Dangerous: Made & Broken (A British Bad Boy Romance) (9 page)

Only, on the ninth day, when most of my purchases arrived at the door, Blaine was nowhere to be found.

“Where is he?”

Rob gave me a short glance over the top of the gold-striped sofa he and his partner for the day were in the process of dragging through the hallway and into one of the reception rooms. “Out.”

“Out where?” I followed the two men, ensuring they put the sofa where I’d specified.

“Working. Here?”

I nodded, and the two goons put the sofa down on the new rug in front of the heavy coffee table they’d carried in before.

“When will he be back?”

“Dunno.” Rob rubbed his lower back with a sigh before heading back toward the hallway, no doubt eager to get done with dragging furniture for me as soon as possible.

I plopped down on my new sofa and bit my lip as the flaw in my plan finally dawned on me. While Blaine not being around meant I didn’t have to deal with him, it also meant that I was nowhere near my goal of befriending him. And if he didn’t hang around long enough that I could make him trust me, then there was zero chance he would ever give me enough rein that I could eventually escape.

I’d thought that getting all domesticated and making our house into a home would perhaps break the ice between us—that if he saw me making an effort to be more like what he wanted from a wife, he would be easier to manage.

But if the bastard wasn’t even home to notice, then my plan wasn’t going to work.

I looked up as Rob and Greg came, huffing and puffing, through the open French doors into the reception room with a seven-foot bookshelf made from solid oak, sweat beading on both their foreheads.

I hadn’t talked much to either of them or the other men who played bodyguards in front of our house, apart from when I needed to have them approve the lists of companies where I’d ordered food and furniture from.

They scared me. Everything about them, from their tough faces, bulging muscles, and unapproachable demeanors, reminded me of the darkest parts of my childhood. I had learned to fear men like them from an early age, as much as I’d learned to fear their superiors, like Blaine and his family. Yet, when I looked at them now as they dragged all my heavy purchases up and down the stairs, to make sure everything was just as I’d asked, it was easier to see them for more than something to be scared of. They were busting their arses to make me happy, even if they did it with grim expressions and only because Blaine undoubtedly had told them to help me out whenever I asked.

A wave of gratitude swept over me when I saw Greg wince as they sat down my heavy book case. Babysitting your boss’s wife would have to suck pretty hard, even if your day job was being a criminal, and yet they did it without making me feel like a burden. Granted, they didn’t exactly make me feel warm and welcome, either, but then again,
I
hadn’t done anything to make
them
feel welcome.

“Would you like a cup of tea?

Neither man managed to hide a look of surprise as I stood up from the sofa and offered each a genuine, if somewhat tentative, smile.

“Uh. Sure. Thanks.”

“It’s the least I can do, for all the work you’ve done for me,” I chirped, suddenly in a much better mood. Perhaps it was because it was my first positive interaction with another human being in weeks, but the simple act of putting the kettle on and getting the fancy china out I’d bought a few days ago made me feel like a different person. Or a real person, I should say, rather than a depressed captive with access to the Internet and a shopping addiction.

I made the tea in my new pretty, pink-and-green pot and arranged three cups on a silver tray. Then, thinking about all the hard work Greg and Rob had been doing all day, I threw together a few sandwiches as well, but when I went to put them on the tray I realized that I likely wasn’t going to get many other chances to break out my Butterfly Bloom afternoon tea set.

Fifteen minutes later, I’d set up the three-tier cake stand and filled it with sandwiches, store-bought scones and some cakes I’d planned on eating later in my room, and the kitchen breakfast bar had been transformed into a full-on tea party.

“Tea’s ready,” I yelled up the stairs, where I’d last heard the two bodyguards bump around with yet another piece of bulging furniture.

From the looks on their faces when they entered the kitchen thirty seconds later, they hadn’t expected the colorful spread.

“This is for us?” Rob’s one eyebrow was quirked in what I could only assume was mild disbelief.

I felt my face heat up a bit. Okay, so maybe I’d gone a bit overboard. “Yeah… I figured you might be hungry, and…” And it wasn’t like I would be able to invite anyone else over for tea and scones anytime soon. Not that I was the most social of people, but a full week in near-isolation had apparently made me pretty starved for company. I sat down on the bar stool farthest left and grabbed a sandwich triangle—crust free. “Help yourselves.”

Both men sat down with some hesitation, which only emphasized how much their rough appearance clashed with the delicate porcelain.

“You don’t like afternoon tea?” I guessed, doing my best to keep the disappointment out of my voice. Just because I was desperately lonely enough to try and socialize with Blaine’s hired goons didn’t mean that they had any interest in making even the most basic of smalltalk with me.

“No, it’s fine. Great, even,” Rob hurriedly replied, and I got the feeling I hadn’t kept my disappointment very well-hidden. He grabbed a sandwich himself and took a big bite. His hum of enjoyment seemed more genuine.

“We’re just used to Blaine,” Greg said, a wide grin spreading on his face as he picked a buttered scone off the cake stand. “The most you get out of him is a lukewarm beer after a hit.”

I paled at the reference to the
other
part of their job, but caught myself before I could freak out. I knew what they did—being a delicate flower about it wasn’t going to do me any good right now.

Rob gave him an elbow to the side. “Don’t talk about that in front of a lady, eh? She don’t wanna hear it.”

“It’s not like she doesn’t know,” Greg muttered.

Rob rolled his eyes—a move that looked surprisingly comical due to his general physique. It’s not often you get the delight of seeing a six-foot tall, four-foot wide criminal wearing a leather vest roll his eyes like a teenage girl. “You’ll have to excuse him. He’s never held on to a lady friend long enough to know the basics.”

