Page 60 of Married to the Mafia

“I was just wondering if you’re happy.”

“Do I not look happy?”

“It wasn’t so long ago you were trying to stab me and run for your life.”

I shrug. “Well, things change.”

“That’s it, is it? Things change?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say. I did want to escape, but now I don’t. I guess I’ve got used to being with you.”

“You want to know what I think?”

I put my knife and fork down and push my plate away, sighing happily. “What do you think?”

“I think you didn’t really want to escape.”

“Oh, there’re some scratches on your face that would suggest otherwise, Mr. Arrogant Mofo.”

“It’s how I knew you had feelings for me.”

“The fact that I scratched you?”

“If you really wanted to escape, you’d have done it, I have no doubt.”

“How? You had me locked up tight.”

“You’re an intelligent woman. You’d have found a way.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter now, does it? I’m married to you and I have to put up with that arrogance for the rest of my life.”

He leans toward me. “And have some great orgasms along the way.”

I hiss at him. “Don’t broadcast that.” I think about what he did to me not long after takeoff, touching me under the blanket like that. I never did anything like that in my life. He made me come right here where I’m finishing my meal.

He’s right. I know he is. I could have escaped. I couldhave fought harder to get away. I could have run once I was out of the basement, but I didn’t. Why? It wasn’t just fear. It was something else, something it took a long time to admit.

I see he’s waiting for me to carry on talking. “I like you, despite what you’ve done to me. How fucked up is that?”

He lets out a rumbling laugh. “What do you want to do with your life, Rose?”

“What do you mean?”

“You want to stay in Gordon’s Cove or you want to move to the city?”

“Gordon’s Cove is my home. I can’t imagine being anywhere else. It’s where I look after the animals. It’s where my friends are. It’s where my house is.”

“I’m getting mixed signals here.”

I smile at him. “All right sarcasm boy, what about you? What do you want to do?”

“Be wherever you are.”

“Really?”

“Your dad said it could work, and the more I think about it, the more I think he’s right. We live together in the new place once it’s built.”

The smile fades on my face. “You’re still going to build it then.”

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