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“More than,” he said. Marco leaned back slightly. He had to be at least six feet tall, maybe even taller, and when he stretched out, I got a better sense of his physique. “Sasha is perfect for my brother, but I’ve got no interest.”
I nodded. “Good, because I’m not some mild mannered mafia princess.”
That made Marco smile. “Good.”
For a moment, we stood there staring at one another. I wanted to ask Marco more about this, but I was exhausted. I’d been so nervous over the last few nights that I hadn’t slept. That was the story of the last few weeks, really the last few years. “I’m not in the mood to play nice to your brother tonight.” I placed the last item of clothing in the drawer. “I’ll apologize tomorrow but tonight…” I trailed off, hoping that Marco would get the point, and that, for once, he would accept it.
He sighed and got up from the bed. I watched as he walked out of the room, stopping at the doorway. “Do you want me to bring you up something to eat?”
I was surprised by the question. “I’m fine,” I told him.
“Are you sure?” I tried not to squirm as his eyes looked me up and down. I hated the part of me that wondered if he found me attractive. My body was skinnier than what was conventionally considered attractive. It was that malnourished type that suggested that I lacked proper nutrition.
I nodded. I really wasn’t hungry for once. “I didn’t want to be rude, but I had dinner with my mom and Mikey before I came. That’s why I was late. I wouldn’t leave until I vetted the nurse.” My cheeks pinked.
Marco smiled. It wasn’t sinister. It reminded me of when he was joking with Mikey. A pang hurt my heart as I thought about Mikey. Tonight would be the first night he’d ever been without me, and I prayed that he would be alright.
“Feel free to use anything in the house.”
I nodded. Marco’s kindness was more than I could take. He hadn’t threatened me since that first night, but I had expected him to be more aloof than he was. “Thanks,” I said.
Marco nodded before he walked out of the door, closing it behind him.
When he finally did close the door behind him, I breathed out a sigh of relief and took Marco’s seat on the bed. I didn’t know what to do with myself. Reaching into my bag, I took out my phone. When I left the house, I made sure that the nurse had my information in case something happened. Though my mother no longer needed to work, thanks to Marco, she was determined to pay for part of Mikey’s care, which meant that she was picking up a few night shifts throughout the week.
The thought made me feel like shit as I looked around the opulent room I now inhabited. My family was stuck back in our old apartment. The benefit of me moving out meant that my mom now had a room, which was a positive.
Sighing, I leaned back on the bed. It was plush and comfortable, and as it enveloped me, I felt my eyes growing heavy. I had no intention of sleeping in Marco’s bed, but the stress of the last few weeks was starting to catch up with me, and I felt myself starting to drift off.
Despite the fact that there was an entire dinner party happening downstairs, I couldn’t hear a thing. The house was so eerily quiet. I was sure that if I hadn’t been so exhausted I wouldn’t be falling asleep. I was used to noise and life. Our walls were paper thin. But Marco’s were thick, and his apartment was high in the sky.
Yawning, I curled up, promising myself that I would only close my eyes for a few minutes. I didn’t want to be asleep when Marco came back. He’d made it clear that he expected a true wife in the physical sense, but I had absolutely no intention of doing that.
Those were the last thoughts I had before I drifted off to sleep. The bed was too comfortable for me to fight exhaustion. Though this wasn’t really my bed, or my house, it didn’t matter. For the first time since that fateful night at the club, I felt safe. For the first time in years, I wasn’t worried about money. Marco wasn't the fairytale prince that most women dreamed of, but I was starting to wonder what this mafia prince was going to bring into my life.
* * *
Igroaned. My body was too warm, and there was a weight pressing on me. Plus, the scent on my pillow was not my own. It was musky like cardamom and sandalwood. But the bed was clutch. My body was in heaven, and I wasn’t keen to disturb it.
Fuck it, I thought to myself as I snuggled deeper into the comfortable abyss. Wherever the hell I was, it was better than where I’d been.
I stretched slightly, shifting to get more comfortable—something I didn’t even know was possible. But when I did, my ass pressed against something firm. Something that I was sure I didn’t want to be pressing against.
“Get off me!” I jumped out of the bed so quickly that my foot caught in the sheets sending me tumbling to the ground in chaotic fashion.
“What the hell?” Marco groaned. He was sitting up in bed on alert. One hand was reaching for something next to the bed, and I panicked as I considered that my new fiancé probably slept with a firearm. “Ivy? Why are you screaming? And why the fuck are you on the floor?”
Marco ran a large hand across his face, wiping away the sleep. I swallowed as my eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness of the room. Marco was shirtless, and he had more abs muscles than I thought were possible.
“Why are we in bed together?” I asked, my voice oddly breathy. I prayed he would chalk my tone up to my sleepiness. “And where are my clothes?’ I wasn’t naked, but the dress I’d worn to dinner was thrown against a leather chair, and I was in nothing but a bra and panties.
Marco’s eyes raked over my body, and I quickly grabbed a sheet, covering everything from his view. I knew it was dumb considering that he’d seen me dancing topless. “You were asleep when I came back upstairs,” he said. His voice was thick with sleep. “I tried to wake you, but you were dead to the world.”
I stood up from the floor, wrapping the blanket tighter around myself. “I haven’t been sleeping well.”
Marco nodded, but he didn’t say anything further. I felt like a moron standing there wrapped in the black silk sheet. I tried to look everywhere but at Marco. The blankets were hanging low on his hips. He looked like he should be on the cover of some sort of romance novel.
“You coming back to bed?” he asked. He patted the side I’d been sleeping on. I couldn’t think of it as my side. It felt too odd to me.
