Maid for the Mafia

**ROMANY**

Swallowing back the burn of disappointment, I turned around and headed for my room. *The nerve of that guy to come in here the way he did! Playing all charming and sweet. Just to turn around and set fire to my fantasy of a deliciously inked bad boy.* I might just hate my Dreamboat for the rest of my natural life. *Wah. Damn it.* I stepped sadly into my suite, slamming the door behind me without giving even one modicrum of a fuck. Not about the noise it was going to make or even the walls that were about to shake.

However... the damn thing did not make a sound. My head snapped upward, my eyes going straight for the balcony windows and the reflection in the glass.

*Dreamboat.* He was standing right behind me and when I turned around, he shut and locked the door. When I opened my mouth to speak, he shook his head no, pushing me through my bedroom door and closing it behind us. He raised a finger to his lips, scanning every corner of the room before stepping inside my bathroom and turning on the shower. He honestly had me wondering if there was something crazy going on in the walls for a moment. *What the hell is wrong with the weirdos in this house?* Sticking his head out, he motioned me in. When I didn't budge, he simply rolled his eyes and lifted me off the ground, to place me on the bathroom counter so that I was seated in front of him. "Why are we in here?" I asked, studying the galactic blue of his eyes in the ultra bright light of the bathroom lamps. They truly were something special. Just blue enough that you knew that they weren't black. Pacific blue, maybe. "We'll talk about that later," he said, placing each of his hands on either side of me, so that I was literally surrounded by his thorns and vines. Lowering his head, he seemed to be transfixed by my lap (not that I have any real problem with that, in fact I think I might even extend him an open invitation to transfix here whenever he feels like) as if he was having a hard time expressing what it was that he needed to say.

"Damien?" I prompted. "I don't know how much time-"

"Why did you do it?" he asked suddenly, raising the angry blue of his eyes to study the contours of my face. "Why did I do what?"

A muscle in his jaw began ticking as if he had to constantly work just to keep his anger in check. "Sit on his lap?"

I flinched, pushing back against the mirror behind me before throwing up my hands in exasperation. "Because he's my boss and doing exactly what he says, no matter how degrading it might be, is ninety percent of the job. You should know that! He's your boss too, right?"

Damien shakes his head, his eyes smoldering. "No. He's my best friend."

"Oh. I-I thought that-"

"Well, I mean, he *is* my boss. On paper. I'm his head of security and his personal bodyguard. Even though the title is moot. He would take a bullet for me just as fast as I would take one for him. So technically, he's *my* bodyguard too." "Okay. That's right, I believe he mentioned you when I first got here. Damien Vee."

He nodded, "Yeah. That's me. But you? You are Ruby's baby cousin and I don't care *what* Alex has got you believing - if you aren't comfortable with something he asks of you, say no! If I'm there, I will protect you. I won't let him do anything you don't want him to do."

My chin lifted angrily, my eyes burning with tears as I looked away from him.

"What? What is it? What did I say?"

Inhaling a deep breath, I batted back the moisture in my eyes and faced him. "That if you are there, you will protect me. That you won't let him do anything to me that I don't want him to do." He nodded, "Right."

I shrugged, choking back a sob. "I have to know what kind of protection you mean then. And I'll want to know when it is expired and when it is not. Because a few minutes ago, when I was stuck on his lap and trying desperately to get your attention? You hardly even looked at me. Then afterward, you *completely* ignored me. At first, I just thought you were trying to help me follow his rules. But then in the hall... with what you said..."

"I know what I said," Damien replied, hanging his head in shame. "I'm sorry. It's just that when you sat down on Alex's lap, right there in front of me... I felt like I'd been slapped."

*Oh my sweet little Dreamboat... I forgive you...*

He shrugged, his powerful shoulders causing the muscles of his chest to contract against his shirt. "I didn't have any right to be angry about it. At least, not in a way that would make any sense. But from the moment that I met you out in the hall... I don't know... I guess, somehow I got the impression that... you..." he huffed.

