Mafia Crown: Standalone Enemies to Lovers Romance, page 31
"I am here because I love you."
49
Axel
"I made a mistake, Sunshine," a ball of emotion clogs my throat and I swallow it down, "I know I shouldn’t be asking you to forgive me, but—"
"Then don’t," she puts a hand out in front of herself, like a stop sign, "don’t ask me to do it."
I draw in a breath. "What will it take?" I force out the words through a throat gone dry, "What will it take for you to look past what I did?"
"I… I am not sure," she says, still without looking at me.
"Please," I force my tongue to form the words, "please, Theresa, tell me what I need to do to gain your forgiveness."
She draws in a breath, then another. "I am not sure if you deserve to be forgiven," she says in a soft voice.
"I don’t," I roll my shoulders, "I know I acted like a stronzo."
One side of her lips trembles before she purses her lips again.
My heart begins to race. Maybe there is a chance she’ll forgive me … Just maybe, we’ll find a way to move forward together. I rise to my feet and she glances at me. I skirt around the coffee table and take a step forward. She skitters to the side of the sofa. I move forward and she jumps up and edges sideways. I take in the glittery dress that she wears. I’d been too full of rage to actually register it at the nightclub, but now I notice how it dips at the cleavage and comes to mid-thigh. As she takes another step back it slides up to expose the pale skin of her upper thigh. Lust squeezes my belly. Anger knots my chest, "What are you wearing?" The words are out before I have a chance to stop myself.
She frowns, "If that was supposed to be an apology—"
"I know," I raise my hand, "I know I am supposed to be groveling right now. And damn it, I came with the intention of throwing myself at your mercy. But the thought of anyone else having seen you dressed like this, the thought that all those men in the club would have seen your legs and the gorgeous hint of your cleavage, is driving me crazy." I dig my fingers in my hair and tug. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, I am really screwing up things, aren’t I?"
Her gaze widens. She swallows audibly as she takes in my features.
"When it comes to you, I am helpless," I murmur, "I look at you and all I can think is that you are mine. My wife. My property. Mine to do with as I want. Mine to protect and mine to fuck. Mine to love."
Her breath hitches, her pupils dilate, and her chest rises and falls as she holds my gaze. She takes a step forward, then another. She reaches me, then lifts her hand and cups my cheek. "It shouldn’t appeal to me, you know, your brand of caveman possessiveness. It shouldn’t turn me on to get a glimpse of just how much you want to own me. I’ve grown up with the Mafia and I’ve always known that I’d marry into the mob, and yet," she shakes her head, "yet, hearing the filthy words that emerge from your mouth appeals to something deep inside me. It’s frightening how much I respond to your overprotective nature. How the thought of you dominating me resonates so deeply within me. It’s why I have never been able to refuse anything to you."
I peer into her face, take in her parted lips, the heightened color of her cheeks. I slide my hand inside my pocket and pull out her hair tie. I reach for the flowing mass of hair that streams around her shoulders and gather it on top of her head. Then I tie it into a ponytail that flows down to brush the small of her back.
"Is that my hair tie?" she cries
"I took it from you the very first time we met."
"At the hospital, when that man broke in?"
I nod.
"You’ve been carrying it around all this time?"
The back of my neck heats.
"You have been carrying it around all this time," she opens and shuts her mouth, "wow," she shakes her head, "I mean, that’s—"
"Stupid," I interject.
"Sweet," she says in a soft voice.
"You turn me into a lovestruck fool, Sunshine," I lower myself onto one knee and take her hand in mine. "You are my inspiration. You fill a void in me I didn’t even know I had. Since we’ve been apart, I've felt so hollow, like my life was already over. It's as if when I walked away, I left my heart behind with you. Every time I breathe, it's like razor blades are cutting through me. I can't sleep, can't eat, can barely focus on my job. All I want is to be near you, to spend all of my time with you, loving you, and proving to you how much I love you."
"Wow," she swallows, "that’s…that’s poetic."
"I missed you." I peer up into her features, "When I wasn’t with you, I went crazy with wanting you. All I wanted to do was reach out to you and hold you and kiss you and feel you, and have you melt into me, and hold you so tightly our skin fused together. And I know it won’t be easy to be together. I know I’ll drive you crazy with my over-the-top possessiveness. And I’ll want to control you, and possess you, and direct every aspect of your life, and when I overstep the line, you have my permission to tell me off."
"I do?"
"You bet. Just tell me to sod off anytime I get too overwhelming for you. In fact, I want you to promise me you’ll let me know whenever I overstep."
"O-k-a-y," she tips her head, "though I am still not sure what you are saying."
I slide my hand into my pocket, pull out a ring and slide it onto her finger.
"Oh," she opens and shuts her mouth, "is that—"
"Marry me," I murmur.
She glances down at the platinum band with the single emerald in an antique setting
"It was my mother’s," I lower my head and kiss the ring on her finger, "and now it’s yours."
Her chin wobbles and she stares at the ring for so long that I begin to worry.
"Theresa?" My heart begins to thump in my chest, "Will you be mine?"
A teardrop trails down her cheek, and my stomach ties itself in knots.
