Raina climbed out of bed and stretched. She was wearing only her panties. A quick look around the room told her that there were no clothes there for her. She was forced to pull on the clothing that she'd worn the night before. Bar-star was not a good daytime look.
She found a packaged toothbrush and toothpaste in the bathroom, which she used. Feeling better, she made her way down the stairs, looking around. The house was insane. The furnishings were big, beautiful, opulent. Not really her style and a little tacky if she was being honest, but the place itself was incredibly luxurious.
There were so many rooms that she lost count as she went by them. She didn't stop to look inside any of them yet; she figured she could do that later, after breakfast.
Raina descended to the first floor of the mansion and found herself in the lobby by the front door. She glanced around and found an archway off to the side. She went through and, after a few minute’s exploration, she found the dining room, which sported a ridiculously long table and at least a dozen chairs. Mateo was sitting at the head of the table, engrossed in a conversation with someone on his cell phone, a piece of toast held aloft in his hand.
He was wearing a suit instead of his usual jeans and T-shirt. He looked mouth-wateringly good. Even the scowl wrinkling his brows was sexy.
He caught sight of her and his serious expression shifted. He didn't smile, but there was a softening to his features as he watched her.
He waved at the chair on his right, indicating that she should sit down. Raina narrowed her eyes at him and headed around to the other side of the table, sitting in the chair on his immediate left. She may as well establish immediately that she was no dog to be ordered around.
Mateo continued to listen to whoever was talking on the other end of the phone, but Raina could tell he was also paying close attention to her. He reached down and pulled something from his pocket, setting it on her placemat. Raina immediately recognized the little blue bottle. Her pills. So he did have her purse somewhere.
Raina started piling food on her plate. In front of her was a spread of every kind of delicious breakfast food imaginable. There was a plate filled with toast, one with waffles, another with scrambled eggs, and yet another with bacon and sausage. There was also a big bowl filled with a variety of fruit. Raina was going to ignore that particular dish until she made her way through all the fatty stuff.
She didn't often allow herself to indulge this way, but she also didn't often have that many options spread out in front of her hungry gaze.
As she reached for another fistful of bacon Mateo grabbed her wrist. Without missing a beat in his conversation, he pushed her hand toward the fruit plate. Once again, she narrowed her eyes at him, laser beaming him with her displeasure. She pulled her hand away from his and once again reached for the bacon this time snatching it fast and shoving it into her mouth before he could stop her.
"Excuse me, I'm going to have to call you back. Give me half an hour." Mateo ended the call and set his phone on the table, then turned his gaze to Raina's face.
Raina grinned at him as she chewed her bacon. She was being childish, but she couldn't help it. She wasn’t about to let some man tell her what to eat.
"I thought we established that your health is very important to me," Mateo said in a growly voice that did strange things to the pit of her stomach. "Stop eating the bacon and move on to the fruit. It's better for you and will promote better kidney health."
"If you don't want me to eat bacon then don't give me the option," she said tartly, picking up the cloth napkin next to her plate and wiping her fingers of bacon grease.
She actually did kind of want some of the strawberries and blackberries that she saw in the fruit bowl, but now it was a matter of principle; she couldn't touch that fruit.
Mateo reached out, swiped the fruit bowl and dumped half of it on her plate covering her toast and eggs in fruit.
"Hey!"
Mateo grabbed her hand before she could start throwing berries back into the bowl. "You need to have a better attitude when it comes to both me and your health. If you want our marriage to be a pleasant one, then you’ll follow a few basic rules."
"Well that's an easy problem to solve," she said sarcastically. "We're not married yet, so I think I'll do as I please."
"Do not declare war with me, little girl. I’ve won every battle, skirmish, and war that I have partaken in. If you choose that path, you will not win."
Raina rather thought that his feelings for her gave her an edge in any war they might be about to embark on, but she didn't want to show her hand by telling him that. Instead, she pushed her plate away from her and crossed her arms over her chest. "I’m well aware of my needs. I’ve been living with the consequences of kidney failure since the age of nine. I rarely indulge in things that I know are bad for my body. I don't need a keeper to tell me to stay away from bacon."
"Apparently you do.”
Raina could feel her temper soaring and had to take several deep breaths to stop herself from shouting at him. She was getting absolutely nowhere and now wasn't the time to throw a fit. The way things were going, she thought that there would be plenty of time for that in the future. She decided to change the subject instead.
"Who does this house belong to?" she asked. "I mean, besides you. It's obviously been here for a while and the furnishings don't exactly seem like your taste. Too gaudy.”
He wiped his mouth with his napkin and dropped it next to his empty plate. "The mansion used to belong to the former Miami boss, Ignacio Hernandez. He was killed about four years ago. The mansion was then entrusted to Reyes through marriage."
Raina stared blankly at him, the gears of her mind working hard as she tried to piece together what she knew of the Miami underground scene. She only got bits and pieces from Mateo, Sotza, Vee and some of the men. Then it hit her, this was the mansion that Casey Reyes used to live in.
