Sniping Her Mafia King
Chapter 25

Arwen woke with a start, clicking noises disrupting her sleep. She forced her eyes open and stretched in the bed, trying to focus on what appeared to be a keyboard being tapped was coming from.

"Oh good, you're awake."

She turned her head towards the voice in her room and furrowed her brow in confusion.

"Addy, why are you still here?"

"Deidre was invited with Miley to go to Portia's for dinner. It seems they want to discuss her date last night with a hockey player." He didn't even look up from where he typed on a laptop. "It doesn't explain why you are here."

"She didn't want to leave you alone in case you were still ill. She was genuinely concerned you hadn't eaten." "What are you doing?" she lifted up on her elbows to look at him, happy her headache appeared to be gone. "Working."

"No, Addy. I mean what are you doing?" She grunted as she struggled to sit up, pinned under the blankets he was sitting on. "Why are you doing this? You don't have to take care of me just because Deidre is worried. She could have gone to Portia's tomorrow night." He shrugged and she noted as her eyes adjusted to the room around her, he was wearing a t-shirt, a pair of faded jeans and as her gaze traveled down his long legs, he was barefoot. He was far too relaxed in her house, in her bedroom. She stared at his bare feet. Why was he barefoot?

"I told you, Arwen. Deidre asked my help, I'm providing it."

"Bullshit," she slipped out of the bed and stood up, grateful to feel she was much steadier on her feet. "You might have been here for Deidre this morning but it's," she looked at her watch, "after five. You're telling me you spent the entire day here?" "Why are you so upset?"

"Because you're in my space!" she folded her arms as she stood next to the bed, irritated he hadn't even looked up from his work. "What are you working on so important you can't even look at me when I'm talking to you?"

"Are we having a conversation or are you just shrieking?" he cast her a side-eye.

"Addy!"

"Arwen," he mocked with a half-grin, "mia cara, come back to bed. I'm chatting with Oriana online. I'm almost done and then you will have my undivided attention."

"You're talking to another woman from my bed?"

"I'm talking to the manager of my casino about an issue we are having with a specific patron," he chuckled at whatever he was reading. "Someone's jealous," he mumbled under his breath.

"Are you f*****g kidding me?" Arwen couldn't believe her ears. The way he was laughing and typing at the computer told her whoever Oriana was, she was a woman who knew him intimately. When his phone rang, he held up a finger to silence her and she considered throttling him. She stared at him as he put the phone on speaker and forced her to listen.

"Oriana, you cannot simply order a man removed from the premises because you don't like him."

"He said the only way I got my job would have been on my knees for you. I want him gone."

"He's a high roller. Take his money."

"What if he wins?"

"Then make him lose."

"He's a misogynistic bastard. He said if he had his way, I'd be his next wife and said he was going to talk to you about selling my services to him. That was when he said if I blew you, I should be able to blow him."

"Huh, it almost sounds like he thinks he's better than me. Nobody is better than me." He laughed at his own joke.

"Seriously Addy! This is what you're taking from this. Stronzo!"

Addy laughed, "Oriana. You and I both know I would sooner sleep with him than you. You're repulsive."

"I hate you. Why do I work for you?"

"Because I pay you better than any other casino on the strip, I've known you since you were in diapers and your brother is my best friend. While we've been chatting, Mr. Lipman has been escorted from the premises by security. I have your back, Oriana. You should know better. Next time, just throw him out. You don't need to ask permission. You need to start feeling more confident in your role. I trust you. Trust yourself."

Her voice was almost a whisper, "thanks Addy."

"You're welcome. Now go run my casino please. Every minute you're not on the floor, a thief is trying to steal from me." He hung up the phone and looked back to Arwen. "Now what are your panties so twisted over?"

"I don't understand why you're here," she threw her hands up in frustration, hating to admit she respected the way he'd just spoken to his casino manager and knowing she was a family friend he had hired made her immediately less angry. She had no right to be jealous and he'd called her s**t out. Damn.

"Are you hungry?" he ignored her question.

Her traitorous stomach growled loudly, "yes."

"Come," he pushed his laptop onto the bed. "Let's go down to the kitchen and get you something to eat. Then we can talk."

She led the way through the quiet house. "Where is everyone else?"

"What do you mean?"

"You had a whole group of men with you earlier. There was a car here when he got here. Another car full of thugs came in behind you. You had two guys in the kitchen."

