Page 39 of Forced Vows

Did she just tell me to shut up? She did. Not sure which shocks me more. That she'd say it, or that it would fucking turn me on instead of pissing me off.

My sexy hellion turns to Ollie, her green gaze full of appeal. "I prefer not to have an audience for this discussion, Ollie. Not even you."

"But, lass—"

Róise lays a hand on his bicep. "It's alright. Nothing is going to happen to me. My uncle would not have let Miceli's people accompany me today if I wasn't safe with them."

She sounds like she's pushing her words through gravel. She hates saying that, almost as much as I hate the sight of her touching Ollie. It's not personal.

She's mine and my woman doesn't touch other men. That's it. "Take your hand off his arm unless you want him to lose it."

Róise drops her hand to spin around so she can scowl at me when she yells again. "That's not funny. Ollie is my friend."

"He's your bodyguard and not a great one."

"That's not true!" She worries her lip with her teeth, showing temper isn't the only emotion she's feeling.

She's afraid I'm going to reveal his dereliction of duty to him. The fact that he hasn't figured it out yet only shows how important it is for Allessio and Zoey to remain on Róise's security detail.

Allessio is the only man I trust as much as I do my brother and cousin. His family joined the Genovese four generations ago and have been loyal ever since.

He trained with me and Sev for most of our teen years and is not only an expert marksman, but is a Judo Godan as well, holding his fifth black belt. Zoey is one of his students and already holds her first black belt. She is also a soldier in training.

If Allessio and Zoey were not such a lethal combination, I would have assigned a larger detail to Róise instead of assigning her the equivalent of a second bodyguard and his trainee.

But having Allessio there is almost as good as me being there myself.

"Ollie, please, I need to talk to Miceli privately. You can wait in the outer office."

It takes more cajoling from my mob princess before she convinces Ollie to leave and every soft, imploring word said to another man is nails on a chalkboard in my ears.

I'm ready to shoot the damn bodyguard and be done with it by the time he finally follows my people out and shuts the door behind him.

"Do not beg another man ever again."

"Get over yourself. I agreed to marry you in a year…ish," she corrects herself. "From now. Not to obey your every command."

"There's a promise to obey in the wedding vows." That's what I've heard anyway.

Neither Giulia, nor Catalina, promised to obey in theirs, but pushing Róise's buttons is one of my new favorite things.

Eyes flashing, breasts heaving, she glares at me. "And I promise you, I won't be saying it."

The temptation to touch is going to override my good sense. There's a reason I haven't moved around my desk, but I can't get the image of fucking her on top of it out of my head.

"As sexy as I find acrimony on you, I have things to do today." Like figuring out how much of a problem Henrico Caruso is going to be in my brother's eventual bid for godfather.

"Of course you do." She jerks her thumb toward my office door. "Fine. Pull your soldiers from my security and I'll leave."

"I should have contacted you directly rather than trusting your uncle to tell you about the change in your security." Acknowledging my error should calm her down. Unfortunately. "But that's not happening."

She storms across my office and stops right in front of my desk, vibrating with fury.

Then she slams her hand down with a loud thwack. "You should never have assigned me a Cosa Nostra security detail in the first place."

"That's going to hurt." My desk has clean, Danish lines and looks lighter than it is, but it's made of hard, solid maple.

I could fuck her until she screams and it wouldn't break.

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