Page 38 of Arranged

Mia

I wake to the morning light streaming in through the floor to ceiling windows and an empty other half of the bed. I know Santino slept in here with me though, based on the mussed sheets and blanket beside me.

I slept in the same bed with a man for the first time and I don’t even remember it. I really hope I didn’t do anything embarrassing like drool or snore or talk. I have no idea if I do any of those things on a nightly basis, and Aria and Gia have never said anything when I’ve stayed with them, but I still don’t know.

Okay, relax, Mia.

I look under the blanket. Yup, still naked.

He tucked me in after all of…that.

I don’t know what to do now. I’ve never felt anything as incredible as what I did last night, but what’s the protocol for the next morning. How do I act?

I don’t hear Santino in the room with me, so I quickly slip out of bed and dart into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind me.

Oh, God.

What was I thinking last night?

I was caught up in the moment, that’s what it was. It was the wedding.

I don’t think clearly when I’m around Santino. He has a way of clouding my brain and my better judgement. Especially whenhe’s saying all those sweet and dirty things to me, and making promises that sound so damn good.

I’ve never had a man touch me the way he did. Kiss me the way he did. The way he knew exactly what I would need. He gave me more pleasure than I knew I could experience.

And he’s my husband.

I know how much he wants me, and if I wanted him to do that again, all I’d have to do is tease him a little bit and I’d have him begging on his knees again, but I shouldn’t do that.

I shouldn’t have let him to that to me last night as it is. Things went too far. Yeah, I got what I wanted from him, and made him see that he’s the one who’s going to be begging for what he wants, but this arrangement between us needs to be based on more than just our attraction to each other.

I can’t even look at myself in the mirror right now. I walk straight into the shower and scrub my skin under the scalding water until I feel clean again. Until I feel like myself again. I don’t know who this girl is that he’s turning me into. I like her and I hate her at the same time.

I robotically grab a bottle of shampoo, but when the familiar scent hits my nose, I look at the bottle more closely. It’s mine. It’s my shampoo, my conditioner, and my body wash all lined up on a shelf in the shower.

What the hell?

How did he know?

My God, he’s fucking crazy.

I look up at another shelf and see my facewash, too. I’m starting to think I married an insane person. Or a stalker of some kind. How else would he know?

I wash my face twice to make sure I get all my makeup off, and for a few minutes, I let the hot water beat down on me and let the steam envelope me until I realize I can’t stay in here forever.

I turn off the water and grab two towels from the shelf beside the shower, wrapping my hair in one and my body in another.

Damn it, I don’t have any clothes here. Just my wedding dress and lingerie, and fuck him if he thinks I’m putting either of those on again right now for him. I’ll just have to borrow something of his.

I scurry across the room to his massive closet, and stop short when I spot my suitcase from the hotel sitting in the middle of the floor. Oh, right, he said my things would be here waiting for me. I reach for it and then stop short.

I look to the right and see that the entire side of the closet is filled with my clothes from back home in my apartment.

How the hell did he get them here?

Who did he have going through my things?

My shoes, purses, clothes, everything…

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