"Don’t cry, Sunshine, please. You know I can’t bear to see you in distress."
"So why did you leave me?" she cries. "Why did you walk away from me?"
"I was foolish. I wasn’t thinking straight. All I could think was that he could have shot you. That I was responsible for pulling you into my world and painting a target on you. That if anything were to happen to you, I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself. It’s the moment I realized just how much I loved you, that you were my entire universe. I am nothing without you. Nothing. You are the reason I want to go on living. You are what makes everything worthwhile. You make me feel, you plug me into this world, you are the reason for my existence, Sunshine."
She swallows; her chest rises and falls. More tears flow down her face. One of them hits my cheek and trails down. I lick it up.
“There’s something else.” I catch her eye before I continue, “If I ever try to pull something like this again, deciding you’re better off without me and not giving you any say in the matter, I want you to knock some sense into me. Remind me, I’m promising to never do that again.”
“I promise, I’ll let you know.” Then she laughs and shakes her head. "You’re crazy, you know."
“Crazy about you.” I smile, then grow serious again. "And you’re mine."
"I am," she agrees.
"So, you’ll marry me?"
"I can’t," she replies.
"What do you mean?"
"I was never not married to you, Axel. I was yours from the moment we met. I belong to you, only you."
50
Two weeks later
Theresa
I glance at the rings on my left hand—my engagement ring and my wedding ring. One has an emerald in an antique setting; the other is an ornate gold band which compliments the first.
The two go together, despite the fact that they aren't supposed to.
Like Axel and me. He swept into my life with the force of a hurricane and turned my world upside down. And now that I have found myself again, I find that I have changed. He’s helped me find a more assertive side of myself—a woman who feels more grounded, more confident. Somehow, meeting him helped me realize that I know what I want out of life.
I want him. I want my business to flourish. I want to grow my brand so it’s the best in all of Europe. I want my shop to be the destination for flowers and flower arrangements in my part of the world, if not globally. Big dreams for a girl who grew up in the Mafia and never thought she’d have a chance to spread her wings and explore her talent. But that’s how being with Axel makes me feel. Free. Free to explore what I want to do with my life. It’s like meeting him gave me a solid base from which to build, a framework to my existence that I had been lacking before and not even realized until he’d come into my life.
This past week has been the happiest I have ever been. We’ve agreed that, for the time being, we’ll stay in Palermo, where it’s safer, since the team guarding the Sovranos can also protect us. This frees up Axel to make the arrangements necessary to create his own security company. There’s also the fact that Freddie is still out there somewhere, and until he is located, it feels prudent to stay close to family. Of course, Axel will travel to London, as needed, to foster the growth of his business, as most of his contacts are in the UK.
I look up and at the painting of the three of them that hangs in the study. The Sovranos had agreed that Axel and Christian could decide what would be done with Xander’s paintings. They had been in agreement that the portrait of the three of them would stay in Xander’s home—now our home, and Axel and I had wanted it in a place where we could look at it every day.
As for the other paintings, the two of them decided they’ll auction them, with the money going to a trust that the Sovranos set up in Xander’s name. The interest earned from the proceedings will be used to fund artists around the world who are talented but need the extra help in getting their art out in the world. Axel and Christian will head up the trust themselves.
A shiver runs down my back. Heat envelops me a second before my husband’s voice reaches me, "I still don’t understand how he could have known that he was one of a triplet." He wraps his arms about my waist and pulls me up and flat against his front. Every ridge, every hard plane of his chest, is imprinted into my back as he tucks my head under his chin. "Do you think he knew?" Axel asks.
"No. I don’t know." I wrap my fingers about his forearm. I love the fact that, even though he's a Sovrano, Axel refuses to dress in formal wear. His preferred style of clothing is a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. I am especially partial to the grey Henley that he is wearing today. I turn my face and rub my cheek against the soft material that clings to his pecs. I breathe in that dark, edgy scent that is so very Axel. Strange, I never noticed what Xander smelled like. Maybe that relationship wasn’t all that I thought it was. Maybe it takes the real thing to let you know how many times you thought something was real but it wasn’t.
Axel's grip around me tightens, "Damn, but I can’t get enough of you, Mrs. Sutton."
Despite officially becoming part of the Sovranos, Axel had also chosen to keep the surname he'd taken after being adopted, and I had taken his surname.
I turn in his embrace and wrap my arms around his waist. "And I, you." I tip up my chin, "I can’t believe how happy I am. Like my life is only just beginning."
"You are my life," he lowers his head and brushes his lips against mine, "my heart, and my everything."
"And that is something I am still getting used to. Who’d have thought that under that mean, alphaholish exterior lies a heart that is secretly romantic?"
"It’s you," he peers into my eyes, "you bring out the best in me, Sunshine."
I lean up on tiptoes and press my lips to his. He tilts his head and deepens the kiss. A moan builds in my throat. My nipples tighten, heat coils low in my belly, and I press up against him, trying to plaster as much of my body to his as I can.
A groan rumbles up his chest. He slides his hands down my back to cup my butt and fit my hips to his. He may talk sweet, but when it comes to the carnal side of our relationship, his dominance seems to have intensified.