He jogged down her stairs easily, calling up to her as she took her time, "I had my regular driver take Deidre to Portia's house for the evening. He's going to sit there until she's ready to come home. Santino and Enrico are dealing with an issue at the hotel. My guys who were here ahead of us, were only here to drop off medications and fluids for you and they went back to the assignment I pulled them from. My other car full of thugs, as you called it, were relocated to a job I want them to take care of. I do have two guys up the street just in case but I'm confident if anyone tried to attack me here you would protect me." He grinned wolfishly at her when she scowled. "You wouldn't protect me?"

"A*s." She made a face. "What was the word Oriana used?"

"Stronzo?" he chuckled as he led the way to the kitchen. "Means a*****e."

"It fits," she grumbled. "I'm going to get Jesse to teach me Italian so I can curse you out in your own language."

"I'll teach you all the words you need to know." He wiggled his eyebrows at her as he pulled her fridge door open.

"I bet," she shook her head and waved her hand at him as he dug through her refrigerator. "Just make yourself at home."

"I have," he grinned over his shoulder

When he smiled, she almost came unglued. He appeared relaxed and playful this evening and it was disconcerting. He was hard to resist. "What are you doing?"

"Making you dinner. You need something light on your tummy after the day you've had. I thought an omelette and toast?"

"You don't need to cook me dinner."

"And yet, I'm going to."

"Addy," she protested.

"I'm not going to douse it with aphrodisiacs, Arwen. I promised your cousin I'd ensure you had dinner. If you want me to leave after you eat and I know you are feeling better and keeping food down, I will go and will leave you on your own. Deal?" She sunk down in the chair at the table and sighed, "deal."

She watched as he expertly chopped a handful of vegetables and threw them into a pan with olive oil. He held up the bottle, "this is s**t by the way. I will send you better oil."

"It was on sale." She grumbled, "it doesn't taste that different."

"It does. It's like drinking the red wine from my vineyards versus the red wine from a convenience store," he openly mocked her wine choices.

"Very funny."

He chuckled at her grunt. "I met your chickens earlier. They're funny. My favorite was Henrietta."

"You met the chickens?"

"Deidre took me out. Showed me your vegetable plot. We spent a bit of time weeding the beds. You have a good size lot here. You could absolutely fit a couple of goats out back."

His comments surprised her. "Imagine."

"You have a lovely home, Arwen. You've done well to make a house into a place where Deidre feels safe and secure."

The smell of vegetables and eggs cooking had her stomach growling. His easy conversation had her relaxing and she was surprised when he put a cup of tea in front of her. She hadn't even seen him make it. "Thanks."

"Deidre took us down to the gym and walked me through her physio routine you give her. Santino and I barely kept up."

"You did her physio routine with her?"

"Yes, she was telling us at lunch how you're a drill sergeant and you inherited your father's marine tendencies. We argued it couldn't be so bad. She challenged us to complete the program. We were impressed with her strength and tenacity. She's very fit." "She thinks because she's heavier set it means she's out of shape." "She is not out of shape and she's not heavy."

She chuckled at his defense of her cousin. "She thinks it, not me. We are hoping a visit with her favorite author next week will put those fears bubbling to the surface back down. She used to make no apologies for her weight or her size. She was always very shy and introverted, but she still had confidence about her body. She started college last year and her weight has crept up a bit and she's really focused on it." "You think an author will help?"

"Therapy hasn't," Arwen sighed as the plate of omelette was set in front of her and it smelled heavenly. "Pima Lauzon. She's a feminist icon in literature and talks about how women should build each other instead of tearing each other down. She also touts a lot of body positivity and embracing all of ourselves instead of hating on parts we don't love."

"Interesting," he said as he sat opposite her at the table holding his own cup of tea in his hands.

She looked up at him to see if he was being facetious, but his facial expression told her he was listening carefully. "Anyway, Jesse was doing work for a law firm and Pima's brother is a lawyer there. She called in a favor. Jesse talked to Pima about everything Deidre has had to overcome, and she agreed to meet with her. Jesse set it up to make it look like a birthday present."

"You and your friends are devious but for all the right reasons," he chuckled as he adjusted his legs under the table, his bare feet touching her bare legs.

She tucked her feet around the leg of her chair moving away from him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure," he chuckled. "You have no idea. Don't worry, mia cara, as a man who has many secrets he needs to keep, I have no need nor desire to dig too deep into the activities of my cousin and her Famiglia."

His words took her by surprise, "what do you mean?"

