Page 27 of Blackmailed Marriage

I could keep her.

It was the oddest thought.

They had been married for nearly a year. In fact, tomorrow was the anniversary of their marriage. In all that time, he could have kept her. He could have had this, and yet he’d not taken the gift that had been so freely offered to him.

Collapsing against her, he wrapped his arms around her, pressing his face against her neck and breathing her in.

“Is it always like that?” Aria asked.

“It can be.” He wanted it to be.

“I had no idea.”

He lifted his head and looked into her eyes. “Forgive me.”

She frowned. “Why?”

“I knew what I was doing, Aria. I didn’t give you the chance.”

She pressed a finger to his lips. “Don’t worry about it. You assumed I was like my father, or I was in some kind of cahoots with him. I wasn’t. We all make mistakes.” She smiled at him. It wasn’t a fake one, but the kind that lit up her whole face, and made him want to always make her smile. He was done making her miserable and forcing her to pay for other people’s mistakes. “Besides, you’re making up for it now. Uh, I think we need to start wearing a condom, though.”

Dante didn’t want to talk about condoms.

Aria was going to get pregnant and then conversation of divorce was off the table.

“How about I keep making this up to you, and you love it?”

She started to giggle. “You’re on.”

“Trust me, it can get even better.”

“It can?”

“Yeah, you’ve just got to give me a little time, and then I’ll be ready.”

His cock was already starting to thicken again. He wanted to fuck her, to show her how good it could be between them.

This time, he wasn’t going to stop until Aria had fallen in love with him.

Chapter Eight

“Did you always want to be a capo?” Aria asked, taking a bite of a strawberry.

They hadn’t left his bedroom. Dante had to go and get food for them. They hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and although Aria loved what they were doing, her stomach had growled for food.

“When I was old enough to realize what it was we did, yes. My place is taking over for my father.”

“What about when you were a kid? Before you knew what a capo was, what being part of the family was like?” she asked.

Dante blew out a breath and rubbed the back of his head.

“You wanted to be something else, didn’t you?” Aria asked.

“Like a lot of young boys, I wanted to be a fireman,” Dante said.

This did surprise her. “It would have been hilarious if you said a police officer.” She couldn’t help but smile.

Dante reached for a grape with a laugh. “I’m pretty sure there could have been a cop along the way, but Dad made sure I didn’t linger too long on that little obsession.”

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