by Fiona Murphy
“I am a human being who can think for herself. I don’t care what Johnny wants. This is my life, not his. I can take care of myself. I’m in love with Richard. Richard wants me for me.”
He scoffs and the urge to slap him hard across his beautiful face scares me it’s so strong. No, I have no doubt I won’t get away with it again. Can’t believe he let it go the first time.
“Fuck you. I’ve heard of you and all the women you’ve been with. There is no way you could want someone like me when you’re used to gorgeous women. You are so far out of my league we aren’t in the same hemisphere. If even for one insane second I would consider this marriage, I wouldn’t trap myself in a marriage to someone who would feel like he married beneath him.”
Dominic slaps the ceiling and a light goes on. His eyes pierce me with a dark glare. “What the fuck are you talking about? I don’t want to marry anyone. Least of all a twenty-two-year-old girl so desperate for affection she’ll cling to a piece of shit like Richard Taylor despite proof so solid the cases against him are moving forward as we speak.”
His jaw clenches. “I’m thirty-nine years old. In a few months I’ll be forty. Yeah, there are guys into fucking girls young enough to be their daughters, I’m not one of them. I prefer women who know what they want and what the fuck they’re doing. That is my problem with this. Everything else you said is bullshit. I wanted you the moment I laid eyes on you.”
Almost forty? He doesn’t look that old. There had been men in and out of the condo who were younger yet looked older than Dominic. None of them had a body as big and muscled and powerful as his. Then he admits he doesn’t want to marry me either, which came as no surprise to me. It’s in the same breath he blows my mind, telling me he wants me. It’s marriage he doesn’t want.
Even though I want to call him a liar, I can’t—there’s too much heat in his eyes when he says it. Instantly, I’m wet between my legs. No. I don’t want him, want this. And fuck him, I’m not a girl or desperate for affection...am I?
He hits the ceiling again and the car goes dark. “I’m going to warn you right now. If you really love Richard Taylor then you’ll forget him, for his sake. Because if you don’t, I’m going to have to kill him.”
My blood runs cold as Dominic starts the car. His words were brutal, final; he meant them.
***
Regina
Almost an hour later he pulls into a gas station. It’s well-lit. I scan the parking lot; it’s also empty.
“Don’t. You won’t get far. I told you I don’t want to hurt you but if you don’t leave me a choice, I will.”
I shiver, he’s so damn cold. Defeated, I sag against the door. He gets out and I wonder if there’s any escape at all. If I ran, I know I won’t get far. I don’t even know where I could run to. Richard isn’t an option. I love him and I won’t put him in danger.
If I tried to go back to Italy, they would find me in a matter of days. So...don’t go back to Italy. I have over twenty thousand in my checking account. From all the stuff they found electronically, my guess is they would be able to track me easily if I relied on it, but if I went in and pulled all my cash out then I could maybe find somewhere to disappear to. But where?
***
Dominic
As I fill the tank, I fight the anger threatening to consume me. Regina really fucking believes she loves that moron. At least all her talk of loving another man, a piece of shit who doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as her, has helped get my cock firmly under control. The only thing worse than being forced to marry any woman is marrying one who thinks she’s in love with someone else. How the fuck is this my life? I take a deep breath, then another. It doesn’t help.
I make a call. Mary answers, her surprise clear. “I need you to go make the spare room guest proof. I’ll be home tomorrow with a woman, my fiancée.” The word doesn’t come easily.
Mary gasps.
“Exactly, not interested in talking about it, both of us are less than thrilled. I mean guest proof. The lock on the outside, the cameras on and air out the extra room on the second floor. I’m going to need someone there to watch her at all times. I’ll be making use of Dario and Marco. So stock the kitchen as well.”
“I’ll take care of everything. Tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I’m driving back, it’s the safest way to get her there. I’ll drive through the night—”
“No, you won’t, young man. You need to stop and sleep. If you drive straight through you’ll enter the worst traffic half asleep.”
I shake my head. Mary was my babysitter and one-time lover of my father, a long time ago. She’s never gotten over taking care of me. Once when we were both deep into a bottle of scotch, she admitted she only stayed with my father because she had hopes of becoming a mother to Anthony Junior and me. There were medical reasons she couldn’t have kids. She wished we were hers, but Pop refused to leave our mother so after five years she gave up.
“I mean it, Dominic. You drive straight through and I use too much starch on your boxers for a month.”
The last damn thing I want to do is be stuck any longer in a confined space with Regina than I have to. Mary is right though, I’m not used to driving as it is. “Fine. It’s after eleven now. I’ll stop around six in the morning and try to get some sleep.”
“That should put you in... Youngstown is right about there. Would you like me to make you reservations at a hotel?”
“Find one with the rooms out onto the parking lot. Something where I don’t have to go into the building with her. She might run on me.”
“Hmm, will do. I’ll call you with the details as soon as it’s done.”
Getting back into the car, I see Regina is pretending to sleep, or plotting her escape. Her breathing catches when I start the car—plotting her escape it is.
I plug in my phone to the setup of the car stereo. Damn I love technology. The car might look like it just came off the line in 1970, but updates are everywhere on the dash. I scan my playlists and go with blues. Blues feels right for this drive.
