Binding Rose: A Dark Mafia Romance(17)

“Do you always speak this way in front of women you’ve just met?” Alejandro scolds, displeased with my wayward tongue.

“Most of them appreciate my honesty.”

“Rosa isn’t like most women.”

“I can tell that just by looking at her.” I lick my lips, staring at the woman who is trying very hard not to fidget under my scrutinizing gaze.

“Don’t look too hard, Shay. Especially when the prize has been bought and paid for already by another,” Alejandro warns.

“Is that how you see your sister? As a prize?”

“She’s worth more than your pockets can afford. I can tell you that much.”

“I’ve got deep pockets.”

“Not deep enough.”

“You wound me.” I feign hurt by placing a hand to my chest.

“Trust me, Shay. If I wanted to wound you, it wouldn’t be with words,” he threatens with a menacing glower.

“Enough,” Colin interrupts, annoyed. “We’ve been out in the open for too long as it is. I say we get into the car and return to Back Bay.”

“Why the rush? I doubt anyone in their right mind would use this opportunity to take us out in the middle of a Hanscom Field landing strip, of all places. Besides, isn’t Rosa being here supposed to be the end of the Mafia Wars?” I mock, salaciously eyeing the woman in question, while making sure Alejandro sees me doing it.

“The wars aren’t over yet,” he spits out, nostrils flaring.

All the fucker needs is another little push to break that cold demeanor of his.

How fun.

“I agree with… Colin, is it?” Rosa says at last, her melodic voice doing something to my insides I didn’t expect, stealing away any desire to fuck with her brother a little more just so I can hear her speak again. “We’ve had a long flight, and I’d like to freshen up and rest if that is at all possible.”

“Follow me,” Colin replies with a staunch no-nonsense tone.

Without added encouragement, she follows my cousin to the car, leaving me and Alejandro to trail behind them.

“She’s very well behaved, I give you that.” I smirk while staring at her pear-shaped ass.

I wish I could say it is more for her brother’s benefit than it is for mine, but with each sway of the hip, I almost forget that my blatant ogling of my soon-to-be sister-in-law is only to piss Alejandro off.

“Rosa is a lady and should be treated as such,” he forewarns.

“A lady, you say?” I chuckle at the word.

“Yes.”

“There’s no such thing.”

“Maybe not in the sewer you were brought up in.”

“Ouch, Alejandro. Again, is that any way to talk to family?”

“You and I both know that it’s going to take more than your brother marrying my sister to make us family.”

“If that’s true, then why bring her here?”

“Because just like Tiernan, I’m a man of my word.”

“Careful there, Alejandro. That remark could almost be misconstrued as a compliment.”

He scoffs in disdain and hurries his step to get into the backseat of the car with his sister and away from me. I chuckle, pleased that I’ve rattled his cage a bit, and take my seat beside an impatient Colin.

“Knock it off and stop acting the maggot,” Colin mutters under his breath, side-eyeing me as he drives the car away from the airport and back to Boston.

“Where’s the fun in that?” I smile widely.

“Feckin’ eejit,” he groans low enough for the two Hernandez siblings sitting in the back not to overhear.

My smile only widens, content that not only have I irked Alejandro to no end, but I’ve pissed off my cousin, too. Still, the one I don’t seem to be making any impression on is the tight-lipped woman in the backseat that is currently staring out the window, watching the scenery pass by.

I’m not sure what I was expecting when Tiernan ordered me to pick up his bride this morning, but this wasn’t it. I’ve never envied my brother. Not once have I ever coveted his life in any way. While Tiernan is ruled by all the restrictions of duty, I’ve been allowed to live free from such chains.

But one look at Rosa has me second-guessing if Tiernan isn’t the one who lucked out.

“Cabrón,” Alejandro mutters. “The asshole will hear from me. He should have been here to greet you, not send his dogs to do it,” he adds in Spanish to his sister.

“It’s quite alright, brother. I’m not bothered. The less contact I have with him, the better,” she retorts in the same dialect, thinking that stating her musings in her native tongue will keep her secrets safe from us.

“You’ll have to have contact with him sooner or later. Successful marriages aren’t exactly born from absence,” her brother nags.

“Is that your hope for me? That I have a successful marriage?”

“Men like me don’t hope.”

I scoff loudly, interrupting their private tête-à-tête.

“Is there something you wish to say, Kelly?” Alejandro asks with a bite to his words.

“No. Just admiring your accent. Mi acento no es tan bonito.”

Alejandro’s face grows red with fury when he realizes I must have understood his every word, but it’s the little tug of amusement playing on Rosa’s lips that really has me smiling.