Arcado POV
"W-what?", she stutters eyes widening, as she looks up at me in nervousness.
"I said, you're going to sit with me", I repeat looking straight in her eyes.
Looking at me flabbergasted, her mouth opens and closes several times, not knowing what to say. I smirk at her and pull her closer to me until she lands on my chest. Her small hand comes up to my chest to steady herself while I wrap my hands around her waist. Turning deep crimson, her cheeks puffs out in exasperation before she looks up at me.
Ignoring the stares from my guards and maids, I tug on Griselda's arm and gently walk towards the dining room. My eyes sweep the room and immediately everyone goes back to what they were doing clearly seeing my warning. I look at the two empty chairs that were made for Dexter and Skyler. Clearly they were running late as always.
"Get a new chair", I order one of the maids.
Hurriedly, she sprints into the kitchen and a minute later, she comes in with a chair. Positioning the chair next to mine, she bows her head in respect and scurries out of the room. I turn my head towards Griselda to see her nervously looking around.
"Ignore them", I whisper pulling her closer to me.
Snapping out of her daze, her eyes darts to me and she visible relaxes her tense muscles. My arm subconsciously rub her thumb gently. Giving me a small smile, her cheeks begins to turn deep crimson and she lowers her gaze to the floor.
Clearing my throat, I pull her hand slightly and gently tug her towards the table where my guards are seated. They chat amongst themselves, trying to ignore us but fail greatly as they keep looking at us form the corner of their eyes.
"I can't sit with you", she hisses beside me, trying to free her hand from my tight hold.
Abruptly stopping, I look towards her and level her with a glare. She doesn't back down, instead she surprises me with a look of her own. My girl is turning feisty I see. I smirk internally as I think of the things I could do to her. I could leave her breathless, as she's panting underneath me looking for the release only I could give her. My cock hardens inside my pants just the thought of it.
Discreetly, I adjust my pants while looking at her. She doesn't stray her eyes away from me. Her glare becomes more intense by each passing second and the room suddenly becomes overbearing as my mind wanders off to the things I could do to that body of hers.
It's not only her body that attracts me, its more of her personality I can't seem to get enough of. She's a feisty little thing one minute and the next a vulnerable woman who's seeking comfort. She's been through a lot but she hides it well underneath that mask of hers.
I can see that she doesn"t let anybody in easily. But once she does, she easily becomes attached and I noticed, she also constantly looks over her shoulder as if someone would jump out and take her away. No way would I let that happen, if they want her, they have to go though me and trust me I am not one to be messed with. If they do, they would face death slowly and painfully.
"You can and you will", I state sternly, looking straight in her eyes.
Looking at me in disbelief, she huffed out a breath and stalked forward letting go of my hand, I guess she didn"t pay attention to the stares she was getting. Taking a seat in her chair, she glared at me. If looks could kill, I would be six feet under the ground.
I am so proud of how she"s grown into this strong woman, when I first saw her, she was so scared of me, of everyone. Even though, she still gets nightmares about her past, she doesn"t let it rule her instead, she squashes it down with her foot.
I am falling in love with her.
I"ve figured out these feelings I am feeling, falling in love should scare me, but with her it doesn"t. Instead, I have a purpose to live on this earth and that is to protect her with everything in me. In the mafia world, there is no love, there is only hatred or darkness. I was born on this earth to kill the evil and shield my family from them. But then, she came along and changed everything for me.
Maybe it"s too early to say these feeling is love, but I don"t care. I will do anything to make her feel the same way I do. I won"t force her into anything she doesn"t want, I will wait for her forever if it takes that long for her to love me back.
"Go sit down", someone hisses in my ear, making me snap out of my daze.
Glancing towards the source of the voice, I smirk at Sophia while she narrows her eyes at me. She slightly pushes me forward, making me take a step towards the table. My smirk is still intact as I glance at my girl sitting uncomfortably. Keeping her head down, she kept fumbling with her hands hiding it under the table.
My legs moved on their own accord and took me to my seat. Clearing my throat, I nodded my head to the guards to start their meal. Everyone talked amongst themselves, while I kept glancing at Griselda from time to time. She just kept staring at her food, not even taking a bite.
Trying to catch her attention, I kicked her legs under the table and she slightly jumped startled. Her eyes glanced towards me, her muscle tensed and her eyes stared into mine in fear. Looking at her surroundings, she relaxed and fixated her eyes on mine. Gesturing towards the food with my hand, I looked at her expectantly until she picked up her fork and took a bite.
Watching her in amazement, I studied her features. Her soft brunette hair cascaded around her shoulders, her pink plump kissable lips opened every now and then as she ate the food in silence and her hazel eyes stared intently at her food but she kept looking at me from the corner of her eyes from time to time.
Leaning over the table, my chin grazed her ear and I whispered "From now on you"ll be sleeping with me in my room".
