Page 12 of The One Night Match (Mafia Matchmaker #1)

TWELVE

CRUZ

R iley finally starts to settle after ten minutes of solid hyperventilating, and I’m just glad as hell I got her out when I did.

The longer we stood in a crowd of strangers, the tenser she became. But she didn’t say anything. The only reason I knew it was happening at all was because I couldn’t allow a sliver of distance between us as we were both peppered with questions about what the future holds for us.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was about kids.

Riley and I are perfect strangers, and everyone in this place knows it. The fact that they would expect us to be procreating anytime soon is wild on its own.

But I know society’s expectations of women mean this probably isn’t the first time she’s had to deal with a question like this.

Why do strangers think they have any say about what a woman does with her body, anyway?

Watching her fall apart before my eyes made my chest tight, to the point I wondered if it was possible to have a secondhand panic attack.

It’s not. I Googled it after I got her in my arms and she buried her face into my throat, because I was genuinely worried.

“You doing okay, Kitten?” I murmur, pressing gentle kisses along her hairline.

I’ve never been an overly affectionate person. In fact, in the few relationships I’ve had, I was called distant and uncaring.

And yet here I am, unable to give Riley any space at all, despite how desperately she likely wants just that.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers.

“You have nothing to apologize for, Riley. I promise. The way those old bats were coming at you, I think even I would have been anxious under all that scrutiny.”

She shakes her head. “I’m such a mess. God. I can’t believe I had a panic attack at my own wedding. I promise I’m usually more put together than this.”

“Kitten,” I say softly, using my fingers to press her chin up until she’s looking up at me through sad eyes. “Stop. This is a lot to process for anyone. Add last night to the mix, and I’m not surprised you’re feeling overwhelmed.”

She half laughs, but the sadness in her eyes is killing me.

“It’s okay. I know I’m a disaster. I’m sure you were expecting a perfect Mafia princess who knows how to regulate her emotions, and I’m just…

not that.” The dejection in her voice is enough to cut into the heart I thought died the day I killed my father.

The same day that I watched him almost kill my mother and scare the shit out of my sister.

I’d killed hundreds of men before him, but committing patricide is enough to change just about anyone.

And yet the organ that keeps me alive now feels something other than endless nothingness.

“I never wanted a perfect Mafia princess, Riley. And now that I have you, I understand why none of them were ever enough. Why the women I was expected to want were the ones I wanted nothing to do with. You’re real. You’re everything I never knew I needed.”

“You’ve known me for a few hours,” she points out with a huff.

“Doesn’t matter.”

“But it does, Cruz! I’m a stranger and a complete fucking mess. You’ll be better off when we end this at the end of the ninety days.”

She tries to scramble off my lap, but I hold her tighter, making sure she realizes I’m not going to let her go.

Not now, and certainly not in ninety days’ time.

“If you think I’m ever letting you go, Kitten, you’ve lost your mind.

You’re my wife, and the next time I hear you speak badly about yourself, I’ll put you over my knee and redden your ass until you can’t sit comfortably for a week. ”

Her mouth drops open in surprise, a soft gasp falling from her pouty lips.

“Now, do you need more time? Or are you ready to go back to the vultures and get this over with?”

She considers me for a few seconds before nodding. “I’m ready to go back.”

I smile and press a gentle kiss to her temple. I stand with her still in my arms and carefully lower her feet to the floor before brushing off the back of my pants.

“How’s my makeup?” she asks.

“Perfect.”

“Liar.”

I chuckle and wrap an arm around her shoulders. “Come on, Kitten. The sooner we get back out there, the sooner we can go home to Asshole.”

“Who’s Asshole?”

“You’ll see.”

T he night passes in a blur, but we don’t get caught in any more groups that send Riley into a panic. She does, however, push her food around her plate, only taking a bite every now and then.

As we’re getting ready to leave, Mom and Lexi finally make their way to us, and I pull them both into a hug. It’s rare for me to show any kind of affection in public, but I think my wedding day is a good enough reason to make an exception.

“You look so handsome.” Mom presses her palm to my cheek. It’s obvious she’s been crying, and I can’t help but smile at that.

