Aurora glanced at Silvio, she should have seen this coming.  She blushed thinking about a woman dancing for her the way she used to see Frances dance when she was young.  She'd never seen the woman perform for men but as an adult, her imagination was quite vivid as to what that might actually have looked like and if she was altogether honest, she was a little curious.  

What was it Silvio had said about curiosity?  And... being in the room with Silvio wasn't the same as sleeping with Silvio... right?  It was, after all, just a dance.  What was the harm in that?  She might even learn a trick or two she didn't know.

"Research.  It's simply research." She allowed and reached a hand out to Hazel.

As Hazel took her hand she smiled up at the other woman.  "It's my understanding they don't allow touching in those clubs. So..."  She let her hand fall away from Hazel.  

"I'll be good."  She leaned back in her chair, glancing to Silvio expecting that he was going to enjoy watching her blushes almost as much as he enjoyed watching Hazel's dance.

Hazel noted Silvio grinning innocently at Aurora, holding up his palms like this had all been one, happy accident, and it brought a smile to her face as well. No, this would be a bit of fun. And... well, Aurora was very beautiful. So while Hazel had raised an eyebrow at first and taken a large drink of wine, now she was grinning wickedly as she took Aurora's hand and led her to the comfortable chair in the corner. Silvio became as unobtrusive as the wallpaper; within the first minute, Hazel had almost entirely forgotten he was there. Instead, as Aurora shifted in her seat, crossing and uncrossing her legs before finding a comfortable position, Hazel kicked off her shoes, removed her socks, and sighed as she wiggled her toes.

"You'll have to use your imagination a bit. I didn't usually start out in the waitressing get up..."

She smiled warmly at Aurora as she sat lightly on the woman's lap, leaning slightly against her.

"You know the no touching rule is for the person receiving the dance right? It's there to keep girls from getting groped. Though you can bend the rules, I suppose..."

Hazel started slightly as the music began; Silvio had found a radio and returned to reclining against the bed. Grinning, she glanced back at him over her shoulder as she began to move.

Hazel danced like Aurora fought: instinct combined with training and skill for perfection of movement. She moved like a flame in the wind, flickering in one position before sliding to another. She had grace, precision, and enthusiasm. As one song ended, Hazel took a couple pronounced steps forward before stopping and leaning down, her hands reaching her feet. Aurora had only a moment to consider the most perfect ass she'd ever seen before Hazel slid her hands up her leg and her body, ending as she threw back her long, straight golden hair. Turning toward Aurora again, the blonde slid gracefully toward her on her knees in rhythm with the music. It was a big band piece made for dancing, although they surely didn't have this particular accompaniment in mind. 

As Hazel crawled forward on her knees, her back got lower and lower as she leaned back toward the ground. Shit, she was flexible. As she somehow moved gracefully on her knees, Hazel reached up and began to unclasp the buttons on her shirt, slowly revealing herself. When she was close to Aurora, Hazel lifted herself slowly toward Aurora again until she was in an upright position, kneeling before her; as she rose, her shirt slipped off her and Aurora found herself looking down on two of the most perfect breasts she'd ever seen, barely contained by a black bra. Aurora was exposed to quite a bit of Hazel's sun-kissed skin, from her bare arms, to her chest, and her flat stomach.

Aurora's glance seemed to linger on Hazel's stomach, so much so that the blonde ran her hands down her stomach before tucking her thumbs into her belt. Slowly standing, hips swaying in rhythm with the music, Hazel unbuttoned and unzipped her pants. She took another step forward toward Aurora before turning again and sliding her tight black pants off her. Hazel's ass had been something both Aurora and Silvio had noted earlier, and at least one person in the room caught their breath as Aurora was exposed to both more tanned skin and less dark fabric than she was expecting. 

The graceful movements of the dance continued, but who could say how much time went by as both Aurora and Silvio stared at Hazel. Blinking, Aurora looked down at Hazel's blue eyes, shining with excitement as she leaned up and arched her back as the song ended. The next song started out slower, and Hazel traced a fingerprint up Aurora's knee toward her thigh with a wicked grin. As the song continued its steady build towards heat, Hazel went with her instinct and desire and made contact with Aurora. She slid back into her, applying gentle pressure with her ass between Aurora's legs as her arm stretched back over her head. Her shoulder rested right under Aurora's chin, so if Aurora's eyes flicked down, they'd see Hazel's cleavage from the top. Maintaining her leaning against Aurora's body, Hazel reached out on either side of her and, starting at the dark haired woman's thighs, slid them up to the knees. 

