Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
NAOMI
It’s strange to watch Paxton move around my room.
He’s not hiding the fact that he’s snooping around, either.
I rather like having him in my space. I can’t bring myself to be away from him.
I’m still on edge about what happened, and that’s new to me.
I’m quick to keep moving and my emotions in check. That’s not so easy right now.
“Never had a boy in my room that I wasn’t related to.” Paxton sits down with one of the picture frames from off my desk. I have a ton of them. I wasn’t big on decorating, and my mom did most of it, but I do enjoy the pictures of my family.
“Haven’t been a boy in a long time.” He gives me one of his easy smirks. They relax me.
“Okay, I haven’t had a male in here I wasn’t related to.” I sit down on my bed, folding my feet under me.
“You know, I’m as jealous as you are.”
“Good.” I nod. Then we have a clear understanding of things. “That means you’re obsessed with me, and I approve of this.” He lets out a low chuckle. “Come lie down.” I pat my bed next to me. “You need to rest.”
“I rested last night and on the plane.”
“Then come lie in bed with me.”
“Now that I can’t deny.” He comes right to me, slipping his shoes off first.
There is a comfort that I wasn’t aware of when having an intimate partner. I thought they’d open you up to risk, but there are so many other things to outweigh that. I never understood it until now, and it’s not only because of the mind-shattering orgasms that his mouth and fingers give me.
When he slides in next to me, my hand goes to his side where the tattoo is. I’ve been wondering who the man was that day for years. I don’t think I would have made it out alive without him. I’d been young and not paying good enough attention.
They were already too close before I could try and escape them. I put up a hell of a fight. Is that part of why I have felt this connection with him?
“Is it weird being here?”
“I always wanted to know which room was yours.”
“I’m glad we can keep a few things hidden.” I shake my head. “Do you have any more of those cameras around here?”
“I was considering putting a few in here.” I hold back a small laugh, knowing he would have gotten away with it. There hadn’t been a thought in my mind to worry over him being in my room. I’m not sure how the rest of my family feels about it.
“You don’t need a camera any longer. We’ll be married soon.”
I need to speak with my father. There is much to go over. One important point is that marriage alone will not be sufficient. Not when we have a traitor at our own table. Luigi Esposito shot at me after he saw me. I’m sure he’s scrambling, but his uncle isn’t going to be able to save him from me.
That little shit never cared for me. He wasn’t high in his own family tree.
He was a bastard son whose uncle took pity on him after his father was killed.
I was used to it. I’m a female, and I sit at the very top of the Marino family.
That doesn’t sit well with a lot of the families.
They’re stuck in their old ways. It’s why their power is dwindling, to be honest.
“What are you thinking?” He brings his finger to my chin, pulling my eyes to his. I slide over to straddle his thighs. This is fast becoming my favorite way to sit. My core clenches when I think about this same position while he’s deep inside of me. That ache still lingers.
Paxton might have gotten me to come over and over again, but my body needs more from him, and I know only he can fill that need.
“I was thinking about how I need to speak to my father, and now I’m wondering how it would feel to sit this way with your cock deep inside of me.”
“Sunshine.” His hand grips my ass and pulls me snuggly into him, his hard cock pressing into my sex. “Let’s not mention your father and my cock inside of you in the same sentence.”
This time I can’t stop the small laugh that spills free. I don’t want to stop it either. Not when it’s only him and me. I want to know all parts of him, and I know I’ll have to do the same to get it in return. I might be adept at holding my emotions in check, but so is Paxton in his own right.
“You have piqued my curiosity in sex. Now I want it.”
Paxton holds up his hand. “You don’t get the milk without buying the cow.”
“We will be married, and I’ll get my milk too.” The second the words leave my mouth, I realize how dirty they sound.
I gasp when Paxton flips us, pinning me below him. I rather enjoy this position too.
“Don’t tempt me.” He leans down, running his mouth along the column of my neck. “I’ve waited years for this.” I run my hands up and down his sides. I hadn’t thought about him waiting.
“You have really waited all these years?” I probably shouldn’t ask the question. Just leave it alone. He already told my father he’d be faithful to me in marriage.
He lifts his head. “Yes, I am not a man who settles for less. You haven’t seen that yet?” His eyes search my face.
“You believe I can do anything.” I recall the things he said to me in the hotel, about my mother and who I’d bloom into.
“I don’t believe it. I know it. I was enamored with you from the very start.
You are a sight to behold. It was clear to me that the Marinos might have a strong hold on their position, but when you reached the top, you’d be unstoppable.
” I run my finger down his jaw, loving the feel of his short beard growing in.
“You might have me up on a pedestal.” All the things he is saying are sweet.
“Maybe I do.” He tilts his head to the side. “I have always been an odds man. Weighing every situation for potential outcomes, patterned after the people around me, but you defy them all.”
“How so?” He’s predicted what I would do more than anyone ever has.
“I don’t believe in coincidences or fate, but as the strings of our lives start to pull together, I question my own logic.”
“You think we’re fate?”
“Fated.”
“I can see that,” I agree. “Sure, you could stalk and follow me and whatnot, but I had to fall for you, and it hit me hard and fast. You soothe these insecurities in me. You fill in those missing parts for me. I need you.” If you had asked me a short time ago if I would be telling a man such things, I would have said you were out of your mind or maybe killed you.
But here I am, basically professing my love to Paxton.
I mean, not in those exact words, but for me it’s a start.
