by Bethany-Kris
No one answered. Cat didn’t need them to.
“Some probably even lied, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Inevitably, their customers began weeding their way over to my men as well. It didn’t take long after that for us to catch your attention, which was exactly the point of the entire thing. My suggestion to all of you is that you begin culling the weak links on your streets. Find people who enjoy the game—money is what those people want, not the drug. It won’t be hard as far as that goes. Once you do that, you’ll take back control.”
“Our streets have always been well managed,” a man sitting beside Giovanni stated, aggravation setting his features hard.
“Until someone like me stepped into them,” Cat replied. “I was simply the first.”
“She won’t be the last,” Dante added. “I don’t want to see this issue come up again, and I don’t want a bunch of addict riddled users ruining the rules we’ve created and the respect we’ve earned on our streets with their mess. Does everybody understand that?”
Quiet confirmations rang out around the room.
“There’s one more thing I brought my beautiful fiancée in for today,” Dante informed, stepping down from the table. Cat stayed where she sat, content in her place above the men. She usually was, anyway. “From here on out, Cat controls your import and supply of blow. If you need something on that end, take it to her or one of her men. They have a decent connection and you’ve already seen what their product can do.”
Silence answered Dante back, but only for a short while. Loud, angry refusals filled the club’s floor. Indignant and frustrated over a woman being given any sort of power. Cat didn’t hold back her amusement for a minute.
Men, they were all the same.
Sliding off the table, Cat patted Dante on the cheek and gave him a wink.
“Have fun, bello. I have no desire to play shouting games with stupid men today, and you’re their boss, not me. I think I’ll go cure my new headache with a drink.”
“Get me one, too.”
Cat laughed. “Whiskey, neat. I remember. Make sure they’re all good, compliant little sheep when I get back.”
Dante grinned a sexy sight that could make a woman wet. Cat was no exception.
“Will do,” he murmured.
• • •
“What do you think?” Cat asked her soon-to-be sisters-in-law.
“Oh, I definitely like that blush cream,” Jordyn said as Cat held up another swath of material. “It looks great on Cecelia’s walls.”
“I agree,” Kim replied.
Cat sighed, comparing the colors with the natural earthy tones of the Marcello mansion walls in the kitchen. The color swaths were her choices for the wedding and reception decorations. Cat wasn’t doing the organizing herself, as Dante hired her two event planners, but she did have to give the okay on most things.
She needed to see the blocks of fabric against a couple of more rooms, but Cecelia Marcello was nothing if not particular. Cat had come to learn that over the last few weeks spending time with the family. The woman liked things, mostly her own, to be similar. Her design styles reflected that.
“I like it,” Cat finally said. “I’ll check the common room as well, but I think it’s a done deal.”
Spinning on her heel, Jordyn held out a small dish of food for Cat to take. “Here, try these. Pick which ones you like, and we’ll put it on the menu. Kim’s finishing up the dessert selections.”
Cat took the offering. “Thanks.”
Sitting down at the table across the room, Cat went to work trying the different manicotti dishes the girls had prepared. The reception she and Dante planned wasn’t intended to be a huge affair, but there would be a decent amount of people. They deserved to be fed and well, for that matter.
“Sexy or straight-laced for your dress?” Kim asked, tossing a wink over her shoulder at Cat.
Cat laughed right along with Jordyn at Kim’s teasing leer.
“What did you two go with?”
“Our wedding was in front of the entire congregation on a Sunday morning and Father Peter made it clear I was to dress appropriately,” Jordyn said. “Lucian acted like he didn’t care, but I think he didn’t want to push anyone’s buttons. A fun sucker, that’s what he is.”
Cat snorted derisively. “I’ll wear what I please. The church is too strict on those sorts of things, anyway.”
“And yet, we still go,” Kim muttered. “I didn’t have a wedding dress. I wore jeans and his jacket. We eloped.”
“Oh,” Cat said, sinking into her chair. “I didn’t know that.”