Hazel was breathing slightly heavily- although one couldn't tell if it was the dancing or the desire that lead her to do so. As she spoke to Aurora, she continued to grind, slide, and sway her perfect body. Facing Aurora with a breathy, sultry voice, Hazel realized she'd reached around to undo the clasp of her bra. She left her hands behind her back for a moment before straddling the dark haired woman again. They didn't kiss, but Hazel pulled herself up to her full height and their mouths passed tantalizingly close to each other. Hazel's hair hung down around her face, creating a sort of private world as she looked down at Aurora with amusement and desire in her eyes.

"This is the longest Silvio has been quiet all night... can I keep going?"

Aurora had limited experience when it came to carnal pleasures.  Anthony Russo had been the first to touch her in a way that might have had her birth father rip his fingers out one by one.  The backseat of a car then again in a roadside park on the day she watched a hitman put two slugs in the back of his skull.  It might have been called heavy petting, at worst.  They hadn't even gotten more than her shirt open, though she had intended to do far more.

Then there was Mancini.  She'd gotten through heavy petting with him but he liked to hurt girls, a fact Rora did not know until she'd been on the receiving end.  She was forced to make that man bleed to walk away with her dignity and virtue intact.  Mancini had died at Billy's hands some years later when apparently either Durden's men or Will let slip what happened that night.  Though she wished it had been her who had gone back to finish the job, it somehow felt right now that Billy was the one to defend her in that way.

Now... Billy Mastrosimone was as inexperienced as she was and so everything about their love affair was a beautiful but awkward journey of discovery.  She'd lead as much as she followed and unlike how they moved together on the dance floor, there really was no grace to it.  She never knew if she was doing the right things, or if what she was receiving in attention from him was really how things might be with a more experienced lover.  She just knew what she felt and she followed that, hoping for the best.  They were all groping hands, and open-mouthed kisses greedily claiming whatever they could from each other.  While the last time they'd been together had more of a dance 'feel' to it, it still felt like a wave of pure love and frantic lust all blended together in this strange hot, wet, mess.  The memory of it made her sad and her thoughts lingered on it as the warmth of Hazel passed her by again.

Warmth.  The Desert.

Silvio was precision.  A man leading her, though she'd never guess him capable of it.  She could kill him, without a doubt in her mind, and yet yielding power to him felt absolutely right.  He'd told her what to do on the side of that desert road and instinctively she'd obeyed.  She was terrified of what he did and yet the moment she felt, she thought she'd never needed anything so badly in her whole life.  He'd sent her to a place in her head she didn't even think to look for and secretly she'd searched for again a few times on her own since to no avail.

Of course, once it was over, Aurora felt fit to cry.  So much of her life now was a dance between what she could have and could not.  What she needed and what was no longer an option.  And this dance felt like another odd contradiction.  She wanted Silvio, though she dare not tell him that for fear he'd press the issue.  It wasn't right to take him from his love Giulia and she wouldn't... if he lusted for her, fine.  Lust was something you couldn't control, like a sneeze.  Aurora couldn't fault him for lusting after her any more than she could fault herself for lusting after him.  However, acting upon that lust?  No.  That was a choice and Aurora had her principles... or, she liked to think she still did.

Hazel was lovely, but Aurora had never lusted after a woman before, so she saw no harm in a dance.  She'd watch, amuse Silvio, compliment her and excuse herself quietly as the two likely gave into their urges.  That was how it was supposed to happen in Aurora's mind.  Only, once Hazel's body began to move and Silvio went quiet and began to intensely watch, Aurora's feelings shifted.

Her heart quickened.  She found herself looking at all the malleable places on the other woman she'd not considered before, places she kept hard and powerful.  The curves she had, the fullness of her breasts, her body wasn't a tool it was something else entirely and though she'd watched dancers intently before... she never felt the dancers watched her that way, the way Hazel watched her now.

Aurora felt the heat in her cheeks and blinked as she considered if what she was feeling was arousal?  She didn't know how that could be possible and so she thought perhaps it was just the idea of Silvio watching her watching another woman.  Maybe she just liked the idea of how it made her male companion feel?  

She tried to force her eyes to Silvio, to see if that was it, but instead, she found that she did not want to look away from Hazel even for a moment.  The warmth of her near to Aurora's skin, the smell of her, Aurora found herself wanting to pull the other woman to her.  What would it feel like to wrap herself around another woman the way Billy wrapped himself around her?  How would it feel to fill her empty arms with something so supple and gentle rather than be claimed by something so much harder than herself?  Aurora had always found her pulse quickening for larger, stronger men ... and here, standing before her now, was something utterly the opposite.  Aurora could not make any sense of her curiosity.

