Revere: A Legacy Novel (Cross + Catherine Book 2)

by Bethany-Kris

  This was better.

  A private reveal between just the two of them, where no one could see or know what was said, or what happened. So he could be authentic, and so could she. Their wedding was such a show—a beautiful day for them, sure, but still a show for the people who flew in from all over the world to be a part of it as guests.

  This moment was not a part of that show.

  It was Cross and Catherine.

  Just them.

  Only them.

  “Just … I want to do it this way for him, Daddy.”

  Dante sighed. “Okay. Here we are.”

  With the Waldorf cleared for the day of guests, and the employees busy preparing the dining and ballroom for later, the entrance and winding staircase was empty. Except for Catherine and her father at the bottom, and Cross with his back turned at the top. He had only been given a time and told where and how to stand. Nothing more.

  “Don’t be too long,” Dante told her. “You’re getting married in an hour, and it’s not nice to make your future wait.”

  “I thought …”

  “What?”

  “You might be sad today,” she admitted.

  Dante smiled gently. “Catherine, I am. I am sad, but I am happy. I am happy because I know you have finally found your footing, and made your own footsteps. Happy because you have found a man who adores you and loves you far more than anyone understands. So I give you away today, and your last name changes, and yes, that makes me sad. As it should, I think, but I am far too happy for you to even feel it, vita mia.”

  “I love you, Daddy.”

  He stroked her cheek with a careful hand, making sure not to smudge her perfectly done makeup. “My impossibility, remember?”

  “Your never-meant-to-be.”

  “Keep proving me wrong, Catherine.” Dante nodded at the winding staircase. “Go, he’s waiting.”

  She kissed her father’s cheek, took a soothing breath, and headed up the staircase. Her heels clicked under the heavy weight of the dress, but the closer she came to Cross, the calmer she felt. With his back turned to her, all she could see was the black of his tux, and the diamonds in his cufflinks. At his sides, his fingers clenched and unclenched rhythmically.

  Nerves, she knew.

  He only did that when he was nervous. It was so unusual for him because he was the calm in chaos. Still waters in a hurricane.

  Catherine stopped a few steps away from the top of the stairs. “Cross?”

  His shoulders tensed like her voice had surprised him, but she knew that couldn’t be the case. He had to have heard her heels, as she hadn’t been quiet at all. She heard his quick intake of air, and saw the way his shined Italian leather shoe tapped against the tiles.

  “You can turn around now,” she said softly.

  Cross did, spinning slowly on his heel until he came to a stop facing her. His gaze was still drawn down to the floor, but she could see the tightness in his jaw like he was trying to keep steady. His gaze lifted, starting from the floor and rising slowly, as though she were water, and he was taking one long drink.

  At her middle, Catherine clasped her own trembling hands together, and smiled when his eyes finally met hers.

  So dark.

  So familiar.

  She found water there—unshed tears glazing the soul-deep gaze she loved so very much. She found the emotions and the nerves he was trying to hide running wild in his eyes. He took another breath, shakier than the last, and the tenseness in his jaw relaxed a bit.

  Still, he said nothing.

  “You didn’t want to do this in front of people,” she murmured, “and I knew that.”

  He nodded once. “Yeah, babe.”

  “Is this good?”

  “This is perfect, Catherine.” Cross took one step, and then another. His gaze traveled over her again as he reached out to stroke his thumbs over her cheekbones. “You are so beautiful, my girl.”

  The wetness on his lashes started to fall, but Catherine caught it quickly enough, and wiped it away. He smiled, and let out a short laugh.

  “Jesus, just …” Cross sat down on the stairs, and buried his face in his hands. Catherine dropped down with him just as fast. “We’re getting married.”

  “Well … yeah.”

  “How long have we waited for this?”

  “Too long,” she replied.

  Cross dropped his hands, leaned forward, and caught her mouth with his own. The kiss, so soft and gentle, still lit her up like fireworks. His scent, his taste, and just him.

  Her whisper teased along his lips. “Forever is waiting.”

  “Catherine, don’t you know? My forever has always been with you.”

  A shadow darkened Catherine’s view of the sun, and she glowered up at the form taking away her rays. He was too gorgeous for her to stay mad at with his tan skin, already sun kissed from being out in the sun with her for days, and his body on display.

  “Cross, you’re ruining my tan.”

  “You’re already tan,” he replied.

  She stuck her tongue out at him.

  “And where is your top, Catherine?”

  She glanced down at her bare breasts. “I don’t want tan lines. It’s our private beach for the next two weeks.”

  Instead of spending their honeymoon in cold New York, they were spending it in warm Sicily.

  Cross looked over his shoulder with narrowed eyes. “You’re going to make me catch a damn charge out here if someone wanders too far, Catty.”

  Her laughter lit up the beach. “Shut up and get down here with me.”

  He did, dropping the basket to the blanket as he went. He pulled her into a sitting position, climbed in behind her, and she fitted her back against his chest while using his knees to rest her arms.

  Cross kissed the back of her neck. “You were up before me. That’s not normal.”