"It means I don't ask questions on matters which are none of my f*****g business," he was blunt. "If I were meant to know about Jesse's activities, she would have read me in. She has not. Whatever you do with my cousin is none of my business." He lifted his cup and then frowned, "unless it involves you screwing anyone else. Then it's my business."

"We're not dating."

"I am giving you time to come to your senses. You will. I won't ask you out again, Arwen. If you want me, you'll need to let me know."

She could feel the heat of his gaze burning the top of her head as she avoided his gaze and stared down at the plate. "Can I ask you something?" she changed the subject.

"Anything."

"Jesse told me you got upset when you referred to the girls from the cargo crate as 'yours' but when you saw me at the wedding, you said I would be yours and to make no mistake about it. What's the difference?" she finally looked up to meet his eyes.

"Consent," he didn't look away from her. "You will want to be mine and you will permit it. Additionally, and if I'm being truthful with you, I think your definition of "mine" and my definition are not the same. Mine means you are my part of my family. Mine to protect. Mine to be with. Mine to ensure your needs are met. Not mine to own or treat like a possession. It also works both ways, amore," he continued, "I am yours."

"Oh," she shoveled a mouthful of eggs and vegetables and goat cheese in her mouth to stop herself from lunging at him across the table. She wrinkled her nose, "where did the goat cheese come from?"

"Part of the supplies the boys dropped off," he shrugged. "Any other questions?"

"Why did Killer Bea not work out?"

He chuckled at her question as it came out of nowhere. "Do you want the real answer?"

"Yes."

"Fine." He kicked his feet out and didn't look away from her curious stare. "I like a strong, feisty woman. I like it more when a strong feisty woman bends to my will in the bedroom. I like to dominate. I like a submissive woman in the bedroom. I told her bluntly of this." "Let me guess, she didn't like that?"

"No, worse." "Worse?"

"She felt being submissive meant she laid in a spot until she was put into a different position. I kid you not, I had told her I like being in control in the bedroom and she assumed it meant, I like specifically positioning my partner. She'd never had such a relationship before and misunderstood the assignment."

"I don't understand." Arwen scratched her head. "She just laid there until you moved her?"

"Like a bump on a log. Wouldn't tell me what she liked or disliked. I didn't even know if she was enjoying herself. It was the same facial expression the entire time as she waited for me to position her into another way." He made a face, "her kink I guess wasn't to be dominated. Her kink was to be some fourteen hundreds concubine where she had to lay there and not enjoy herself, or at least it is the only explanation I can come up with for her odd behavior. It was like positioning an articulated blow-up doll." "But you took her away." Her fork dangled in her fingers as she struggled to understand what he was saying. "Why?"

"I was already going to my island. She and I had dinner an hour before my flight, and I invited her on a whim to come along. We hadn't slept together yet at that point. I sent her home the next day. She was displeased." "Rumor has it, she thought you were getting on the plane with her."

"Rumor would be accurate," he grinned unapologetically. "Enrico said she lost her mind when she realized it wasn't me in the captain's chair."

"You fly?"

"Yes."

"Me too," she took another bite of her omelette. "Me, Jesse, Cat, Isabella, and couple other girls thought it would be fun to learn how to fly. We all took lessons. We all have enough hours to fly commercial." "I didn't know Jesse could fly." He nodded appreciatively. "She is such a secretive one, my cousin."

"Maybe you don't ask the right questions."

"I don't ask any questions," he reminded her. "If she wants to tell me, she will. If she has skills, I may want to utilize them, so better I don't know. She is la Principessa after all. She is too good for our family."

She sat back full of her meal, and he immediately rose to take the plate from her. "I can clean up."

"I know you can, but you are still recovering, and I am fulfilling my obligation to Deidre to take care of you."

"My migraine is gone and the hangover too if I'm honest. I think my biggest problem was the food poisoning. I knew the chowder tasted bad and I kept eating it anyway."

"Silly girl," he rinsed the dishes before sliding them into the dishwasher. "Shall we finish our tea on the porch swing out back?"

"Sure," she watched as he wiped the counter down and put everything away the way he'd found it. He was as much a neat freak as she was. Why was he fitting in so well in her farmhouse? Damn. He needed to leave soon before she begged him to stay. She took her cup and moved outside to the back yard overlooking her gardens and her chickens. She set her cup of tea on the railing and stepped down the porch steps to the chickens. "Hello, my beautiful girls." The chickens all clucked at her as if they understood her words. She entered their pen and laughed when they charged her feet. She reached for the bag of feed too high for them to reach. Arwen sprinkled feed for them, and they were immediately vocalizing their appreciation and she laughed at their antics. "They love you," Addy spoke from where he watched her on the patio stoop.

