Shotgun Wedding: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance by Natasha Tanner, Ali Piedmont Read Free Book Online Page B

years doing that, when she was too young. I looked out for her as best I could. I was such an ignorant kid back then, though.
    I wasn't a kid anymore. And while it may be ignorant as fuck about certain things, I know myself and I know the world I live in. I didn't want to drag her into it, but she was here.
    Now, being at my side was the safest place for her. I'd fucking make it so.
    But it would be hard not to touch her now.
    Almost as hard as she was making me.
    I take a step forward, then another. I'm right behind her when she realizes I'm close, and she freezes.
    I should back away.
    I should follow the plan I'd had in my mind: "marry" her, lock her in my high-rise apartment till all this shit blows over, and eventually…
    What?
    Allow her out? Fuck her? Get her pregnant?
    Move her to a private island once my other plans are complete, and make love all day?
    That last one actually didn’t sound so bad.
    But now that she was with me, near me, breathing in those quick, quivering little breaths that made me harder and harder because it's exactly how I imagined she'd sound when I made her come…
    Now locking her away seems an impossibility.
    I mean, I still planned on keeping her safe, keeping her contained—keeping her basically the fuck out of Brooklyn for the next few months—but keeping her in her own, separate bedroom seems suddenly insane.
    I'm not thinking clearly, but suddenly I don't fucking care.
    She's here. The girl is gone and this beautiful, exciting, tough but vulnerable woman remains.
    It's my job to keep her safe. To make her happy.
    And I'm gonna start right fucking now.
    I step close, closer, until the front of my body is pressed firmly against her backside. Kat stands, not moving away from me. Not moving toward me. I know she can feel me, my heat, feel how hard I am.
    I push in closer, her curves hugging me.
    "Gray?" Her voice is breathless. Hesitant. Excited?
    "Yeah?" I say. I curl my left arm around her and reach for the small plastic grocery bag she's stuffing clothes into. "Babes, what the hell are you doing?"
    "Packing some clothing for tonight?" she says.
    "In this?" I take the plastic bag from her hands. It's from a Chinese delivery joint. I know the place. It's cheap and it tastes like it.
    She shrugs. She's nervous as fuck, but she's not walking away.
    "You don't have any luggage? Or at least—I don't know, what the hell do women call 'em—a bag?"
    She shakes her head, and I watch her long, auburn hair dance across her shoulders as she moves. "I might have some kind of bag, somewhere."
    I refrain from pointing out that, if she hung up maybe one-third of the shit she owned, she could find her bag. But I don't really give a shit; tomorrow I'll buy her a new wardrobe. Whatever. What I'm upset about is how much she's been struggling, and I never even knew.
    And, truth be told, I'm distracted by how her breath hitches when I sidle even closer. What can I say? I'm only human.
    And damn, her ass feels good pressed against me. I'm about to go out of my mind, and I haven't even touched her with my hands, yet.
    I focus on the task at hand.
    "Kat, you can take anything you want from here, but you're gonna need more than just one night's worth. You're moving into my place. And that's final."
    I drop the bag on the bed and turn her around to face me. She's staring right at my chest, trying to ignore how close I am to her. I don't know if she's mad, embarrassed, or intimidated.
    It should occur to me that maybe she doesn't want me, not like I want her.
    There was only one way to find out.
    I gently take her face in my hands, tilt it up so she has to look at me, and say, "We're getting this fucking tension out of the way. Right now."
    Then I lean in, press my lips against hers, and take what's always been mine.

9
    Kat
    O h my God , Grayson is kissing me.
    For one second, I'm full of insecurities: the man of my dreams is kissing me and my place is a mess, my bedroom is a mess, I haven't exactly been