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The Reason Why
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Taken by the Mafia King In the Eye of London
PaigeWe dropped the rental car back at the hotel, and Tom stopped inside to get travel suggestions. When he popped out, he smiled at me.“I was right that it’s a waste of time to drive in the city. We should take the Underground to Piccadilly Circus.”I nodded.“Unless.” He grinned impishly, and I leaned in. “You were serious about liking art. This hotel is a quick walk from the National Gallery, and the walk from there to Piccadilly Circus is a dream.”“I’ll have you know I’m very serious.” I smiled. “But don’t think you can weasel out of the circus that easily.”“I would never.” He put out his arm.I stared at the bustling crowd. No way I was getting through there without someone touching me. But I’d faced McKenna. I’d slept in Tom’s bed. Hell, I’d listened to him tell me he loved me without having a complete and total meltdown. I could do this. I slipped my arm through his, and we walked off.As we went, he began pointing to random buildings along our path and making up nonsense h
Taken by the Mafia King Reservations
TommasoI stretched out on the big red couch Paige seemed to hate and glanced at her over my phone. She had her arm over her eyes, resting for a bit after our whirlwind day. After the morning she’d had, I was just pleased I’d gotten her to smile. I’d have stayed in London for a week if it meant seeing that.My phone vibrated in my hand, and I glanced at the notification. The restaurant Killian suggested had an opening at seven-thirty. I accepted it quickly.“I made a reservation for dinner,” I said casually.Paige uncovered her face. “Where?”“A place that came personally recommended from a friend.” I grimaced. “It is a little upscale. A lot upscale. Do you have clothes for that? I can always cancel, or we can buy something.”Paige exhaled sharply. “I actually do. I was just fiddling around online, and I found this dress with basically everything I’ve ever wanted in a dress and I just…bought it.” Her face colored. “With your credit card.”“Hey, I gave it to you to use it,” I said befo
Taken by the Mafia King City of Lights
PaigeI stared at Tom. “We’re not leaving yet. All my shit is still at the hotel.”“Correct.” He grinned and led me forward. “One night only. We might even be back before sunrise.”My heart pounded unevenly. “Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Paige. I hate being carted to new locations in the dead of night with no warning.”Tom winced. “Yeah. Yup. Should’ve seen that coming.” He smiled sheepishly. “I wanted to surprise you?”I blew out a long breath. “Good surprise?”“Really good,” he said. “I think.”“I don’t know how they put you in charge of a whole mafia family.” I shook my head and pulled my coat tighter around me. I’d said that I trusted him. I wanted to trust him. And I realized, as he fidgeted with the lapels of his jacket, that this surprise included him getting back on the plane he hated so much. If he was willing to put up with that, maybe I could get on board.“Okay,” I said.He grinned at me in delighted surprise. “Okay! Short flight, and I’ve been told looking out windows will b
Taken by the Mafia King Walking on Air
TommasoI stared down at Paige, the freezing wind this high up on the tower rushing in my ears. My heart thundered. Did I hear her wrong? She loathed me, or owed me? She couldn’t have possibly said that she loved me. Not after she called me a good dude. Not after everything. I smiled and barely resisted the urge to ask her to repeat herself.Her eyes widened. “Um, aren’t you going to say something?”I chuckled a little awkwardly. “Would you believe that I don’t know what to say?”“I just told you I loved you.” She swallowed. “You can’t think of anything to do but stare at me?”This time, I knew I’d heard her correctly. The crowd on the platform, the wind, the cold, everything dropped away. She loved me. My chest lightened until I was certain I could’ve walked right off the edge of the tower and continued walking—dancing over Paris itself until the words stopped ringing in my ears. She loved me!I laughed with sheer, overwhelmed delight, and when she frowned up at me, I cleared my thro
Taken by the Mafia King Screw It
PaigeI nuzzled into Tom’s chest, inhaling cinnamon to keep me grounded in yet another strange bed. He was so warm, so steady. Part of me thought I could sleep anywhere with my head on his chest. And his arm around me didn’t hurt either. My sweatshirt had rucked up a little, exposing a thin sliver of skin, and his pinkie finger rested against it. After the night we’d had, the way he looked at me, I couldn’t pull my mind away from that sliver. My pulse beat in the skin there.Slowly, half-believing I was actually doing this, I twisted under the sheets to push my sweatshirt up further and expose more of myself. Tom’s hand moved automatically to cover the new skin. His pinkie now stopped just below my breast, reminding me I’d decided to go to bed without a bra for the first time since my escape. I glanced up at him and found his eyes closed. Could he really be asleep? His massive hand burned into my ribcage and down between my thighs. I ached.Fuck it.“Tom,” I whispered.He blinked slow
Taken by the Mafia King Or Maybe Not
PaigeI pressed my lips to Tom’s with all the fire of the dream I’d just left. Want ached between my legs. After a moment, he began kissing me back, moving in time with my mouth, but his hands sat dead at his sides, where they’d been since I’d woken up. The part of me that had burned into desire wanted to lean back and scream at him. Why wouldn’t he touch me? Didn’t he want me? In the dream—dreams, if I was being honest—Tom wasn’t afraid as soon as I made it clear I wanted him. And I very, very much did.Against my hip, through the blankets, I felt him start to harden. He wanted me. I knew he wanted me.“You can touch me,” I whispered.I expected him to move like I’d flipped a switch, but slowly, gently, he ran one hand up my side. Over my sweatshirt. I closed my eyes and dropped my mouth back to his to try to kiss him into action.In the dark, his hand belonged to someone else. The room transformed. I was somewhere small, and dark, and strange, and my body ached.I blinked and pulled
Taken by the Mafia King Nerves
TommasoOn shaky legs, I stepped off the plane back in London. Killian’s new captain, Amelia, was good, but I’d never get used to that.“Need a few hours to refuel,” Amelia said. “Could be off as early as noon?”I laughed. “Why don’t we call it three? I need a second to catch my breath, and we need to pack up.”Paige squeezed my hand. “Three sounds good.”I smiled down at her, and we piled into yet another hired car to take us back to the hotel. She sat near me on the bench seat, just close enough that I couldn’t help thinking about the way she attached herself to me in the bed in Paris, the undulating rhythm of her hips against me as she slept. Anything I imagined after I caught her that night in Philly had been a pale imitation of the real thing. I’d been playing those high whimpers of hers, the soft gasp of my name, and the way she grabbed tighter, every day since.And I might have to keep doing just that for the rest of my days. Despite the fact that she’d kissed me, she’d frozen
Taken by the Mafia King Closing the Chapter?
PaigeA few hours into our flight, the sun had long since set, and stars shone off puffy clouds. I took a deep breath. I’d done it. I’d gone somewhere other than Tom’s house and therapy. I’d seen McKenna. Maybe we could be friends on the outside someday, when she stopped talking about everything like that, but for now, I knew we’d be a little distant. And I’d realized I loved Tom, told him at the top of the Eiffel Tower and everything. I hadn’t even been to therapy in three days, my longest break since my first session. Things were starting to feel…finished. “What will we do when we get home?” I asked quietly.Tom stirred from paging through a book while his eyelids drooped and yawned. “Unpack?”I laughed. “I mean, we got McKenna out. We made sure she’s actually okay and not some elaborate hologram that Edward concocted. What’s the next step in our long-term plan?”“We”s and “our”s had started building up in my sentences since I’d told Tom I loved him. Since he’d promised he wouldn’t
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