Page 1 of Three Billionaire Bodyguards and a Sneaky Mafia Princess

Chapter One

Orchid

“Well, Tulip, this is it,” Orchid Rossini said, stepping into her bedroom, fresh from her shower. She bent down and kissed the beloved Pomeranian on the head as the adorable bundle of fur lay curled on a velvet cushion on a chaise. Yes, her dog’s name was Tulip. If her name was Orchid because it had been her mother’s favorite flower, then her dog would be called Tulip. It made perfect sense.

“I’m going to miss you like crazy, but Aunt Lizzie is going to take extra good care of you while I’m gone, okay?” Tulip looked up at her with her deep, amber-colored eyes, and Orchid’s heart burst with love for the little animal.

How was she going to survive seven days without Tulip? Taking her pet with her was out of the question, not where she was going and with what she planned to do. She just wished it were over already.

After drying herself off and smothering her skin with a rich but moderately scented moisturizer, she stepped into a white linen dress dotted with tiny pink flowers. The lace-trimmed hemflared out from her hips and reached her calves, and the sleeves nestled in the crook of her arms.

She fastened the bazillion tiny buttons in the front of the garment, tied a ribbon around her waist in the same fabric as the dress, and neatened the wide collar.

She slipped her feet into a pair of pink ballet flats, then dabbed her lips with a modest amount of pink matte lipstick before she gathered the front half of her hair and secured it with a pink bow, arranging the rest of her tresses around her shoulders.

“Hi… Umm...”

Orchid glanced over her shoulder at her best friend, the blue-eyed, blonde-haired beauty, Lizzie Carter, who’d just stomped into her room and then stopped short in her tracks. They’d known each other since boarding school, and one of those rites of passage was doing away with the need to knock before entering either of their bedrooms.

“How do I look?” Orchid asked, twirling around in her ensemble.

“It’s giving hold my cow. I have butter to churn,” Lizzie said, circling her.

“Excellent. I want to make a good impression on them from the get-go. Also, it’s vintage Valentino. My gran had impeccable style; I’ll have you know.”

Her gran had left Orchid her entire wardrobe, and currently, one of the two suitcases she had packed was filled to the brim with dresses in the same style.

“You have the craziest life imaginable; did I tell you that?” Lizzie picked up Tulip and sat on the edge of Orchid's bed, holding the fluffy ball in her lap. “Things like this happen in books andmovies. Not to my best friend in the whole wide world. I just can’t believe this is happening.”

Neither could Orchid, for the most part. It was definitely a hindrance she didn’t need right now. Or ever, for that matter.

She’d been merrily going about her life, without a single care, doing what she liked, for the moment at least, and then bam, she was now the target of a forced mafia marriage to some guy who called himself Wyoming Wolf. The Wyoming part was obvious since it was his hometown, the wolf part, not so much. The man was bad news, according to her father, and he wasn’t taking any risks where she was concerned.

“I mean, this is crazy, right? You being a mafia princess is already so far out, and I’ve known you for eons already, and I still can’t believe it, but a forced marriage to a guy you don’t know? What the actual hell?” Lizzie said, still in shock since Orchid told her about the latest turn of events just that morning.

“But what if they say no, Orchid?” Lizzie worried her lip. “That they can’t protect you. What’s going to happen then? Do we need a backup plan and nunchucks?”

Thethemin question just so happened to be the billionaires Brent Knolls, River Adams, and Cash Ingram. She didn’t need to look them up. The whole world knew who they were, and sadly, she was no exception.

Still, she couldn’t understand why people in general went so crazy for them. Sure, they were good-looking, nauseatingly so. Brent, with his stormy green eyes, evoked a trickle of fear and curiosity, mostly fear, since his stoicism was legendary. River with his gray ones that seemed to have the same heat as lava that somehow reflected as safe and pleasurable. And Cash, with hismysterious blue gaze that always appeared too cool and calm but with an undertone of dangerous sensuality.

Sure, they were tall, over six feet, and pure muscle. But honestly, they were just too rich and too good-looking for her. Not that she had anything against good-looking, rich people. It was justthem.

“They can’t say no,” Orchid said. “When they say there’s honor among thieves, they’re not lying. Their fathers owe my father a huge favor for something he had done for them decades ago. There’s an actual book with a list of favors to cash-in on at any time. He kept that favor in the bank until now. They won’t say no.”

“I assume that’s their limo in front of your house,” Lizzie said.

“Then I better be going. Wish me….” Before Orchid could finish her sentence, Lizzie placed Tulip on the bed and threw herself at Orchid, hugging her tight.

“Do you think it’s a good idea that we still do Friday night?” she whispered. “Do you think it will be safe?”

“Absolutely. We didn’t get this far to back out now. We’re doing it. I’m covered. Don’t worry about me. Just be ready, okay?”

“Okay. See you then.”

Orchid gave Tulip one last tight cuddle, and then, before she changed her mind, she picked up her designer suitcases, two of them, left Lizzie and Tulip in her room with their sad eyes, and went downstairs to her father’s study.

To meet the men who were going to protect her for the next seven days.

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