The Mafia's Blind Wife

WARNING: This story contains mature content intended for adult readers only. Discretion is advised.

SERAPHINA

"Lucian-oh."

His hand closed over my breast, sudden and solid, and a sound pulled itself from deep in my throat. I tried to push him away, to still his fingers, but each press of his palm only fed the heat that was spreading, slow as honey, through my skin.

"Your body knows what it wants," he said, his voice low enough to feel as much as hear. His fingers glided down my left thigh, light as water over stone.

My breath came heavy now, ragged at the edges. I meant to stop him. I meant to ask to see his eyes-though darkness was all I'd known since the accident stole my sight. This man, bound to me only by paper, was the one who'd taken me in.

I gasped as his hand moved higher, tracing the inside of my thigh until my bones felt loose with sensation I'd never imagined. I pressed my palm to my mouth to muffle the sounds building there-sharp, needy things I didn't recognize as my own.

Since losing my sight, my other senses had sharpened to a fine point. Sharp enough to lead us here, to this edge of something I couldn't name.

I heard his laugh-warm, rich, the kind that settled deep in my chest like sun on cold wood.

"Your eyes are gone, but every other part of you is burning alive," he said. I jolted as his fingers brushed my waist, lifting my shirt with careful ease.

"Lucian!" I tried to pull back, but my limbs were soft as moss.

The truth sat heavy in my ribs: I'd never seen his face. All I had of him was the timber of his voice, the weight of his touch-the only proof he was real, that he was here.

"Easy, Sera," he said, his breath warm against my neck as he leaned closer. "Isn't this what we're meant to do?"

I braced my hands on the bed beside me, fighting to keep my balance.

"We're not really married," I whispered. "It's just a contract. You don't want this-your grandmother made you agree. This is... payment. For saving her. For what happened to me-"

His lips cut off my words, brushing my jaw. Heat flooded me again, so fierce I almost forgot how to breathe.

"Papers don't make a marriage," he murmured against my ear, and shivers ran down my spine like rain on glass. "Contract or no, you're my wife."

He held my shoulders gently, then eased me back onto the mattress. I let him guide me-what choice did I have, when my body was already leaning into his hands?

I felt his weight press close, and my heart hammered against my ribs hard enough to hurt.

Lucian... what do you see when you look at me? What are you thinking?

"You're fragile," he said, breathing in the space just below my ear before kissing my neck, slow and