Loved By the Protector by Zack Dean

Teresa Farris is a 22-year-old woman who also happens to be the daughter of an Italian mob boss – Lionne Farris. She has been prepping, as the eldest daughter, her whole life to manage empires, be ruthless in all her dealings, and to be a virgin so that one day she can be married off to the highest bidder – generally an upstanding Italian man with money and power. She knows she will never get along with most and assumes her father knows this and will be careful in choosing the right man for her when it comes time. She never expects to be sold like a slave to the enemy.
But that is exactly what happens to her when her father calls her away from her friends to meet him at his office at odd hours. She walks in to find a stranger trying to explain to her that he has bid a high price for her hand in marriage – and he is Romanian – which makes him enemy number one. She knows from her father’s tone when she asks him why that something she doesn’t understand has happened and that she will have little choice in the matter. So, she signs her life away and becomes the property of Simon Gould, being whisked away on a private jet away from her home to Miami to the other side of the country; California.
The beautiful dresses, diamonds, and homes Simon gives her mean very little once she realizes he is even more of a monster than her father is and that she is to be cooped up like she is a prisoner on the basis of some kind of threat against her because she is engaged to Simon.

To keep her safe, she is assigned a bodyguard – a glorified babysitter named Damien who is barely allowed to leave her alone to use the bathroom much less have a single solitary thought.
Teresa and Damien get off to a bad start as he accuses her of being this prissy entitled princess that is only with a man for his money, and she instantly is angry and sets him straight. But her anger morphs into a sexual tension that is off the charts which is a problem since her fiancé watches her every move with surveillance and she is supposed to be saving herself for him.
They both try their best to resists the urge to risk their lives for a simple touch, but one kiss and the unleashing of Simon’s true nature on Teresa will lead to an act they can’t take back. Will these two lovers be able to say goodbye when it is time for her to say I do, or will they both get caught in the crossfires of an angry, rich, and powerful mob boss?