Greg gave him a baleful glare and muttered what were undoubtedly profanities under his breath, but I latched on to the conversation changer with both hands.

“And you? Have you got a girlfriend?”

“A wife, going on five years now.” His face lit up with pure reverence, and I found it impossible not to instantly like him a whole lot more. A man who lit up like a Christmas tree at the mention of his wife had to have some good qualities tucked away, no matter his chosen profession. “And two wee ones, four and two.”

I smiled at his obvious pride. “Boys or girls?”

“One of each.” Rob took a sip of his tea and his gaze turned somewhat sly. “What are you hoping for? Once you and Blaine get to the baby-making?”

I choked on the tea that’d been on its way down my throat. Greg helpfully thumped his fist against my back, making me cough and spit the offending liquid up.

“Uh… yeah, I don’t think there’ll be any babies in our near future.” I got up to get a paper towel, using the spillage as an excuse to turn my back on them while I got my breathing under control. Just the thought of raising a child with Blaine made every hair on my body stand on end. It wasn’t that I didn’t want kids, per se, but in a forced marriage to a criminal I was planning on running away from the first chance I got? No thanks.

“Pity. I’d like to see Blaine with a couple of rugrats.” Rob chuckled and winked at me “Think it’d do him some good.”

I managed a smile. “I take it it straightened you right out, then?”

Greg guffawed. “I don’t know about straightening him out, but he did blow a big heist because he insisted on swinging by a pharmacy for the kid on his way to the checkpoint. Months of planning down the drain. Blaine nearly took both our thumbs for it.”

Rob’s ears reddened until they were nearly the same color as his ginger hair. “Penny had an ear infection. What was I gonna do, not get her the meds she needed? Just you wait until a lady is dumb enough to let you put a baby in her. You’ll see your priorities straightened out right quick, too.”

I lost track of time as I sat with the two bodyguards. They told me a few stories about their crew, and despite knowing what they did—even if they spared me the illegal details—I found myself genuinely enjoying the chat. Perhaps it was because I‘d been so starved for company, but the more I listened, the more I realized that both men were actually decent people. They were warm and sometimes funny, and it was obvious they saw each other and the rest of their crew as family.

Despite having grown up in a family similar to the Steels, I’d never known this type of bonding to occur within the ranks. It had always seemed like my father ruled his employees with fear and threats, and every one I’d met before I ran away had been mean and scary.

It surprised me to find that Greg and Rob obviously had plenty respect, and perhaps even a measure of fear, for Blaine and his family, but both seemed to have a loyalty to the Steels that went beyond the threat of their power.

A point that was proven just before six when the sound of the front door opening and shutting made both men reach behind them to what I guessed were their concealed weapons, but when Blaine appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, they both returned to their tea and cake with a casual “Hey, boss.”

Blaine took in the scene in front of him with first one, and then—at the sight of the now raided cake stand—both eyebrows raised. “I see you’re having a tea party, rather than guarding the front door.”

Rob shrugged and swallowed the final bite of his cake. “You said to look after the lass. Ain’t no reason we can’t do it from in here.”

“I offered them tea,” I added. “They’ve been helping me carry all the furniture in.”

He turned his head then, and I swallowed automatically under the weight of his full attention. It was the first time we’d even been in the same room since we shared that pizza and agreed to try to get along, and it would seem all the time apart had made me forget just how intense his presence was.

After everything that happened with the wedding and the night that followed, I’d been too emotionally unstable to dwell much on our drunken mistake. But seeing Blaine now, after a week of getting to terms with my current situation, brought everything that had happened that night rushing to the surface. Every touch of his hands against my skin, every moan and every thrust played out for my mind’s eye in high-definition while I stared at him, until I could feel my own pulse in my cheeks, my blush was that impressive.

Why,
why,
had I not just left the bed before things got out of hand? It had been hard enough to deal with him when I could still deny my rampant attraction to him—now that he knew just how much my body reacted to his, I found it near-impossible to look him in the eye.

Blaine seemed to notice my flustered state, because his soft lips pulled up in a devious sort of smirk. “So I see.”

What was
that
supposed to mean? I rubbed at my neck, irritated that I let myself get so affected by him. With as much dignity as I could muster, I turned away from him to face the two bodyguards. “Do you guys want to stay for dinner? I was going to make lasagna.”

“No thanks, love.” Rob stretched his arms out before getting off the bar stool he’d been perched on for the past few hours. “The missus’s expecting me home soon, and Greg’s got another job to get to. Thanks for tea, though.”

I tried to hide my disappointment. It had been so nice not being alone all day. “Well, thank you for helping me today. See you tomorrow, then.”

I walked them to the door and sighed when it closed behind them, leaving me alone in the hallway. Guess I could always spend the night reading. Again.

“I’ll have a bite of that lasagna.”

Startled, I spun around and blinked in surprise at the sight of Blaine’s looming figure. He was leaning against the doorway to the dining room, with the same little smirk playing on his lips. “That is, if you don’t mind the company.”

* * * *

Chapter 11

Mira

“I thought you’d gone upstairs.”

It wasn’t the brightest of comments, seeing as he obviously hadn’t disappeared up to his room as he usually did the second he got in the door, but it just flew out of me before I managed to stop myself.

“Well, I didn’t.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he straightened up a bit, making the leather of his black sleeves tighten over his muscles. “So maybe we can give the new dining table you bought a spin, eh?”

Huh. I nodded and attempted to straighten out my frown. It was funny, really. I’d found it easy enough to relax around Rob and Greg today, but something about Blaine just put me on edge, as if his mere presence disrupted the magnetic charges in my body, yet I was pretty sure my two bodyguards had just as horrible crimes on their consciences as my new husband did.