Claimed Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle
Jane
Ifeel like I’m in a dream as I leave Annie’s bedroom and follow the sound of cartoons to the living room. Even though I already know what I’m going to find there when I turn the corner, it’s still a shock to me to see Annie and Trevor on the sofa together watching TV. One of them found some old kid’s movie that was popular when I was little, and I pause for a moment to take it all in before making my way to them.
Trevor’s in the middle of the sofa, Annie leaning against him with her feet over the arm of it. She has a plate resting on her stomach but all it contains are a few crumbs of her snack. One hand holds the plate in place to make sure that it doesn’t slide off of her, the other dangles over the edge of the sofa.
“Hey, you going to join us?” Trevor looks up at me and reads my face. “Hey, Annie-girl, I’ve got to go get your mom something to eat, okay? She’s pretty hungry after her nap.”
She grunts and sits up just enough for him to slide out from under her before she falls back onto the sofa with an oof, her eyes never leaving the screen.
Trevor wraps his arm around my waist and guides me from the family room into the kitchen, pausing long enough to shut the swinging door behind him so that the two of us have some privacy. “You talked to your mom?” He asks, keeping his hands on my hips like he’s trying to make sure that I don’t do my best to slip away from him.
I nod. This is the right thing to do, I know it. I’ve just never been very good at taking what I want from life. For the past few years, everything I’ve done has been about Annie and keeping her safe. Now I have the opportunity to rely on someone else to help me do that, but I’m still scared.
“You scare me,” I tell him, and he raises an eyebrow. “Just let me finish, okay? You scare me, but not just because of what you do and who you are. I mean, you’re a Bonanno, and that fucking terrifies me.”
“It didn’t terrify you so much that you wouldn’t let me fuck you,” he points out, and I glare at him.
“Don’t interrupt,” I remind him. “Just listen. I know that you’re used to getting your way, but you have to listen to me right now, Trevor.” Taking a shaky breath, I tell myself that I can do this. Sure, I’m scared, but people do scary shit all the time. Hell, the hard part is done.
I’ve already gotten knocked up, given birth alone, been kidnapped and tortured, and now all I have to do is tell the man who should have been there for me all along if I’d only let him just how I feel about him.
No biggie, right?
“You scare me because I’ve never met anyone who cares as much as you do. I never thought that I’d find a person who would go out on a limb for me the way you have. You saved me. And Annie. And my mom,” I add, the guilt over her getting shot because of my relationship with Trevor enough to make me sick. “And I didn’t deserve it. I pushed you away and fought you ever step of the way because I didn’t think that I was worth it and you were still there for me.”
He’s not interrupting now, even though I can see from the expression on his face that he has a lot he wants to say to me. Swallowing hard, I give him a little nod to let him know that he can say something now.
“You scare me,” he says, reaching out and cupping my cheek. I don’t have time to move away before he brushes his thumb over my bottom lip, sending a spark of desire shooting straight down into my core. It coils there, tightening up like a snake the longer that he touches me. “You scare me because I’ve never wanted another woman the way that I want you.”
“Annie scares me,” he continues, because I’d do anything for that little girl. Do you hear me, Jane? I would kill anyone, burn down any city, destroy anything that hurts her, if that’s what I had to do to keep her safe. You have no idea what I would do for the two of you.”
“Do you promise?” I have no idea why I’m asking that of him. He doesn’t owe me anything. He doesn’t owe me a promise, not after I kept his daughter from him, not after I did everything in my power to hide her existence. I lived my life thinking that it would be best if he didn’t know that she was alive, and now I’m seeing that that was a big fucking mistake.
“I promise you.” He takes me by the nape of my neck and I feel desire, thick and demanding, growing in me. I need this man.
Now.
“Prove it to me.” The words are barely out of my mouth before he kisses me, gripping me by the back of my neck so that I can’t pull away from him. I don’t know that I would even if I could. I want to belong to him, want to feel him protecting me and taking me whenever he wants.
Maybe I’m going to hell for it, but I don’t care. I have my own heaven here on earth with him, as dark as it is, and I’m not going to give that up.
“Annie,” I whisper, finally pulling back from him.
“Is watching TV,” he reminds me. “You belong to me now, Jane. Don’t fight it any longer.”
My heart leaps up into my throat as he takes me by the hand and pulls me from the kitchen. We pass my mom in the hall on our way to a bed, and I turn to her. “Keep Annie,” I manage, but that’s all I can say before he yanks me into a bedroom after him and shuts the door.
