7
Aurielo
Don Rinaldi finishes up business at the hotel while Giovan drives Karina and me to the courthouse to obtain a marriage license.
I change shirts in the car and wipe my hands, removing any trace of blood from view.
Francesco waits outside the courthouse with Giovan.
I make sure to leave my gun in the vehicle. Karina isn’t carrying a weapon, or she’d have used it on me.
“No funny business,” I warn as we walk up the courthouse stairs.
The security checkpoint is just a few feet beyond the glass doors.
My hand falls to the small of her back, keeping her close. I don’t trust that she won’t run, betray me, or try to escape. While I have her home address, I doubt she’d return there knowing that we’re after her.
She hands her purse to the guard. He glances through it briefly, satisfied that she isn’t bringing anything dangerous into the courthouse.
I drop my wallet into a container along with my keys.
Karina steps forward through the metal detectors, and I follow just a few feet behind her. I retrieve my belongings, and she grabs her purse, taking a few quick steps away from me toward the elevator.
Does she think that she can outrun me?
In two strides, I catch up beside her as she steps into the elevator, and I slip my arm between hers, keeping her tight beside me.
“Did you notice what floor we need to go to?” I ask. Since we were already on the ground floor, she doesn’t have to worry about catching an elevator going down.
Karina shakes her head no.
I exhale a heavy sigh, and before the double doors close, a police officer steps inside the elevator with us and presses the button marked seven on the elevator panel.
The doors shut.
“Can you tell us what floor we need for the county clerk’s office? My fiancé and I are getting married,” I say.
“You’ll want room 120.” The officer smiles at both of us. “And you’ll need to head back downstairs.” Generously, he presses the button for the first floor for us.
The elevator dings. On his way out of the elevator, he offers us a warm, “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” I say and glance at my fiancé.
She gives the police officer a fake smile. He doesn’t seem to recognize the look of desperation, but I see it and nudge Karina with my elbow.
“Thanks,” she rasps.
Two more gentlemen are riding up the elevator to the twelfth floor before returning to where we started.
I can’t help but worry that she’ll say something or indicate to them that she’s in distress.
My lips tease her ear, lingering against her skin. I make sure that she’s not the only one that can hear my whisper. “I will claim you, Micetta, every inch of you on our wedding night.”
Her breathing hitches, and I wrap my arms around her, pulling her against me, shoving my lips forcefully on hers.
She tastes just like I remember, sweet like peaches and cream. Karina even smells just as wonderful, and it takes everything in my power not to lick her neck and undress her in the elevator.
I back her up against the elevator wall, my knee between her thighs, as I trap her against me.