Kim shrugged. “It was fine for us—perfect, really. Giovanni doesn’t like people making a big fuss about him.”
Jordyn poked her sister-in-law in the side. “That is not why you two married in a Vegas ceremony.”
That fact, Cat did know a little bit about. “You were arranged to marry someone else, yes?”
Kim turned to face Cat, smiling sadly. “I was, but Giovanni stepped in and I couldn’t follow through with the wedding. Not that I wanted to in the first place. I’m giving the clean version, but that’s only because it’s easier than explaining the whole story.”
Cat grinned. “I don’t mind a little filth.”
Jordyn cracked up. “You’re going to fit right in.”
“I try.” Cat flashed her Queen tattoo, making the girls laugh all over again. Something about her profession amused the two women. All Cat understood was that they thought she looked too innocent and pretty to be a drug dealer. Once they calmed, Cat said, “Seriously, tell me what happened that caused the Vegas ceremony.”
Kim sobered, shooting Jordyn a glance. Jordyn simply shrugged her shoulders in response.
“Fine,” Kim said. “I was involved with Gio while engaged to another made man.”
“And they found out?”
“Yes. We just don’t talk a lot about it. Gio’s taken a lot of shit for it on the business side of things with the other capos, I guess. He brushes it off, but …”
“You know it bothers him,” Cat filled in.
“Kind of.”
The snarkiness she’d witnessed two weeks ago at the tribute meeting between Giovanni and his comrades made a lot more sense. His foundation of respect had suffered a hit. Cat sympathized for Giovanni, but she didn’t understand his situation as she had never been put in a similar one.
“Reputation is everything to men like them, Kim. He’ll get it back, eventually.”
“I hope so,” Kim replied quietly.
Watching the two girls flip through a bridal magazine and chat about the different dresses at the island was enlightening for Cat. Mostly because she and women didn’t mix well, yet she found herself strangely drawn to these two women like maybe they could be friends.
Or hell, maybe they already were.
Well, Cat supposed if she was going to make nice with any women, she’d want it to be the Marcello bunch. They had to be made of some kind of toughness to marry the men they had. Jordyn and Kim held their own just fine, too. Cat respected that more than the two women could possibly understand.
“Could I interrupt?”
The voice of Cecelia Marcello made Cat uneasy instantly. The two had little interaction beyond a couple of Sunday Masses at church and the dinners that followed. Cecelia had followed through with her promise of talking to Father Peter, something Dante had filled Cat in on. Really, Cat was shocked the woman offered her home for the wedding reception and dinner seeing as how she blatantly disapproved of Cat.
“Sure,” Cat said, waving at the food in front of her. “We were just finishing up some food selection and color picks.”
Cecelia peered over the swaths of fabric on the table. “I like that cream with the pink tone.”
“Catrina did, too,” Jordyn added.
“Yes, she does seem to have good taste,” Cecelia said offhandedly.
Cat took that as a compliment, even if it had been directed past her, as if she wasn’t even in
the room. Regardless of how much it annoyed her that Cecelia didn’t like her very much, Cat offered the woman the respect she deserved.
“I wanted to ask if anyone knew what the boys were doing for their birthday coming up,” Cecelia said. “Lucian and Dante usually do something together, but no one’s mentioned a thing to me.”
Dante didn’t want to have a party. Cat decided to play her knowledge off. “Dante hasn’t mentioned anything to me.”
“Jordyn?” Cecelia asked, turning to her daughter-in-law. “What about Lucian?”
“Lucian said there was too much going on with the wedding and—”
“That doesn’t matter to me,” Cecelia interrupted softly. “I’ve always celebrated their birthdays in some way.”
Cat cringed internally. While she understood Dante’s reasoning for not wanting to have a party or whatever, Cat would not give his mother more ammo to hate her with.
“Give me five minutes,” Cat said, standing from the table.
Cecelia nodded, but her mouth drew thin.