I knew the moment he grabbed hold of me and took that fall. I’m not used to fear. My brothers and cousins have joked over the years that I don’t experience it, but clearly I do.
A smile spreads across his entire face. “That’s what I wanted.
” He drops his forehead to mine. “There has been no one else. Not before you or after. I even kept my infatuation with you a secret that only a few knew of. If my father knew of my desire for anything, he’d try to take it from me or use it.
It’s why I killed him. So that I could finally have you. ”
“You killed your father for me.”
“I killed him for us.” That’s the most romantic gesture I’ve ever heard of. Yeah, we’re definitely fated. Crafted to fit only each other. It may sound crazy and go against logical thoughts, but I don’t care.
“That’s like the sweetest engagement gift. It’s perfect, really.” Paxton throws back his head and laughs, his body shaking mine. I reach up and pull him down for a kiss. I relish the fact that I will be the only woman to ever have him.
That’s best for everyone’s safety. I can be rather irrational when it comes to him. Paxton deepens the kiss as I hear knocking sounds at my door. A small growl leaves me, making him smile and drop a kiss on the tip of my nose.
He flips us back over and even puts me right on my feet beside the bed. His whole body can easily wrap around mine. It should scare me, but it only makes me feel stronger with him at my side.
“Come in,” I call out, and my mom’s head pops in.
“Are you going to hide up here all day?” She steps farther into the room.
“Not hiding,” I say. “Well, I might have been hiding Paxton.”
Mom lets out a small laugh. “Do you trust me with him? Because your father wants to speak to you.” I nod in understanding. I was going to go down earlier, but Paxton is rather distracting.
“I would like to speak with my father alone, and then—”
“Naomi, you don’t have to explain this to me. I’m not here to come between you and your family.”
“I know, but you’ll be mine, and I…” I search for the right words to say. Some of the thoughts I have about him I can’t put into words.
“She wants you at her side and to be equal,” my mom says.
“I understand.”
I nod. Yes, that’s it. Dad gives that to Mom, too, if she desires to know.
“That.” I turn more toward him.
“I appreciate that, Sunshine, but know that if you’re somewhere, I want to be there. I will be. No one keeps me from you except you, and even then, only for so long.” A thrill courses through me. I enjoy his need to be close to me. He makes me feel special.
“I like this answer,” I tell him, making my mom laugh.
Paxton lets out a chuckle too, pressing his mouth to mine.
I let out a small sigh. “Oh.” I step back.
“You’re distracting, and my mother is here.
” I mean, I’m not against PDA, but doing it in front of the parentals is a whole different level I’ll have to get used to.
“I am here, and I’d like to steal Paxton while you speak to your father.”
“That sounds nice,” Paxton tells her.
“Paxton didn’t have a mom. Now you’ll have the best one.” I flinch. “That was a rude way to say that, but I can’t think of another.”
“I mean, I’m not going to argue that I’m the best mom.”
“Don’t change,” he tells me, and I feel myself smile up at him.
I know I say strange things, and people will point them out.
I’ve tried to do better, but maybe I don’t need to.
Mac would probably highly disagree, but she can stuff it.
One time I asked her to clue me in when I would say something strange, and it turned into a fiasco.
Mom is super smiley as she leads Paxton toward the kitchen. I stand there for a moment and watch them go. He glances back over his shoulder at me and winks.
“You’re getting married, I take it,” my father says from the doorway of his office.
“I said that on the first day.” A part of me knew back then. I wouldn’t have agreed to marry anyone else. I see that now.
“You’re always good about knowing what you want.” He motions for me to enter his office. “I wanted to talk before the rest of the family showed up.”
“And you’re okay with the marriage?” I find myself asking. I’ll be doing it either way, but I do often seek his approval.
“A few minutes seeing you together and I knew.” He leans up against his desk, stretching his legs out.
I take one of the chairs. “And Mac showed me the footage from the building.” The only reason we have it is because Mac often keeps a camera on her, one that you can’t see or detect.
She always has gadgets she’s playing with.
“And if I had a question about him, that more than proved it.”
“He would die for me.” While sweet, I’m not sure I care much for that.
“You had a small meltdown.”
“A meltdown?”
“For you, yes, I would call it a meltdown.” I can’t deny this.
I’m still trying to process and understand the emotions that took over inside of me when I thought Paxton could have died.
Maybe it’s more I’m trying to reconcile that for once I knew what it was to feel fear.
That the thought of losing him made me feel vulnerable.
“Remember that day when I was attacked on my run?”
“Of course I do.” There is a slight tic in his jaw.
“It was Paxton.” My father is quiet for a long moment. “My scar.” I touch my side. “He tattooed my name in the same place on his body.”
“He’s been watching you.” I nod. “What do you think of that?”
“You’re asking if he’s playing me.” He shrugs. “I suppose it doesn’t matter.” I stare up at my father.
I’m close to my mother, but my father understands me in a way no one else can. I’m in too deep at this point. If Paxton is going to betray me, so be it. I’ll deal with it and him when the time comes, but I won’t let him go. Not now or ever.
“I don’t think he is.”
“Why do you say that?” I ask. I get that I might not see things as clearly as he can.
“How he was that day when he came here. He was willing to die asking for your hand in marriage. There have been too many risks, and I know of other deals he could have made for money and power. He has not.”
“He is after something bigger,” I tell my father. “Not only me. Paxton is always a few steps ahead.”