Maid for the Mafia
...I Was Yours

**ROMANY**

I get out of the pool carefully, glancing around and making sure that there isn't anyone outside. Satisfied that the coast is clear, I stumble toward the garden behind the back of the waterfall where I was forced to stash my phone in order to keep it from getting wet. Once I have it, I creep back toward the patio chair that I stowed my sundress on and head inside soaking wet.

It was hard as hell to hear what was being said during that video call, what with the rushing water so nearby, but I heard enough to know that Ruby *is* in fact alive and that's enough for me.

Friday is two days away which means I'm going to have to figure out how the fuck to get out of here without anyone following me.

*It's almost time for my birth control shot. Maybe I can pretend I'm already due for it and have Alex send me into town. That might work.*

But what if he insists on coming with me? *Shit!*

As I reach the door to my suite, I see that it's standing open and I jolt to a halt. *What the fuck?* I shove open the door angrily just to find Damien sitting on the couch looking sorely displeased. *Crap.* "Damien," I say, sauntering soaking wet then closing the door behind me.

He doesn't smile, just eyes me up from my bare feet to my soaking wet hair.

"You went for a swim," he states, his dark blue eyes heating at the sight of my black bikini through the thin white fabric of my dress.

"Is it that obvious?" I step past the couch and head straight for my bathroom for my robe.

"I told you I'd come and get you so that you could go down and talk to Alex," he says from the sitting room.

I sigh, throwing my sundress off and reaching behind the bathroom door for my robe. As I turn around and prepare to put it on, I come face to face with Damien.

"I heard you," he says softly, his dark eyes so full of hurt that I can feel it in my chest.

"What?" I ask, but it's a stupid response, because I know what he's saying. The way he's looking at me tells me. He must have come up here looking for me and then when he didn't find me, he headed downstairs to Alex's office. As rough as Alex was being, there was no way for me to keep quiet.

His jaw clenches and he tosses me a sad smile. "You know, when I first saw you, I really felt like something special was happening. I saw your beauty and your innocence and I thought"-he sighs"-I thought if I could just protect it, then maybe I could find a way to win your heart and not *ruin* you." He shakes his head, stepping backward out of the restroom. "But I never stood a chance, did I?"

"That's not true," I protest, my insides suddenly clenching when I see him giving up.

"It is true," he snarls, still backing away. "It's my fault though," he grumbles, stopping his retreat when his back hits the wall behind him. "I should never have left you alone with Alex that night to go and pick up Mickey. I knew he was sending me just to be an asshole and I *let* him do it. I don't know... I guess I had higher hopes for you than I should have. I didn't think you'd fall for his shit."

I flinch, anger rising in me when I see the disgust in his eyes. "So that's it then, huh? I disgust you now? I'm not worth it anymore? I'm too *used* for you now, is that right? You don't' want to touch me?" I snap harshly, forgetting all about my robe to stalk toward him. He remains frozen there, glaring at me as I stomp so close that we're but inches apart. I poke his chest with my fingernail. "I may have been getting a little crazy, sure, a little wild, a little slutty - so what? I've never been allowed to explore my sexuality so freely before! And to be honest, I don't think I'm done doing it. But even so, I can still count the number of men that I've been with on one hand! Can you?"

His jaw clenches, his dark eyes traveling over my face and then lower, toward the decoration of hickies along my shoulders and throat. "I've never been with any men," he says stupidly.

I almost laugh, but I know that's what he wants so I don't. "You know what I mean, Dreamboat." I let my little nickname for him slip on purpose, hoping it will do something for the way he's looking at me. Because despite that I know I don't owe him anything, I honestly *hate* the way he's looking at me now. So differently than before. I want him back. I want my *Dreamboat* back.

The sudden widening of his eyes tells me that maybe... all is not lost. "Dreamboat? Who the hell is that?"

I huff, biting my bottom lip and stumbling backward toward my bed. "That's you," I say quietly, watching his eyes. "It's what I call you in my head. From the very first time I saw you, and I thought you were the most beautiful man I'd ever laid eyes on." Then my legs hit the edge of my bed and I dropped onto it, wetting the blankets with my wet bikini bottoms.

He draws in a sharp breath, coming up off the wall to stalk toward the bedroom door. "Do you still think that?" he asks as he swings my bedroom door shut. "Even now?" He locks it and turns around.

I stare at him, feeling the heat of his gaze from fifteen feet away. "Yes," I whisper, eyeing his impeccably cut forearms and the thorny vines that ride up his mostly bare arms. He walks toward me slowly. "You said you didn't care *who* I slept with. You lied."

He nods slowly, ripping off his shirt as he approaches and granting me a breathtaking eyeful of his powerful chest and rippling abdominals. "I didn't. Not completely. It's true, you have the ability to make me incredibly jealous. No woman has *ever* had that kind of power over me. Maybe I don't know how to handle it. Maybe I'm just sick of being the only one who you don't touch. I don't know. But I do know that if I *ever* have to hear you scream like that again, I want it to be because *I'm* the one fucking you." I gasp as he stops just in front of me and begins to remove his pants. "Alex is my *best friend* and when I heard what I heard through that door, I wanted nothing more than to blast my way inside and rip him to pieces. But I didn't, because the fact is... in the end, I want you to choose* me. I know I said I didn't care who you slept with, and yeah, that may have been a lie. But, don't you remember what else I said?"

I nod, my mouth watering as he drops his pants and boxers, and the magnificently superior size of his desire springs free with a bounce. "You said in the end... that I was yours."

"That's right," he breathes, licking his lips and stroking his shaft. "Mine. Now take off that suit and lay the fuck back."