We aren’t ten minutes from the gas station when she breaks the silence. “I have to pee.”
“Why the fuck didn’t you say anything before we left the gas station?”
“I didn’t have to go at the gas station.”
A sign flashes for an exit for restaurants in forty miles. I nod at the sign. “You can wait until we get to that exit. We’ll find a restaurant and you’ll be a good girl. Remember, I have Taylor under surveillance. I’d rather be the one to pull the trigger, but all I need to do is make a phone call and he’s dead.”
Her gasp is loud over the wail of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s guitar. “Why can’t you let me go and tell Johnny I escaped? I’ll disappear. I promise you won’t be able to find me, no one will.”
I shake my head. “It’s too late for that. You’re mine. I keep what is mine. Run and I’ll be right behind you.”
A hand goes up to wipe her eyes.
“Still have to pee or are you giving up on trying to make a run for it?”
“I have to pee, you asshole.” She spits the words at me.
It’s a good thing it’s dark and she can’t see me smile. I like her fire. It’s going to have to go but for now, I like it.
Pulling into a fast-food place with the lights still on, I see the door opens right into the hallway for the restrooms. Good. Then I see it, I can’t believe it, there are five cars in the parking lot and at least a dozen people milling around inside.
“I’m hungry. Can you please get me something to eat while I use the restroom?”
“No, you’re going to use the restroom and we’ll order your food together. Behave, Regina. These civilians don’t deserve to be dropped into the middle of this.”
She hangs her head and nods. Good girl. I take her hands and remove the cuffs. Taking a minute, I rub the skin to get her blood flowing. Soft, small, her wrists are fragile in my hands. I hear her breathing catch, and it goes straight to my cock.
She might think she’s in love with a moron, but she likes my touch. This close her hair smells like cherries and her perfume is Joy, and fuck I want to lick it off her skin. She tries to tug away from me, I grasp her tight, needing her to know I choose when I stop touching her. Underneath my thumb, her pulse is pounding fast. Now I let her go.
I get out of the car and am pleased when she waits for me to open her door. I beep the car locked. “Wait, I need my bag.”
“No, you don’t.”
“It’s got women’s stuff in it, I—”
I give her a look. Her head goes down and she stops talking. My hand goes around her arm and I walk her into the restaurant. The bathroom is empty, it’s a large single room with one toilet, no windows and a lock from the inside. “You have three minutes.”
Her jaw drops, she doesn’t say anything, just slams the door. I check my watch for the time. She’s out in only two and a half minutes.
My hand is around her arm again as I guide her to the main area. There are a few people milling around, an older man is ordering at the counter and a couple are waiting for their order. I look down to see Regina studying the menu. When the older man is done, I nudge her forward. She places her order.
The young girl behind the counter looks to me and blushes as she asks what I would like. I give the girl a smile as I tell her I’m not ordering, I’m just paying. As I let Regina go to pull out my money clip, I notice she’s stiff as she looks from me to the girl. The girl takes the twenty with a smile then slowly counts out the change into my palm. Another girl hands Regina her bag of food and a drink. Regina tries to pull away from me when my hand goes around her arm, I tighten my grip.
We’re barely out of the restaurant before she lets loose. “She was a little young, don’t you think?”
I unlock the car and open her door. “Fuck yes she is, and so are you. I told you, I’m not one of those gross fuckers who is into young girls. I’m not going to be an asshole to some little girl to make you feel better.”
“So you’re just an asshole to me?”
“I’m an asshole to most people, but not girls and kids. You might be a girl, but you’re mine and you need to get used to it.”
“I’m not a girl.”
“Then act like a fucking woman,” I snap at her. Wanting her doesn’t allow me to forget how young she is. “A grown-ass woman would not be jealous of me smiling at a little girl. I didn’t fuck teenagers when I was one. I haven’t fucked anyone under twenty-five in over a decade. You make the idea less appealing by the hour. By our wedding night I’m going to have to either be drunk or tape your mouth shut to get it over with.”
Christ, I’m lying. All I want to do is tear that ugly dress off her and get lost in her body. Is it the arguing that’s making my cock hard? No woman has ever argued with me before, they knew better.
“What the hell are you talking about? We... I don’t want to marry you. You’re really going to marry me knowing I’m in love with another man? I won’t do it. I won’t f—I won’t.”
6
Dominic
God damnit, and now it’s back, the reality of what the fuck is happening. Bullshit, this is such fucking bullshit. Forced to marry a girl who can’t even say the word fuck. It’s one thing to fuck her, get lost in her beautiful body for a night or two; it’s something completely different to vow forever.
“I can and I will. Have no doubt we will fuck and seal our vows. This is the last time I will warn you. If you say his name or refer to him one more time, I will kill him. I swear it.”
Her gasp is loud. I gun the engine as I merge onto the freeway, the growl of the engine soothing the anger inside me.
“How can you say that? How the fuck am I supposed to react to being told I’m going to be forced to marry a man I met less than six hours ago? Who then tied me up and threw me in the trunk of his car. I can’t even believe this is real. Any minute now I’m praying I’m going to wake up and this will be nothing more than a horrible nightmare.”
