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I tried to swallow, but my throat was all of a sudden dry, go figure. I was pretty sure all the moisture in my body had made a B-line for the space between my legs. I shifted in my seat, trying my best not to look at him, but failed miserably. He still had that grin on his face that had my nipples puckering.
“So… how do you see this going, then? Am I your captive now, is that it?”
“I will never force you to do anything.” He said, his face going back to being completely serious. “I have a lot of kinks, but that’s not one of them. We might play that you want to get away, but if you actually want all of this to stop, all you have to do is say so. I will… have to figure something out with my father. Probably have to fake your death, which I would ask your cooperation with, but I could get you a new alias and send you someplace nice for the rest of your life. It would be complicated, but doable.”
“You would do that for me?” I asked, touched. Would he really go against his father if I didn’t want to be here? “ You would let me go? Help me out like that?”
“Of course. I am only a monster to my enemies, but never to you.” He assured me.
“But you said… down stairs…” I hesitated and he shook his head. Something passed within his eye that I couldn’t quite understand, but it was gone in an instant. “ Ignore what I said downstairs. If you stay… I will hurt you. There will be pain, but nothing you won’t be able to handle and nothing you won’t enjoy in the end. We are going to have to make this look good so my father thinks I am doing what he wants. I think eventually he will leave you be and we won’t have to pretend anymore, but that could take months or years, depending upon the depths of his anger. But I promise, I will take as little from you as I can and mark you only when I have to, or when you ask me to.”
“Ask you to?” I scoffed. He just smiled.
“Yes, only when you ask me to. The only thing that is absolutely necessary is that you marry me. It was at my father’s request, but the more I think about it, the more it protects you. The moment you are wife, in the eyes of the mafia, you are my property, so to speak, and if I have to get the brothers involved in this, if my father takes it too far, then they will back me because you will be mine. I hope it doesn’t come down to that, but… it is my father.” He said it as if he knew his father took things too far often.
Hmm…
So my options were to get an alias and let this guy help me get a new name, a new life, or I could marry him and put up with whatever kinks he had that I might enjoy.
When put so plainly, it wasn’t that hard a decision, but there were a few things I needed to know first.
“Would this… marriage… just be a farce? Or do you want us to have an actual relationship? Am I just putting on a good show around your father and your friends? Do you expect me to move in here with you? Do you expect me to fuck you? Will we be allowed to date other people? Would..”
“Stop.” He said and, despite my want to keep firing questions, I stopped. His jaw was set in an angry line.
The silence stretched between us again as he took three deep breaths.
“Yes.” He started slowly, looking down at the table. “This would be a real marriage. I would like to have an actual relationship with you, if at all possible. I have never been the marriage type, but I also would like to give it a shot. With you. And no, we would not be dating other people. As far as fucking goes, you do not have to, of course, but I do want us to have a sexual relationship. I thought I made that clear downstairs.”
He looked up at me and I nodded.
“You did.”
“Good. Now, yes, I will want you to move in with me, but you don’t have to right away. Feel free to keep your apartment as long as you like, but I want you to sleep here, with me. Did you have any more questions?”
Slowly, I shook my head.
“Good. It’s early in the morning and we’ve been up most of the night. I suggest we get some sleep?” He raised an eyebrow at me and I nodded.
“Do you. Want me to sleep downstairs… or…?” I let the question float in the air, unsure of how to end the sentence. Raniero ran a hand through his hair.
“If that’s what you want, but I was hoping you would sleep upstairs in our bed, my soon-to-be wife.” He looked at me as he stood up, making sure to not break eye contact. I matched his gaze and refused to look away. I felt like there was a challenge in there somewhere and I would be damned if I was going to look away first.
“Okay. Lead the way.” I told him and I stood up too. He smirked and shook his head, looking away just before he turned and headed through the back door of the kitchen. It led intowhat looked like a dining room, though it only had a large table and some mismatched chairs around it, then through another door and there was a staircase leading up to the second floor. I followed him up the stairs and into a hallway with 4 doors. One was open and was clearly the communal bathroom. We passed it on the way to the last door on the right.
He opened it and stepped inside, heading straight for the bed. It was typical of a man’s room; two pillows on the bed and a black comforter. There was a bedside table that had a watch on it, a charging station with a clock on it, and little else. The same with the dresser on the far wall underneath the window.
On the wall to the right of the door were two more doors, both of which were open so I could see inside. One was a closet, the other was the on-suite bathroom. Raniero sat down on the end of the bed and started taking his boots off. I tried very hard not to gawk at how his stomach muscles flexed when he did so and I was proud of myself for it. Instead, I looked at everything else; the closed white blinds behind thick black curtains, the olive green walls, and the white trim.
When he was done taking his shoes off, he took them into the closet, then pulled off his socks that went directly into the hamper by the closet door. This man was so tidy and precise that it was both refreshing and creepy at the same time.
“I’m going to take a shower before I get into bed. Feel free to make yourself comfortable, it might be a little while. If you need to use the bathroom feel free to come in, but if you want privacy, there’s the bathroom down the hall.” He said, walking into the bathroom and undoing the belt through the loops of his jeans.
“Thanks.” I said for lack of something better to say. He nodded and then disappeared behind the door. He didn’t shut it all the way, but he shut it enough that if I wanted to watch him undress, I would have to open the door. Smart man. Smart and oddlyaccommodating. He was giving me control over the situation, which I found oddly… charming.
Moments later, the shower started and I was left to my own devices. Part of me wanted to go into the bathroom to see him undress, to see him as exposed as I had been, but I didn’t quite have the courage. Technically, he had given me permission, but no, I was not that brave. Not right now.
Resigned to being a little bit of a coward, I decided to use the bathroom and brush my teeth if I could find a spare toothbrush. Some deodorant wouldn’t be a bad thing either. I hadn’t put any on after I took my shower as I wasn’t expecting to do much sweating… and I certainly had.
