Saved Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle

Clara

Thank god for the tea that Gavin made me because it’s the only thing that made me feel warm. He thinks that I didn’t see the body in the hall, but I peeked when he had to do a little hop-step over the blood pooling on the floor as he carried me to the kitchen.

I saw the man there and I know that Gavin killed him. I should be angry about that, or at least more worried than I am, but all I can think about is how glad I am that it isn’t him dead in the house.

“Hey,” Gavin says, looking over at me before taking my hand and lightly squeezing it. “This is the smart move, okay? You’re going to be fine, Clara, I promise you.”

I nod but then turn my gaze back to the window. We’ve left town, but that doesn’t really matter to me because I honestly don’t know what town we’re even in. The buildings are getting farther and farther apart with gorgeous fields between them. Even though I don’t think that we’ve been in the car more than fifteen minutes, it feels like we’re well on our way to another world.

“Freddy lives way out here,” Gavin explains. His voice is smooth and comforting and I glance over at him. I want to ask him how he got the scar on his face. I want to ask him who made him into the man he is today and why he’s so terrifying. There are so many things I want to ask him but my tongue feels stuck to the roof of my mouth so I just listen to him.

“I think that he likes that Sean and I have to actually make an effort to come out here and see him,” Gavin continues. “I don’t mind the drive, I guess. It’s nicer than going through town. Anyway, you’d be surprised how tricky it is for people to find him way out here, which means that they won’t be able to find you as easily.”

I want to believe him but I still can’t stop the words that are about to slip through my lips. “They found me at your house. Why do you really think that moving me out of town is going to be all it takes?” I feel tears burn the corners of my eyes and I want to fight them back but one slips out and slides slowly down my cheek.

“I think that moving you is going to give us enough time to figure out how to protect you.” He falls silent while he turns onto a driveway that I didn’t even notice. Bushes and branches crowd in on it from both sides and I wince when one scrapes down the side of the car.

“This is where Freddy lives?” I ask, wanting to change the subject to something a bit more comfortable for me. “I would have thought it would be...”

“Neater?” Gavin smiles and I feel my stomach flip completely over. I swear, he can read my mind, which is unnerving since I haven’t known him very long. “Yeah, this is the back entrance. Freddy has a much nicer driveway on the other side of the property, but we figured that we’d come in this way just in case my brothers were being watched.”

Shivering, I run my hands up and down my arms. “Do you think that someone is watching? Is that a thing?”

He’s silent for a moment and I immediately regret asking the question. “Clara, let me put it this way to you. If Nick Prince wants you nearly as badly as I do then I wouldn’t be surprised if he tore the world from top to bottom looking for you. I know that it’s what I’d do.”

“But you don’t know me!” The words burst out of me as he pulls up in front of a small cabin. I barely glance at it, I’m too involved at looking at him. “Why in the world do you want to save me when you don’t know me? Just let me go and I’ll deal with what’s coming my way but you can be safe when I’m gone!”

“Safe isn’t what I want if that means that I can’t have you.” He turns to look at me, his eyes wide. I feel electricity spark between the two of us and I want to slip out of the car and make a run for it, but the way he’s looking at me has me pinned in place. I’m stuck here, a deer in headlights, only it’s not a car coming for me.

It’s something worse.

“I don’t give a fuck about safe,” he tells me, moving faster than I would have thought and grabbing my chin. I let out a little gasp when he pulls me so that I’m leaning over the console towards him. I’ve been closer to him, hell, I was pressed up against his chest just a little while ago while he carried me to the kitchen, but this is more intimate.

He leans closer to me, our lips just an inch away from each other. I can feel the heat radiating off of him and I squeeze my thighs together to try to stop the throbbing there.

“You are what I want, Clara,” he tells me and his words run through me, dripping through my veins like poison. I feel them sink into my cells and I suck in a breath. “You. I’ll kill Nick Prince and any of his little lackeys who come looking for you. You think that I give a shit about them? From the moment I saw you in the bakery parking lot I knew that I was going to have you for my own.”

He kisses me, his lips crashing onto mine. It’s so sudden and unexpected that I gasp and then immediately reach up, grabbing the nape of his neck and digging my nails in. I pull him closer to me, not wanting him to get away even though I’m pretty sure that nothing would make him back off now.

Our tongues dance against each other and I moan, unable to stop myself from making that sound. As soon as it escapes my lips, though, I feel him smile against me. He’s still kissing me, one hand holding me in place, the other sliding down my side like he’s mapping out every inch of my body.

“Now,” he says, pulling back and leaving me panting for more, “we need to get you inside. They won’t be able to find you here for a while, if at all, but it would be stupid of us to tempt fate by sitting here in the car. Although,” he says slowly, letting his eyes drag up my body, “I wouldn’t mind seeing just how flexible you are.”

My lips burn and I press down hard on my lower lip, trying to focus, but it’s almost impossible with him looking at me like he wants to eat me up. Instead of answering, because I honestly don’t think that I can, I fumble for the door handle.

Gavin is out of the car and around it in a moment to let me out. I get out of the car, doing my best to keep my eyes from landing on his cock. He’s hard and the thought that he wants me that badly makes me swallow hard before I step away from the car and let him close the door.

“Come on, Clara, I need to get you in, make sure nothing can hurt you, and then figure out what the hell we’re going to do about Nick. Whatever you know about him, I need to know it, do you understand? I don’t care if it’s as insignificant as what color underwear he likes. If you have any information on him, I want it. Got it?”

“Okay,” I say, hurrying after him. He was taking his time with me in the car, but now that we’re out in the open he obviously wants to get me tucked away again before anyone sees us. As we walk up to the guesthouse I do my best to think about what type of information he might find useful.

I don’t know what I could tell him. Maybe something about how he’d acted when we first met? Maybe about how his dad had really pushed for the marriage even though I’m not sure that Nick really wanted it?

All of those thoughts fly out of my head as Gavin opens the door and gestures me inside. My jaw drops open and I turn to him.

“This is the guesthouse?”