9. Dario
Dario
M ia looks terrified as she eyes the ring I just put on her finger.
“Most women hope for a diamond that big, streghetta mia , but you look like you’re about to vomit,” I tell her.
Her hazel eyes are wide with terror, and when I slip a gold band around my finger and then hand her the passport with her married name on it, I swear she turns a few shades paler. She opens it with shaky hands, and then turns her eyes back to mine.
“I don’t understand,” she whispers.
“What’s the matter? You don’t want to be Mrs. Alessi?”
“I don’t want to be Mrs. anything,” she says, tossing the passport back at me.
Holding her hand up, she examines the large ring, a ring that cost a small fortune and that I’m confident most women would love to have, and then she drops her hand, huffs out a breath and asks, “How the fuck am I supposed to fight while wearing this? It’s gonna mess everything up. ”
Unable to resist, I grin and cup the back of her head, kissing her before she can stop me. My little viper will learn to love being my wife. This is just the practice round. Surely by the time this mission is over, she’ll have warmed up to the idea of being Mia Alessi.
Stunned that I’m even thinking a thought as crazy as that, I let her go and stand so I can fix my suit. Covering her stomach in my cum had helped relax me in a much-needed way, but I’m quickly learning that nothing will ever be enough where she’s concerned.
“I’m going to go and get your bag,” I tell her.
“Why?”
I run my finger over her furrowed brow. “Such a suspicious little thing,” I murmur. “I’m getting your bag because you’re sleeping in here with me, and when we get to my family’s home, we’ll be sharing a room.”
Sliding my finger down her nose, I rest it against her lips to stop whatever she’s about to yell at me.
“We’re married, streghetta mia . Everyone has to believe it for this to work,” I tell her.
As soon as I drop my finger, she says, “But your family knows it’s bullshit.”
I shrug. “You can never be too careful, and we can’t take any chances.”
“I hardly doubt that means we need to sleep together on the plane. Every single person here knows we weren’t married when we boarded.”
I can’t resist giving her another wink and saying, “Marissa doesn’t know.”
“Well then fuck her if she tried to sleep with my husband right in front of me.” Mia mutters the words, and her pissy tone and barely concealed jealousy is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.
“God, you’re adorable, little viper,” I tell her, grinning at the scowl she gives me. I swear she’s about to reach for her knife and stab me, so I take a step back and say, “I’ll go get our bags. You going to be okay waiting here?”
In true Mia fashion, she opens her mouth and lets me have it.
“You’re not my goddamn sun, Dario. I’m not some fucking flower that’s going to wilt just because I can’t bask in your presence nonstop. If you need someone to worship the ground you walk on, you’ve picked the wrong goddamn girl.”
She flops back on the chair like she doesn’t have a care in the world. “I’m perfectly fine to be by myself.”
Bracing my hands on either side of her chair, I lean down and kiss her nose piercing before she can turn away.
“That stung a bit, little viper, but I’ll let you make it up to me later.” I grin and kiss her pouting mouth. “And I didn’t choose the wrong goddamn girl. I did choose a stubborn one, though.”
Before she can argue, I leave the room, shutting the door behind me. Sandro must’ve been waiting for me, because as soon as he sees me, he jumps up and asks, “How’d she take it?” His eyes run over me with exaggerated worry. “I don’t see any blood, so I guess it went okay.”
“She hates her ring,” I say, making him laugh. “And you owe me fifty bucks.”
“She can’t throw a punch with it, and I bet it’ll be a bitch when she tries to grip a knife,” Sasha says from where he’s reclining in the chair next to us. He looks up at me and adds, “Congratulations on the wedding. Sandro told me all about it.”
“Your sister was thrilled when I showed her the new passport,” I tell him.
The corner of his mouth lifts up in a small grin. “I bet she was.” His eyes dart to the side, and I can tell by his expression that Mia has already decided to disobey me. “Speak of the devil,” he mutters right before I turn around and see my little wife walking towards me.
“I thought we agreed you’d stay in the room,” I tell her as soon as she’s close enough.
She raises a defiant brow. “Did we decide that?”
Giving her a wicked grin, I ask, “Wilting already?”
I swear she’s seconds away from beating the hell out of me when I hear Sandro’s laugh from behind me before he says, “Congrats, sister-in-law. That’s quite the rock on your finger.”
Distracted, she looks down at the large diamond and frowns.
