moving to meet him now - until the moment her eyes met his... Billy Mastrosimone.

Billy had been waiting all day for this damned party. There was a lot on his mind, far too much for his taste. He was a simple man with simple needs. On the bright side for Billy, tonight was going to have plenty of gambling. That he was good at. 

He made his way into the big mansion before too many people had arrived. Billy really had nowhere else to be, and the invitation did say seven o'clock, though most folks didn't really start showing up until later. Which was fine by him. He sat down to play some blackjack and before he knew it, eight o clock had rolled in and he needed to cash in. When he looked down at the table in front of him he took all of the green chips sitting in front of him and slid them to the dealer.

"Keep those, don't care what you do with em, just change in the black ones for me."

He looked around the room and realized how fast it had filled up. He was supposed to be looking for someone. he really should have been staking out the front door, but it was too late now. Now he had to go walk around the whole place.

The dealer gently placed a stack of bills in front of Billy. Billy leaned down to look at it, plucked off about a third of it, and then left the rest on the table.

"For the Governor, from Billy."

A few people grumbled. In one move he had just donated more than they would in a year. Sure the folks there knew who he was, but to just drop that kind of cash like it meant nothing? In front of everyone? Billy had done it before, and he would do it again. There was a reason some people whispered the name 'bankroll' in the corners.

Billy made his way through the rooms of the house then, one by one, looking for someone. Truth be told though, he had no idea who he was looking for, but the scowl he wore on his face out of frustration must have given away that he didn't want to be bothered. He was only offered one drink, which he did not take, and not a single man or woman decided to approach him to talk or ask for anything. It was odd feeling this left alone. Then he remembered the raid. These people of course knew about it. That's why they were staying away. He was damaged goods no matter how much money he left on the table back there.

He sighed and kept moving, almost walking right onto the dance floor. Luckily stopped himself just in time to watch for a few minutes before the song changed over to what was unmistakably a tango. There were a few good dancers there. There were mostly drunks who couldn't manage to keep the right timing and looked sloppy, but they were having fun.

One couple though, they knew what they were doing. He was clearly leading, she was following, and she made him look better than he had any right looking. She was the better of the two. She was...

Billy's heart leaped into his throat then as he saw Aurora's face. He couldn't help but to crack a smile then and when she looked in his direction, he gave a wave.

He waited all of three seconds before deciding that guy couldn't dance at her pace though and so he did the unthinkable. He cut in on a tango.

It was almost seamless. The guy knew who Billy was clearly and wasn't going to give him any problems. More importantly, he was a gentleman in the middle of a party where his reputation would be thrown to bits if he didn't just give her up and got into a fight over some dame.

Rora wasn't some dame to Billy though. She was the only woman he had thought about since that night at the diner. So Billy grasped her hand where the old guy's was a second earlier and seamlessly moved into his place.

Whatever the old guy was doing was not dancing cause he could feel how tense Rora was. So he made sure that he led her gently, easily, gliding across the floor the way she was supposed to. He spun her then and brought her back into his hands to dip her. For the first time realized how much bigger than her he was. They did not make the best partners, Fred would have paired him with someone much taller. It didn't matter much though as the song ended with her in a dip and folks began to clap. Billy had forgotten how much dancing could really take you out of whatever crap you were in.

"Hey Rora. Nice to see ya again. What are you doing here?"

"Billy!"  She said as he slid into Benjamin's place, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.  Her face lit up and as his large hands gently guided her across the dance floor.  Her former partner disappeared to God alone knew where, and was forgotten about almost the moment Billy's enormous form dwarfed her own.

Aurora said nothing after that merely fell into the habit which came so easily to her after almost two decades of dancing.  She was shocked that someone so big, and unwieldy in appearance, could be so graceful.  She smiled at him, noticing the care with which he handled her... urging her to do as he wanted, not forcing as Benjamin had.  The tension, the fear which she felt at the start of the dance had disappeared utterly by the end so completely that she forgot that she'd felt it at all.

For a moment Aurora found herself looking around wondering if anyone had heard him call her by something other than her fake name.  The clapping for the band and the dancers was loud though and she figured it was unlikely.  She considered telling him to call her by her fake name but... that would mean telling him.  She wasn't sure she was ready for that just yet.  Surely Billy wasn't the one hiring her.  There was no way a Don comes out to negotiate the details of such a thing himself.  That was too dangerous for a situation where the heat was on and this place was crawling with cops, politicians and even feds outside the gate.  Most likely he was here making sure he could buy influence with the future Governor for his Godfather.

