Bought Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle

Natalia

When I wake up I the morning, I immediately roll over and reach out, stretching my hands out to the sides. Usually I can touch the wall by my bed when I do this, but my fingers hit nothing but air and I sit up, confused.

My head hurts. It feels like I drank too much last night, like I really tied one on, and I open my eyes slowly, blinking in the light streaming in the huge windows to my left.

This...this is not my room.

I should have realized that right away. My first clue was the size of the bed, then the fact that I’m not in my pajamas. Hell, I’m not wearing anything, and I never sleep naked. Add to that the fact that my mouth is dry and my head pounds, and it’s obvious that yesterday was a hell of a day.

But what the fuck happened?

Looking down at my hands, I turn them over, then suck in a breath when I see the red marks around my wrists. How the hell did I forget? Like a tsunami washing over me, the memories of yesterday crash down on me and I drop my head into my hands, trying to sort through what happened.

I’d begged Dane to fuck me. I’d come on to him in the kitchen, trying to get him to fuck me so that...

So that he would break the contract.

Groaning, I take stock of my body. I’m not sore down there, not like I should apparently be, and no matter how much I try to imagine his cock in me, I know that it didn’t happen. He didn’t give me what I want. At the same time, though, I know that he gave me something.

My body feels languid and loose, not tight and stressed like I normally do and shame washes over me when I remember what happened.

I remember it all. I remember the shower, when he touched me and I sucked his cock, then our time in the kitchen when I tried to get him to fuck me. He wouldn’t do it. He wouldn’t give me the one thing that I really wanted from him, the one thing that I needed to be able to get the hell away from him.

Instead, he went down on me, When I close my eyes I can remember how it felt to have him there between my legs, licking and sucking at me. I remember how tightly wound my body was before I broke into a million little pieces.

I remember how I’d opened my mouth and screamed out his name, the sound flooding the kitchen and filling the entire condo as he made me cum.

And then I remember how he bit me. Gasping, I throw the covers back and look down at my leg. Right there on my inner thigh is his bite. It’s huge and bruised and I suck in a hiss when I touch it.

Bastard.

I’ve never had anyone ever do something like that to me before. It’s one thing for me to know that I’m going to have to marry him, but another entirely for him to bite me like that. To claim me. Mark me.

Reaching up, I lightly run my fingers down my neck, remembering that he did the same thing to me there. That bite isn’t as painful. The one on my thigh, though, it had been the thing to really push me over the edge and make me scream for him and it hurts.

Pulling the covers back up over me, I glance around the room, paying more attention to where I am. The manacles where he had me strung up on the wall are right there, and I quickly shift my eyes away from them. My gaze lands on a stack of luggage, and I jump out of bed to go investigate.

Even though it feels weird to be naked in someone else’s house, I’m all alone. Besides, what’s going to happen? He knows what I look like. My face burns when I think about the fact that he knows what I taste like, too.

Unzipping the top piece of luggage, I breathe out a sigh of relief when I see that it’s my clothes. Digging into it, I yank out jeans and a t-shirt, then underwear and a bra a moment later. That’s all I need, and I pull everything on before finally turning to the door.

I could go to the bathroom and freshen up, and I do have to pee, but first I want to find Dane. There’s no way in hell that he’d leave me alone in his house, I’m sure of it, so I just need to see what he’s doing.

Slowly, I open the door, peeking out into the hall. Even though I don’t expect to see him standing right here waiting on me, there’s a part of me that thinks he will be. There’s part of me that’s sure that I’m going to open the door and he’s going to be right here watching me.

It’s scary to me to think that he could be waiting on me. My heart beats out a staccato beat as I push the door open.

The hall is empty, but my heart keeps slamming in my ribcage as I make my way slowly down the hall. I’m moving quietly, doing my best to stay silent, finally poking my head around the corner into the living room.

The bright sunshine is even more pronounced in here. I didn’t have much of an opportunity yesterday to notice just how gorgeous this place is. The huge windows provide the perfect view of the city and while I might be more interested in seeing everything if I weren’t terrified, my eyes are still drawn to the windows.

It’s a clear morning, with a bright blue sky and only a few fluffy white clouds scattered around. It’s gorgeous out, but I can only imagine what it would be like up here in a terrible storm. It has to be incredible to watch and hear the rain slam against the glass, to see lightning tear through the sky.

I shiver and run my hands up and down my arms to warm myself up before taking a deep breath and stepping out into the living room.

He’s not here.

As soon as I register that, I have to try to come to grips with the wave of disappointment that washes over me. I thought for sure that Dane would be here, waiting on me to get up, but he’s not, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.

Part of me is thrilled, because it means that I can move around in the house without him keeping an eye on me, but the other part of me wanted to see him. What exactly happened last night between the two of us? And where the hell is he now?

These thoughts bump against each other in my mind as I walk through the living room, angling towards the windows. If he’s not here then I want to take a moment to enjoy the view outside. It’s gorgeous out there and I reach out, lightly touching the glass with my fingertips when I notice a note taped to the glass.

My hands shake as I pluck it down and unfold it.

Natalia,

I had to leave early this morning for business, but I plan to be home by lunch.

Don’t do anything stupid. I’ll be watching.

Dane

My fingers tremble hard enough that the paper flutters through them and falls down to the floor. Stepping away from it like it’s a live bomb, I press one hand to my chest and then look around the room, searching for any way that he could be watching me.

It has to be cameras. I knew it--knew that he wouldn’t leave me here by myself without some way to keep an eye on me. He’s not trusting, I know that.

So where are they?

Keeping my fingers on the window because the cool glass feels good to my touch, I slowly work my way around the living room, searching the walls and ceiling for any sign of a camera.

There’s nothing.

Stumped, I stop at the door to the kitchen, then flick off the overhead light. Part of me fully expects there to be some glowing or blinking light where the cameras are, but there isn’t anything.

“He can’t really be watching me, can he?” I keep my voice low in case he’s somehow listening. Even though I don’t get a response, I feel the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up and I dart to the front door, grab the handle, and pull like hell.