He hauls me up against him and the thick, rigid column of his arousal throbs against my core.
"Axel," I moan, as I wriggle to get even closer.
"How about we ditch going to the dinner and stay here and I can fuck you in our bed?"
He kisses me again before I can reply, and by the time he’s pulled away, my head is spinning.
"I know what you are trying to do," I murmur against his lips, "you’re trying to distract me."
"Am I succeeding?"
"Yes… I mean, no. I mean," I pull back and scowl up at him, "we can’t not go. We haven’t seen any of the family in nearly five days."
"Not complaining," he lowers his head and I evade him.
"We have to go, I promised Nonna."
His features harden at that.
"You have to make your peace with her, Axel."
He scowls.
"You know I am right."
"Doesn’t mean I need to do so."
"You know you want to. She is an integral part of your past. By mending your bridges with her, you’ll be able to move forward."
He blows out a breath, "You’re not selling this to me."
"You love your family, Axel."
"Do I?" He frowns.
"I know you do," I laugh.
"I admit, my brothers are not a bad lot. Hell, I even have more in common with Luca than I realized."
They’ve discovered a love for the shooting range and have even put their differences aside and trained there together, which is good, because Luca is the most unpredictable of all the Sovrano brothers. Axel and Christian, too, have spent time together, and while Aurora is still not comfortable around Axel, she concedes she understands he was only doing what his undercover assignment required when he threatened her.
"Aurora and I spoke on the phone and she’ll be there, as well, today. I want to see her and Karma and Cass," I whine.
He narrows his gaze, "So, guess I am not getting out of this one then?"
51
Axel
"Will you pour me a drink?" Nonna murmurs.
My fingers tighten around the whiskey bottle, then I pour the liquor into my glass. Theresa and I had arrived at Nonna’s house for dinner, where she had instantly been swept away by Cass and Karma, who’d wanted to show her the latest designs that Karma was working on.
Nonna’s butler/chef/companion Gino had informed us that Nonna was getting dressed, and Michael had been on the phone in the library, so I had wandered over to the bar in the living room to pour myself a drink.
Also, it’s a delay tactic to avoid facing the rest of my brothers or my grandmother right away. Yep, I am a coward that way.
I know it’s important, from the point of view of safety, that we stay here in Palermo so the Sovranos can lend their considerable protective detail to keeping Theresa safe, and I appreciate it, but damn, if I am not going to get my security firm up and running quickly so I can do it myself. I’ve already reached out to a few friends for help, including Karina Solonik, now Karina Beauchamp, who runs one of the most efficient security agencies that I have worked with in the past. In fact, if things go according to plan, the two of us will be collaborating very soon on the next few assignments. I’d been mulling over the possibilities when Nonna had asked me to pour her a drink.
Now, she walks over to stand next to me. I ignore her, knowing it’s rude and probably childish of me to do so, but fuck that. If she wants a drink, she can pour it herself.
"I am so sorry I hurt you Axel, truly," she says in a low voice. "I’d give anything to go back in time and stop your father from what he did."
"But you can’t, and now it’s too late." I take a sip of my whiskey and the liquor trails a stream of fire down my throat.
"Let me make amends," she pleads. "Please, Axel, let me try to do right by you."
"I am not sure you can do anything to make me forgive you." I firm my lips.
"Haven’t you ever made any mistakes? Haven’t you done wrong to someone else and had to ask them to forgive you?"
I draw in a breath. I had asked Theresa to forgive me. I had begged her to give me a second chance. And while she had been initially hesitant, I had won her over. If she hadn’t forgiven me— I squeeze my fingers around my glass so tightly that the skin stretches across my knuckles. If she hadn’t forgiven me, I am not sure what I would have done. I wouldn’t have been able to go on with life. I hadn’t been joking when I had told her that I wouldn’t be able to live without her. She had found it in herself to forgive me after everything that I had done to her. Can I find it in myself to extend the same courtesy to Nonna? After all, she is your Nonna. Surely, you can do right by her?
Some of the tension fades from my shoulders. A weariness grips my chest, and I turn to her.
"Yes," I clear my throat, "I have made a lot of mistakes, not least of all, toward my wife. She was big-hearted enough to forgive me, and now I believe I should do the same for you."
Some of the stress on her features fades and one side of her lips curves up. She extends her hand and grips my arm, "Thank you, Axel."
"Don’t thank me; thank Theresa," I mutter. As if knowing that I need her presence by my side, she appears in the doorway to the study. She glances between me and Nonna and her features break into a smile. She walks over to stand next to me. I wrap my arm around her and pull her into my side.
Nonna’s smile widens, "I am so happy that the two of you found each other."
"Ah, about that," Theresa shuffles her feet, "should we tell her?" She glances up at me from under her eyelashes.
"Tell me what?" Nonna frowns.
"I suppose we may as well as get it over with," I blow out a breath.
"What is it?" Nonna’s gaze narrows, "Are you going to tell me, or should I guess?"
"Oh, no need to guess," Theresa inches even closer to me, "we are pregnant."