"Let's walk."  She said looping his arm onto his.  

"I had wanted us to go dancing for our second date. I hadn't expected anything like that though!  It was incredible.  Really and truly it was!  where did you learn to dance like that?  How long have you been taking lessons?  You have to tell me all about it."  Her tone was oddly similar to how it had been when Billy first met her in the home of her parents.  She was more sure of herself, confident, and bold than she'd been in the restaurant.  It was as if the unsure girl he'd seen there was hidden away someplace beyond an exquisite mask that made her fit in so perfectly with this high-class crowd.

Billy nodded.

"You want a drink, or some little finger food things? There's not enough here to keep me from going hungry, but I expect that's what they want. Stay a while, gimme your money, leave. I've got a feeling I'm gonna be here longer than I want to be."

He turned his head toward the room with the bar and started to lead Aurora in that direction.

"I uh, never took real lessons. I was just a guy who kept dumb people out of the backstage of a place in Manhattan for a while. When my mom would get real bad, sometimes it was either get beat, or leave. So I would leave. I went around looking for work, but even then I was just a big dumb kid and not many people want to hire that kid as a newsboy. There was this one guy though, Fred. Great guy, real good dancer. Lots of people liked him and went to his shows, so it was my job to make sure nobody bothered him or his wife in their backstage places. He taught me how to dance."

Billy grabbed a couple of glasses off the bar and handed one to Rora.

"How about you? You're real good. Amazing really. I bet if you wasn't goin' to Vassar you could dance if you wanted."

"New York... Fred?  You're not talking about Fred Astaire are you?  Tell me you're joking?"  Aurora laughed and swooned.  "He's a dreamboat and so good on the floor - there's no one like him!  Billy that's crazy."

She laughed at his comment about the little food and said, "Well maybe after we can hit up another dinner and take in a late supper?  I'd love for me to show me more of the hidden gems here in your city... I mean, if you're not to busy rubbing elbows for your family.  I can only imagine how much work you have to do tonight.  This place is crawling with important people who could change the stars for anyone's family if money and promises are put in the right place."

She beamed at him, realizing how much faith Rebecca and Joe must put in him to have sent him to this event on behalf of their organization.  He wasn't just some low level Don... clearly he had a bright future ahead of him.  Maybe he'd be a Godfather one day!

Billy nodded.

"Yeah, that Fred. I forgot his last name, but that sounds right."

At the suggestion of dinner Billy's stomach rumbled. This was going to be a long night.

"Oh, they already got my money. I came early and played at the tables for a bit and almost cleaned one of em out before I got up. I took about double what I sat down with and donated the rest to the governor. He knows who was here. I'm not here for this crap though."

He waved his hand around the room to signal, well, everything.

"I mean, I'm sure somebody here has some pull and can get me my warehouse back, but I'm not worried about that. I got other business I gotta do here."

He lowered his voice.

"I'm lookin for somebody I'm supposed to meet."

He sat back up and looked around the room again, realizing he had given too much of his attention to Rora.

"You know what? Are you here on a date? Do you want to help me find this guy? Or am I keeping you from someone?"

So much was being said, it was a lot to unpack!  Aurora's head spun.

First was that Billy KNEW Fred Astaire and he didn't KNOW who that was!  How can he not know one of the world's most famous people?!?

The second part was that he lost a warehouse.  He was having troubles.  This worried her.

The next bit - tied to the second - was that he WAS here to meet her.  He DID come himself!  How could his underbosses have allowed this!  How could any of them have thought this was a good idea! 

Aurora gave serious thought to going to give Kenzi a piece of her mind.  Sure, Kenzi was older than her, but she could be made to see sense.  If she was going to be a good underboss for Billy she had to start stepping up to prevent him from doing his own dirty work. 

This is how people end up in prison! 

If she was, god-forbid, made for the murder (as impossible as that was) then Billy might be tied to her because of that tango!  People might remember and testify to the fact that they'd spent time together tonight!  She wanted to shake sense into him, but before she could even THINK of what to say to him about his foolish risks he then said something far worse.

Was she here on a date?  Did he think she just visited Detroit to pick up guys?  And who the fuck went to a Republican fundraiser as a date?  The only couples who came to things like this were people with agendas to push and old money.  Granted, she WAS old money but she wasn't so old as to consider THIS a good date.  A good date was stealing her parent's private plane for a weekend in Montreal the way her dad did on his first date with mom.  THAT was a good date.  This was... this was... well, it wasn't a good date that was for sure!