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Griselda POV
It felt like my whole body froze when he said those words. I looked at him to see if he was somehow joking, but he clearly didn't show any signs. Instead his face was dead serious. Opening my lips several times, I couldn't find the will to say no. Honestly, I wanted to forget the nightmares I have every day I go to sleep. I wanted someone to hold me in their arms and chase my reality away.
But no matter how hard I tried, my reality would be stuck with me forever. I would be haunted by the memories, the scars and the pain for the rest of my life. The scars would remind me of what I went through and no matter how hard I tried to erase them, I couldn't get rid of it. It was a part of me.
Blinking back to reality, I glance at Arcado and see him already looking at me with that intense look in his eyes. He moves slightly closer and inches his face closer to me. His lips grazed my chin and I look towards the guards to see if they were looking, but to my relief they were enjoying their food and chatting animatedly.
Soft hands grasped my chin and tilted my face. I blinked up at Arcado as his hands, rubbed my chin soothingly. Subconsciously I leaned my head towards his hands seeking comfort and looked up at him through my lashes. Giving a small smile, I sighed and pulled away.
Licking my lips, I took small bites of the food and kept my head down as Arcado began to talk to his men. Lifting my head up, my eyes immediately searched for Sophia and once I found her, she gave me a small grin, and waved her hand towards Arcado discreetly. Shaking my head, I bit my lip to hide the little laugh that was threatening to fall.
"So, do you agree to sleep in my room with me?", I snapped my head towards his direction so fast I am afraid I sprained my neck.
The question was almost forgotten, but now that he asked me, the fear began to cripple its way inside my body. I knew, he would protect me from my nightmares, but the fear of feeling something deep for him scared me to no end. I couldn"t hand my heart to anyone else, because I couldn"t trust a single person except for myself.
Then why did I trust him with everything in me? The question was still unanswered. I didn't know why my heart and body reacted this way towards him. It was as if they knew, he was a person I could trust and wouldn't hurt me intentionally. I knew him for a little time, but it felt like I knew him all my life.
Arcado, was a man everyone feared, he was a man who could snap your neck with his thumbs. Looking at him now, he was the only man who dominated the whole dining area, with his dark aura. But underneath his demeanor, he was a man who cared for you, who took care of you and chased away your nightmares by surrounding you with his warmth.
"Do I have a choice?". I asked him
"Considering how many nightmares you get, I don't think so", he replied.
I really was thankful for this man, who seemed so concerned about me. Whether I like to admit it or not, my feelings for him were growing stronger each day and that scared me so much that my heart hurt. But no matter how much I wanted to keep these unknown feelings locked away, I couldn't.
A hand on my thigh made me snap out of my thoughts. Looking up, Arcado was staring at me with some type of glint in his eyes. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I willed myself to calm down before my cheeks turn deep crimson. I tried to swat his hand away, but it seemed it had no effect on him. Instead he squeezed my thigh in response throwing a smirk in my way.
It seemed as though he only knew how to smirk and not smile or anything. Whenever I did or said something he would smirk in response. I haven"t seen or heard him laugh before and I was dying to know how he sounded like. I wanted to see his smile for once and hear his laugh.
"I"ll get my men, to clear up your room and send your stuff up to mine", Arcado stated.
Shoulders dropping, I nodded my head. I couldn"t argue with him seeing he would have the upper hand, so I just nodded my head and continued to finish up my food. Once done, I stood up but before I could stand up, a hand shot out and grabbed my wrist.
"Where are you going?", Arcado questioned.
"To help", Was my simple answer.
Shaking his head, he stood up and tugged me forward causing me to loose my balance a little. Bumping into his chest, my hands shot forward and landed flat against his chest. Quickly regaining my balance, I looked up and saw him already gazing at with a smoldering look.
"You"ll be coming with me", he ordered and began to walk out of the kitchen with me in tow.
No matter how hard I tried to get my hand out of his, I failed miserably and began to give up after a minute or two. Sighing I stalked after him with my hand still in his. It felt comfortable there and I wanted to hold his hand forever making the fear within me disappear.
"Where are we going?", I squeaked out.
"To my room", he answered and continued to walk up the stairs.
"W-why?", I asked him with hesitation as we arrived to a door.
He opened it, looking back at me, he answered "so you can get used to your new room".
Stepping inside, he opened the door wider, gesturing me to come in. Inhaling softly, I stepped inside and immediately a warm feeling greeted me. Looking around, I noticed this wasn"t any typical room. It was Arcado"s. The room had a king sized bed in the middle, sofas sat in the corner of the room with appetizers and a desk was situated beside the bed. Overall his room was really big.
Walking further inside, I took a note of how everything was a beige color. Footsteps shuffled inside the room and heat began to creep its way onto my body. I knew where the heat was coming from so I didn"t dare to turn around.
"Do you like it?", he whispered in my ear, causing shivers to run up my spine.
Unable to speak, I nodded my head and gasped when he snaked his hands around my waist, my muscles tensed from fear but a second later relaxed when he started to rub my hips.
"Good, because you"ll be staying here for as long as ever".