Page 16 of Malicious Marriage (Mafia Lords of Sin #9)

CLOVER

R yan hits the ground like a sack of potatoes, but true to his scrappy nature, he’s back on his feet in seconds.

“Asshole!” Ryan yells as he surges forward.

He tries to punch Dean, but Dean sidesteps and punches him again, just as hard as he did before.

The blow sends him backward and he trips down the few steps behind the door.

Dean follows, leaving the gala behind in favor of making sure Ryan doesn’t get back up this time, but unfortunately, he does.

I should put a stop to this. The fact that Ryan even showed up here is terrible enough, but one word from him could unravel this entire situation.

He’s a bomb waiting to go off and all it would take is a single moment for him to tell everyone that I’m not a real Byrne, not anymore.

I’m disowned and disgraced with nothing to offer but trouble.

Dean, however, isn’t giving him that moment.

The angrier Ryan gets, the harder he fights and they scrap at the bottom of the steps until Dean floors him with yet another hard punch.

He stands over Ryan, seething in anger with his eyes as dark as the night sky and his bruised hands bunched up into iron fists.

Blood trickles from a small split about his eyebrow where Ryan’s only decent punch landed.

“I said,” Dean pants aggressively, “these men will escort you out .”

That appears to be the cue Jack was waiting for as he surges forward suddenly, but he’s stopped by Bobby.

“Don’t worry, I got this,” Bobby says, moving past Jack to where Ryan spits up blood on the ground. “On your feet.”

Ryan resists, but Bobby is used to dealing with him. They’ve had a few scraps of their own. Gratefulness surges through me as Bobby manhandles Ryan up and swiftly drags him away.

“You come back,” Dean yells at Ryan’s retreating form, “and you won’t be leaving alive!

” He turns slowly, his shoulders rising rapidly from how heavily he’s breathing, and he looks at Jack, who nods once at whatever silent order just passed between them.

After lightly touching my shoulder in reassurance, Jack turns and heads back into the gala where his voice rises a moment later as he announces the winners of the auction.

He’s ensuring he’s capturing all the attention so that anyone who might have noticed the brief scuffle is now distracted and no one will see us reentering the gala.

But I can’t move.

It’s not fear that roots me to the spot, although anxiety does still churn my gut like a blender and has me sweating like I’m in a sauna.

It’s Dean.

His panting, aggressive stance is slowly starting to deplete but there isn’t a single thing that scares me about him.

If anything, his aggressive, protective edge is incredibly captivating.

With dark eyes, a trickle of blood down his temple, and his usually neat hair somewhat ruffled up from the scrap, he looks ten times more attractive than he did in the gala.

I can’t stop staring at him in silence as he walks toward me like some possessive giant that makes my heart race with alluring heat.

“Are you okay?” Despite the anger etched into the lines of his face, his voice is softer but still maintains a rough edge that makes my pulse skip.

I try to speak but words fail me. I’m certain if I try, then all that’s going to come out of me is a sob of fear at how quickly that descended into madness, or a moan at how attractive he looks right now.

With Ryan long gone and Bobby taking care of him, he’s not a threat unless something terrible happens to Bobby, but in a place like this, I know he’s safe.

“Clover?” Dean’s warm, slightly trembling hand reaches out to me and he touches the top of my wrist. “Clover?”

The ragged concern in his voice finally spurs me into action and I take his hand in mine and force a watery smile. “I’m fine. Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”

Dean’s grip is like iron in my hand but despite his strength, it’s not painful.

As soon as we start walking, he becomes my shadow with his other arm snaking around my waist and keeping me pressed against his body while we hurry around the outskirts of the crowd and make it into the washroom before anyone notices.

I lock the door behind us so we’re not disturbed and when I turn back around, Dean is still right up in my space. The sweet peppermint of his scent makes my pulse skip another beat and I have to place my hand on his chest to force him backward a few steps.

“Really,” I say softly, unable to meet his eyes. “I’m okay.”

“Are you?” Dean barks out, but despite the sharpness of his words, there’s no aggressiveness.

Only open concern. He grasps me by the shoulders and pulls me further into the washroom until I’m directly underneath the warm orange glow of the light.

Then he cups my chin and tilts my head up.

After a second, he turns my face from side to side and I’m forced to look into those sexy, dark eyes.

“I am,” I say, my voice more breathless than I anticipated. “I promise.”

“I saw him grab you and I just—” Dean cuts himself off as his attention drops down to my arm, and suddenly, he’s moving around me as if inspecting every inch for a hidden injury neither of us knows about.

The intensity of his gaze sends hot, prickly warmth rushing down my arms and up my spine. “I’m sorry if I scared you.”

When he’s back in front of me, I grasp his arm to stop him moving and push him back toward the sink. “You didn’t scare me.”

“You look frightened.” Dean sounds sincerely pained by the notion and my chest tightens briefly.

“I was,” I reply as I lean around him and turn on the warm water. “But not of you.”

“Who was he?”

“He was telling the truth, as much as I hate to admit that.”

