Page 44 of Christmas Mafia Prince
“Easy, girl, easy!” he calls, so very close I consider trying to jump over to Renoir’s back, but that might end up with both of us breaking our necks, so I hold on, set on waiting until Damen instructs me.
Bessie finally slows down, and I exhale with relief. When she stops, Damen is off his horse and offers me his arms. I don’t protest when he folds me in a tight embrace, because I need it so much after being painfully close to breaking my back.
We pull away after a while, when we hear riders from up ahead. There must be at least ten of them.
As soon as Damen spots them, he grabs my jaw with both hands and pulls me close. “Let’s show them how in love we are,” he whispers and dives in for a kiss before I can consider saying no.
Not that I’d want to. Every day since I put the barrier between us, these kisses have been my lifeline and the highlight of my holidays.
His kiss is hungry, makes me gasp, and my pulse quickens with its intensity. It carries all the tension of the moment we shared on the carousel. I dare delude myself that the approaching family isn’t just an excuse. That he really wants me and only me. That he’s not like other guys. That this thingbetween us could last. That he’ll marry me, and we’ll be in love for ever and ever and ever, like people in fairytales.
I’m disappointed when his lips leave mine, but then he ducks to grab me under the knees, and I’m in his arms, kissing him again.
Someone clicks their tongue close by, but Damen ignores them, still only mine, until I’m the one who has to come up for air,
“Are you all right,mon chéri?” Damen whispers, rubbing his smooth chin against mine while I rest my weight on him, still worried I might fall and break my back.
“You two don’t have to be so in everyone’s face about this,” Corvus says, emerging from behind Damen’s back on a giant of a horse that’s even blacker than its rider’s hair and coat.
“You don’t have to watch,” Damen responds, finally setting me down.
I’m glad Corvus witnessed our kiss, because it eases the jealousy that’s been burning in my heart since Damen told me about his teen crush. If it wasn’t too weird, I’d pee on Damen’s leg to mark my territory.
“He’s not wrong,” Patricia, Uncle Roger’s wife, says with a bored expression. Alexandra and Victor are here as well, with all their kids, and Aspen is trailing along, all on horseback, which makes me feel yet more inadequate about my failings.
All of a sudden, Titus bursts out of the woods from the side, once again startling Bessie. He’s got a gun in one hand, and a dead rabbit leaving a trail of blood on the snow in the other. Now we know who scared my horse. Of course.
“You missed the whole thing!” Aspen yells to Titus who scans me and my man like we’re a nuisance and stealing his limelight.
“What thing?”
Aspen whistles. “Killian was being the damsel in distress, and Damen saved him like the dashing prince. And then they kissed. Is this like a role-play thing?”
I frown, hoping I’m not blushing too much. “It was an accident.”
Alexandra scowls at Aspen. “There are children present!”
One of the twin girls pipes up from her pony. “I love role-play!”
Damen clears his throat and weaves his fingers through mine. “I would say he did well for his first time on horseback.”
“You should have told us you were leaving,” Damen’s father says and calls Uncle Roger over with a gesture. “Can you join us for a minute, son?”
The question hovers in the air, and while it’s clear Damen wants to stay at my side, he ends up looking my way. “I won’t be long. I’ll have someone with you just in case, because this sure as hell will be longer thana minute,” he mutters with a soft scowl.
I give him a longing look as he lifts me up into Bessie’s saddle. She is once more calm, so while I’m a little worried, the mansion’s very close. “But I’ll see you soon?”
Corvus rolls his eyes. “You’ll be fine on your own for a while,princess.”
I wish I could cut his handsome face with my glare. “Oh, fuck you!”
“Corvus, shouldn’t you be attending to Samantha?” Damen snaps, leaping into his own saddle. “Still missing a beard this year.”
The man in black clenches his jaw but doesn’t make another comment and rides off while my man waves at Aspen of all people. “Will you help him back home? I need to discuss something with the old guys,” he adds a bit more quietly when his much younger cousin rides up to us.
Aspen gives Titus’s gun a longing look. “But there might be more shooting…”
Damen cuts him off. “There will be no more shooting. We’re hunting tomorrow.”