She looked over her shoulder and grinned at him, "I've raised them all from eggs."

"Do they make you broody?"

She threw her head back and laughed at his joke. "Oh my god."

"Do you feel the need to build a nest?"

"No," she giggled as she bent down and stroked the soft feathers of Henrietta. She was a golden color with reds and yellows. She looked back at him and couldn't resist smiling back at the way he smiled at her. "You're crazy."

"Perhaps," he winked as he moved to sit on the porch swing.

She left the pen and moved to the outdoor sink she'd installed and scrubbed her hands. She climbed the stairs, grabbed her tea, and moved to sit beside him. It felt too natural, too perfect and she found herself curiously wondering why he was still there. "Tell me Arwen," he questioned suddenly, as the porch swing rocked them in the quiet of the evening "what are your goals?"

"My goals?"

"Life goals."

"You mean like career and stuff?"

"Sure. Career, marriage, kids?"

"God," she wrinkled her nose at him.

"You don't want those things?"

"I didn't say that. I've just never had the conversation with a guy before."

"I would think a guy would be the person you should have this conversation with," he retorted with a low laugh. "Though after meeting two of the men you've dated, I'm not surprised."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Your past dating history is full of selfish men who don't listen or pay attention to you."

"What do you know?"

"I know for a fact you like your whiskey neat, but Henry ordered you a Manhattan and you pretended to be grateful. If he had paid any attention to you, he would have known."

"It was one drink, Addy." She grimaced at him.

"Did he ask you whether or not you wanted to wear whatever outfit he bought you?"

She stared at the chicken coop, "part of being a submissive means you wear what your Dom wants."

"No, it doesn't," he grunted at her. "If you hate being trapped in latex then you don't wear f*****g latex. Just because you enjoy a good slap on the a*s doesn't mean you have to give something up for it. Everything between a couple should be agreed upon. If he doesn't listen, it's abusive."

"He didn't abuse me," she made a face. "Trust me. He just liked certain clothes and I was willing to give a little to get a little."

"He still should have listened and respected you were not comfortable."

"Most of what goes on behind closed doors is uncomfortable, Addy. Did you think having my arms tied behind my back while you railed me from behind was a comfortable position?"

"Perhaps my wording is incorrect. If you are not enjoying everything about the process, then changes should be made."

She said nothing and stared at the chickens minding their own business as if their owner wasn't having a conversation about b**m like it was normal.

"Let me put it to you this way Arwen, if you wanted to try something new and Henry said he wasn't into it, did it happen?"

"Well no. I wouldn't force anyone to do what they weren't comfortable doing."

"Why the double standard?" Before she could answer, he continued. "Arwen, it is a man's job to protect and keep his lover safe and make sure there is nothing she is doing to make her feel she needs to trade any part of herself to get what she needs. s*x isn't trading parts of yourself, it's exchanging pleasure. You give pleasure, you get pleasure. It should never be 'I'll let you do this to me, just so I can get that from you.' The fact your relationships operated like in this way is why you haven't had conversations with men about your hopes and your dreams."

"You're being judgey."

"Perhaps. So, answer my question. Marriage, kids?"

"I don't know," she whispered quietly. "My life is complicated. I travel all over the place for work. I'm a lot to handle without throwing my work into the mix."

"Cop out answer."

"Excuse me?"

"I asked you what you dreamed of, not the excuses you have for not chasing them."

"What?" she shoved the porch swing back angrily, "fine! Do you want to know? Ever since I was a little girl playing dress-up in my aunt's wedding dress I dreamed of having the big, huge wedding to a good husband and a bunch of kids on a big farm. I hated being an only child for the first twelve years of my life and swore I'd have tons of kids, so they never felt lonely., I dreamed of it my entire life. The big wedding and a huge family and all the things many little girls dream of but my life, my line of work, it isn't conducive to dreaming, Addy. My life changed and the reality is, I work so much at a job I absolutely adore I would never want to give it up. Not ever. My door isn't exactly being kicked in with offers by men who want to marry me because they love workaholic women who like their a's smacked and a rough f**k."

She sat there furious he'd made her blurt out all her emotions and she blinked rapidly at the strange onset of tears forming.

He leaned sideways as if going to share a secret and whispered to her, "mia cara, I've been knocking and knocking on your door for weeks, but you won't answer it. How do you know what's on the other side if you don't open up?"