As she spoke to Aurora, the lioness could only nod dumbly.  Trembling, Rora innocently raised her hand to the other woman's back and ran it down to the curve of her hip and stopped.  Her eyes closed then and a shuddering breath escaped her smiling lips.  She whispered with an absolute wonder in her tone that could not be mistaken for anything but the thrill of an utter novice, "You're ... so soft."

She barely suppressed a nervous chuckle.

She opened her amber eyes and stared at the other woman's lips, "Can I ..."  She didn't get the words out before Hazel moved on her mouth and gave her the kiss Aurora's eyes asked for before her tongue found the shape of the words.  

Unlike the other mouths that she'd kissed before, there was an elastic feel, a slick warmth to the perfect shape of this other woman's mouth.  Once and again their lips passed over each other before Aurora let the tip of her tongue touch the other woman's mouth and at this invitation Hazel entered her with tender confidence, caressing her and coaxing her.  Reassuring Roar with her body that the novelty of this moment wasn't wrong and that Hazel welcomed her fledgling attempts at a new sort of love-making.

As the kissing continued Aurora found herself wondering on where it would go from here.  She knew she meant to leave, meant to give this woman over to Silvio and disappear back home but a part of her wanted to go forward.  Aurora imagined standing up, confident in what she wanted to do and leading the other woman over to the bed.  No longer the audience but the dancer, a different kind of dancer now.  Hazel was bare, it would be easy to lay her back on the bed and look at her in a way she could not look at herself easy.  To see the parts of a woman she'd not close up examined before.  To part her legs, and with as much courage as she could muster, emulate her lover's work in the desert.  

She could imagine the heat from Hazel's thighs on either side of her and she wondered if she had a similar scent to Aurora's own.  What would she taste like?  What if she didn't like it?  How did you abort something like that without being hurtful?  The logistics of it coming into her thoughts, the fear of failure - and Aurora never handled failure well, was shattering the illusions of what might be.  She stopped kissing Hazel and the stark reality of where she was, what she was doing, and who she was doing it with seemed to come down hard on her.  

Aurora painted, amorous desire ebbing off of her as she looked at Hazel.  She swallowed the lump in her throat and took her hand from the places they'd wandered, eager to know all parts of her, and resolved to take her hand. 

"Shall we end his suffering?"  she breathed to Hazel.

Aurora looked to Silvio then, her eyes connecting with him and for a moment her lust surged.  She wanted to tear off her own clothes and cross the room to him - be DAMNED her fucking ideals.  She stared at him.  Prey before a predator.  For as much as she imagined him the starving man at a banquet... she was the hungry one.  Desperately so and she wanted to send Hazel away to quench her every carnal wish.

She wet her lips and blinked dewy eyes trying to dismiss the electricity between them.  He hadn't been exaggerating.  She could feel it now.  What they would do here, she would never forget it.  He'd teach her such things, she could almost hear him saying, send her back to that place he'd sent her in the desert with ease ... again and again.

Aurora forced herself to lace her fingers with Hazel and look up to the other woman, asking without words, and when Hazel gave the barest hint of a nod she began to rise from the chair.  Hazel backed away allowing the action and, hand in hand, they walked to Silvio.  Their eyes connected again, she kept hoping Silvio would meet Hazel's gaze but infuriatingly he seemed obsessed with her gaze.  

She stood before him, seated in his chair and after a long, silent moment she offered Hazel's hand to him.  She wanted him, it was clear, but her eyes seemed to tell the tale - if she took Silvio, she would lose herself forever.  She'd never again know who the hell Aurora Byrne really was.  This... Silvio, was a drug and just one taste she'd be gone forever and so, she found the strength inside to pass off Hazel's hand into his.

"Chiamami?"  There was a million things that needed to be said, but that was all she dared to say.  

Silvio watched the dance unfold with lustful attention, as one would expect from the scene before him. But as much as he fixated on Hazel's body, particularly when it was in motion, he found his gaze drawn again and again to Aurora. She seemed so confident at first, but he could see her change as the dance continued. He could almost see her temperature rise. No, seeing Aurora slowly getting more turned on- especially as her eyes flicked to him for a moment before she forced them away- that was what was shortening Silvio's breath and building his anticipation.

When they kissed, Silvio didn't bat an eyelash- but his brain managed to stop his body perhaps two seconds before he stood up.

And still, he could watch the battle in Aurora's mind. God, that woman was stubborn. How does one even get to be so stubborn without someone ending them?

He watched Aurora lead Hazel toward him; they both looked at him with need in their eyes, and he had no doubt that his own desire was apparent as well. He looked up at her with a sly smile.

"Chiamami?" 