She was never the traditional Mafia wife. She was softer, less inclined to gossip, and always warm with Lexi and me, even when the other moms were reprimanding their kids left and right.

Maybe that’s why I was never interested in the traditional Mafia princess, because I knew it was possible to be a woman in this world without giving up everything that makes them an individual.

I tug Riley to my side, wrapping my arm around her shoulders. “Mom, I’d like to introduce you to my wife, Riley.”

“It’s so nice to meet you, Ms. De Luca,” she says politely, and quickly finds herself enveloped in Mom’s arms.

“It’s Mary, honey. And we’re far less formal than you’re probably used to.”

“Thank fuck for that,” Lexi murmurs, earning herself a swat from Mom.

“No cussing, young lady.”

“You just said we’re less formal!”

“That doesn’t mean we’re cretins.” She shakes her head, but there’s a small smile tugging up her lips.

Mom doesn’t look like she’s aged in the last decade, her long black hair the same shade as mine, and her light green eyes still light up her whole face, while Lexi is the spitting image of our dad, something that she loathes with a passion.

She has his thick brown hair and the same dark eyes I inherited from the man we both hate with every fiber of our being.

“I’m Lexi!” She throws her arms around Riley, almost bowling her over. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for a sister! If you ever need to vent about how annoying Cruz is to live with, I’m down.”

“Lexi,” Mom and I both groan.

“What? She should know you’re as messy as a hoard of raccoons after a dumpster dive.”

Riley’s laugh fills the space between us, sweet and unencumbered, and I can’t help but smile down at her.

I’m doing a terrible job of not showing the room the softness I feel for her, but it’s our wedding day, perhaps the only time I can get away with not being the hard man I’ve shown the world for the last five years.

“I know you’re about to go, but do you want to get a drink with me? I’ll give you all the juicy info about my brother!”

“Lexi, we’re getting ready to?—”

Riley cuts me off with a squeeze of the hand. “I’ll just be right over there.” She nods toward the bar, taking Lexi’s outstretched elbow.

I watch every step she takes away from me and feel it in my fucking soul.

Goddamn it.

I saw today going a lot of different ways, from a war breaking out, to ending up married to the snootiest bitch you can imagine.

What I didn’t consider? Liking my new wife so much that I can’t stand any distance between us.

“You like her,” Mom says quietly.

I nod. “Too much.”

“No such thing.” She steps in front of me, blocking my view of my new wife giggling at something my sister just said. I’m sure a string of lies about me that I’ll have to correct.

“I wasn’t meant to care for her. She was meant to be a means to an end.” I scrub my hand down my face. “She’ll be seen as my weakness, used against me.” Just the thought has panic clawing in my chest, desperate to escape the confines of my ribcage.

“Cruz, I hate to break this to you, but your sister and I have been your weakness since your father died. You killed him for us,” she reminds me.

“I know.”

“Having a wife that you actually like, that you look forward to coming home to, will make you a stronger leader, because it means you have something to live for other than being a mob boss.”

I sigh. “If I let myself fall for her, it’ll kill me if something happens.” It’s a reality I haven’t allowed myself to think through, but I need to if I’m going to go into this marriage with my eyes wide open.

Mom nods, her eyes filled with hope and sadness as she stares up at me.

“You’re right, it will. But do you know what’s worse?

Living in a loveless marriage. Coming home every day to someone you hate with everything you are.

Someone you dread being stuck in the same room with.

Someone who treats you as a responsibility, like a burden.

” She looks over her shoulder at Riley talking to Lexi animatedly.

“Loving someone and losing them is far better than never loving at all.”

I roll my eyes at the quote that she’s said to us kids since we were little, but I pull her in for another hug. “Thanks, Mom.”

She’s right. Of course she is, but that doesn’t stop my chest from tightening at the thought that someone could use Riley against me. That they could hurt her to hurt me.

Part of me wonders if Riley’s right about ending things at the end of the ninety days, but I already know without a shadow of a doubt that I won’t be able to let her go.

She’s mine.

My wife.

My kitten.

And I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe.