THE MAFIA’S MISTAKEN BRIDE

Jasmine’s POV

Stepping out of the white limo with an INGOO sleeveless backless black dress and cross strappy heels, saying I am anxious is an understatement.

My heart is thumping wildly within my ribcage.

My hands are trembling slightly despite my firm hold on my tiny purse.

My lips are quivering in excitement mixed with nervousness as I glance around to see Mathew appear in front of me.

He is wearing a black official suit.

Before I can ask him where Xavier is, he presents a bouquet to me. I gasps slowly before taking it from him without any question.

I’m sure this is from Xavier.

With that in mind, I begin to feel teary.

Bowing down, he sways his right hand towards a direction which I assume is where Xavier is. There is a door at the entrance and staring up at the high building, I see it is a diner.

It is so beautiful from outside.

Flashing him a smile, I walk along graciously, feeling tingles of excitement as I perceive the scent of the flowers in my hands.

The transparent door swings open from behind and I step in with a little smile on my face. Then I see Xavier sitting rigidly on a seat.

When he looks up, our eyes meet and his eyes shift to my body, his jaws dropping open slightly.

He shoots to his feet instantly and makes his way to me. He stretches a hand at me which I take. Suddenly he spins me around.

Giggles leave my mouth before he slams his body on mine from behind, his mouth at the crook of my neck region. “You look hot. Beautiful and sexy.”

His voice comes out raspy and something stirs inside of me. A strange emotion. A feeling I have never felt before. Something related to passion. Urge. My hormones are on fire.

He spins me round to face him, dragging my body to his in slow motion, his forehead resting carefully on mine as he pecks my lips.

Groaning, he pulls away. “Let’s eat first or else…” he trails off, making me flustered and in wonder of what he wants to say.

I want him to say it.

Saying I am beautiful, sexy, and hot is a way to go but not enough. I didn’t even expect he would say that.

He helps me to a seat before going back to his. The whole place is empty just like the restaurant we went to the other time we went out on a date which I ruined.

A waiter appears immediately plastering a smile on his face.

“What would you like to order?”He demands from us.

Xavier makes the orders and the waiter disappears. When he looks at me, he smiles. I guess the smile on my face is contagious. I haven’t stopped smiling since I entered here.

Xavier is amazing.

I still can’t believe he professed his love for me. I can’t believe we are doing this. I can’t believe we are at this stage. I can’t believe we are in love and married.

Everything happened so fast. But they are all real. I’m sure I am not dreaming.

When the waiter appears with our meal, Xavier is holding my hands. He lets go as the table is set and we begin to eat in silence, stealing glances at each other, especially him.

He can barely take his eyes off me and it makes me feel more beautiful and jittery.

I am still smiling in between my meals. I feel great. I am happy. My heart is swelling with joy.

“Is Alex gone?” I demand carefully, hoping this won’t ruin the moment. I just want us to converse. This silence is killing me. It is becoming tense in a good, sexy way.

He seems baffled by my question. Without a word, he munches on his meal as he shrugs nonchalantly.

I remain silent.

I have been meaning to talk to him since yesternight about my parents. And about Alex but I don’t know how to bring it up.

“Why are you wearing that wig?” He asks me suddenly, breaking the moment of silence between us again.

I raise a brow.

I am wearing a black wig. Instead of leaving my real hair. I think he won’t be comfortable with me having white hair on my date. He didn’t seem okay with it the last time.

I shrug too indifferently.

“Your hair color is pretty unique. She should be confident in showing it to the world.”Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

I almost gasps.

Xavier almost killed me when I let out my real hair on our wedding day. He didn’t scold me but I knew he wanted to. It was at our wedding party. I was supposed to be on all black but my hair color contrasts it all. It was meant to make him mad.

“Thank you”, I mutter, feeling satisfied as I gulp down the remaining content of my wine.

Pushing the plate forward, I fold my arms as Xavier wipes his lips with the serviette.

“Have you forgiven Andre?” I ask again, this time with a smile because I know how much he disliked her for what she did to me. If she hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t have met. Also, I don’t know how to bring up my parents too. “And my parents.”

It sounds strange coming from me. I have not spoken about my parents in this way because I have always thought they were dead and gone but now that I know they are alive, hale, and hearty, it seems weird.

I guess with time, I will get used to it.

I have forgiven them and I want Xavier to do the same especially Andre and her mother for deceiving him.

“No!” he replies honestly.

Holding out my hand so we can touch each other, I say. “Forgive them, please. For my sake.”

“I have.” He murmurs and I raise a brow. “I don’t have a choice, do I? They are my wife’s parents.”

I nod.

On to the next topic. “What about Alex?”

“What about him?” he asks almost immediately, leaning backward.

“What’s up with you two? Aren’t you brothers?”

Silence falls.

I bite my lower lips in regret. Am I doing the right thing at the wrong time? Am I supposed to wait till we get back home before asking him this particular question about him and his family issues?

I hope I am not ruining the moment again like I once did.

Holding his hands more firmly, I mutter. “You don’t want to talk about it?”

He shakes his head. “It’s not that.”

“Then what is it? I want to know more about you. I know you two are brothers and Sophia is also family but you don’t act like family with them. What is happening? If they are your siblings, then you should let go of whatever they must have done wrong to you.”

“Alex and Sophia did nothing to me”, he answers grimly, looking upset about something, making me feel it is about me raising such a delicate topic here of all places. “Their mother did.”

I don’t say anything. I want him to talk when he is ok with it.

“She ruined the beautiful thing between my parents. My father had an affair with her and that led to the separation between mom and dad. With Grandma’s constant pleading, they managed to get back together but Alex’s mom was fully in the picture already. They both had an accident and died. I blamed Alex’s mom for it all. If she hadn’t come into the picture, my mom wouldn’t have died. Same with dad.”

Regrets settle in eventually.

I shouldn’t have brought this up here. I should have waited till we got back home.

Thinking of what to say to lighten up the moment, I smile and stand up.

“Let’s dance!”

There is music floating in from somewhere. Perhaps from another section of the diner or an enclosed room just to impress us.

When I first came in, it was the sound of the piano but now, it is a slow, soft, and sensual music. It is the exact type of music suitable for the occasion of a date between lovebirds.

Xavier is hesitant. Not giving him a chance to say no, I drag him away from his seat to the middle of the diner where I spin and dance with him till soft laughter begins to erupt from him.

“You aren’t a bad dancer, surprisingly”, I wink at him, his hands wrapping my waist firmly as he hovers over me.

Smiling without a word, we continue to dance until the music changes to a slower one, tempting us to take slow dancing steps together, our faces inches away from each other.

In silence, the tension is back. The desire to be elsewhere. Alone without prying eyes. To be intimate.

I don’t know if I am the only one feeling this way but I am tempted to tell him to embrace me till I get rid of the feeling of wanting to be more physically intimate with him.

A look I can’t place, dark and filled with an emotion I can’t say takes over his blue ocean eyes.

Most times, I wish I could read him. For a man who doesn’t say much, I believe I have to learn to understand his silence just the way Ethan does.

When his hand drops to my waist again, shivers ripple down my spine, and my heart throbs.

His dark gaze lingers on mine longer than usual till I can place the emotion flashing across his expression.

Lust.

He strokes my face and I swallow hard, my body on fire with full-grown desire. His eyes twinkle as he smiles down at me, making my heart skip a beat.

He is so handsome. I can’t believe I am his wife.

Gosh!

“You are so beautiful, goddammit!” he grunts lustfully, making a shiver of anticipation run down my spine.

What is going to happen next? Is he going to kiss me? Are we finally going to move to the next step in our relationship?

We’ve been married for four months but we have never consummated our marriage. I never gave it a thought except for the first night when I thought he was going to force himself on me just because we were married.

I didn’t want it.

We disliked each other then. We were married for a reason which wasn’t love. There was no way I would have allowed him.

But now, what I feel is the exact opposite of what I felt that day. I want him. I want him to touch me in places no man has ever touched. I want us to make our marriage real now.

Fully satisfied that I have my name on our marriage certificate, the next phase should follow and that should be our consummation.

Red blushes creep to my face.

When his eyes slide to my lips, my heart jolts up in excitement. Before I can do anything, he leans further in and takes my lips.

The kiss is slow. Just like the music. It is filled with desire. And passion. And want.

I kiss him back with everything in me, a sweet sensation running along my nerve endings, my whole body in full response to his touch.

When he pushes me forward into him, I almost melt into his touch, I almost beg him to take me.

He stops kissing me, his lips still on mine as he seems to be catching his breath. My gaze collides with his and I am about to tell him over and over again how much I love him when he curses loudly, growls, and pulls away before rushing to our seat.

Fear jumps into my heart.

What happened? Did I kiss him badly? Did something happen? Is something happening?

I watch him with dread as he grabs his coat from the seat with his phone and my purse which is on the table before striding back to me.

When he is in front of me, I see it all. There is nothing wrong. There is no cause for alarm because the only thing I can see in his eyes is how much he is trying to control himself just like I am doing.

In response, desire surges through my entire existence too as he grabs me roughly, sensually whispering into my ears. “Let’s get out of here.”

And I nod at him meekly, unable to open my mouth to say a word in the affirmative.