Page 69 of Burning Beauty

"Knowing King, it'll be very elegant and expensive. He will want to give his bride the opportunity to show off all her finery."

"Lucky her for getting to marry the man of her dreams," Maria mumbled. She didn't often think about the fact that she would never be able to marry Nic. She understood why he was married to Cassandra, and she understood why the two couldn't divorce; both of their families were strict about traditions and mafia families did not divorce. Maria didn’t think Nic would care too much about the tradition, but Cassandra would be shunned at best and killed at worst if they were to separate and go their own ways. Despite Maria’s understanding of the situation, it still felt like every single day she was faced with the differences between them, including Nic’s inability to commit to marriage, and those differences were starting to seem insurmountable.

"Maria," Nic said warningly, lowering the lid of his laptop.

She rolled her eyes. Apparently, the topic of marriage was off limits. "I'll need to go into the city to buy a dress."

"You can shop online, get Cassandra to show you her favourite stores for evening gowns."

"If I have to buy my dress online, you better fucking believe it's going to make a statement!" she snapped. She knew he wasn't going to let her go shopping, but she was completely over being dictated to.Be a good girl, Maria. Sit down and mind your manners, Maria. Only get angry when I want to fuck you, Maria.

"You will stop speaking now," Nic said, a hard edge to his voice. When she opened her mouth to push her luck, he leaned forward in his chair and growled, “There will be consequences if you continue to bait me."

"Like last night?" she asked sarcastically. When he stood, she cringed and gripped the arms of her seat. "Okay, I'm done."

Nic sank back into his own chair and opened his laptop again. Despite their almost argument, the rest of the trip passed in mostly companionable silence. Nic worked while Maria looked at dresses on the smartphone he'd given her. He'd made sure she had her phone before the trip, in case of emergencies, he'd said. She wondered what he meant by that? She was unlikely to get herself into any kind of trouble when Nic was watching her every second of the day. So far, her biggest emergency was losing repeatedly at online poker.

He told her the phone could only call him, her bodyguard, Luke and the house. This information had pissed her off, but she'd held her tongue. It wasn't like she actually had anyone else to call, but the option would have been nice. Being treated like a small child was not nice. He also restricted her access to the internet as much as he could, which luckily wasn't much. The best he could do was monitor her online activity and block certain domains if he disapproved. She disapproved of the extreme control he was exerting on her internet usage, but that was a future problem best tackled with Cassandra and possibly a bunch of porn sites.

"Oooh, this one's beautiful. Can't you just imagine me rocking this little beauty?" she flashed the phone at him.

Nic barely looked at the screen before saying, "Not happening, Maria. Look for a dress with an existing neckline."

She spent the next ten minutes entering her size details and colour preference for the dress. He might hate it on the screen, but she was sure he'd love it on her. And if he didn't, he could have fun tearing the $2000 dress off her. She smirked and added a pair of $400 black Valentino heels and a clutch purse to her order.

Cassandra was going to lose her shit when Maria's order arrived. With that thought she added gorgeous $200 scarf to the order to appease her shopping addicted Italian friend.

When she set her phone down and looked up, Nic was watching her. His expression was warmly amused. "What?" she asked.

"I can tell when you're creating mischief," he drawled.

She cocked her head to the side and gave him a sassy grin. "You don't seem too upset about it."

He tapped his ring finger against his lip, a habit when he was contemplating something. "No, I'm not," he admitted, sounding almost surprised at himself. "I enjoy control in all forms, in every aspect of my life. It's how I've risen to this point in my life. I leave nothing to chance. I never let my guard down."

"Except with me," Maria said, watching him carefully. Was he finally realizing that he loved her because she complemented him? That he loved her enough to allow her more freedom because he shouldn't want to change her.

"Except with you," he repeated.

She grinned cheekily. "You can try spanking the mischief out of me. That might help."

"Are you looking for an excuse to get a spanking, bella?"

She nodded her head emphatically.

"What if you don't like the way I spank you?" he asked, shifting in his chair and setting his laptop to the side.

"I'm sure you'll make sure I like it," she said huskily.

"What if I make sure you don't?" he asked, his eyes taking on that glittery shine that told her she was in trouble. The best kind of trouble.

She stood up and walked to the side of her seat, swaying her hips a little then turning around to show him her ass, tightly encased in a pair of jeans. She cocked a hip, put her hand on that hip and looked at him over her shoulder. Sure enough, his gaze was caressing the rounded curves of her ass.

"I can handle anything you throw at me," she told him, gave him the sultriest look she had in her repertoire and sashayed toward the bedroom.

She hadn't been in the room since their fateful flight from Las Vegas. She hoped it wasn't locked. Fishing around for a key would sort of diminish the impact of her exit. Luckily, it opened easily under her hand, and she barely took one step into the cozy airplane bedroom before her mobster lover was on top of her, wrapping a strong arm around her stomach, lifting her into his embrace and kicking the door shut.

He dropped her next to the bed, and when she tried to straighten, he pushed her down with a hand at her back. Her hands hit the mattress and she was forced to stand that way, bent over the side of the bed, her ass in the air.

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