Fuck. She’s crying again. I am an asshole and I have no problem calling myself one. The only women I’ve allowed close and let my guard down around were the wives of my cousins. With them I didn’t have to worry they had ulterior motives.
With the women I was fucking, I never allowed myself to be soft. I didn’t want a woman comfortable with me, didn’t want them getting the idea they were anything more than temporary in my life. Regina isn’t just any woman; whether I like it or not, she will become my wife. With Johnny on a clock, likely within the next few weeks.
Regina has the same right to think this is fucked up as I do. She came into this life two years ago. I grew up knowing the life I would be leading would not entirely be my own. I would have a boss, and his orders were something I would follow without hesitation, question, or whining. Duty and honor were words ingrained into me before I knew exactly what they were. Regina has been living a quiet, pious little life in the north of Italy raised by nuns. Taking my anger out on her will get us absolutely nowhere.
Checking the area, I slow and pull to the side of the road. I hit the button to illuminate the interior. Damn it, her eyes and nose are red, and those honey eyes have darkened to melting chocolate. Undoing my seat belt, I edge toward her. Blinking fast, she tries to hide as I tug out my pocket square. Catching her by her small chin, I bring her face up to me. For a brief second she tries to get away. I tighten my grip, and she gives in with a sigh.
I’ve brought women to tears before; it never bothered me, especially when I was sure it was a negotiating tactic. I tell myself it doesn’t bother me now, but fuck am I lying. The electricity is there again and now I know it’s going to happen every damn time I touch her. She feels it too, thank fuck it’s not just me losing it. Carefully, slowly I wipe her tears away. Her breathing becomes fractured as I finish, her small pink tongue slides out of her mouth to wet her lips.
Stifling a groan, I shift to ease my thickening cock. I’m trying to remind myself she’s not ready for everything I want to do to her. And sure as fuck not on the side of the road. “Look, this isn’t something I thought would happen when I woke up today either. I fought hard and negotiated like hell to keep from ending up in a marriage like this. One for the family and by the family. I don’t have a choice either. It’s my duty, I won’t dishonor my father or my Don.”
Her eyes meet mine. Fuck, would she stop chewing on her bottom lip for one damn second? I press my thumb against her soft, plush bottom lip to stop the torture. Liquid honey eyes widen, I fight the savage hunger pulsing through my veins for her. Focus, Dom.
“This marriage has to happen. The sooner you come to terms with it the better, the easier it will be for the both of us. I didn’t want this but I will not abuse you. I protect what is mine. I keep what is mine. I’ll do what I can to honor our vows. I’ll never ask more from you than I’m willing to give too. I need you to work with me.”
The word vows does something to her. Her pupils dilate and her lips part, undoing my control. I lower my head. She doesn’t move even though she gasps before my lips touch hers. A soft grazing is all I allow myself to gauge her response. My cock jumps at her sigh of loss, at the way her lips tremble against mine. Hunger urges me on, I swipe her lips with my tongue. Her mouth opens, I cannot refuse the invitation.
Sweet, so damn sweet. I have no fucking idea where the growl comes from as I feast on her. Maybe it’s from the way her tongue tentatively seeks mine. Maybe it’s the taste of her, traces of brandy, of something sweet, vibrant and new I’ve never known before. Her kiss is untutored, her obvious lack of knowledge coupled with her enthusiasm pulls another growl out of me. My hands go into her hair to keep her in place. Her small hands go around my neck. Christ, she presses her breasts against me. And god damn, it hits me, the scent of her wet pussy. My cock jumps to be inside her, my mouth waters to taste her, to have her moaning and writhing under me while I learn every inch of her.
An eighteen-wheeler passes close, the car shakes as the win
d rocks it. What the fuck? I haven’t made out in a car in my entire life, but if I don’t stop I’ll fuck her right now. I pull away slowly, her hands tighten in my hair. Good.
She’s breathing fast, her eyes are wide and dazed. I run my thumb over her bottom lip. Unable to stop touching her.
“We can do this the easy way, princess. I can make your life a good life, a happy one. I promise you that. Don’t make me into the fucker I can be.” It isn’t until the words come out of me that I know I mean them. I didn’t want this; however, I will not back down from it. I’m a Sabatini, I keep my promises. Regina will be my wife. I will do the best I can to honor her as such, to ensure the life she has is as good as I can make it. Come what may.
Her throat works. “How?”
“Tell me what you want. Forget Taylor and your father. When you were growing up what did you want your life to be?” Why the fuck does she have to look so young in the soft light? Seventeen damn years younger than me, pure, innocent, she deserves better than a scarred, fucked-up killer like me.
“I wanted a family. I’ve always wanted a big family of at least two boys and a girl and a dog. I know it’s silly and childish not to want more in life. It didn’t matter, I always wanted that. To be a good mom was my only goal, to make sure my children were loved and happy was all I wanted.”
I close my eyes. Of course, she wants the one thing I won’t give her. Refuse to give her. No kids, not now, not ever. Except to tell her that would mean we crash and burn before we ever get off the ground. I do the only thing I can, I lie.