Seized Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle

Mia

As soon as we walk into Full Brew Coffee a man sees us coming and reaches for the large bell that hangs over the counter He looks about read to ring it but Lorenzo holds up his hand, stopping him in his tracks.

“I’m here for pleasure,” Lorenzo tell him, as we walk by. “Not business.” His hand is on my back as he guides us to the back corner booth.

“Whatever you need, Mr. Accardi,” the man says, giving us a slight bow.

We slide into the booth, Lorenzo across from me, and I give him a strange look. “Is that how everyone in your life treats you? And who is that guy?”

“Not everyone. Some people are always trying to kill me. That’s Henry, the owner. He loves us.”

I chuckle, then catch myself. Is he going to think that I’m laughing at him? Will he be mad at me for that? Before Lorenzo can say anything, though, Henry appears, two steaming mugs of coffee on a tray with milk and sugar.

“Are you two hungry?” He asks while putting the coffee down on the table.

Lorenzo shakes his head, but I give a small nod. Hey, the man is asking and I’m not going to lie to him when I feel like my stomach is going to chew through my body.

“Do you make French toast?” I realize that I sound hopeful and that’s because it’s four in the afternoon. Everyone else around us is eating burgers, fries, and even corndogs, but I really want French toast.

Henry doesn’t even have to look at Lorenzo for confirmation. He nods, sweeping his arm out from his body. “For you, anything. French toast is coming right up.”

He disappears and I doctor my coffee before looking at Lorenzo. “Is he that nice to everyone or he just scared that you’re going to burn this place down?”

“I’m offended,” he says, putting a hand over my heart. “Henry and I go way back. Besides, I’d never burn this place down. Too many good memories.”

“But you would burn down someone’s place if they pissed you off?” I lean forward like the two of us are sharing some big secret. It’s silly, and I know that. Anyone who knows the Accardi family knows to stay the hell out of their way. Even I knew that back before I met Lorenzo. It wasn’t something that anyone ever told me, it was more in the air, something that we all knew, something that we all wanted to avoid.

Something that you had to avoid if you wanted to make it out of any interaction with them alive.

“Of course I would. I have. I’ll do anything to protect my family, my friends, my city.” He looks at me curiously like he’s genuinely interested in the conversation. “Wouldn’t you?”

I’m about to tell him that no, I wouldn’t, but I pause, my mouth open for a moment while I try to think things through. “I don’t know,” I finally admit. “I’ve never had someone or something that was really worth me fighting for it. Not like you do. I don’t have family, I don’t have friends who love me like that, and I sure as hell don’t feel any loyalty to a city that never gave me anything to help me survive.”

My voice is getting louder and louder and I know that I probably need to watch my tone so that I don’t upset him, but I can’t help myself. I’m all wound up now, all of the pain that I’ve felt in the past when I knew that nobody was going to take care of me rising to the surface and I can’t do untying to keep it hidden away any longer.

Without meaning to, I slam my fist down on the table. The mugs of coffee rattle a little bit but Lorenzo doesn’t look surprised.

“Feel better?”

“No.” I shake my head. “I’m hungry and I just told you how alone I feel.”

“But you’re not alone.” He smirks at me, his eyes tracing down my body. Even though most of me is hidden behind the table, I still feel his eyes graze across my skin. He knows what I look like naked. More than that—he knows what I feel like, what I taste like.

And he isn’t running. Lorenzo is the first person in my life who has seen me for who I am and isn’t running away and I stare at him, my breath caught in my throat. How in the world could someone as dangerous as he is, as hard around the edges and scary, want someone like me?

Before I can ask him, before I can try to even broach the subject, Henry appears at the table and puts my French toast down in front of me with a flourish. My mouth immediately starts to water and I look up at him to thank him, but he’s already disappeared, backed away before I could even speak.

Pouring syrup on my French toast, I studiously keep my eyes away from Lorenzo’s. The last thing that I want right now is to look at him and try to read what he’s thinking. He’s right, I’m not alone.

Honestly, he isn’t who I would have picked to be on my side. He scares me. He’s dangerous. He kills people and does it all to protect those that he loves, but isn’t it better to be one of the people that he’s fighting to protect than one of the people against him?

And I honestly can’t deny how I feel about him. It’s bizarre to me that I could look at him and want him more than I’ve ever wanted anyone else. No, I’ve never slept with anyone before him, but there were always men at the club wanting to ask me out. They’d lean over to whisper to me like that was going to make me feel like the only woman in the world.

It’s funny, that only one man in my life has been able to make me really feel like that. And he didn’t do it by whispering sweet nothings in my ear. He didn’t do it by buying me trinkets and flowers or by giving me the money that I needed to cover my rent that month so that I wouldn’t be living on the street.

He took me. He killed for me. He made it so that nobody could ever hurt me, could ever touch me, and in doing so he somehow managed to make me fall for him, even though I know that it’s crazy.

“You really want me.” It’s a question and a statement but my voice is flat, like I can’t believe what I’m saying. I don’t even realize that I’m holding my breath until I exhale hard, blowing out all of my concerns like that’s going to make me feel better about what’s going on.

“More than anything.” His dark eyes lock onto mine and even if I wanted to look away from him right now, I don’t think that I could. There’s something hypnotic about him, something so dangerous that you want to keep staring at him just so you can make sure that you don’t get trapped later.

“Do you not remember what I did for you in your apartment?” His voice is low like he wants to make sure that nobody else hears him, but I don’t think that he’s afraid. Its more like he’s growling the words at me so that they rub against my skin and make me pay more attention.

“I do.”

“And you think that that was a fluke? A one-time thing? You honestly don’t realize that I’d do that to anyone who tried to hurt you or take you from me?”

“But why me?” It’s the question that haunts me, the one thing that somehow manages to keep me from being willing to fully give myself over to him. I want to believe him, want to just fall for him completely without worrying about getting hurt, but it holds me back. “Why me, when you could have anyone?”

Even though I ask him the question, I’m not entirely sure that I want to know the answer. It terrifies me to think that he’s actually going to answer it, actually going to tell me what he thinks of me. I don’t want to have all of my faults put on display, but that’s what I’m asking for right now.

Before he can respond, and I’m sure that he’s going to, judging by the deep breath that he takes, someone knocks on the window. The tension between the two of us is so thick that I jump and gasp, grabbing my chest like that’s going to keep my heart from bursting out and beating on the table.