  She shrugged. “Still jetlagged a bit.”

  “I could make you sleep. Exhaust you a little.”

  “You do that anyway,” she said.

  He kissed her cheek, and nipped her ear. “It’s quiet here. I’m not used to this much silence.”

  “I like it.”

  “Me, too.”

  Their wedding had been so loud. All day. All night. Loud.

  A non-stop party. They danced, only to be interrupted and handed over to more guests. Their gifts had almost reached the ceiling. The bill for the open bar was a number Catherine didn’t even want to think about. The two hour, traditional Catholic ceremony had been almost enough to make her fall asleep on the altar, but coming out of that church married had been worth it.

  Cross’s teeth teased along Catherine’s pulse on her neck.

  “Cross Nazio—”

  “I mean, if we’re going to be naked on a beach, let’s do fun things while naked on a beach,” he muttered, lapping at her skin.

  Pleasure danced along her skin as his hand slipped between her thighs and beneath the thong bikini bottoms she wore. Talented fingertips circled over her clit, making her shake and hum.

  “I can’t fucking get enough of you,” he told her.

  “Ever?”

  “Never, Catty. Fuck.”

  He kept touching and stroking and teasing her like crazy.

  She enjoyed it far too much.

  “What do we do now?” she asked.

  “Hmm?”

  “We’re married, so what do we do now?”

  “Whatever we want, babe.” Cross smirked against her shoulder. “I’d really like to get you climbing into my lap right now, but hey.”

  “I can feel how much you would like me to get on your lap, thanks.”

  “Makes you hot. You’re fucking soaked.”

  She was. Her breaths stuttered on the inhale. She was fighting that orgasm because it would be better when it finally did ravage its way through.

  “That’s not what I meant.” Catherine rocked her hips into the rhythm of Cross’s hands. “I meant, what’s the next step?”

>   “Whatever we want.”

  “Supper on the table day after day? Kids? Church every Sunday?”

  Cross nipped at her shoulder, and then kissed the same spot. “Those aren’t bad things, babe.”

  “No, I know.” She sighed. “At the reception, I actually had people asking about when the first kid was coming. Just outright asking, Cross. They might as well have asked if I was going to be bent over or on top.”

  “Both, preferably,” he murmured. She elbowed him, and he laughed breathlessly. “Ow, fuck, come on.”

  “Well!”

  “People are nosy, babe. Besides, that is what most people do. Get married. Chill out. Have kids. Grow old.”

  “Not right now, though. They just assume. Can’t we be us for a while without all of that?”

  “That’s exactly what we’re doing. All that other stuff is just background noise that we’re not dealing with yet.” Cross’s hand picked up speed between her thighs, and she knew he was not going to be letting her hold back that orgasm this time around. “Besides, right now, we’re too busy with each other to be worrying about all of that. It’ll come when it comes. Just like you.”

  Shit, did she ever come.

  Hard.

  Shaking.

  Breathless.

  High.

  So spun.

  Before Catherine knew what happened, Cross had her back on the blanket, and he was climbing between her thighs with his smug smirk firmly in place. The hard ridge of his cock grinding against her core as he kissed her until she was begging for air.

  “Cross, God,” Catherine breathed.

  “That’s right,” he murmured, kissing down her stomach, “pray to me, babe. Kneel for me. Revere your King.”

  “Your ego is out of control.”

  “I partly blame you.”

  She did, too.

  His hot mouth was damn sinful.

  Just like the rest of him.

  He tugged her thong bikini down her thighs and winked. He was on his knees, and looking pretty fucking hungry as his thumbs stroked along the seam of her cunt. She slid her hand between her thighs to play while he watched with a wicked gleam in his eye. Catherine didn’t mind spreading her thighs and giving him something to eat. His grin was damn dirty. He bent lower and kissed the wedding band on her finger.

  “Who’s kneeling now, Cross?”

  “Long live my Queen, Catherine.”

  ***This is an early excerpt of Unruly, book three of the Cross + Catherine series inside the Legacy Novels. It is subject to editing changes, and may contain grammatical/proof errors.***

  Cross shrugged. “Usually they don’t yell when they argue. This time, Catherine was yelling loud enough to bring the walls down.”

  “Shit,” Dante murmured.

  “That meeting didn’t go well last night.”

  “Cat didn’t think it would.”

  “She couldn’t have given Catherine a heads up before she went in on it?”

  “How is Catherine ever going to learn to handle herself in those situations on her own if she always expects someone else to do it for her?”

  “Point taken,” Cross lamented.

  “It was bound to happen,” Dante said after a moment.

  “What?”

  “The arguing like they are.”

  “It’s happening more often.”

  Dante nodded. “Bound to happen, Cross. Considering. Catrina intends to hand her empire over to Catherine. She’s giving it all to her, but you have to consider, she’s built this from the ground up. Started as a young teenager, and she’s now a woman who has lived a lifetime doing this. She needs to know her reginella—the little queen she raised—can handle it all. After all, we are who we are, and we will not always be here to fall back on.”

