Bought Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle

Natalia

There are few things worse than waking up in a strange bed. My mouth feels like it’s stuffed full of cotton and I have the sudden overwhelming memory of when I was little and when to my dad’s friend’s house. Their dad was a trophy hunter and the family room was filled with dead animal heads from around the world.

A giraffe, a Cape buffalo, even a hyena and a lion were all posed around the room, their eyes replaced with fake ones that stared off into the distance. Their tongues were fake, obviously, hard and dry, and rattled around in their mouths when you poked at them.

That’s how I feel right now, like my tongue could easily rattle around in my mouth if someone were to poke at it. I feel sore from head to toe, but more than that, I feel like I’m going to die if I don’t get something to drink.

Even though there’s a tiny voice in the back of my head telling me that I’m not at home, I still fling my arm out of the covers and reach for the glass of water that I keep at the side of my bed. It’s not there and I pat around on the bedside table, feeling for it, before finally sitting up.

My stomach drops when my eyes confirm what my head already knew. This isn’t my room. Hell, it’s not even my house, unless my dad has an entire secret wing of the house that he simply hasn’t ever told me about. The room is huge, with expansive windows covering one wall, and it’s the sight of them that clues me in right away to where I am.

Dane Accardi.

I have to be at his house, his is the only place I’ve ever been in that has huge windows like this looking out over the city. It’s the only thing that makes sense--that he brought me here, and I reach up to massage my temples, doing my best to try to focus on what happened earlier.

It’s hard and my head hurts, but I take a deep breath and exhale slowly through my nose. That’s a little trick that my therapist taught me after my mom died. If you think that you can’t handle something and need to calm down so that you can think clearly, just try forcing yourself to breathe slowly through your nose.

Sounds basic, but it’s hard as hell. One breath. Two. It takes up to six before I finally feel my body start to relax and I can fight the urge to make a run for it.

Right now, I’m safe. Sure, I’m in Dane’s bed, and I highly doubt that he would have left me in his condo without keeping an eye on me, but there isn’t anyone in the room with me. A quick glance at the door confirms that it’s shut, but it doesn’t look like the knob is turned for it to be locked.

So I’m just...in here, but maybe not a captive. Great. I can work with that.

It isn’t until I swing my legs over the edge of the bed and my bare feet land on the wedding dress that I’d been trying on earlier that I realize that I’m not only stripped out of it, but that I’d taken off my bra to try it on. In a panic, I grab the blanket and yank it up to my chest to cover myself.

Someone took my dress off of me so that I could sleep. When I force myself to think back, I vaguely remember being so panicked in it that I couldn’t breathe, but that means...

Dane saw me naked. Or, almost completely naked. Close enough to fully naked to make my skin burn with shame when I think about his eyes drifting over my body.

Did he like what he saw?

“What the actual fuck, Natalia?” I whisper to myself. “The man is a murderer, bought you for marriage when you were young, almost got you killed just by existing in the same space as you, and you still want to know if he found you attractive?”

I don’t even realize that my voice is getting louder and louder as I talk to myself until the bedroom door swings open and Dane stands there, backlit by the light from the hall, his huge form filling up the space.

My mouth goes even more dry, if that’s at all possible and I force myself to try to swallow. No dice. Instead, I end up choking a little and have to make myself to try to keep one eye on him while I repeat my slow breathing.

“I did,” he says, his voice a low rumble that fills the room, circles around my body like a python, and then settles low in my stomach. “If you want to know the truth, I did find you attractive, Natalia.” Slowly he enters the room, his eyes locked on me like he’s afraid that I’m going to make a run for it.

I feel my body stiffen involuntarily and I force myself to stand up. The fucking dress is still under my feet and I kick it out of the way so that I don’t accidentally trip on it.

That would be real cute, if I face-planted in front of this man right here in the bedroom.

He stops an arm’s length away from me and I drag my eyes up to look at him. Really look at him. The way that he’s holding his jaw tightens it, the edge of it sharp and dangerous. I have to force myself to look away from his full lips and strong nose to take in the rest of his body.