I swear this woman couldn’t batter my ego any harder if she tried.
The only comfort I have is knowing she may be stubborn and shunning the incredibly nice diamond I picked out for her, but she’s also doing it while covered in my cum.
That secret knowledge is enough to keep me in check.
She can’t fight me forever. She may be stubborn, but I’m Italian. I’ll get my way in the end.
“It’s temporary,” Mia tells her brother. “And don’t tell Dad. He doesn’t need to know about this. I’m guessing that’s why Dominic didn’t include this in the big group meeting we had.”
“He’s not crazy,” Sandro says. “He knew your dad would never agree to this if he found out you’d be posing as my brother’s wife.” He gives her a playful wink. “Welcome to the family.” He looks at me, eyes lit up with mischief. “Our parents are going to love this.”
I refuse to think about their reaction. They accepted Natalya into the family, but they weren’t thrilled about the union with the Bratva.
They’ve softened over the years since she’s given them two grandkids and they’ll most likely have more, but what’s good enough for their nephew isn’t what’s going to be acceptable for their only two sons.
I’m the oldest, and every time we speak, I get the marriage lecture.
They’re very specific on who I should marry, too—a young Italian with good birthing hips.
Even though they’ll know this is fake, it will still worry them, and my head is already starting to hurt from all the shit I’m going to hear from the two of them.
“Did you decide you needed something?”
The sound of Marissa’s too high-pitched voice raises my headache up a notch.
She’s trying way too damn hard, and it’s starting to really annoy me.
She’s not allowed on the plane when Dominic flies for the obvious reason that she’d try to fuck him and he has zero tolerance for that shit, but she’s been working for the family for a long time, and she’s proven she can keep her mouth shut.
“Yeah, Dario,” Sandro asks with a grin, “do you need something from Marissa?”
It looks like it officially just became showtime, so I wrap my arm around Mia, pulling her against me as I look over at Marissa. Not bothering with any sort of pretense of kindness, I say, “I believe I made it very clear that I don’t need or want anything from you.”
I ignore Marissa’s surprised look and lean closer to Mia. Bringing my lips to her ears, I whisper, “Better make it believable, streghetta mia . Show her how happy you are to be my wife.”
I swear I hear her growl before I kiss her cheek and stand back up to my full height. Turning to face a very surprised Marissa, I say, “My wife and I will be taking the bedroom. Please bring in a tray of food and drinks now so we won’t be disturbed later.”
It takes her a second to compose herself before she says, “I had no idea you were married.” Her eyes dart to Mia’s, and I feel her small body tense against mine.
“Well, now you do,” Mia says, and I bite back the smile I want to give.
Watching her so effortlessly morph into the role of my wife is going to get me hard again if I’m not careful.
There’s pure venom in her tone when she adds, “So you can stop eye-fucking my husband before I decide to get my knife and make sure it never happens again.”
Sandro barks out a laugh, and I can’t resist tightening my grip on Mia because the truth is I’m just as possessive of her as she is of me.
She’s no doubt telling herself this is all for show, but the jealousy I saw in her eyes earlier wasn’t an act.
My little viper has already laid claim to me whether she wants to believe it or not.
Marissa looks to me for help and when she doesn’t get it, she turns to my brother. Sandro holds up a hand and says, “Don’t look at me. My sister-in-law is right. It’s rude to eye-fuck a married man. You know that’s why you aren’t allowed to work when Dominic is flying.”
“I didn’t know,” Marissa says again, but unlike Mia who makes me hard as a rock when she pouts, Marissa just looks stupid, and I can feel my anger start to rise.
“If you want to keep your job, then you won’t forget it now that you know,” I tell her. “Aren’t you supposed to be putting together a tray for us?” I remind her.
Knowing better than to push things, she nods and then quickly walks off to do her job.
“Harsh,” Sandro says. “I think it’s safe to say she’ll be avoiding the two of you for the rest of the flight.” He looks over at Sasha. “You know what this means, right? She’s going to be all over the two of us to try and make up for the embarrassment my brother just caused her.”
Sasha gives us his usual dead stare. “She’s going to be all over you,” he says. “She’ll learn pretty fast to stay the fuck away from me.”
Sandro shakes his head. “Hell no. Yet again I’ll say that I’m not going to be the consolation prize for women my brother refuses to fuck.”
Mia looks up at me. “That sounds like an interesting story. You’ll have to share it with me later, husband .”