  “Catherine can handle it.”

  “Sure,” Dante agreed, “but once she’s finally learned everything.”

  “Catrina has an interesting way of teaching.”

  Dante’s stony features cracked with a smirk. “That she does. No worries, Cross, her lessons are coming to an end. Catrina is almost done. I suppose once Catherine is finally finished with gallivanting all over the place for her mother, learning how to handle being at the top, you will all finally get some time to enjoy sitting where you both do.”

  Cross heard Dante’s unspoken words loud and clear.

  Things would slow down, then.

  Life would slow down.

  He couldn’t wait.

  “You didn’t step in between them, right?” Dante asked.

  Cross scoffed. “Do I look stupid to you?”

  His father-in-law waved a hand as if to say, Had to ask.

  “I remember what you told me years ago,” Cross said.

  Dante passed him a look. “Do you?”

  “Never forgot it.”

  “I always wonder if you actually listen to anything I tell you.”

  “I do. I especially do when it’s about Catherine.” Cross sighed, adding, “Never insert myself into her business, and she will never insert herself into mine. The two can’t mingle, and it’s best to keep them separate as much as possible. Cosa Nostra chains us down to an oath, and under no circumstances can we allow the family to control their business.”

  “Or let them think it’s even trying to control or impose on their business.” Dante passed him a smile and said, “I suppose you did hear me.”

  Cross agreed. “I listen.”

  “When two people head their own organizations, being in the same room can be tricky when business gets involved, never mind when those two people are married and sharing a bed. Keep it out of the house that way, Cross.”

  “We do.”

  It was the best advice his father-in-law ever gave him, to be honest. Catherine never felt like Cross was trying to impose his presence in her business, and she never inserted herself into his. It took away the option for a fight altogether.

  “Oh, good …” Dante shook his head, his tightly pressed lips belying the words he spoke. “Here they come.”

  He was right.

  Catherine and Catrina stepped out from the back of the hotel onto the tiled walkway leading to the pools. They wouldn’t even look at each other.

  “God, have mercy on me,” Dante mumbled as he stared up at the cloudless sky.

  “You’re being a bit dramatic I’m sure they’ve calmed down.”

  “I can promise you I am not, and I can assure you they have not.”

  Dante was right.

  I think every author comes across a book where the characters basically run the show. For me, those books are Cross and Catherine’s. They’re real to me inside my head. Probably far more real than they should be, but I kind of love them for that, too. It makes them far more real on paper, in a way. Thank you to these characters for taking up space in my brain like they do—they’re a wonderful place to live for a while.

  To my readers: keep loving words. Mine, others, and more. Love words. But especially thank you for loving mine like you do. Your emotional attachments to my fictional worlds and characters rivals my own, and I love you for it.

  Eli, my editing girl, and friend … thank you for always being in my corner. Really. And for the work you do on these books. You make them shine.

  To Tracy and Julia—all my appreciation and hugs for proofing and beta reading these books. Your excitement is my joy, truly. Thanks for taking time out of your lives to help with mine.

  For my family, my husband and boys—words cannot express my love and gratitude. I try, and I fail. I’m the one who makes words go, so I’m sorry I can’t give you more than I do sometimes. But I love you for being mine despite of it all.

  To the hard-ups, the criers at night, the turned backs, the forced smiles, the aching hearts, the broken souls, the victims, the survivors, the lost ones, and the warriors … one step at a time. One single step at a time, and you will get exactly where you need to find yourself again.

  For myself … you have walked lon
ger roads, have climbed higher mountains, have struggled, broke, cried, fell, and shattered. You have come so far, so very far from where you once were. You don’t touch characters that are too much like you, except you did this time, so remember—because you will need a reminder someday—that you can and will do anything. You are stronger than anyone knows. You have always been. Thank yourself once in a while. You got yourself here. You’ll get there again when you need the reminder.

  Be the boss bitch needed in your life, loves.

  Bethany-Kris is a Canadian author, lover of much, and mother to four young sons, one cat, and three dogs. A small town in Eastern Canada where she was born and raised is where she has always called home. With her boys under her feet, a snuggling cat, barking dogs, and a spouse calling over his shoulder, she is nearly always writing something ... when she can find the time.

  Find Bethany-Kris at:

  Her website www.bethanykris.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bethanykriswrites on her blog at http://www.bethanykris.com/blog or on Twitter - @BethanyKris.

  Sign up to Bethany-Kris’s New Release Newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/bf9lzD.

  Cross + Catherine

  Always

  Revere

  Unruly

  Guzzi Duet

  Unraveled, Book One

  Entangled, Book Two

  DeLuca Duet

  Waste of Worth: Part One

  Worth of Waste: Part Two

  Standalone Titles

  Inflict

  Donati Bloodlines

  Thin Lies

  Thin Lines

  Thin Lives

  Behind the Bloodlines

  The Complete Trilogy

  Filthy Marcellos

  Antony

  Lucian

  Giovanni

  Dante

  Legacy

  The Complete Collection

  Seasons of Betrayal