Page 25 of The Mafia's Surprise Gift

In the bathroom, the harsh white light from the unshaded bulb highlighted exactly what I looked like after such a long day. No wonder Mom didn’t believe that there had just been a wine incident. I stood in front of the mirror and took in the sight of me with a heavy heart. My carefully curled hair was a mess. Stands hung about my face like ragged cat tails. All of my makeup had been sweated or cried off, and my mascara had run, creating panda circles around my eyes. What remained of my gloss had smeared and dried around my chin, mixing with the streaks of brown dirt and faint grass stains.

The shirt Dino had given me was too big for me, hanging off my shoulders, and in this bright light, I glimpsed the dried blood that still clung to my collarbone.

Shit. In all my shock and anger, I hadn’t even asked Rocco if he was okay. I should have asked.

Or maybe I shouldn’t have, given what he told me.

Shaking those thoughts from my head, I relieved myself, stripped, and climbed into the shower. Much like everything else I came into contact with, the heat and soothing patter of the water against my skin felt as if I were touching it all for the first time. I turned my face into the spray and closed my eyes, letting the water pressure do most of the initial work for me.

The heat soothed tired muscles, and the familiar scents of home soothed the tension in my chest. After a few long minutes of holding my breath while facing the shower, the stress of the day began to melt away.

I prepared myself for exhausted tears, for the sheer terror of what happened to grip me, and I would probably spend the next half hour curled up into a ball, crying my eyes out that I'd nearly died. That I nearly didn’t make it back to my son.

That… didn’t happen.

Instead, an unexpected replay of how quickly Rocco had thrown me to the ground and protected me with his body burst into the forefront of my mind. How Dino had joined him half a second later and cradled my head as if they were both prepared to eat every bullet just to protect me.

A strange warmth bloomed in my chest, and I replayed that moment over and over. Then, even more attractive was how Dino had scooped me up like I weighed less than a sheet of paper, and Rocco had touched me and promised to come back to me.

Like I was someone important to them and not just some random friend from seven years ago.

Over and over, those memories played in my head, feeding into an odd sense of exhilaration that was building inside me. My soaped-up hands on my naked body became their hands holding me down, protecting me while hell broke out above us. The force of me scrubbing myself became Dino’s grip as he carried me and ran to the car. My fingertips washing away my makeup became Rocco’s firm grasp of my face as he swore to come back to me.

Even when Dino was tearing at my clothes, so panicked that I had been shot… Why did they care so much? Did they act like that with everyone?

I tried to reason that they were only panicked because I was one of the few civilians and surely, a civilian death would be a lot of trouble for the Mafia. Then again, I’d seen a couple of other townspeople at the funeral, and I’m sure they didn’t get the same treatment.

By the time I finished washing up and stepped out of the shower, free of grime and blood, I was much clearer on the sensations flooding through me.

I wasn’t angry or scared, and I wasn’t fearful for my life.

I was… excited. Turned on. That was a terrifying afternoon, and yet the most exciting thing I had ever been a part of. I had never felt more wanted or protected in those moments, and it confused me even more than the Mafia revelation.

“What the fuck is wrong with me?” I grumbled into the mirror, slathering my damp skin in moisturizer. Meeting my own gaze, I found no answers in my eyes, only tiredness and an insistent ache between my thighs that flared up stronger the moment I started walking toward the guest room.

This wasn’t a normal reaction, right? Who went through something like that and ended up excited and aroused? There had to be some sort of crossed wires in my head or something because this was not a sane reaction to danger.

By the time I’d toweled my hair dry and collapsed into bed, those feelings hadn’t changed. In fact, the bed sheets against my bare skin only amplified the excited patter in my heart. They were softer than I remembered and caressed every curve of my body as I tried to get comfortable and sleep.

Sleep was impossible. I closed my eyes and all I could see was Rocco. His intense eyes, the sharp slope of his jaw, and the sexy tilt to his smirk. All I could smell was Dino and in my mind. His panicked grabbing at my clothes wasn’t because he needed to check for injury. It was because he couldn’t keep his hands off me.

“No,” I muttered into my pillow. “Don’t do it, Mae.”

I shouldn’t give in. I knew it. Those men didn’t deserve any more thoughts from me after the danger they put me in, so I tried a different tactic. After hunting out the vibrator from my overnight bag, I turned it on and pressed it between my thighs with a long, satisfied groan. In my mind’s eye, the sexy man from the store sauntered toward me and pulled me in for a deep, enticing kiss.

My hips ground forward, following my initial relief at the onslaught of stimulation, but to my surprise, my fantasy wasn’t enough. As much as I tried to stay on track and focus on a gentle sexy fantasy with Jian, my mind kept dragging me back to the excitement of the afternoon.

I imagined Jian screaming my name and tackling me to the ground, his body weight pressing me firmly down and keeping me protected. I imagined Dino and Rocco fighting over me with me in the middle, hands tearing at my clothes and mouths fighting over who got to kiss me first. Dino swept me off my feet and threw me down onto Jian’s lap. Jian held me down while Rocco buried between my legs, and his imaginary tongue matched the rapid back and forth of my toy.

Dino grabbed my jaw, forced me into a kiss, and thrust his tongue into my mouth. I hadn’t even pictured Rocco’s cock yet, and I came suddenly and hard, muffling my moans into the deep fluff of my pillow.

My entire body convulsed around the vibrations from my toy, and pleasure coursed through me in hot, tingling waves. My orgasm was so strong I had to angle my toy away from my clit, almost unable to handle the strength of my pleasure so rapidly after touching myself. After the initial waves of desire passed, I slumped down against the bed and cast the toy aside.

Holy shit.

I’d never come so fast in my life. And never before I got to the juicy part of my fantasy. Did today really have that kind of effect on me?

Or was it some strange trauma response?

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