I bit down on my lip, hiding my goofy smile behind a look of utter confusion.

He groaned, locking eyes with me before lowering his gaze to my lips. "I guess, I thought that you were into me." He sighed, his gaze still frozen on my lips. "At least, I hoped that you were."

*Oh I were...I were... I still were...* I smiled, nodding my head with a bite of my lip as I scooted a bit closer to him.

His face suddenly pinkened, his swirling blue gaze floating from my eyes to my lips. "Ruby called me afraid that Alex was going to have a hard time honoring his promise to her. She thought that once he got a better look at you, he might forget all about whose cousin you were. So, she made me promise to keep the bees out of your honeypot."

I giggled, thinking that my honeypot was terribly close to boiling over. "So you *hoped*... that I was into you?"

"Yeah.” His eyes darkened. "When Ruby told me that you had the kind of beauty that commanded hearts..." His eyes shuttered, dropping from my lips to the rise and fall of my chest. "I thought she was just being extra. But then I saw you standing there, and I suddenly understood. That is exactly who you are." His eyes glazed over, falling over me from head to toe in a slow perusal that had me dripping with heat. "You are the perfect body... I've never seen *anyone* as beautiful as you."

I suddenly couldn't seem to keep my lips wet and my heart began thumping like it wanted to break free. A slow ache pulsed between my legs, begging to be satisfied. My voice came out dark and husky as I said, "You were right, you know. I am into you."

He flinched. "You are?"

I smiled, "I am."

"Fuck," he hissed, leaning forward as he placed both hands on my knees. With a groan, he slid my knees outward, his heavy blue gaze fixed on the slow spread of my legs. At the last second, he yanked my body toward his and slid his hands behind me, cupping the back of my ass as he pulled me up against his chest. I pressed my palms over the solid grooves of his pectorals and gasped as he stepped even closer. Nestling himself between my thighs. The front of him pushed against my core, his ridiculously large bulge hard and throbbing behind his pants.

"Mmm," he murmured as he gently rocked his hips. "Fuck." His voice turned thick and husky, "From now on, you have to promise me something."

I trembled against him, my hands exploring the playground of muscles on his chest. "What's that?" I rasped, attempting to grasp him, but being denied for reasons that he neglected to name. I couldn't help but pout. He wouldn't let me touch my Dreamboat.

He chuckled, rotating his hips a bit more aggressively as his hands continued to grope my ass. I swallowed a moan, not wanting him to know how desperate he was making my body.

He licked his lips, slowing his grind to look me in the eyes. "Promise me that the next time you feel like I don't see you, that you will call my fucking name."

The intensity of his gaze nearly took my breath away, and I could hardly speak."I promise," I whispered. Arching my back, to raise my lips toward his. He startled, his body tensing as I placed a gentle, thankful kiss at the base of his throat. "I have to get back," he complained. "If you think that Alex is too busy to notice that the both of us are still missing, you are wrong."

I nodded, giving him a tiny shove so that I could leap off the counter and turn off the showerhead. After readjusting my horrible dress, I pulled the pins from my hair and grabbed a brush.

"There's one more thing about Ruby," Damien admitted, taking a tentative step out of the bathroom and into my room. "The other reason why she wanted me to get here so badly, is because her job might last a little longer than she expected." "Damn it," I complained. "I really was looking forward to her being here tomorrow."

Damien smiled. "Never say never. I mean, we are talking about Ruby. She has an insane kill rate. She might pull it off."

My head jerked up, "She has a what?"

I glared at him, barely aware of his eyes going hot as I let down my hair and it swirls behind my ass.

"Damn," he nearly moans.

After thirty or more strokes with the brush, I pulled my hair back into a sleek ponytail and walked toward Damien. "Ready," I said, stepping past him and out of the room. But before I could get more than a couple of steps ahead of him, he snatched me by my waist and spun me around. His hands shot out like lightning, gripping my chin and tilting it almost painfully.

"Ouch! What the hell?" I snapped.

After dropping my chin, his eyes flashed bright with anger. "What happened to your neck?"