And NONE of that even began to touch upon the fact that he hadn't even noticed the lioness tattoo on her thigh despite watching her dance for ... how long?  He hadn't even looked at her exposed leg, not even once?  Had she seriously misjudged how this dress made her look?  How could he NOT be looking at her exposed leg?  What was he looking at?

She glanced down at her breasts.

Nope.  No guy looks at those, they're barely there... so what the fuck?!?

"I'm meeting a guy, but it's not a date."  She admitted.  "To be honest, I'm starting to think that he's been held up or seriously distracted; so why don't we go find a waitress and get me a new glass of champagne and if you want some help maybe I can help you find this person you're looking for."

There was still hope that maybe he wasn't looking for her... doubtful, but she could hope.

"After all, two sets of eyes are better than one.  Why don't you tell me what you can about who we're searching for?"

Billy shrugged.

"I honestly don't know much. I know that they should have a tattoo of a lion. So I'm looking at like people's necks and their wrist and stuff but I got nothin so far."

That's when Billy realized for the first time that quite a few women were wearing a combination of shoes and dresses that did not cover their ankles. He smacked himself in the head then and almost knocked an entire tray of drinks of of another waitress' hand.

"Sorry! So sorry!"

He grabbed a glass for Rora and then turned back to give it to her.

"You know what? I'm an idiot. I didn't even think to look down at people's ankles. I was thinking I was looking for a guy."

He leaned in and lowered his voice.

"You know, hit... well, yeah, so man I feel dumb."

He lingered for a moment just exactly as he had when he last saw her. She smelled different than she did at the diner. She must have been wearing a different perfume tonight. It was nice. He had no idea what it smelled like, but now? Now that's what Rora smelled like. He found himself wanting to stay there longer, and he evern reached out for a moment to put a hand on her hip and help guide her to a lounge for them to sit in. It was the electricity again. The unmistakable pull that he felt when he got real close to her. He had no idea how to describe it, but he knew it was special. He also knew that tonight it was gonna be real distracting, so he forced himself to stand back up straight and make a show of looking around the room.

"I guess now I gotta go check out a whole bunch more people, ladies specifically."

He couldn't help but start with the one in front of him.

She hid her smile as best she could.  It wasn't that she was laughing at him... maybe just a little ... but that she found him endearing.  He as real and honest and a truly good person. 

Even here, in a place swimming with women who wanted to be looked at - old women who wanted to feel young, young women who wanted to be claimed by rich and powerful people - he wasn't looking at them in that way.  She could have been offended that he thought about a hired killer as only being a man, but more she worried for him. 

It meant that Billy had a very real and dangerous vulnerability as a Don.  If he wasn't careful, a woman would be the death of him one day.  She'd be pretty, powerful, and she'd get close enough to slit his throat ear to ear before he even knew to fear her.  As silly as the optics were she, this five foot nothing woman, wanted to protect this massive man - especially when he was so near to her.

Wait... is he smelling me?  Does he like my perfume?  Note to self, make sure I buy another bottle.

She took a sip of her drink, met his eyes, and with all the confidence in the world she asked, "Parli italiano?"

Billy looked Rora dead in the eye.

"Di cazzo, certo che lo faccio. pensi che ho un nome come questo e non posso parlare la lingua?"

Billy had a very puzzled look on his face. Why did she feel the need to speak in Italian? Was there something going on that she didn't want other people to know? There were very few times that Billy was thankful for his mother. His father didn't speak a lick of Italian, he learned it all from dear old mom.

He waved over a waitress and took two more glasses off her tray and left her a tip of a size he didn't care to think about in that moment. She would find them for the rest of the night without a question. Then her turned his full attention to Rora.

"Cosa c'è che non va?"

"Sei qui con me stasera, come potrebbe esserci qualcosa di sbagliato? Forse non voglio condividerti con nessun altro?"  she sipped her drink, her eyes not leaving his.  The warmth of alcohol was moving fast through her body.  She was starting to relax.  Normally that would be a huge no-no when preparing to negotiate a job, but Billy wasn't her usual employer.  This wasn't the usual job either.

"Sai, un professionista con un grosso pesce sulla linea non ha intenzione di andarsene senza un contratto. Se vuoi veramente dare un'occhiata a dei tatuaggi, ne ho alcuni che potresti trovare interessanti ... cioè, se non pensassi meno a me per averci suggerito di esplorare questo posto per una stanza vuota dove potremmo essere soli per un po?"

She couldn't help wetting her whistle again.  This was AMAZING stuff.  She wondered who their supplier was.