Mateo answered her unspoken question. "Señora Reyes lived here with her former husband prior to his death."
Though Raina had never met Casey Reyes, nor her formidable husband, she’d heard enough about the woman to feel a closeness to her.
Now, Raina was inhabiting her old home, the place where Casey’s first husband had died in a brutal takeover. Raina wondered how Casey felt about the house now. If she would come visit some time or if she preferred the structure be burnt to the ground.
After breakfast, Raina went back to her bedroom and gathered a pen and a pad of paper. With new determination she wandered the halls, counting bedrooms, cataloguing furnishings and artwork and taking note of outdated styles. She wrote down several pages of notes.
She didn’t know exactly why she was doing it. She never cared about interior decorating in the past. Maybe it was because she was bored, or maybe because her life had spun out of control and making what changes she could helped her feel like she was back in control. Whatever it was, she thoroughly enjoyed the work. It gave her a feeling of purpose.
She’d been exploring the second floor for nearly an hour and was on her seventh bedroom when she wandered into the room that Mateo had claimed. She knew right away, without anyone telling her. It smelled like him; like man, sunshine and ocean.
She backed up and nearly left, but then curiosity and a sense of purpose drove her inside. She was here for a reason. She needed to take inventory before she could start work on her redecorating plan. As far as she knew she hadn’t been banned from any part of the house.
Raina wandered around the heavily masculine room, touching a large armoire, a desk, chair, bed. The bed would have dominated the room, since it was a California king plus, but the room itself was pretty damn big. The more she looked at it, the more she realized it must be the master bedroom. It was bigger than all the other rooms, including hers, and the furnishings looked slightly more used.
She wandered to the window and pulled the heavy wine-coloured curtains aside. They looked expensive, but oppressive. She made a note to get rid of them.
“Didn’t think I’d see you in my bedroom this quickly,” he drawled, walking slowly toward her.
She shrugged. “I was bored.”
“And you found your way in here? I’m flattered.” He raised a thick dark eyebrow.
She rolled her eyes at him. “No, gangster. I wanted to take inventory of the mansion’s furnishings so I can start redecorating.”
“Redecorating?” He sounded surprised.
“Yes,” she said firmly. “If I’m going to be forced to live here, then I want a say in what it looks like.”
“No one’s forcing you,” he pointed out.
“Oh really?” She stepped closer to him, hands on her hips. “What do you call the choices you gave me? Can I leave? Continue on my path of self-discovery and independence?”
“Of course not. You can stay here or go home to Venezuela… for a while.”
“That’s not a choice!” Her voice was sharp with annoyance. “If I live on the side of a mountain in Venezuela I’m as trapped as if I was in prison.”
He shrugged his indifference. “You exaggerate. You’re being given a choice, you don’t like it, therefore you choose Miami. You choose me.”
She suspected he was toying with her since she was positive that he wouldn’t allow her to leave, even if she chose Venezuela.
“Narrowing my choices down to one isn’t a choice, Mateo. You need to go back to school.”
“Never went to school,” he said, crossing to set his leather portfolio on his desk.
She gaped at him. “How did you never go to school?”
“My family was too poor. I had to help bring in money so we could survive.”
“But….” She was floored by this information. In a few succinct sentences she learned more about Mateo than she had in the two years prior. “You’re so well spoken. You can read and write. You’re smart!”
He gave her a dark stare. “Don’t need school to be smart. I taught myself how to read and write; Sotza had a tutor available to any of his people that wanted more education. When I wasn’t too busy, I’d avail myself of the tutor’s services. I also enjoy reading and do it as often as I can. Usually every night before bed.”
Raina was seeing Mateo in a whole different light and she didn’t know what to think. His determination to seek education after having been denied it as a child was an admirable trait.
“What do you like to read?” she asked tentatively.
He leaned his ass against the desk, studying her. Was she asking him too many personal questions? She had always been inquisitive, without a lot of personal boundaries. She wanted to know what made people tick. She was a student of human nature. And the more she knew about a person the easier it was to get what she wanted out of them. The easier it was to create masterpiece forgeries.
Finally, he answered her question. “I read the news, world events, human interest stories, that sort of things. I also enjoy novels.” He walked straight toward her, so quickly that she took a step back bumping into the bed. He stopped next to her and bent to open the nightstand next to the bed. He pulled out several books and handed them to her. She glanced at the titles. Thrillers, mysteries, and a romance. She raised an eyebrow and held the last one up.
He shrugged carelessly. “It’s like porn for the brain.”
She gaped at him and then burst out laughing. He grinned and took back all the books except for the last one, the romance. “Take it, read it. I think you’ll like it.”
Her smile slowly faded as she stared up at him, her fingers tightening on the book, her heart pounding in response. The idea of reading the same words as him, of reading the same sex scenes he’d read, picturing them in his mind while they played out in hers. It was hot.
He reached out, touched her cheek, then pushed her hair back off her forehead. She became painfully aware of what she must look like. Her big glasses firmly in place, no makeup, the same rumpled clothes she’d worn the day before. He didn’t seem to care. He looked at her like she was the most beautiful woman on the planet.