He could have swore he'd heard "do you want me?" and he'd nearly acted on those words. It was fortunate for him that he did not. 

"Rora, you are perhaps the most stubborn person I have ever met. Who stands up to walk out of a banquet when the feast is presented and they are so very, very hungry?"

He smirked, trying to rein in his imagination as he looked at her. Not wanting to ignore Hazel, he lifted

"I was not lying when I said I would like to be your friend. If, to remain your friend, I must watch you walk away... then so be it. And as your friend, I want you to be happy. Of course, the way that I would... fill... your happiness right now... it might be different than how you do. It is your life, it is your choice. If you do not want to touch me because it discomforts you, whether about my past or yours, I respect. I understand, even."

Hazel interrupted.

"Yea... I'm really glad you liked it... and I wish you'd stick around because... well, you should definitely do what you want, you know?"

Silvio smirked like a cat who'd caught two canaries, despite one determined to fly away. He spoke earnestly, actively suppressing his lust to make his point, although Rora could still see the signs of it in his eyes and on his body.

"You are stubborn. I want you to be happy. Hazel... you've almost touched or kissed Aurora three times since she led you over here; I can assume you're very interested in her and wouldn't mind her staying in any capacity?"

Hazel blushed, but she nodded.

"Rora, what will truly make you happiest? Would you like to turn yourself over to passion for the evening with the two of us, holding nothing back? Or perhaps your stubbornness won't allow you to touch me- very well, why not stay? Touch and be touched by Hazel. Or perhaps you do not want physical engagement at all? You are invited to sit in the corner and sip your beverage, regardless of what happens. We are close enough friends for this, yes? And yes, if you must, then walk out the door... I will call you."

Silvio stood up and began unbuttoning his shirt as he turned himself over to his lust. It would only be moments now- depending on Aurora's actions, he would know how to proceed.

Aurora watched as Silvio began to unbutton his shirt and she felt a sense of free fall.  She considered sitting down, but she knew why she'd be sitting. It wasn't to watch Hazel.  She was the novelty, Silvio was the main attraction and even allowing the dance had been a violation of what she thought was her ideals.  Were they truly ideals, pillars of who she was, if she bent them so easily?  If she disregarded them with so little temptation?  

What was she doing here?  Silvio wasn't the sort she'd ever take home to meet her father.  He wouldn't raise Billy's child or Brigitte... if she was really going to do any of the madness that had begun to spin through her head tonight.  So what the fuck was she doing here still?  Why hadn't she just walked out the door?  Was she really this lonely?  Had she become so desperate for someone in her life that she would sit here and watch a man she barely knew make love to a total stranger?

If she walked out the door, she knew what would happen.  She'd go back to the hotel room alone.  She'd lay awake.  She'd distract herself maybe and be in this room in fantasies if not in reality.  If she stayed though?  What would happen?  She couldn't get more pregnant.  Billy was dead.  There was no such thing as betraying a ghost.  She'd been willing to do it with Alucard.  Thrown herself at him and here was a man who had come to the point of begging her to stay, and she still found reasons to refuse him.

What was she afraid of?

Was she acting out of fear?

The lioness doesn't act out of fear.

Aurora threw down her jacket onto the chair with a resounding thud that caused both other people in the room to look for a moment back to her.  Without looking at them, she put her foot on the chair and pushed her skirt up to her thigh, revealing the lioness tattoo and the knife strapped to her leg.  She began to remove the supple leather straps that held it in place as she spoke.

"Alright."  she said, though it wasn't immediately clear to whom she was speaking.

As the buckle fell open and the straps came away from her leg she lifted her amber gaze to meet with Hazel's eyes.  "It's time for you to go now Hazel," her voice now a sultry growl.

She put her foot off the chair and back onto the floor, looking to Silvio as she took down her hair while walking towards the bathroom.  "The women in my family... we don't share so well so... if this is happening, she needs to be gone by the time I come out."

Aurora then stalked into the bathroom closing the door behind her unapologetically.  

Both Hazel and Silvio looked shocked as they watched Aurora. Hazel seemed hurt, but Silvio started talking as soon as the door was closed. His words deflected, distracted, and rationalized for her, providing excuses designed to evoke pity from Hazel toward Aurora, a young woman who had lost herself. As Hazel quickly dressed and exited she was far from happy, but she seemed more shocked than sad. Silvio would call her tomorrow, smooth things over.

As soon as the door closed behind Hazel, Silvio started stripping until the only things he had on was a pair of silk boxer shorts and a smirk. It was nearly impossible for a man to remove his pants without looking foolish. He poured himself a glass of wine and gulped down a third of it, leaving some in his mouth to soak into his tongue. The wine had a good strong, aftertaste.

