Page 45 of Married to the Mafia

Mikey cursed again and pulled her completely from the tub. “I told you, Brandi, I know. I believe you. You don’t need to make excuses or apologize for that piece of shit, not to me and not ever again.” He brushed away the strands of hair that had fallen free of her sloppy bun. “Fuck, you’re shivering. What the hell were you thinking?” He grabbed the soft towel she’d set out for herself and wrapped it around her shoulders before rubbing his hands over her arms and back.

She held on to the towel, the cold seeping into her consciousness as his hands moved over her. “H-he … ruins everything,” she whispered.

Mikey paused and cupped her face, heedless of her wet skin. “He didn’t ruin this. And now he can’t.”

Brandi stared at him, feeling as if she heard his words in slow motion. Her father’s final attempt to destroy a thing she had found for herself had failed, maybe for the first time. He had failed so spectacularly that he was gone—her father was gone—forever. She wasn’t sure which was harder to believe.

She didn’t realize she had dropped the towel until Mikey’s gaze drifted down.

Then his touch.

“You’re still fucking cold, kitten.”

She was. In all the places he wasn’t touching her. “Mikey…”

His fingers trailed over her breasts, dragging across her nipples. “Damn. Look at these beautiful tits.”

Brandi reached up and pressed his hands more directly over her boobs. “Don’t just look,” she said, hearing the plea in her own voice. “Touch. Please.”

Mikey palmed her breasts, his fingers stretching and sliding against the skin. “Is this how you want me to warm you up? Because this is going to require we change locations.”

“Can we, please—not the den this time?” If he insisted on going down to the den, she wouldn’t fight him. But she was desperate for something more intimate and spacious than a sofa.

He rolled both thumbs over her nipples and leaned close. “We’d never make it that far before I pushed you against some flat surface and fucked you senseless. Although the attempt could be fun.” He swept his hands around her torso, to her back, and kissed her deeply. If he cared that she was still more than a little wet from the bath, he didn’t let on. Instead, he groaned and sank his fingers into her ass cheeks. “I could fuck you right on this vanity, but that wouldn’t warm you up.”

Brandi opened her mouth to tell him that all she needed was his touch, but already he was stepping away and taking her hand.

“Let’s find somewhere better.” He grabbed a second towel on his way out of the bathroom and led her through the attached bedroom without pausing. They crossed the hall space, into his room, where Mikey pulled her forward before reaching back to shut the door.

Brandi was drinking in the dark wood tones and large four-poster bed when Mikey triggered whatever recessed lighting he had tucked away in the ceiling trim. The light bathed the room in a warm glow far preferable to whatever might have been offered by the one-sided glare of a bedside lamp. She nearly caught a toe on the rug that covered a portion of the floor beneath the bed.

“Stand there,” Mikey said. He shook out the towel and dropped to his knees, wasting no time tucking the soft material around one of her legs. “Let’s warm you up so you stop shivering.”

She really felt like an idiot. Yet, at the same time, it was hard to be anything other than flattered with the way Mikey was attentively rubbing the towel against her skin.

“Have you ever practiced bondage?” Mikey asked as he swiftly flipped the towel around her opposite thigh and resumed his ministrations.

The question jarred Brandi out of her odd haze. “What?”

“Any variation,” he said, as if it were an ordinary question. “I’m just curious about your experience level.”

It took her brain a moment to re-engage enough for her to answer. “I … I kind of purposefully got my hands tangled up once,” she confessed, “but that ended up being awkward and not really working too well.” Nor was it a story she felt like reliving in this moment.

Mikey ran the towel around her abdomen as he stood, dipped it beneath and between her breasts, then carefully out and down each arm one at a time. As he started on her arms, he asked, “Does that mean you’d be interested in trying something a bit more intentional?”

Her breath faltered. She was definitely no longer cold by the time he moved the towel behind her head and patted the edges of her hair, where she’d failed to keep it entirely dry. “What did you have in mind?”

The blue of his eyes burned as he stared back at her. “We could start with tying your arms together, getting you used to the restricted movement.”

“Start…?” She remembered him telling her to hold tightly to the sofa before. It had surprised her how readily she’d complied, and how much she’d enjoyed surrendering control.

Mikey dropped the towel to the floor. “Eventually I’ll have you strapped up to that bed, completely at my mercy and begging for my cock. Maybe we’ll stash silk ropes in a bunch of other rooms in the house, just to make sure we can play whenever we want.” He trailed his fingers over her sides, raising goosebumps along her skin. “But that won’t happen overnight.”

She trembled at the gentle sweep of his thumbs. “And if I don’t like it?” She probably would. She’d wanted to at least properly try being tied up and thoroughly fucked, and been sorely disappointed with her ex’s lackluster response.

“That’s what your safe word is for,” Mikey reminded her. He moved a hand to her chin, gripping firmly. “Say it if you need it. But be honest with yourself, don’t give in to a momentary discomfort.”

Brandi licked her lips and reached out, teasing the buttons of his shirt. “I want to try.”

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