“He really is your ex?”

“Mmhmm.”

A deep, feral sound rumbles in Dean’s chest as he rubs one hand over his jaw. “Fucking asshole.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“For what?” In an instant, his voice softens. “Clover, you have nothing to apologize for.”

“Don’t I?” Wetting a paper towel with the warm water, I turn back to face Dean and he’s staring at me so intently that I suddenly feel incredibly exposed. Heat flushes up my neck and when I swallow, it’s like something is stuck in my throat.

“No,” Dean says firmly. “You really don’t.” His breath ghosts over my face with how close we still are, but we move as one.

Each time I lean away, he leans with me, but he doesn’t move away when I lean in close and place one hand on his abdomen for balance. Leaning up, a shiver of excitement rushes through me as his abdominal muscles flex under my fingers when he leans back against the sink.

“Let me,” I say quietly as instinct seems to make him shy away from my touch. After a second, he dips his head down and allows me easier access to the bleeding wound on his temple. “And I do. I’ve caused so much trouble tonight.”

Dean’s arm suddenly encircles my waist and he pulls me snug against his body. My heart rate jolts. While it’s clear he’s simply supporting my lean because of our height difference, my core clenches tightly and his arm radiates like a molten brand around my middle.

“You’ve caused no trouble, Clover. You’re not responsible for the irrational actions of other people.

” With his voice this close to my ear, it’s painfully difficult to focus on cleaning his wound as gently as I want to.

Being this close to him, touching his handsome face, and feeling his body so firmly pressed against mine are clouding my thoughts far too quickly.

“There’s a debate over whether I’m responsible for his actions or not,” I say quietly, swallowing hard. This close, Dean can surely hear how fast my heart is beating because it’s like a stampede in my own ears. “They won’t let me back in this hotel at this rate.”

“If they bar you, I’ll just buy the hotel,” is his swift response.

Laughter warms me but in doing so, I press even firmer against Dean’s rock-hard body and hot sweat prickles at my spine and under my arms. I’m overheating, but making sure Dean’s tended to is more important, especially since he got hurt because of me.

“You can’t buy this hotel.”

“I can.”

“It’s got to be hundreds of years old. Places like this are protected landmarks.”

“Everything can be bought.”

“You’re really telling me you’re rich enough to buy a landmark?”

“Do you doubt me?” Dean’s voice continues to soften. It seems like our light, amused conversation is calming him down and that dark edge gradually fades from his tone.

Is it weird that I kind of miss it? It was incredibly sexy to see and hear a man so well put together becoming so feral .

“I don’t doubt you,” I reply with a final swipe of the towel. “I don’t think you need stitches but you’re definitely going to have a nasty bruise.”

“I can handle that,” Dean replies. “Is… Clover, is he the one who hurt you?”

I tense up immediately and from the way Dean’s grip tightens around me, he definitely felt it.

Suddenly, my mind is blank. Admitting that Ryan hurt me opens up the conversation about why I’m still seeing my ex and what he does for me.

Admitting he’s my loan shark also risks further interactions with him where he could just spill the truth to Dean.

And after what I’ve seen tonight with how he’s treated and viewed by his peers, his reputation is important not just to him but to everyone else as well. I’d be throwing him to the sharks and I can’t do that. I won’t let Ryan do it either.

“Yes,” I admit cautiously, and his arm, despite growing somewhat relaxed, tightens around me once more. “We argued because of past mistakes and as you saw, he doesn’t take kindly to being told what to do.”

“I’m sorry,” Dean says tightly. “If you had told me there was a threat, then I would have dealt with it accordingly. You don’t need to be afraid to tell me these things.”

“He’s not a threat,” I assure him hurriedly while leaning back now that I’m satisfied his brow has stopped bleeding. “He’s just… cocky and irritating. You’re already doing so much for me that I couldn’t think of bothering you with something like this.”

“Clover.” Dean’s arm relaxes around my waist, but even as I step back, he doesn’t stop touching me completely.

“Our partnership requires honesty. Anything that you think might be an issue, no matter how small, is something I can help with. You’re doing a lot for me too, and I don’t want you in harm’s way.

If anything happened to you and I could have prevented it, I couldn’t forgive myself. ”

“Dean…” I hover against him, completely lost in the intense gaze pouring off him.

He speaks as if he’s known me long enough to deserve such protection and I’m fighting a losing battle when it comes to melting into him.

“He won’t be an issue.” My hand slides from his shoulder to his chest. “I promise.”

“I believe you.”

“I’m just sorry he’s tainted this night. Kind of happens a lot with me, I think.”

“Don’t,” Dean says firmly. “Clover, you haven’t spoiled a thing.”

Our eyes meet and I shift my weight to my back foot, preparing to step away from his grasp, but Dean moves with me.

And then, in a blink of an eye, his other hand is cupping the side of my neck with his thumb running along the edge of my jaw. A slight press from his thumb and I tilt my head up higher while my heart beats wildly in my chest, drowning out any other sound.

And then his soft lips collide with mine in a firm, sudden kiss.