Opening the balcony and ensuring that no one else was present, Silvio continued drinking his wine. His lean, bare back would be pointed at the room behind him. In the warm summer air of the desert, he felt entirely comfortable as he waited for Aurora to emerge. When she did open the door, he would turn to her- and then either stay on the balcony and force her to come to him or walk to her in the room, depending on whether her body language suggested she wanted control.

The bathroom door opened. A blast of air whipped about her exposed flesh.  Goose pimples covered her body.  Her nipples hardened and raged against the thin black lace bra that held them mercilessly in place.

It took only a moment to see the source of the evening air.  Silvio was framed by the doorway leading out onto the balcony.  He was stripped nearly bare and bathed in the silvery light of a pregnant moon.  

Hazel was nowhere to be seen.  

The corner of her mouth tugged upwards in satisfaction and the last of her resolve fell away from her like the discarded dress at her feet. Anticipation began to replace hesitation as she slipped one high heel out of the pile of clothes and stepped into the room, and then another. 

Once off the carpet, all stealth she might have had, disappeared with the commanding click of high heels on the tile leading up to the balcony door.  In her grasp now, she glided up to him from behind.  She let her fingertips connect first and slide across and around his body until the warmth of her dancer's form was crushed tight against his - their bodies a blazing sun burning defiantly in the slowly cooling California breeze.

"How many women have ever left you wanting, il mio amante?"  She kissed the skin on his back.  

"How many have done so twice?" With this kiss, she lashed him with her tongue.  He was salty and beneath that... something else that made her smile.  

"How many of them did you turn away a ready and wanting woman for?"  She kissed him again pressing her fingertips into his skin possessively.

"Devo essere un frutto raro e desiderato, davvero."

Silvio had turned back to look out from the balcony, and he smiled as he heard the clicking heels. When her arms stretched around him and her tongue tasted him, he felt himself slip into a sort of comfortable, pleasurable trance. Without turning, he spoke in a low voice.

"The balcony? Or the bed? Or both?"

She slid around him then, smirking at his silken shorts - she'd never seen their like before and she had to actively suppress a giggle.

"The balcony."  She smiled up at him.  "I like being able to see the sky."

She claimed his mouth, suckling the last bits of wine from his tongue, savoring the illusion that she had drunk of it too before pulling away and nodding back towards the room, "Fetch a blanket and some pillows.  No reason we should be uncomfortable."  

Aurora walked over to the balcony's edge, dressed in only her bra and matching panties, and looked across the twinkling lights of the LA skyline.  The hotel room had been worth every fucking penny.

Inhaling deeply, the wind rushing through her long dark hair, she waited for Silvio to come back with the requested items. 

Silvio smirked, but he quickly returned with the blankets- enough of them to provide padding on the wooden balcony- and some pillows. When he returned, she didn't turn around as he set up the balcony; she'd succeeded in flipping their earlier roles. No... this one liked to feel in control. Needed it. But how much could she take, before she felt the desire to simply yield?

He moved softly behind her. His right hand snaked around to her stomach and quickly slid south, his left deftly released her bra strap and grasped her chest, and his mouth went for her neck. He pushed against her from behind, moving all of parts in a sequence designed to build her desire.

Aurora arched her neck to the side, exposing it more fully to him.  She sucked an audible breath between barely parted lips as he began to take hold of her and his fingers began to work with all the expert skill of a master musician.  

Her capricious nature set aside she melted into him then, quaking in his grip, brimming with unburdened pleasure.  

"Dovrei lasciarti finire. Voglio vedere lo sguardo nei tuoi occhi in quel momento in cui sei rimasto a chiedermi se ti lascerò di nuovo dolorante, il mio amante."

She stretched her muscles then, flexing beneath his grasp, and then turning abruptly breaking his hands away from their playthings.

She shook her head at him, smirking, before dropping as smoothly into a squat as Hazel had during her dance.  She smiled up at him as she took hold of his waistband and whispered, "È il mio turno di adorarti."

"Chi sono io per stare tra una donna e l'adorazione?" He smirked down at her as his shorts plummeted to his ankles.

The sounds of the city at night blended with the hypnotic symphony emanating from Aurora's labor of lust.  Rhythmic, steady she moves about him, at first, scorching a path along the length and breadth of him with her lips and tongue.  

At some point, his hand came to rest on her head, for balance it seemed.  Aurora was relentless, wrapped about him she resisted giving into a feverish pace.  She needed him to feel something of what he made her feel that night in the desert, to return some small part of the bliss he'd given to her.