Cat was already dialing Dante’s cell number as she walked out of the kitchen. By the time she reached a more private area, her fiancé picked up her call.
“Ciao, Catrina,” Dante greeted, ever the gentleman.
“Are you busy?”
“Kind of. Looking at property contracts. Work, but the real kind.”
“My work is real,” Cat snapped.
“I didn’t say it wasn’t, Amore.”
Cat softened at his casual use of a pet name. He had started that nonsense without warning and the first time, it took her off guard. Dante could be a sweet man when he wanted to be. Sometimes, that made her attraction to him a lot harder to ignore.
Actually, she was barely able to ignore it at all.
“Your birthday is in three weeks, right?” she asked.
“From Saturday,” Dante answered.
“You’re breaking your mother’s heart by not having a party. You can’t do that, Dante. Have a damn party so she can celebrate you like she always has.”
Dante fell silent, but it didn’t last long. “There’s a lot going on right now.”
“How many clubs does Giovanni own?”
“A few.”
“Surely he can open one up for the night. I’ll have something catered in; let me know the address when you know which club. Invite people, or whatever it is you men do. Dio, you should make that woman happy by feeding her whims, especially right now.”
“I didn’t want a party, Cat.”
“Oh, well,” Cat replied. “Your mother does.”
• • •
“Catrina Danzi.”
Cat turned at the unknown male voice, meeting a man at least her age with dark hair and brown eyes. A smirk seemed to be tugging at the corner of his mouth as he stared her up and down, his gaze lingering far too long on her chest.
A shudder crawled up her spine and not in a good way.
“I can’t say I know your name,” Cat said, refusing to let a man make her feel uncomfortable. “I never forget a name, certainly not a man’s if he’s done business with me. What can I do for you?”
The man grinned. “They said it was you, but I couldn’t be sure. Dante’s birthday party seemed like a safe place to see if the rumors were true. Apparently, they are. If I hadn’t seen you with my own two eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. A little Queen Pin, imagine that.”
Cat bristled. “Little? That’s offensive.”
His hands flew into the air. “My apologies. I also heard you were quick to anger.”
Cat was done playing word games with this man. “Who are you?”
“Matteo Calabrese, though most people just call me Matty.”
A fellow New York family. Their leader’s son, actually. Cat recognized his name from discussing surrounding territories with her men before she went in on Dante’s streets.
Well … merda.
Cat retracted her claws, despite the creepy vibe the guy gave off. She couldn’t shame her future husband at his birthday party by ripping a new asshole into this … Matty.
Matty sidled up beside Cat at the bar, pushing his frame onto a stool. “Can I buy you a drink, bellissima?”
“I would suggest you don’t call me sweet names,” Cat warned. “Dante won’t like it if he hears it, and truthfully, I don’t like to be treated as though calling me beautiful will make me melt into a quivering pile of estrogen. It won’t, but it will earn you one less ball between your legs.”
Matty howled as if she were joking with him.
Cat wished she was.
“Touchy. A drink?” he asked again.
As it were, she’d already slammed back a half of a dozen and she could feel the effects of the apple martinis. She probably should have laid off at the second, but they were her weakness in a club when she wasn’t working.
“No, thank you.”
Matty leaned over in his seat, close enough to Cat that she could feel his breath on her cheek. “What did he promise you to get you into his bed, hmm?”
“Excuse—”
“Matty, long time no see.”
The Calabrese man wasted no time moving away from Cat at Dante’s heavy laden greeting. There was a heat behind his tone. Definitely a warning. Cat met Dante’s intense gaze just long enough to know he was pissed.
Without any warning, Dante leaned into Cat, placing both his hands to the bar on either side of her. The scent of whiskey and cigar smoke mingled with the aroma of his cologne. Cat’s blood heated at his proximity alone, the air in her chest sticking to her lungs like tar. The closer Dante came to Cat, the more motionless she turned. His nose skimmed her cheekbone as his mouth came to the shell of her ear.
