Filed to story: Sold to The Possessive Mafia Boss Book (Xavier & Jane) Free Online >>
She nods but without confidence.
“You are safe with me,” I add. “You can be yourself. Start to believe in yourself.”
“Safe?” she replies. “Who protects me from you?”
“You don’t need protecting from me.” I rub her shoulders lightly. “So much tension. You can relax. I won’t hurt you.”
I could tell her about the guards outside the hotel, the car ready to whisk us away to a safe house at a moment’s notice. About the odds of us dying tonight. I choose to say nothing about such things. She’s already frightened enough.
“What do you want out of life?” I ask, genuinely curious about her dreams, about the woman she aspires to be beyond the fear and the bruises.
“To be a historian, like my mother. She loved history, wrote all these books about medieval France. I’ve always wanted to go there, see the places she saw. I researched some flights but I never could save enough money to go.”
“You will go one day,” I assure her.
“Yeah, right.”
“If you believe in yourself, you can achieve anything. Just look at your bank balance. The world’s your oyster. You want to do it, then do it.”
She turns her head and looks directly into my eyes.
Without a word, I lean in, the space closing as I move towards her. My lips meet hers with a gentleness that belies the storm of emotions raging inside me. I force myself to take things slowly.
Her response is hesitant at first, a reflection of the nervousness she feels, but then she melts under my touch, her lips soft and yielding against mine, stirring a desire so potent it threatens to overwhelm me.
“Wanted to do it, so I did it,” I murmur against her lips, pulling back slightly to look into her eyes. “I can help you achieve all your goals. If you’ll let me.”
She looks back at me, a hint of cynicism in her gaze. “All I have to do is put out, right?” Her words are a defense mechanism, a shield raised against potential hurt.
I shake my head, cupping her face gently in my hands. “Surely you can feel this,” I say, my voice low and earnest. “This bond between us, it’s special. You are special. Hell, I’ve never felt like this about anyone before.
“In my world, it’s plastic tits and too much makeup. Designer dresses and wondering how much they can milk you for in the divorce. Either that or they find out who I am and they run. Not you though, you’re still here. You haven’t run.”
She manages a grin as I lean in to kiss her again. “Only because I’ve got nowhere to go.”
Jane’s POV
The marble floor is cool beneath my feet as I walk through to a plush chaise lounge and a note saying, “Sit here.” I barely feel it. I’m walking above the clouds. He’s kissed me twice.
The first time, I could have convinced myself he’d made a mistake. But the second kiss proved it. He likes me. God knows why, but he does.
I sink into the soft cushions as he talks to someone at the door to the suite. My fluffy robe clings tightly to my hips. I’m naked under the robe, my heart thudding at the thought of him walking in, tugging at the cord holding my robe in place, his eyes sweeping down my body and not being disgusted by what he sees.
“You seem miles away,” Xavier says, carrying a silver tray over to the table. “Come and eat. Room service is good when they know they’re serving the owner.”
Crystal glasses catch the light as I sit opposite him. The city outside the window twinkles like a blanket of stars as the sun sets over a thousand windows.
He pours two glasses of champagne. “To chance encounters,” he toasts. “And to saying yes.”
I gaze back at him, my heart swelling with a mixture of emotions too complex to name. “I never imagined a night like this could exist outside of dreams,” I confess softly. “I bet you spend every night of the week doing this kind of thing.”
He shakes his head. “Haven’t been in here since I bought the place in ’98.”
“I wasn’t even born,” I tease. “Was it all in black and white then? Gramophones and wireless sets?”
“Cassette tapes and dial up Internet, if that counts. Everything was done by fax back then.” He chuckles, a sound that fills the space with warmth. “Makes me sound ancient, doesn’t it? But, ah, the stories these walls could tell. This place before I took it over. Rife with crime. We sure cleaned it all up.”
I lean forward, captivated. “What’s it like? To see the world change so much?”
Xavier’s eyes soften, reflecting a tapestry of memories. “We made our own rules to bring order to chaos. I had to learn to be confident, to take control when my father died, fight for survival at first, but then to thrive, to profit.”
“How did you learn?” I ask, skepticism threading through my curiosity. “To be so confident, I mean.”
“It’s about believing you are strong. If you carry yourself with the belief that you are powerful, the world starts seeing you that way. Fake it till you make it, but with conviction. Shoulders back, own the room you walk into, know you’re better than those around you.
“Make them believe you’re in charge and you soon will be. The mind is your most potent weapon. Sharpen it with belief, and you shape the world around you.”
“So, you’re saying I just need to believe in myself? That’s it?” My voice carries a mix of hope and disbelief. “There’s got to be more to it than that. You’re a billionaire, right?”
Xavier smiles, his gaze steady and sure. “Believe in your strength, your worth. The rest will follow. You’ll see, one day, you’ll look back and marvel at how far belief has taken you. I might be sitting in one of your hotel suites in ten years time.”
“Or a senior center,” I say with a wink.
Tears shimmer in my eyes, my heart overflowing with newfound admiration for this man who killed to save me a few short hours ago.
“You’re upset,” he says, moving fast toward me. “What’s wrong?” His hand runs through my hair and I collapse against him.