His voice broke through the cloud of her thoughts, a low rumble, more primal than she'd heard him sounding before now.  "There, yes, you'll want to use your tongue to..."

Aurora felt him tense under her hands that held fast to his legs for her own balance.  

"Yes."  He grunted more than spoke.  "That.  Keep coming back ... to that."

If she'd been missing the mark before, she'd found it now and having been shown something he liked, she wasn't soon to let him forget it.

Heartbeats had seemed to pass and in those brief instants, the noises she made were muffled by the ones coming from him. 

"Non preferiresti metterlo a buon uso da qualche altra parte?"

Her amber eyes looked up through dark eyelashes, still holding him fast, she considered his offer and curious as to what he might do she lowered herself onto the blanket and ran the back of her hand over her bottom lip - never once looking away from him.

Silvio was breathing heavily; he'd tried to appear calm and detached as long as he could, but now he'd lost his cool: Aurora had taken it from him. He knelt, leaned forward and kissed her deeply for just a few moments before his wild trail of kisses moved down her neck and toward her chest. Aurora remembered his tongue from the desert; just as when he spoke, he employed it with a mixture of passion and trained perfection. Taking her breasts in his hands and eventually sliding his fingers away and down her hips, he made a move to return his tongue to the place he'd kissed her so well under the stars. Aurora felt the first few notes of pleasure- and then they died away.

Silvio had shifted, lying on his back, and his large, soft hands guided her to climb on top of him. She could feel him, hard against her thighs, but he slid her forward to sit her on his stomach. She started to lean forward to kiss him, but he continued to gently slide her higher up his chest. It wasn't until she'd made it to his shoulders that she understood what he was doing. Silvio smirked. After all, she seemed to like control. 

Aurora and Silvio made eye contact along the length of her body as she looked down to see his hair, two shining hazel eyes, his nose, and his mouth. Suddenly, she felt his mouth shift and she couldn't see it anymore- then her world exploded in pleasure once again, as it had under the stars. His hands continuously roved, sliding over her thighs, ass, back, hips, and breasts, but in truth she barely noticed his hands.

No, she felt the same probing tongue that she had before, except this time she had full control over it. She started moving slowly- and the combination of her own movements and Silvio's efforts led her to unthinkingly moan- she'd heard it before she realized it was herself.  Grinning wickedly, Aurora continued moving, first slowly, but increasing in speed as she gained mastery over the situation. At one point, the feeling was so overwhelming that she'd nearly squeezed her knees together, but Silvio continued, working to serve her. Aurora leaned back, sliding her hand past his stomach to grab him; he seemed even more excited now than he had before. After several minutes where she didn't feel she could take any more, Aurora raised herself up off of him and lay back. Silvio wiped his mouth and chin, grinning at her as he took her hands and helped her stand; they steadied each other, both seemingly a little weak in the knees. Silvio kissed her neck, enjoying the feel of the night air around them and between them. For the first time in a while, he spoke.

"You are a riddle to me. At times, you thrive on dominating me. Other times, you seem to signal for me to take over. Perhaps you like both- this is good. But let us see which you enjoy more."

He led her to the balcony, turning her around to kiss the back of her shoulder. Taking her hands in his, he spread them on the railing. It was high enough that the two of them didn't at all risk a death that would surely wind up in the papers. Aurora felt his touch behind her, pulling her back towards him, spreading her legs wider, then tracing a finger down her spine. In a moment, he was inside her. Finding the proper space and rhythm, Aurora felt the two of them align perfectly as she opened her mouth. He started slowly, holding tightly to her hips as his thrusts filled her appetites. After some neither- neither could say how long- his long right arm stretched around in front of her, as his index finger found her most sensitive spot and matched the rhythm. Silvio's left hand gripped her hair, pulling it gently enough that it felt pleasurable. 

As Silvio gave in to his own desires for her and the sound of slapping flesh filled the air, Aurora gripped the stone railing so tightly that she worried about breaking it. When he had finally had enough, he pulled her to him and kissed her neck again, breathing heavily. They each had beads of sweat dripping down their bodies in the warm summer air, and as Aurora turned toward Silvio they were both surprised by the innocence of the kiss they shared. After this, they would both collapse in their makeshift bed in the open air, curled up together in silent satisfaction. But they both still felt the call- the need- to finish what they'd started. Silvio's voice seemed strange; it had been a long time since they'd communicated with words.

"Well... how would you like to finish this? Shall I lay on my back? Or will you lay on yours?"

"La mia schiena."  She purred almost contentedly, caressing him with not just her hands but her eyes.  There was a tenderness, something truly affectionate that had bloomed within her for the man beside her.  Lust had been replaced by something deeper and now finishing wasn't just an act to sate a desire, but a need.  Rolling flat onto her back she lay there for a moment, looking up to few stars she could make out hanging high above them.

