Mafia King's Bride

Chapter 16

Ace leads me to his room without a word.

"If you want, you can change," he says. "Your clothes are in my closet."

Lia must've moved them.

"I'll step out to talk to Mani and Dante for a moment. You can use the bathroom," he says, then steps out of the room.

I hurry to his closet, then pull out a pair of purple satin pajamas and head to the bathroom.

I don't exactly see the point of changing, since I'm going to end up taking it off in a few minutes anyway, but....

I'd rather not ruin the wedding dress.

It takes me a few minutes to undo the back of the wedding dress, but I manage.

I slip on the tank top, followed by the matching shorts.

All of my stuff was moved to the bathroom as well, so I take off my jewelry, remove the pins from my hair and wash away my makeup.

I brace my hands on the sink counter and stare at the mirror for a long minute.

My face is clear, and black hair falls around me, still curled.

I nod to myself.

Right.

Okay.

I can do this.

I step out of the bathroom.

Ace is still not back, so I sit down on the bed, after grabbing my book which Lia must've left for me on the night table.

I finish the chapter, and am just about to start the next one when Ace comes back in.

"They've wrapped it up. There are only a few guests left to leave," he says.

I nod.

Ace moves into the walk in closet, and when he walks out a few minutes later, he's changed out of his soot and into a fitted gray t-shirt and a pair of sweat pants.

"What're you reading?" he asks.

"The Secret History," I answer awkwardly.

He sits down next to me, but doesn't answer.

I turn slightly to face him.

A lock of my hair falls forward, and Ace pushes it behind my ear, his hand lingering on my cheek.

"Listen, we don't have to do anything," Ace says. "I don't want to force you to do anything. I can talk to your father, have him give us more time or something, and we can just go to bed right now."

I study him for a moment.

Father will not let that happen.

He'll leak to the mafias' about our fake marriage, opening the whole world to a chase after me. And, he could easily say that Ace had forced me into the marriage, and that would cut all of Ace's ties with the other mafias'.

Basically, it would end in war.

But still, when I focus on Ace, I find myself telling him it's okay, not because of my father...but because as stupid as it may sound, I trust him in that moment.

I let Ace lean forward and kiss me.

It's gentle first, and he seems hesitant, waiting for me to shove him away, and when I only press closer, Ace pulls me towards him, so that I'm sitting on his lap, hands weaving around his neck.

Ace's lips move down my jaw line, until my neck, stay there to pepper a bunch of kisses before working his way up to my lips again.

"I'll try to make it as painless as possible," he says before kissing me again.

In one swift moment, he stands up, hands on my back while my legs wrap around his torso so that he's carrying me.

He turns, then carefully lays me down on the bed without breaking the kiss, pulling the covers up and around us.

The strip of fabric on my shoulder slips down, and I let Ace take it off.

His own shirt comes off moments later, and then he's hovering over me, sucking on skin and kissing all the way till my stomach.

His fingers hook around my shorts, and again, he looks up at me.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes."

"Do you want some water?" Ace asks as he tugs his sweatpants on a while later.

I hesitate, but Ace is already out the door, so I shorts on, then my tank top and then nestle under the covers.

Ace comes back in and hands me a glass, then gets under the covers beside me.

He waits for me to finish the glass, then puts it on the nightstand and switches off the lights.

"Are you alright?" he asks.

"Yeah," I say.

My voice is tired, and I'm already halfway asleep.

I move a little closer to Ace without knowing, and for a moment, he stiffens, but then he wraps an arm around me and tucks me close so that my face is buried into his bare chest.

"Good night," i whisper, half asleep already.

"Good night, tesoro."