Chapter 7

At the chimes echoing across the cardboard-free apartment, Aiden’s heart jumped. After flickering and shooting sparks all day, the ring uncurled from the darkness amidst increasing flares. And Aiden swept shaky hands along his trousers. Once he’d walked to the entrance, as much as he wanted to fling it open, he let out a long exhale. His gaze went to the night sky beyond the windowed wall. At the reflection in its glass, his chest froze. Kim’s ghostly smile.

“Are you sure?” he whispered with his trembling fingers on the door handle. “Is this really right? What you want?”

Though the visage said nothing, as Kim’s eyes twinkled, the most beautiful smile in the universe widened.

In its cage, the ring flared. Flames, towering, licked at the shadowed ceiling. Air hissing. A gasp? Aiden’s gaze flicked to the door. The world wavered. Time skipped. His fingers tightened on the handle.

“Do I want this?” At a sudden echo of Catherine’s ghostly cackle, his brows furled. “Again?”

Another glance at the darkened window. Nothing but the dim lights of the city. Kim had voted. Gina was sending soft pulses; she was waiting. Even stranger, Eva, who couldn’t understand—yet, had been quiet all day. But she’d also commented about his weird focus.

“Yes, I do. I need her,” he said before tugging open the door.

As soon as Anna appeared, the universe—stopped. No longer skipping, time ceased to matter. The air in Aiden’s lungs hissed free.

With half-up, half down hair sweeping bare shoulders, she sucked on her glossy crimson lips as he inspected her. Shiny, a mid-thigh length, red dress hugged every alluring curve. In defiance of the laws of physics, the thinnest spaghetti straps over her bare shoulders held it up. A brief tremor rippled through her when he lingered on the sharp spikes atop that firm, proud chest. Yet still she remained silent and motionless. In black stockings her shapely legs ended with scarlet heels shimmering in the entranceway lights.

“Wow. Uh, I thought you were only coming to cook?” he said with a shaky grin, before gesturing her inside. “That’s, um, quite the outfit.”

“Rory picked it out.” As she pushed a strand of hair from her reddening face, the diamonds on the wedding ring glimmered.

With her heels clacking on the tile, she replicated her pool deck sashay. Another display. Just for him. When she stopped and gave a slow twirl in the center of the apartment, his mind bubbled. Her glimmering eyes met his.

She’d lied.

She’d selected the dress.

As its rumbling intensified, the ring burst into towering flames.

While pushing the door closed, Aiden said nothing, but kept his gaze on her while moving to the kitchen. Rory knew she was there, so what difference did it make who’d selected that dress? Why the game? As his pulse raced and the ring’s wispy tendrils sprouted, his eyes narrowed. Did it matter? At last, he shrugged.

“Well, it suits you,” he called over his shoulder.

When a thought sliced into him, Aiden’s next step faltered. Anna had expected him to say more. But the moment had passed. With a gulp, he entered the kitchen. After a nervous giggle, the steady sharp click clacks of her heels followed him.

Once inside the spacious room, she moved to the nearest gold-trimmed, white-tiled counter, inspecting the items she’d asked Aiden to buy. A simple pasta meal. As her satin-clad body moved, he caught every sidelong glance. Each languid flick of her hair. And every quiet puff from her glimmering full lips.

“You look...” His words fell away when she flashed him a knowing grin.

“You’re distracting me,” she said before placing a tomato in his palm. The soft touch of her fingers sent jangling tremors through them both. After a hitching giggle, she gestured for the sink. “Do something useful.”

With his heart hammering, he stared at the thick red fruit, her hand, and finally her eyes, before nodding. As he turned away, she let her digits glide along his. Her gaze—widened. After beginning a slow spiral, the entire room smeared.

A new game? The ring’s attention flicked between them. Her gray-green pools deepened. Aiden’s entire frame—solidified for a split second. No, this was an ancient game. She was simply its newest player.

“You can set that table after you’re done washing and slicing.” She flashed a broad smile that sent his heartbeat thundering.

“Okay,” he replied as chilly water sprayed the tomato.

The icy spray did nothing to cool the skin of his hand where they’d touched. Instead, her continuous glances kept his pulse roaring. Even after he’d left the kitchen, while placing dishes and cutlery, he couldn’t stop looking at her. And each fleeting glimpse of Anna sent the ring’s flames soaring.

“She’s not Catherine,” he whispered. “Not even close. She’s”—when Anna popped into view, flicking hair from a cheek to flash him a smile, he froze rather than returning her grin—”so much more.”

A series of faint images coalesced. Kim’s face, nodding. The dark sheen of Kendra’s regal visage, with a toothy smile. Aiden swallowed. Her laughter? Both? And at a sudden wave of love, and intensifying desire, from Gina, his fingers tightened on a wineglass.

For the first time, the ring glowed with a purple-streaked bright orange glaze. With its flames subsumed by glowing metal, each of its runes highlighted in golden yellow.

“Oh,” he mumbled. “Oh, wow.”

At Kim’s slow nod, he turned toward the kitchen just as Anna appeared. When he held her glance, her eyes widened. A ripple wandering through her caused the dress to shimmer. Alive, every nerve in his body sizzled.

“So much more,” he repeated under his breath before flashing her a grin.

With her cheeks reddening, she returned it. Another tremor sent the dress’s satin sparkling before she slid from view. Her words in the hot tub. The gleam in her eyes. The sensations. Images. Everything he’d seen within her. She was now ... For Aiden?

“Oh, fuck,” he whispered as his pulse raced. “And she knows it.”

Bright as the sun, the ring, quiet, continued to shine. No flames. No music. Only the ceaseless rumbling. Every arcane etching was alight with intense power.

“And you realized it, too, didn’t you?” His brows knitted as he stared through the painting. “Somehow.”

With a shake of his head, he finished setting the table. And once he’d re-entered the kitchen, he found Anna waiting. After only a quick smile, she handed him a bowl of pasta before lifting a pot of sauce. While it was brief, her glimmering tongue flicked across the deep crimson lipstick on those alluring, shiny lips. Hands full, she passed close enough for her body heat to sear him.

As time fluttered around him, his nostrils flared. In a lingering cloud, her perfume’s delicate flowery scent overwhelmed the rich sauce’s aroma. Ever louder, his chest pounded while he tracked her slow sashay to the table. Only when she’d placed the pot did he gasp, shake his head and stride from the kitchen.

Once he’d poured wine, and they were sitting, the strident hammering inside him slackened. As he lifted his wineglass, the ring’s low rumble continued, and he risked a quick glance at the dark window. No ghostly faces or smiles. When he returned to Anna, his lips parted. But those stunning eyes twinkled, and no words came. Again, his focus flicked between the shaking pane and her expression. Hopeful. A hint of nerves behind those shimmering gray-green pools.

Oh, and that familiar if more intense Catherine-like desire.

When she raised her glass, the light once again reflected from her wedding band. He exhaled; No, it didn’t make sense. Despite the ring’s effervescent glow, Aiden clutched it tight. It was cool in his mind’s squeezing fist. Nothing made sense.

“Anna, I’m confused,” he uttered. “I know what you said. In the jacuzzi. I get that. But isn’t your husband even a little concerned about you being alone with me? Dressed like that.”

“No.”

Still holding his glass in midair, he waited, but she added nothing more. Instead, her knuckles whitened as she gripped the wine. No shake. Her sparkling pools, narrowed, remained on him. Daring him to ask. To follow-up. The ring—silent—in his grip. Also challenging him. And that meant he only smiled.