Shivers trailed along her skin as she exhaled shakily. There had not been a man who woke up Cat’s desire like Dante Marcello did in a long time. She didn’t have the first clue about how she was supposed to ignore a lust that burned as hot as hers could for him. Sometimes it stayed dormant, especially when Dante was stubborn and difficult. Other times, like now or when she least expected it to, it slammed into her like a tsunami of raw need.
Goddamn, she had picked the wrong man to put a no physical rule on and marry at the same time. Cat should have known that from the first moment she met Dante as her tricks didn’t faze him and because he challenged her so blatantly.
Men never challenged Cat once they knew her.
Dante did.
What on earth was he doing?
What was wrong with her?
“Play along, bella,” Dante whispered. “I want my position with you clear so he doesn’t run his mouth back to his father that my wife is simply a hired bride. It may make my marriage look like a façade to the Commission. I don’t want that assumption out there.”
Cat nodded imperceptibly, swallowing hard at the sensation of his lips ghosting along the shell of her ear.
There was no time for Cat to react before Dante’s mouth was on hers. The kiss was anything but sweet and certainly not gentle; Cat didn’t mind. Her eyes flew wide at the taste of whiskey bursting along her taste buds when Dante’s tongue struck against hers. His teeth scraped to her bottom lip, tearing a piece of her carefully constructed wall of control down. A sweet sting brushed along her lips and chin from his stubble.
Cat couldn’t breathe and she wasn’t entirely sure how long he kissed her for. Long enough for her fingers to fist into his dress shirt and pull him closer; long enough for his hands to leave the bar and find her waist, holding tight; and long enough for Cat to forget that the only reason he was kissing her was because of the man sitting beside them.
That feeling only lasted until Matty cleared his throat loudly, breaking the trance Cat was in. Finally, Dante began to pull away, an arrogant smirk twisting his lips and approval glimmering in his gaze. He didn’t let go of Cat as he canted his head to regard Matty.
“Happy birthday, old friend,” Matty said, smiling almost sardonically.
Dante’s cold exp
ression didn’t change. “I didn’t realize you were invited to the party.”
“It was an open invitation, wasn’t it?”
“Sure, but for the Marcello clan.” Dante stood straight, released his hold on Cat’s waist, and stepped to her side. He turned his back to her as if to block her from Matty’s view. “Where is your wife tonight, Matty?”
“At home.”
“Too bad. She might have enjoyed a night out with her husband. Then again, if she had seen you talking to my fiancée like you just were, I bet she wouldn’t have been pleased.”
Cat snickered into her hand. Dante didn’t bother to beat around the bush. She had to admit she liked that about the man.
“I was just having fun, Dante.”
“Catrina doesn’t have fun with any other man but me.”
Matty laughed. “That’s not what I hear. She just gave a pretty damn good show. The little queen over there has quite a reputa—”
His words were gut off with a thick humfp sound as he was knocked from his barstool. Cat hadn’t even seen Dante’s hand fly up to hit the man until his arm was lowering back to his side. Matty managed to keep his balance enough that he didn’t hit the floor. Unfortunate as that was. Cat would have liked to see him kiss the ground at Dante’s leather shoes.
Dante took the man’s barstool without a word, smiling with enough scorn to mock the man below him. Matty stood straight and fixed his slacks, glaring. “You should wish Lucian a happy birthday, Matty. He’d appreciate it. And my future wife would love for you to get away from her. Tell your father I said hello.”
With another glower tossed in Dante’s unbothered direction, the man left. Dante sighed, his frustration showing.
“That man is always causing some kind of trouble. His father, Carl, lets him and his other brother do whatever the hell they want. It isn’t often we welcome them as we don’t need to.”
Cat placed her clenched hands in her lap, willing away the strange aftereffects lingering from the kiss. Like the fact her back ached as if he had fucked her against a wall and there was a pulse beating between her thighs, demanding more.
