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“You drive faster than I thought,” Bex mused when she picked up, as if she’d been waiting for my call.
“What the fuck did you do, Bex?” I snapped, leaving Rory behind in her bedroom as I made my way to my room, groaning aloud when I realized that my bed was still in place, the top covers turned down as if a maid had come through while I was gone. The rose petals scattered across the sheets were clearly Wren’s touch.
I heard a chuckle over the phone, then an inaudible murmur before a giggle echoed in the background. “You really should be more appreciative of our wedding gift, Dev,” Bex scolded, mirth still clear in her voice as I growled through the phone. “I thought it was appropriate, after all.”
“In what fucking world would you think stealing Rory’s bed was an appropriate wedding gift?” I hissed but faltered as Rory snuck up behind me, her palm warm against my back. It was difficult to hold on to my anger when she was so close, but I worked to keep it simmering below the surface, knowing there was more to this prank than missing furniture.
I knew stealing all the comfortable surfaces in my house was for a reason, but my brain could only focus on Rory. The feel of her, the smell of her hair as we danced, her taste still on my lips.
“Do you remember when I walked in on Wren in her bed? How you set me up to walk in on her naked, touching herself? What I said afterward?”
“‘I’ll remember this when you find someone,’” I quoted her words back to her in a whisper, the threat from months ago having been buried beneath the constant, invisible bodyguard duty that had taken up my thoughts for most of the winter.
“‘I hope you remember I was the one who helped you see Wren naked,’” Bex said in response, all teasing from her voice gone as she quoted my response from months ago. “I know why you set me up, Dev, and I’m thankful for the shove you gave me every morning I wake up next to Wren. You hoped the push would spur me into action, force me to claim Wren as mine, and it did. This is agift, Dev.”
“A gift to get you and Rory in bed together on your wedding night!” Wren called from the background, and my shoulders tensed, annoyed that I hadn’t connected the pieces already.
“Fuck you both,” I muttered before I hung up the phone.
Before I could press the end call button, Wren yelled out, much too loudly, “Fuck each other!”
I didn’t even have the chance to hope Rory hadn’t heard Wren’s words, her cheeks already flushing such a bright red that I sighed.
“I’m sorry,” I told her, eyes closed as I tried to forget the words Wren screamed over the phone’s speaker. “I can sleep on the floor,” I offered, hating how thorough Bex and Wren had been in their stealing of my furniture. The only chairs left were dining room chairs, and they had removed most of the blankets and the extra sets of sheets from the hall closet, leaving us in an older house in the middle of winter with one bed and a single set of sheets.
Despite her red cheeks, Rory rolled her eyes at my words. “We’ve shared a bed before, Dev,” she reminded me with a nudge to my shoulder. As if I could ever forget that first night of ours together, the one I hadn’t been able to get out of my mind or my fantasies since. “I’ll get out of this dress and then we can sleep.”
She took a few steps toward the bathroom, stopping halfway to the ensuite before turning around with a sigh. “Actually, Iwon’t be able to take this dress off myself. Will you unzip it for me?”
That question alone was enough to make my blood race, all the thoughts from earlier, of touching her, tasting her, returning in full force. Rory turned her back to me, shivering as I brushed her hair over her shoulder, exposing the smooth expanse of skin that made up her upper back. I traced my fingers over her spine, noting each notch, reveling at the goosebumps that erupted underneath their path.
My fingers finally found the top of her dress, the zipper hidden beneath the row of buttons lining her spine, and I took my time unzipping, exposing more of her skin and the freckles that were spattered there like the connect-the-dots I loved when I was a kid.
I didn’t want to imagine what was underneath the sheer fabric, my self-control threadbare after our kiss, at the knowledge Rory was tied to me in a way that was permanent, if I had anything to say about it. So once the zipper was low enough on her back that I knew Rory could reach it, I just pressed a kiss to her shoulder before stepping back, giving her plenty of space.
I fisted my hands at my sides to keep from grabbing her as she stepped into the bathroom, jerking my tie off and the rest of my clothes as soon as she shut the door. I tossed my suit toward where my small loveseat usually sat, groaning when it landed on the floor.
“Bex is fucking paying for my dry cleaning,” I muttered, as I pulled on a pair of joggers and a t-shirt. I left the bedroom - and the temptation that was my wife - behind. I took my time washing my face and brushing my teeth with one of the spare toothbrushes I’d stocked in the guest bathroom for Rory, hoping I could get myself under control before sharing a bed with the only woman who had my control so on edge.
But my control had escaped me. My mind was full of Rory’s pale skin, the constellation of freckles across her body. The way she smelled of vanilla and cinnamon - a mixture of her favorite vanilla body wash and cinnamon perfume, I’d learned - and how I now knew she tasted. The words she’d whispered the night before, making me promise to only sleep with her, as if I could look at any woman but her.
Chapter 19
Rory
I laughedto myself as I finally shut the door to the bathroom, the ridiculousness of my situation fully setting in. Here I was, married to a man I met for the first time a few weeks ago, who’d been stalking me to protect me for months. I’d become the one thing I’d refused to be my whole life: a pawn to be married off for bargains and deals, the purpose of every mafia daughter since the beginning of time. The difference was that I wasn’t a pawn in a deal benefitting my father; but rather one for me, for my safety.
I had been my own downfall, my existence and my mistakes the reason I was in this situation, hopelessly falling for the man who’d been forced to marry me. And now we were stuck in our house together, on our wedding night, with only one bed to sleep in.
But this wasn’t a twist of fate pushing us together. This was some sort of prank orchestrated by Dev’s friends. Though he’d primarily placed the blame on Bex, I thought he overestimated Wren’s maturity if he believed it was entirely Bex’s idea. Or underestimated her deviance, more likely. All I could think about were her words at the bridal shop:Are you gonna fuck Dev on your wedding night?
They hadn’t stopped running through my head since the day before, hadn’t stopped this morning when I woke up with my fingers already between my legs, trying to relieve myself of the tension that her words had created in my head. They had only increased in volume as Dev promised himself to me in this life and every one after, had screamed in my head when he kissed me, devoured my lips in a way that had me flushed all night.
All I could think about were his lips on mine, his tongue tasting my lips, tracing my teeth. His mouth moving lower, biting and nipping as he pulled my clothes off, fingers teasing my skin. All I could think about washim. Being there for me before I knew he existed, saving my life, offering up his freedom to protect his friends, getting to know me these past weeks rather than of treating me like a burden. Kissing me like he wanted me, dancing with me like I mattered, soothing any anxiety that crept up with a smile or a brush of his fingers.
I couldn’t remember the last time I felt so safe while feeling so free. My father and my bodyguards had always protected me, kept me safe for the first twenty-five years of my life. But their protection had been stifling, constant surveillance with little of the companionship I craved for so long.
They protected me without subtlety; muscle and firearms, broad shoulders and suits, mafia connections and threats of dismemberment. They refused to let me breathe, caged me in. And even though I loved them, I was exhausted, anxious, constantly running to be allowed the few moments of peace before they chased me down.