"Unless of course you only have a mind for business tonight?  In which case, I'll commit my full attention to your needs first."  She smirked. 

She knew it was a bit of a tease to imply she'd satisfy any of his needs aside from killing this son-of-a-bitch Billy needed dead.  Aurora wasn't an experienced woman by any stretch... but she wanted to be kissed by him again and this time for more than just a moment.  So, why not here?  Why not now?  It's not like Billy was going to miss his chance to hire the hitman... she wasn't going anywhere and to be perfectly honest, she'd do the contract pro-bono if the man was as good a kisser as he was in the diner last week!

Rora clearly wanted to out of the crowd. She kept on with the Italian. Not sharing, finding a place that they could be alone. There was something wrong. That's the only reason Billy could think of for her to want to be out of the public space.

"Yeah, let's go poke around a bit, they did say the entire place was open after all. I doubt many people have the balls to look around for real."

He grabbed his drink with one hand, and her hand with the other. His head was on a swivel now. He was looking all around the room for any sign of a tattoo, and he figured Rora was behind him looking for one too. But then he spotted a small room off to the side of the building. It looked like it could have been used as a den, or perhaps a library. The room was all but empty when they made their way in. Rora giggling behind him. He watched as a young couple on the other dies of the room gave a start. Billy took out a small wad of bills and forked it over to them.

"Thanks for keeping the place warm."

The woman's face lit up at the cash and she dragged her gentleman caller out. If looks could kill though, Billy woulda been dead on the spot. As soon as the door closed he whirled on Rora.

"Ok, my Italian is rusty. I thought you said something back there about the tattoo. You know who has a tattoo? And why all the Italian? Rora if there's something wrong, if you're in trouble, tell me, I can help."

He was sure, based solely on who her parents were, both by blood and by the trials of life that she knew how to handle herself. He was also sure that people liked kidnapping people that were worth a lot of money, and Rora, for everything else that she was, was kind of small.

Billy reached out and put his hands on her waist.

"I've got you."

She took a sharp breath and looked down at his hands and then back up to his eyes and breathed, "So you do."

She liked the feel of him holding her, being protective of her.  It was a funny notion, how often she'd run away from men who were so much like Billy - big men who wanted nothing more than to keep her safe, and this one she found herself drawn to instead.  What was it about him that made him different than all the other men who would have gladly died for her family?  How was it that Billy somehow felt... different?

She put her drink down on a small table just to the side of the door.  She let her hands come up and rest upon his chest, "You know, you're in a lot of danger if you don't remember that women can be killers too.  What if I were a killer?  What if I was sent to hurt you?"

Her fingers stroked his pectoral muscles through the fabric of his shirt.  She stepped backward and was pleased to find he came towards her without instruction to obey.  It seemed to indicate he wanted to be close to her and she found it reassuring to the little voice inside her head that was afraid he was going to change his mind at any moment and leave. 

"Do you know how easily I could do it..."  Her voice was a whisper.  She didn't speak as though she were threatening, weirdly, she felt like she was seducing him.  Trying to make him stop seeing his mother's vulnerable daughter and instead recognize the powerful woman he was in the presence of.  "... even right now?"

She glanced over her shoulder and spied a leather couch.  She began moving towards it.

"I only had one thing in mind when I asked to be alone with you, but I think maybe it was lost in translation somehow."

She stood up on her tiptoes and brushed her lips across his.

"I was afraid that if I asked you to sneak off to be alone with me in English, that every person in that room would assume I was a different sort of professional than the one you came here to hire tonight and you'd never live down the shame of people thinking you had to pay for pleasurable company."

She put her hands atop his on her waist, laced her fingers into his and urged him to come down to the sofa with her.  She faced him, her left leg under her, her right leg sticking out through the slit in her dress - bare and exposed completely. 

Her heart was racing.  In all the years she'd been Lionessa, pretending to be the sort of dangerous and deadly woman that she saw her mother and aunt to be (the kind of confident and stone-cold killer both of her fathers were) she'd NEVER tried to wear that mask with someone she actually cared about!  She thought it would have felt like lying to them and in truth, it didn't feel like a lie at all.  It felt ... powerful.  It felt like, as Lionessa, she had the courage to do anything... kill or seduce a man with equal ease!  She wondered then, what else could she do while pretending to be something she really wasn't?