“Thank you,” she whispered, in response to his giving her the book.
He winked at her. “Don’t dog ear the pages, fucking hate when people do that.”
She burst out laughing as she imagined this big thug who was capable of murdering people being annoyed at the bent pages in his romance novel. He was such a strange contradiction. Painfully domineering and egotistical, but he also had a wicked sense of humour. Five minutes in his company and she was running a gamut of emotions, from laughter, to anger, to fear. This thought sobered her. She didn’t know the real Mateo. Not really. And she didn’t know how to get to the heart of the man she was supposed to marry.
“I think I’ll go back to my room.”
He nodded, his eyes following her, his expression unreadable, as she slipped past him and headed for the door.
“Raina.”
She turned to look at him.
“I’ll have some clothes sent to your room until you’re able to do your own shopping.”
“Thank you,” she murmured, clutching the book to her chest.
He continued to stare at her as though mapping out her every feature.
“I will see you at dinner, mi amor.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Raina called her mother the next day, to get Casey Reyes’ number. She was eager to get started on the renovations but didn’t want to move forward until she had Casey’s blessing.
Vee was concerned that Raina was in Miami with Mateo and took up most of their phone conversation talking about it. She grilled Raina on everything from the moment she was shot in Italy until she arrived in Miami.
In response to Vee’s question about Raina’s wound, Raina assured her, “I’m feeling better now, but getting shot hurts like a motherfucker.”
Vee chuckled her agreement. “Yes, it does.”
Vee had been shot in the arm during Nico Garza’s takeover attempt on the Venezuela mafia. Though the attempt had been unsuccessful, two men had died and Vee and another woman, Garza’s second-in-command and lover, had been hurt.
“How is Miami?” Vee asked tentatively.
“It’s good. I haven’t been here long and so far I’m on house arrest. Maybe Mateo anticipates trouble as he locks down Miami.”
Vee paused before answering, “So, you know about that.”
“That Mateo is being handed Miami on a silver platter, with a ready-order bride in the wings?” Raina tried and failed to keep the bitterness from her voice.
Vee’s reply was swift. “You wish to be removed from the situation?”
“Is that an option?” Raina asked hopefully.
Her mother sighed deeply. “To be honest, not really. Sotza has given his blessing to a merger between you two, and though my wishes do hold some weight, he’ll have the final say.”
“Do my wishes mean nothing to him?” Raina asked sharply, her eyes narrowing.
Life was so much simpler with Diane and Joe, her adoptive parents. They only wanted her to be happy. Things in this organized crime world were so complicated, she felt like a piece on a chessboard.
“Of course your wishes matter to Isaac,” Vee defended her husband. “Neither of us would allow you to be sacrificed if we thought you would be unhappy.”
“You think I’ll be happy with him?” Raina asked incredulously.
“Yes, I do,” Elvira countered, her voice sharp and pointed. “I’ve seen you two together; there’s definitely something there. Even though I’m not happy about your involvement in Miami’s mob scene I can’t object to the way Mateo feels about you.”
“We’ll end up killing each other,” Raina protested. “We’re both so stubborn.”
/> Vee chuckled. “Mateo wants to do a lot of things with you, my dear, but he most certainly doesn’t want to kill you.”
“It was a figure of speech,” Raina muttered.
“Do you think you can give him a chance?”
Raina thought about it, but every time her brain tried to settle on the idea of marrying Mateo, of sharing intimacy with him, she shied away from the thought. “What’s the alternative?”
“You move to Venezuela and live on the compound with us, where your options in men are seriously limited. You’ve become more of a target now than you ever were before, which means you now require a lifetime of protection.” Raina opened her mouth to defend her choices, but Vee interrupted her, “It doesn’t matter, Raina. The fact is, you’re mafia royalty whether you like it or not. Whether you’re living on a farm in the middle of nowhere with Diane and Joe or if you’re jet-setting across the world, forging documents and partying with K-pop bands in South Korea.”
Raina’s eyes widened in horror. “You heard about that?”
“So did Sotza and so did Mateo. If you hadn’t decided to leave South Korea on your own, I guarantee Mateo would’ve come after you. He wasn’t happy with some of the things you got up to. There are pictures, Raina.”
Raina giggled and buried her face in a pillow as she imagined what those pictures contained. “I wanted to have some fun.”
“I know, sweetie,” Vee said comfortingly. “And so you should have as much fun as you want. You’ve had far too many things go wrong in your short life. To be honest, I was happy to hear about your exploits when the reports filtered in to Sotza. I had to talk him down a few times, beg him to not go after you himself, but I think he also understood your need to explore the world and establish some semblance of independence.”
Raina was happy that her parents understood, but she was even more conflicted about her future. She was only twenty-one, not ready to settle down. Yet, that’s essentially what they were all asking of her. She felt like a child again, in desperate need of a hug and advice from her mom. Both of them.
Born a Queen (The Queens Book 3) Page 12