“You’re still in your tux,” I point out, even though it’s obvious, and he grins, a slow movement that makes my stomach turn to honey.

“I’ve been a little busy since we got back here.” Now he strips, pulling off the jacket and tossing it onto the bed where I was just sleeping.

I’ve never been this close to a man taking off his clothes and I can’t help the fact that I don’t want him to stop. My fingers itch to reach out and help him take off his shirt and maybe even his pants just so I can see what he’s got going on down there, but I clench my hands into fists to stop myself from doing something stupid.

Besides, all I have to do is look at the giant bulge in his pants and know that he’s totally packing. Thinking about him packing makes me think of guns, and I shiver, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“Someone tried to kill you,” I say, my voice robotic. “What happened in there?”

“You pretty much nailed it.” He scrubs a hand across his face and looks down at me like he’s hungry and I’m on the menu. “But we have guys working on it to figure out exactly who it was and then we’ll make sure that they don’t ever try that shit again.”

“You mean that you’ll kill them,” I say, doing my best to keep the fear out of my voice. He sounds perfectly calm about the idea of murdering someone, and I want to be calm, too. It’s weird, but I don’t want him to know that I’m terrified of what that really means.

He nods, a brisk movement. “Of course. They tried to murder me and failed, which means that they’ll probably try again. And you could have been killed. That simply won’t fly.”

“So you’re telling yourself that you’re doing it so that you can feel like you’re protecting me?” I get it. Men love to feel like they’re so strong and brave and like they’re the only thing standing in between a woman and her certain death. How many times have I heard something like that?

I’m over it and I cross my arms on my chest, making damn sure that my blanket doesn’t slip down.

“Of course I’m protecting you.” There’s no hint of amusement in his voice and I glance up and him from the remains of the wedding dress on the floor to look at his face. “You think that I wouldn’t do everything in my power to keep you safe?”

Shaking my head, I try to sound confident. “Why would you? I’m nothing to you.”

Before I know what he’s doing, he reaches down and grabs my arms, pulling me to my feet. I stumble forward on the dress but he catches me, his strong arms around me, pulling me to his body. Even though I know that it’s stupid, I take a deep breath to let the smell of his cologne wash over me.

It’s dark. Sexy. A little deadly. Just like him.

“You are not nothing,” he says, his lips right by my ear. “You are going to be my wife, Natalia, and if you think that that doesn’t mean something, then I have news for you.”

I’m about to swoon. Really, this feels like some romance movie that you’d catch on TV right when your boyfriend dumped you and you were working your way through a box of chocolates. It’s not like I have any personal experience with something like that, but a girl can dream.

He continues, just as I’m starting to think that maybe this is okay. Maybe, even though he bought me and I never got to have an opinion on whether or not I wanted to date him, things are going to work out. Maybe. I can live with that.

“You belong to me. I bought you, Natalia, and I’m not going to let anyone take something that belongs to me. You’re mine. All of you. As soon as you walk down that aisle, you’re mine, but before then, I’m keeping you here. Keeping you safe. Keeping you pure and only for me.”

He lets go of me and steps back, his dark gaze locked on my face. I feel a momentary wave of panic wash over me when I look up into his eyes and see how dark and cold they are. He doesn’t want to protect me because he cares about me. I can’t believe that I even thought that for a single moment.

No, Dane only wants to protect me because I’m his asset. Nothing more than a car or a bank account. I see the truth written all over his face and I make my decision about what I’m going to do.

I knew a long time ago that I’d have to run if I was going to have any life of my own. I couldn’t leave my dad’s house because I didn’t have any money, but there has to be some around here. I’m going to take it and then I’m leaving Dane and his attitude that I belong to him in the dust.

Fuck him. Fuck my dad. Fuck everyone in my life who hasn’t helped me up to this point. I don’t need any of them. I can survive on my own.