Maybe this was how her little brother William did it?  Maybe it wasn't an effortless thing, maybe people loved him because he'd figured out to wear a mask sooner.  To hide the worries about his own imperfections deep down, long ago.  It would make sense.  William had a lot of things to be insecure about - maybe hiding his fears and worries was why he was able to live such a carefree life?

Billy listened closely. Rora wasn't really going to kill him was she? She wouldn't do that. Not to him at least. They liked each other.

He couldn't help but lean down on the couch and lift his hand to cup her face and kiss her. The rush that he felt then, in that moment was akin only to adrenaline. He could feel the tingle of ecstasy running through his finger tips as he ran them through her hair. He let his other hand touch her bare thigh for a brief moment. Then he stopped and stared at his own hand as if it had a mind of its own.

And then he froze. He squinted in the dark room and lowered his head closer to her thigh. Then he looked up at her face.

"Rora. Is that a tattoo? Of a lion?"

Billy sat on the couch next to her and shook his head.

"No, we can discuss that later. This is way more interesting, show me how you planned on killing me then."

He took her by the hips again and lifted her onto his lap so that she was sitting across his body. He lifted her chin so that her lips and his met again in the darkness.

Aurora found herself laughing as she was lifted into Billy's lap and only stopped when he kissed her.  It was significant... HE kissed her.  She didn't initiate the kiss.  It was the first time that had happened and she delighted in it. 

"As a matter a fact," She kissed him again, still holding in her laughter, "It is a lion."

His fingers of his right hand tangled into her hair while his left rested just above her knee - his thumb slipping across her skin like water over a mirror - frictionless.  Nerve-endings set ablaze as she wondered, would he move northward or would his hand remain stationary?  When she realized it seemed to be resting there, she found herself relaxing and melting into him more.  His body molding about hers, cocooning her within his powerful embrace.

"I like this..."  She whispered between kisses, after a long while of kissing this way.  "You... kissing me first."

She stopped returning his kisses then, pausing to search his eyes for some acknowledgment that he was as happy with the situation as she was, that she was doing things as he a, no doubt, more experienced lover might expect.  The look on his face was ... amused?  The grin he wore was beyond description really.  Silly wasn't really the right word?  Yet, it was the only one she could think of in the moment.  She supposed she would have to call it 'silly,' and silly wasn't altogether bad, she supposed.

She could keep kissing him.  She wanted to kiss him endlessly.  Kissing him until she fell asleep in his arms and then wake to kiss him some more - but the idea of that wasn't realistic.  For one, the party would end eventually.  They would likely part ways at that point but even if she did (in some dizzying daydream) come up with the courage to express such a yearning to him... no man took a woman to his bed just to kiss and wake up and kiss more.  Men expected things.  This much her mother and Aunt Tara had been quite clear on.  Granted, both women would have objected to her kissing Billy alone in this room with the strongest of words... but, what they didn't know, couldn't hurt her.

Perhaps a half-hour had passed in this way - thoughts flittering through her head unspoken.  Passionate kisses, innocent caressing, the occasional goofy grin or laugh at the awkwardness of it.  The two of them.  Barely acquainted still... kissing like kids hiding out behind the school in the bleachers.  And yet, it didn't feel wrong to Aurora.  In so many ways she felt as if she and Billy had a history longer than either of them really could comprehend.  Perhaps it was the ghost of her mother and his father... something about them together just felt... right?  Meant to be somehow.  Or, as she finally allowed herself to admit internally, perhaps she was finally ready to try again.  To take the risk of actually caring for another man - despite the steep price Anthony had paid for her love - and someone who her mother was so connected to felt... safe?

This thought cause Aurora to stop kissing Billy and this time, the stop was more... final as her hands set him free and she spoke in a near whisper, "I don't want this to end... but you need my help and ... I did come here for a reason."

She forced a smile, but it was regretful.  She didn't REALLY want to stop... but maybe they needed to slow down.  Things could easily have gained speed from here and what lay beyond this was bigger than either of them.  She knew that and the slope was a slippery one.  The truth was, it was far easier to talk about killing men than it was to explain the complexities of her love life thus far and the fears that came along with it.

"I'm the woman you were looking for out there.  Borne sent me."

Billy sighed. He had lost track of time. More importantly he had lost his nerve and his will. He knew what he was doing. He was enjoying a moment, or rather a series of moments, with Aurora. The week had been so difficult and terribly taxing and then she came in aggressive and bold,  and most importantly, attracted. Billy had not enjoyed anyone's company on an equal level in that regard for a long time. He had all but forgotten what it felt like to be wanted.

