Claimed Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle

Trevor

Jane doesn’t fucking get it. She’s afraid of me right now, I see it written all over her face, but what she doesn’t get is that I’m not angry about being a father.

I’m fucking pissed that she hid it from me for as long as she did and kept me from getting to enjoy time with Annie, but that’s all forgiven. I have a daughter and I love her.

I never thought, not once in a million years, that I would say that. Sure, once I had my hands on Jane again I knew that I wanted to knock her up and see her pregnant with my babies, but that was sometime in the future. I’ve spent time with Salvatore and Marcelo’s kids, but having one of my own is completely different.

“Dad?” Annie’s sweet little voice behind me makes me spin around. Jane lets out a gasp at what her daughter said, leaning around me to try to look at her.

“Dad, why is Mommy crying?” She’s wearing a t-shirt that has chocolate stains on it from when the two of us ate ice cream earlier in the day. Her cheeks are pink from running around in the back yard but she looks nervous when she glances from me to Jane, then back, her gaze expectant.

“She called you dad,” Jane whispers, her voice croaking a little as she speaks.

“Your mom is crying because she’s so happy,” I tell Annie, who exhales a little with relief. God, she’s perfect. It’s like looking in a fucking mirror when I look at her, so I have not idea how the hell Jane thought that she was going to be able to keep this a secret from me.

Even if I hadn’t been able to tell from the way that she looks, I knew it in my heart when I saw her that she’s my daughter. There’s something about her that I feel connected to and there isn’t any way that anyone could have hidden that from me. Annie’s mine, and now that I have her, I’m never letting the two of them go.

“Oh. Can I watch TV?” She pops out her hip a little bit. “I’m hot.”

“Go for it,” I tell her. “We’ll finish up talking and I’ll bring you some water, okay?”

“Okay!” Before her mom or I can say anything else, she turns and skips back down the hall.

As soon as she turns the corner and is out of sight, Jane exhales hard, her fingers digging into my chest. She’s been bracing herself on me like she needs something that will hold her up and offer her strength, and I’m that man. I’m the one who can do that for her.

“You’re not mad?” There’s real fear in her voice and I can’t help but feel frustrated. I have no idea how to get it through to her that I want this. Did I know that I did before? No.

I had no fucking idea that I would want to be a dad this badly. It was one thing to think about how amazing it would be to see Jane knocked up. I wanted to see her pregnant with my baby and to count down the days with her until it was born, but I got to bypass all of that.

“I’m only mad that I didn’t know sooner, but I can get over that,” I tell her, taking her by the chin so that I can turn her face up to look at mine. I know that she wants to hide from me right now and keep me from looking into her eyes, but that’s exactly what I need to do.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, and I shake my head, banding my arm around her back to pull her closer to me. Her face presses hard into my chest and I kiss the top of her head.

“I love her,” I tell her. “She’s amazing. I had no idea that a kid could be so incredible.” Closing my eyes, I think for a moment about how I felt when I first realized that she was my daughter. Shocked, of course. Overwhelmed.

Suddenly willing to do anything and everything that I had to in order to keep her safe and happy. I was more than willing to sacrifice anything to protect her and keep her happy. As soon as I saw Annie, I knew that I was done living my life for myself.

I was finally ready to live it for her and her mom.

“You have no idea,” I tell her, pulling back so that I can look at her. “Thank you for my daughter. Thank you for bringing her into this world and giving her to me.”

She lets out a huge sob that tears through her body and falls back into my arms, shaking as I rub my hands up and down her back. “You were scared to tell me,” I say, and she nods.

“I thought that you’d hate me! I thought that you’d hate her! It was one night, Trevor, just one night, and you can’t exactly build a family on a single night in the back of a pub. There’s no way that that can be the basis for a healthy relationship, and then all of the sudden I’m pregnant? What was I supposed to do?”

“Tell me,” I said. “You were supposed to tell me so that I could protect you. So that we could build a life together. You want to try to tell me that you honestly didn’t feel something for me that night in the pub?” I had no idea that I could want someone like this, but my heart slams hard in my chest as I wait for her response. I need Jane to see that I’m serious, that I want this from her.

“I did, but that’s not enough.” She shakes her head, stepping back from me like she’s going to try to walk away from me. Like hell am I going to let that happen, and I spin her against the wall, pinning her there with my hips.

“You can’t leave me,” I growl, tracing a finger up her neck. “Not because I’m going to hurt you and keep you here with me, but because I’m going to love you, Jane. I’m going to give you the family that you want. I’ll be the dad that Annie deserves. Don’t tell me that you think that you can walk away from that.”

I’m hard for her, about to burst out of my jeans and I know that she can feel me pressing into her even if she doesn’t want to admit it. Her eyes are wide and she plants her hands on my chest like she’s going to try to push me away, but before she can, I kiss her.

My lips crash into her and she lets out a shocked moan, first digging her nails into my pecs, then finally relaxing her grip on me. Her hands slip from my chest down to my ass, squeezing it before she reaches up and forks her fingers through my hair.

Our tongues dance together and I lightly run my fingers down her side. This makes her moan into my mouth and I swallow the sound, pushing harder against her, wanting to take her right here in the hall.

“You belong to me, Jane,” I whisper, finally pulling back from our kiss. When I nip the shell of her ear and then lick it, she shivers, quivering against me. I can feel her nipples, hard as diamonds, pressing into my chest. “I love you and I love Annie. Don’t think for one moment that we can’t be a family.”

I know that she doesn’t believe me. She’s trembling in my arms like she’s cold, but it’s fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of having a family with me.

“Don’t be afraid,” I tell her, kissing her again. She resists for a moment, then parts her lips, letting me in so that I can really taste her.

“I’m terrified.” She pulls back, reaching up to brush some hair out of her face. “You can’t mean this. There’s no way. You wouldn’t just change your entire life for me. For us.”

“No?” I have to get it through this woman. She’s stubborn, which is something that I love about her, but she needs to learn when to listen to me and understand that I’m being serious. I don’t say things without meaning them, and I sure as hell don’t open up my house and invite people to live in there unless I want them there.

“Where are we going?” She tugs back on my hand, but I ignore her and lead her down the hall to another room. The door is cracked and I push it open, moving out of the way so that she can see inside. “Trevor, what is this? You can’t be serious.”