She felt him slide up between her thighs and his face came into her line of sight, looking down upon her.  He'd was a man of endless arousal, but now he was wanton, in the way she felt at the railing only a moment before...   

Silvio was a zealous lover on the verge of claiming a prize too long denied.  She felt him there and as he sheathed himself within her again, she smiled the sort of smile that no man can ever hope to decipher - the deepest hidden secret of a woman's private heart.

Her eyes & hips told the only story that Silvio would need at that moment.  Love-starved bliss... or... perhaps something of peace?  Desperate hunger now seemed to be replaced by something else.  Yet, her hips rolled up into his and in perfect time met him thrust for thrust as if she longed for the very same conclusion he was rushing towards.  

She could feel the exquisite torment she'd put him through spelled out in each beat of his heart, throbbing now within her.  She had acted the temptress, pulling him in and pushing him away, just as he did to her now.  The rapture he had likely fantasized about was now within reach and he was reckless in his pursuit of it. 

Aurora felt as though she were hanging on to the ineffable force of a hurricane.  She gasped, and he did not hesitate.  She squeaked out a sound of shock at his vigor, but he did not slow.  When her panting gave way to moans of pleasure and slow building need, he redoubled his efforts until she cried out.  

She held tighter to him, her body lifting from the pillow, beads of sweat rain down upon her and as their mouths wrecked havoc upon one another, she found herself desiring nothing more than the taste of his wine, her sweat, and their sex all mingled into a hedonistic cocktail - for surely nothing had ever tasted better to her mind at that moment.

In their final moments of being joined- at least for a couple hours- Aurora and Silvio lost all sense of anything outside of the two of them. They both threw themselves at each other with an outpouring of energy, a final flourish that brought them both close to the edge. Silvio's hand reached up behind Aurora's head and brought it to his, so that their foreheads were touching and their eyes looked directly into the other's. With a final series of frantic motions, Silvio and Aurora came together, sharing the breath of a simultaneous conclusion that even Silvio could never remember truly achieving. They panted against each other, both exhausted yet perfectly contented by their exertions. Aurora wound up leaning her head against Silvio's chest as he took one of the blankets and draped it over them. They shared a kiss before they fell asleep together. They would wake up twice more to satisfy their urges, but neither of those could hold a candle to the first time.

_______

Silvio had always been a deep sleeper, but he grinned as he felt her lips against his ear.

"What were you dreaming about?"

"Ah, I was simply reliving last night."

Silvio felt her hand sneak around him and caress his stomach- and he felt the still unquenched stirrings inside him that hungered for more. Blinking, he spun around in his bed and looked into the face of... Hazel Howard. He looked visibly confused for a moment.

"Silvio, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. Still half asleep. I must say, your dance for Aurora last night was magnificent."

Hazel blushed as she kissed his jaw.

"Thanks. I was just inspired by my audience, I guess. She seems like a lot of fun. What did that last thing she said mean? I didn't even have time to ask you before you- you know."

"Chiamami. It means 'call me'."

"Oh. Do you think you're going to?"

Silvio kissed the top of Hazel's head as he held her to him in an embrace. He thought for a moment, then nodded.

"... I think I must."

Light erupted through sheer white curtains as dawn broke over Sin City.  The morning revealed not sins of the flesh, but of the mind.  These imagined indulgences had left their marks upon Aurora Byrne as a moan escaping her lips caused her to rouse from the depths of sleep.  The last echoes her dreams (not nightmares as she'd often been having since her mother's murder) were filtering away back into the places where lost dreams hid.  Yet, the aftermath of them had not fully subsided and the evidence of her ardent longings could not be ignored.

Aurora shuddered, rolling onto her side, pulling her knees up to her chest.  A sigh escaped her lips and it had a name whispered so softly that only the dusty beams of sunlight in the hotel bedroom would ever be able to speak to it, "Silvio."

Leaving the hotel last night when she did had been the right decision.  Clearly, she was far less disciplined than she liked to think of herself.  that she would dream of him when she'd made such decisions as she had last night?  It was evidence of how powerful her loneliness really was and how hard she would have to work to hold onto what she told herself mattered to her.  If the life she could now see herself living was to be real... she would have to cling to her own identity all the harder because there were fewer people around anymore to remind her - fewer lights to guide her along the path.

Silvio, even if he hadn't meant to be, had been a light to her and for that, she would always be grateful to him.  