"Yeah, I kinda figured. You know the lion tattoo thing. When I saw that earlier I figured it out, but I just, well I was having a good time and you seemed to be having a good time too so I figured, why ruin a good thing?"

He scratched his head before slowly sliding back on the couch to allow her personal space and to properly adjust herself. Once she was done Billy pulled out a photograph that was clipped from a newspaper. It was of Paulie.

"That's my guy. course, he's got a big scar on the side of his face here now on account of me. Point is though, he went to turn everything in, and now the FBN raided my warehouse and they like to keep a couple of guys watching me most of the time. Tonight seems to be the exception cause of where I am. Guess they don't want to get messes up in politics."

Billy went over to the table by the door and picked up Aurora's drink to bring it to her.

"I don't want to put you in the middle of all this, but I just can't deal with it on my own or I run the risk of really screwing the pooch. So, do you think you can help, and if so let's talk numbers."

He handed Aurora the glass and sat back down. He held his hands tightly in his lap then. He wasn't entirely sure he could trust them on their own just yet.

Aurora took the photo and looked at it and the newspaper clipping over, listening to Billy describe the situation.  She nodded slowly, seeming to understand.

"I can help."  she admitted. 

"He's not my first target in protective custody.  It's not an easy gig, but far from impossible.  Pricing comes down to what sort of method I use.  If you'd like it to look natural, if you want him to suffer, or if you want to send a message ... to him or others.  These things have a direct impact on the level of danger to me and the number of resources I need to tap."

She took a sip from her glass.

"If you're unconcerned with how it happens, if you leave the details in my hands, then the fee is a pretty standard one across the industry really.  I mean, some guys fluctuate based on target or on their own name and demand on their time... but lucky for you I'm not an asshole and while I'm as good as they come, I make it a rule to never price gouge a guy on the second date - especially when I'm desperately hoping he'll ask me out for a third time."

She gave him a wink.

"So... my question is, how do you want it done?"

Billy audibly growled before he ever realized he was doing it. Thinking about the man who he had spared in his own operation. The guy had almost brought the whole thing down, so Billy had taught him a lesson. Now? Now he wanted him to suffer.

"I just want it done, and you to have as little to deal with as possible. You say your good, but if you're gonna make a third date, better to be safe than risk anything dumb just for the sake of it. If the guy goes away, so do my problems. Simple as that."

Billy sighed.

"I really shouldn't be hiring you at all. Not that I don't think you're good at what you do. I don't know, which means you're very good. I just wish I could have handled this shit on my own is all. Less problems for everyone involved."

He took a small envelope out of his jacket pocket.

"I was gonna give these to the guy I made a deal with tonight. I don't suppose you like cigars do you?"

He handed over the envelope, it was a black envelope and it had a crimson 'M' emblazoned on the one side of it. It was clearly made for the three cigars it held.

"My own stock. Thought it would be a nice gesture."

Aurora softened at the sight, accepted the cigars and shook her head.

"It's a lovely gesture Billy and reckless."  She couldn't hold her tongue any longer.  "These could tie you to me and the whole point of outsourcing to me or anyone like me would be so that you don't have connections to the hitman so that even if I were to get nabbed by the cops for doing it - they couldn't get you."

She sighed.

"To be honest, I never deal directly with Dons.  It's why I was sure it was okay for me to come here and take a job despite knowing I might be working for you, or Rebecca, or Giovanni, or even Uncle Joe.  You see, I go by an alias... my parents don't know I do this sort of thing.  They think I'm working at a cafe near campus to earn extra money but the truth is I didn't even work there for one full shift before I broke a guy's hand for grabbing my ass."

She shook her head.

"Point is... if I'm made for killing this guy someone might remember our tango tonight.  Promise me that in the future you'll send underbosses to handle things like this."  She reached out and touched his hand.  "I would be terribly put out if I had to wait 10-15 years without parole to kiss you again."

She chuckled, it was funny, but also serious.

"As for the other part ... you're not the first employer to question my actual skill set.  I'd be far more offended if you didn't actually.  No one hires a hitman just because they say they're good." 

She shrugged. 

"So, let's see... I handled the Messini affair out in Charleston about six months ago.  I was down in Miami three months ago feeding Enrico Giovanni to the gators in small bits... messy affair that one & another case of protective custody.  My employer wanted him alive to see bits of him fed to gators for turning into a rat." 

She shook her head. 

"I actually had to go research what parts a fella could lose and still keep living.  Turns out... a surprising number of parts.  Oh and just last week I took out Mulvaney in Kansas City.  If you like I can get references?"