Page 63 of Mob Princess

She sighed. “Because I saw you two out on the balcony laughing and talking and having a grand old time. The way you were with her—you’re never that way with me. You two seem magical together. We don’t have that.”

I slowly stood. “You were spying on me?”

She released a frustrated breath. “Your brother led me to the two of you. You abandoned me at the party for her. All I want to know is if you’ll continue to do that as things go on. You know, leave me for her.”

My brother? What the fuck was he doing in all of this? “Look, the scenario is much more complicated than you—”

She stood up, her face red with anger. “Then, why don’t you try a bit of that communication we were just talking about and tell me what the hell’s going on.”

I gripped her chin. “You won’t take that tone of voice with me. Understood?”

She ripped away from my touch. “And you won’t be another man on my list who takes my life and flips it head over heels for your own viewing pleasure. I’ve had enough of this. Enough of my life being controlled. Enough of being in the dark and having more questions than answers. So, tell me. Right now. Are you going to leave me for her?”

I moved towards her, like a predator eyeing its prey. She leaned back, and I leaned forward until she was practically lying down in the kitchen breakfast nook. Anger rushed through my veins. My fingertips sizzled with a need to touch her. My cock ached with a need to be buried between her legs again. And the puckering of her nipples through her blouse told me everything I needed to know.

But I wouldn't take her.

I wouldn't allow myself that kind of distraction while my entire family empire was on the line. “Alice is a scar from my past and nothing more. That’s all you’re going to know right now. I’m not leaving you for her because, right now, there’s nothing between us to leave.”

She swallowed hard. “You don’t mean that.”

I straightened up. “Now, if there isn’t anything else—”

“Actually, there is.”

I sighed. “What, Bonnie?”

She sat up. “We haven’t been adhering to our rules about leaving the house. Your rule, actually. We’ve both been breaking it.”

“Yes, we have.”

“From now on? We don’t. I want to go where you go, and you’ll go where I go. If you break the rules? I break them in kind because you can’t hold me to a set of standards you won’t keep for yourself. Got it?”

I paused. “Got it.”

“Good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to order takeout. I don’t much feel like cooking any longer for a man who apparently doesn’t give a shit about me.”

“Bonnie, that’s not what I—”

She stood up. “I don’t know what you’re going to have for dinner, but I’m in the mood for pizza. In bed. Alone.”

And as she walked away from me, sauntering those luscious hips of hers, I cursed myself up and down underneath my breath. I had a growing hatred for when this woman walked away from me. I had a growing disdain for her being upset with me. I wasn’t sure where it was coming from, but somehow, Bonnie Moretti was rubbing off on me. For some reason, I cared about how she felt. About how she felt toward me.

My father’s sentiments on women and marriage continued echoing off the corners of my mind. Women are for business only. Marriage is for alliances only. Love has no place in a life like ours. But, as I watched Bonnie storm out of the kitchen, I had to fight the urge to rush after her and pull her into my arms.

Damn it.

I needed this shit to get wrapped up so I could punish her in all the wonderful, heated, lustful, glorious ways I dreamt about at night.

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