Ruthless Princess (Mafia Royals 1)

“You should probably go save him,” Ash said as he walked up. He looked down at me, and then his eyes widened. “Whoa.”

“What?” I touched my face. “Is something wrong?”

He gulped and then looked away. “Nope.”

“Ash,”

He held up his hands. “Look, I’m not stupid. Doesn’t matter that we’re cousins; you’d still kill me.”

“Truth.” I winked.

He just rolled his eyes. “Don’t you think you’re treading on thin ice already?”

“Huh?”

“Shit,” he muttered. I knew what he was thinking; that I looked like I did before the day Junior and I started a war. “Just… I hope you know what you’re doing, Serena.” He kissed the top of my head and went over to Tank, who looked so thankful to be rescued that he stopped chewing enough to give Ash his attention.

I almost laughed.

From what I’d gathered, Tank didn’t really enjoy going to college, at least according to Annie, which made it semi-strange that they were friends, then again, who was I to judge? I was part of the mafia.

I never realized how big Tank was until he was in my house. He was wearing a tight black T-shirt and had enough muscle that if he stood next to Junior, he would at least look like he could hang without dying. His hair was a dark chocolate brown, his eyes green. Maybe I didn’t notice that he was attractive because I was broken. Then again, I’d been surrounded by some of the most ridiculously good-looking men on the planet since birth. Most guys couldn’t even hold a candle to any of the bosses, let alone the sons.

Tank shifted on his feet and then let out a sigh as he exhaled and tapped his foot while the girls kept talking excitedly with their hands.

Poor Tank. He looked like he’d rather be out on a motorcycle or in a ring, not at a pizza party talking about his latest test.

Who knew normal could be so wonderfully boring?

As if he felt my stare, he glanced over at me; a confident grin spread across his face. A grin that said he knew exactly how to smile at a girl to get her to fall all over herself.

Hmmm, what game was he playing?

I returned his smile with a polite one of my own and glanced around the room.

The big screen had Trolls on, which was so damn innocent I almost laughed, the pizza was stacked in the corner by a few bottles of wine because, duh, Italians. Though I did notice one six-pack of beer that I attributed to the two normals who decided to come to our house for whatever this was.

Junior barked out a laugh from the hallway. When was the last time he’d even laughed with me? I let out a sigh.

My first mistake was getting distracted by the normalcy of what was happening. My second was letting my guard down and actually enjoying the fact that every muscle in my body wasn’t tense, ready to attack.

And my third?

Not understanding that an entirely different battle was about to take place.

Between my heart.

And his soul.

“Okay, we have more pizza coming.” Junior strolled into the room with Breaker hot on his heels. He took one look at me and stopped, causing Breaker to run right into him.

Junior’s eyes locked with mine.

And they said it all. They widened and then narrowed like he hated me more than he loved the way I looked before I was forced to become the Serena Abandonato with her high heels and perfect makeup.

Maybe I’d grown up too fast, but it’s not like he wasn’t to blame for part of that, right?

“Junior, seriously?” Breaker shoved past him and made a beeline for Tank and Ash while Junior stared me down like he’d never seen me before. Then again, he hadn’t seen this version of me for a very long time. I felt naked, exposed beyond what I was comfortable with, and at the same time, I didn’t want to look away.

The room felt thick with tension as he slowly made his way over to me and stopped when he was inches away from my body.

I was afraid to blink, afraid this version of Junior would disappear as his eyes drank me in.

“You okay?” I asked in a weak voice.

“No.” He shook his head and lifted a hand like he wanted to cup my chin, to feel my skin, to lean forward and press a kiss to my naked lips.

“Movie time!” Ash all but yelled, and Junior jerked his hand away.

I shot daggers at Ash. “It’s already started?”

“That was just for background noise.” He pointed to the screen. “The movie of choice tonight, as voted on by everyone but you since you take forever to get ready.” I flipped him off. “Is going to be Closer!”

I flinched. “Why that movie? It’s old.” I gulped and turned to Ash, who was already going through our Apple TV to stream it.