Choosing to be alone wasn't fun. Whatever really happened with Silvio and Hazel last night, was most assuredly fun.  But Aurora didn't have time or room in her life for such things anymore.  If she was going to follow the path she'd set down two months ago before all the crises began, then she would need to focus.  With Aunt Tara on permanent vacation and Mom dead, she was the Matriarch of the Byrne family now.  It fell to her to rise and that began with extracting herself from this bed.

Aurora pulled herself up and stripped down the sheets and blankets.  She threw them into a pile for the maid and she got into the shower to clean away the remains of the dream and the date the night before.  Today would be a busy day.  Three-mile run.  She'd put off training too long.  An hour at the range.  An hour with the orphans.  Oscar's wife goes to work today.  Hire a lawyer.  Take the box with her.

The time for ignoring reality was over.  It was t-six-months until Baby Byrne arrived and she'd be damned if she was caught with her pants down.  She told herself that she was going to be a made man in record time.   She was going to finish out setting up her team & ways to make money before she couldn't do so as easily.  She would put her plans in place... yes, it was all going to come together. 

One foot in front of the other.

Drying her hair she went to the box and pulled out her mother's map of Las Vegas and pulled a few pins out of it with names that had expired, She adjusted and added a few others marking the turf of Don Video, Don Beko... and the list went on.  Carefully she pulled the small bit of paper off the Philly Map which hid the name "Philly" and put it onto Vegas.
 

HOME.

She stared at the map and gave it a nod.  Then she began, with a pencil, outlining the plots of land and businesses that her mother had left behind... and tried to make sense of them.  There HAD to be a reason these places mattered so much to her mother.

But... what?

She glanced to the map of Philly and couldn't help but notice the pencil outlines of the Race Street Businesses and she sighed.  Each was written in her mother's distinctive hand.  For a moment she thought about erasing them... but no.  Not yet.  She couldn't.  Not yet.

A knock on the door.

"Come in."  Aurora called out.

Charlie, Oscar, & Neil entered.  

"Morning Boss!"  Oscar chirped.  "It's such a lovely day outside, you're really not going to believe it.  I mean, it's probably the prettiest damn morning I've seen here yet."

"Boss." Charlie simply said.

Neil wandered over and stood silent at her side.

Aurora looked up Neil and pulled her robe closed a bit more.  "Time to get to work."  

Neil nodded and put a hand on her shoulder as if to tell her, he believed in her and was happy to see the old her back.

"Where you want us to start?"  Oscar asked.  "We'll do whatever we can to help, you know."

Aurora looked to Oscar, "Breakfast.  Bacon and toast.  Let's start there."

Charlie and Oscar looked to each other as if confused, Neil just patted her shoulder again, beaming now.

"Can't start the day on an empty stomach.  Neil, put on the coffee, would you?  I need to get dressed.  Oscar we'll need to visit a laywer today, you're driving... after fetching that breakfast, of course."

"Right away, Miss Byrne!"  Oscar said with a near cheer in his voice as he ran back out the door to go find breakfast for the first time in months.

"Charlie?"  She said looking to the more serious of her men.  

"Ma'am?"

Not Miss this time.  Interesting.

"You kept your word last night.  Damn fine work.  You're in charge of my protection detail until further notice."

Charlie beamed.

Neil tried to hide his disappointment.

"Neil's my body man though..."

Neil perked up.

"Charlie, you can back him up, but he's my guy... not because you didn't do well, but because he's earned the right to protect the new head of our family and the future of it too."  She touched her Belly with a smile.  "Stuff is gonna shift around a lot after the baby comes and when we bring home my daughter, Brigitte."

Neil looked shocked, but he tried to hide it quickly.

Aurora looked back to the map of Philly and placed a finger on Hollowood Estate.  It lingered there a second as a thousand memories of her past raced through her mind.  Silently she folded Philly up & put it away - never knowing if she'd ever need that map again for anything other than the memories.

"Yes, Ma'am."  Charlie agreed seeming comfortable with this information.

"Today is the first day of forever, gentlemen.  Detroit is gone.  Race Street Pier is likely ashes once more.  The Dragon was slain & Billy isn't coming back, but this family is still here.  I am still here and we stay the course, not because it's what they would want - though I know that's true too, we do it because that's what we do, it's who WE are."

Neil nodded and went to start the coffee.

Charlie nodded and sat down to check & clean his guns.

They'd all come through the darkness.  She'd braved the long dark night of her own soul and found herself on the other side against all the odds.  It had been a strange, lonely path thus far... and she supposed that part was far from done.  There would be more lonely nights to come but at least now she could see the road under her feet. 

NOW she could begin to move forward.

Aurora pinned 'HOME' to the wall and with a spark of hope, for the first time in weeks, she nodded.