Page 25 of Claimed By the Possessive Mafia Prince

DARIO

“ S orry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” I tell her.

She takes a step back, laughing shakily. Her eyes are bloodshot. She looks as though she needs some rest. God knows she deserves it.

“Sorry,” she says, holding a hand to her chest.

“You’ve got nothing to apologize for. I’m the one who should say sorry.”

“Why?”

I take her hands gently. “One–for scaring you. And two… I should’ve come and found you last night.”

“I asked you not to. You did the right thing. I wanted to be alone. This world is just too confusing… and it makes me feel small, honestly. You all do. It’s the little looks. The subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle talking down.”

“I don’t talk down to you, do I?”

“No,” she admits.

I breathe a sigh of relief. “Good.”

When I pull her in for a kiss, she seems reluctant, turning her face like she did in the gym. Instead of kissing her cheek, I whisper into her ear. “You seem extra stressed this morning. Is it the party later?”

“It’s the second most important event of the whole week. I’m thinking of all the things that could go wrong. And…”

“And?”

Although she doesn’t want to kiss me – or she’s trying to fight the urge anyway–she sinks her hand into my side and pulls herself against me. She presses her cheek against my chest.

“This is nice. I could fall asleep right now.”

I grin, gently smooth my hands through her hair. “What about this?”

“Hmm.”

“What were you going to say?” I ask.

“Huh?”

“When you said ‘and’.”

“It’s nothing.”

“I know you think we’re strangers, beautiful, but somehow, I can tell when you’re lying.”

“I… ran into Rocco.”

“Okay?”

“He made a comment that reminded me I’ve got no business getting involved with your family.”

“ Rocco ? What did he say?”

“Just that this family is more complicated than I could possibly comprehend,” I say. “I won’t lie. It made me feel small. Like he was talking down to me.”

“Hold on…” I gently push her away, but keep my hands on her shoulders, holding her at arm’s length as I look at her. “My godfather just walked up to you to say this?”

“Uh, yeah,” she says. “It’s not a big deal.”

“It seems out of character for him. I’ll talk to him.”

“No,” she snaps. “You don’t have to do that. I don’t want him to think I’m spreading rumors about him. I just want to do a good job.”

“Siena, you’re doing a great job.”

She rolls her eyes.

I take her face in my hands, guiding her gaze to mine. “Look at me. Hear me. You’re doing a fantastic job. You should be proud of yourself.”

“I’ll be proud of myself when this is over and it hasn’t ended in disaster.”

“Are you talking about the event… or us?”

She bites down on her plump bottom lip.

“You’ve got no idea how beautiful you look when you do that.”

“Do what?” she murmurs.

“Look uncertain. Nervous about the future.”

“I’m not thinking about the future, Dario. The here and now is all I can handle.”

“Then let’s focus on the here…” I lean in, gently kiss her lips. She keeps her mouth closed. “And the now.” I kiss her again as she makes a tempting moaning noise this time.

She opens her mouth and sinks against me. It’s like gravity, a force we can’t stop or fight.

Our tongues stroke against each other as my hands glide down her body and sink greedily into her curves. “I love when you touch me like that,” she gasps.

“Like what?”

“Like my body is addictive to you.”

My steel pulses as I grow even harder. “That’s because it is.”

I smooth my hands down to her ample, perfect ass and lift her up. She wraps her legs around me and we make out like this, our bodies pressed together, like we’d melt into each other if we could. She runs her hands up and down my back.

“You need to tell me,” she says passionately. “I need to know.”

“Know what?”

“The truth,” she whispers, stopping the kissing.

“The truth is, I want to tear this dress off you and kiss every inch of your body,” I growl.

She twitches her hips against me. It seems like an instinct, like she can’t help it. “About your family.”

I slowly lower her to the ground.

She cocks her head to look at me. She seems even more concerned–scared–than she did last night. “Is there something more going on? More than Old Money? More than looking down on civilians ?”

When I don’t, can’t reply, she goes on, “There was an atmosphere yesterday. It seemed almost… violent. Your uncle. And your godfather. And the stuff you said on the phone, and what that guy said to you. Is your family involved in crime?”

I still can’t speak. I don’t want to lie to her… as if I haven’t done that already.

“I’m your event manager. You don’t have to tell me. But if we’re going to do this…” She lays her palms flat against my chest. She can probably feel my heartbeat thundering. “I think I deserve to know. I’m probably being silly, right? Aren’t I, Dario?”

“Is this because of what Rocco said?”

“Are you dodging the question?”

“I can’t…” I smooth my hand up her arm, over her shoulder, and cradle her face, frame it with my hand. “Siena, I only want to exist in the moment with you. I just want to be the goofy prick who climbed into your boat… and for you to sass me, tease me. I want to forget about everyone else.”

“I want that too,” she whispers. “But I can’t get involved with someone if they won’t answer a simple question.”

“It’s not simple.”

“I’m sorry,” she murmurs. “I don’t mean to keep teasing you. I honestly don’t. I know men hate that.”

“I love when you tease me.”

“I don’t mean to be hot one minute and cold the next.”

“You can be any damn thing you want as long as you stick around.”

“I need to think about myself. I need to be selfish. This, I believe, has to end. And I know I keep saying that. Believe it or not, I’ve meant it every time.”

“Is that what you want?” I demand.

“Want,” she repeats. “That’s an interesting concept.”

I grab her, pull her flush against me, kiss her like my life depends on it. She throws her arms around my shoulders. My body responds as she grinds against me.

“No,” she says, breaking off the kiss. “Damn it, Dario. Let me go.”

Reluctantly, I do so. As I watch her walk away, I wonder if she’s going to look over her shoulder again like the other times, but she doesn’t, and it somehow feels more final this time.

I know it’s not. It can’t be. I will not give up that easily. She deserves honesty. Once I tell her about the mob though, there’s no going back.

I leave the waterfall and head to the restaurant. When I spot Rocco eating with a few of our men, I nod to him to meet me outside. He joins me with a grin on his face. “Beautiful morning, eh?”

“Why did you mention the Family to Siena?”

“I didn’t mention the family, Dario. I mentioned our family.”

“I don’t understand why you’d just walk up to her and say that.”

“She looked upset. I wanted to let her know last night wasn’t her fault, to let her know it was a family issue.”

“You mentioned family, Rocco, but you could only have meant the mafia. You’re not in our family.”

guess

Rocco sucks in a breath. “Shit, Dario. I assumed I was part of the family when I became your godfather. I’m sorry if I misinterpreted that.”

I stuff my hands in my pockets. “Hell, Rocco. My bad. I didn’t mean that.”

“I’m sorry if I overstepped. I was trying to help.”

“It’s fine. It’s not your fault.”

It’s mine for lying to Siena in the first place.