Page 15 of Unchained

I grin. “Those were pretty insightful.”

I withhold the fact that I’ve been reading a whole smutty book a night for the last year and learning all kinds of things about myself in the process. At the fine old age of thirty, I’ve been horny for the last ten years of my life.

Books are way better than porn.

Way better than fumbling around with a guy who has no clue what he’s doing and is petrified that my dad is about to walk in and blow his brains out.

We drive in silence for the next half hour. My brain is ticking over all the plans I have in my head, none of which I can act on until I get to Sterling Ranch and assess the situation.

“Are you nervous? About getting married?” Dom asks quietly beside me.

“No. I don’t get nervous, Dom.”

He nods and is clever enough not to continue with that line of questioning. Instead, he says, “Is Tomasso going to live? Where did you stab him?”

I shoot him a glare. “Probably. Although his groin area isn’t going to look pretty for a while.”

“What did he say?”

My body tenses up. Partly because he was right. No man wants to touch me. Because everyone who knows my name knows the price on their heads if they do.

I could walk into a room of my father’s men naked, and they would all look at the floor. No matter what I wear. Nothing makes me attractive enough for someone to make a move. To risk anything.

And I only want a man who is willing to risk their life for me. Just like Ace did for Harper. That man ran into a war zone to save his girl and nearly died in the process.

I want that. A man who will walk through flames for me. The same as I would for him. But I don’t have time for that.

All I have to do is survive, take over the empire that I’ve spent my entire life working towards, and see who stands beside me when it’s over.

“He said something incredibly dumb, Dom,” I mutter and turn the volume up on the radio. I need something that isn’t my thoughts for a while.

The gravel crunches under my tires as we pull into the long driveway of Sterling Ranch. This better not fuck up my tires.

“Home sweet home,” I whisper.

Dom stays silent. This is his idea of hell. No luxury restaurants or spas. The mud on his five thousand dollar shoes might make him age ten years by the end of the week.

“Are they expecting us to work?” he asks.

I shrug, following the track to the main house, Hunter’s house, like Harper instructed me. Colten hasn’t reached out to me, and I haven’t to him. That gives me a good insight into how our marriage is going to go. He stays on his side, and I stay on mine. Which doesn’t particularly help me with the mission my father has sent me on. But I’m resourceful. I have a certain charm that might work on Colten. Or I suck his dick like a whore and hope for the best.

“I doubt it. I doubt they want us anywhere near what's theirs, Dom.”

These cowboys are smart. A lot smarter than I anticipated. And ruthless. They’re everything a mafia family is, but with more heart. Because when they say family, they mean it with love.

“Then what are we meant to do all day? Sit and watch the sky? Feed some cows?” Dom asks.

I glance over at him. “We both have businesses to run… virtually. And we have an empire to infiltrate. I think we will keep busy enough. If not, we can binge-watch as many shows as possible to see us through to the next life. This could be like a vacation.”

He laughs, but it’s not real. He knows, as well as I do, that the chances of going back to LA are slim. This is as far from a vacation as it gets; this is more like walking into a thriller movie.

“I’d look hot in a cowboy hat, though. Don’t you think?” Dom says with a chuckle.

I pull up next to a red truck and kill the engine. “Yeah, I’m sure you can find people to keep yourself entertained with. Plenty of rowdy bars we can visit.”

His face drops. “I doubt there's anyone here for me, G.”

I rest my hand over his. Dom is openly gay. Well, open to me. Came out when he was seventeen. My father doesn’t have a clue; it’s not something that would be accepted in our family, and Dom knows that when the time comes, our father will marry him off too, to a woman. But New Falls doesn’t give the impression it’s quite as open as LA.