Dante (33 page)

Dante laughed the sexiest sound. His tongue stuck out at the junction of Cat’s neck and shoulder. “I want to fuck you until you beg me to stop, Catrina.”

“I would never beg you to stop—”

“I know,” he interjected, sounding both amused and turned on at the same time. “That’s what I fucking love about it. One more, kitten. Come for me one more time.”

Cat didn’t bother to respond. She simply let Dante work her body the best way he knew how. Her final orgasm didn’t come easily like the others. No, it built hard and slow, working its way up to the peak as her entire body rocked with tremors. Dante’s voice in her ear, his words a gruff Italian and a balm to her soul, urged her to the finish as he begged her to come on his cock.

The release was blinding when it did take hold, turning all of Cat’s muscles to nothing but jello. Her inner walls clamped down and her cry of Dante’s name bounced off the walls.

“Up, move up,” Dante whispered.

“I
can’t
,” she mumbled as the rushes of bliss wracked her womb.

Cristo
, she tried and she just couldn’t fucking move for him.

“S’okay. Breathe, kitten.”

Dante didn’t ask Cat to move again. Instead, he lifted her off his cock as if she didn’t weigh a thing, turned her around so she was facing him, and then sunk into her tender, clenching sex all over again. The softest, most gentle kiss jarred Cat from her dazed stupor. The pleased, contented stare her husband leveled on her was so fucking beautiful it ached.

In an unhurried pace, keeping a hold on her backside to lift her up and down on his length, Dante fucked Cat to his own finish. She felt his cock twitch right before his come filled her in thick streams. Dante’s moan melted into a satisfied sigh, the sound muffled against Cat’s neck.

“
Cazzo,
you’re so fucking perfect
. Ti amo, bella mia
.”

Cat hummed, placing a kiss to his racing pulse. “
Ti amo
.”

Dante’s foot kicked, knocking the plug in the tub out. While the water began to drain slowly, Cat milked in her husband’s attention, grateful that she would have it on only her for the rest of the evening and well into the next day. Deft fingers rubbed circles into her sore muscles. His kisses peppered her hair and face.

“Thank you. I needed this and wouldn’t have asked someone to watch him myself,” Cat confessed quietly.

“I know you did. I needed it, too. That’s why I asked Lucian to take Michel. Besides, with the Commission meeting in two days, our heads needed to be screwed on straight. Fucking you always puts me in the right mindset.”

Cat shook her head, giggling. “True. Still … We’re not selfish for taking a night away from him so we could do this, right?”

Dante laughed. “I sure as fuck think not. We earned it, Catrina.”

“I still feel a little bit guilty.”

“Don’t. You’re a good mother,
Amore
.”

“Am I?”

“Of course.”

Dante was an even better father, in Cat’s opinion. Michel was so attached to Dante that he rarely allowed his
papà
out of his sight when they were in the same room. Dante doted on the boy constantly, feeding to his every whim and desire.

Sometimes, though it was rare, Cat even felt like an outsider when she watched the two together. They were a perfect fit as father and son. Dante was a natural, too. He never balked or shied away from parenting or the responsibility Michel added onto his life.

He loved the child. Like Cat did. And a lot like how they loved one another, she supposed.

Dante deserved more children if the way he loved Michel was any indication of how he would love others. Even the house they were surveying to buy was built for a big family, yet they had no children but Michel to fill the empty bedrooms. A wisp of sadness floated through Cat, dimming her remaining high.

“You know, you always tense up when something upsets you,” Dante said as the last bit of water drained from the tub. “Especially in your shoulders. And you get a little wrinkle between your eyebrows, but it doesn’t stay long.”

“You’re the only man to notice these things because you’re the one man I’ve let hold me like this,” Cat replied. “More importantly, you’re the only man I’ve allowed see me when I am upset over something. Even if it is trivial.”

“I figured.”

Dante pushed them upward, helping Cat to her feet and then out of the slick tub. He got out, too, grabbing a towel to pat his wife dry before wrapping it around her frame. Pulling the second towel from the rack, he wiped his body down and secured the fabric around his waist.

“Talk to me,” Dante demanded.

“It’s not important, and I don’t want to bring up bad feelings.”

Dante waved at her, shrugging. “You’re already upset so your point is moot. We’ve had a great night. Do you really want to end it with us arguing about something?”

“There’s no need to argue because there isn’t anything to say. It was just a thought that sneaked up on me, and I wasn’t expecting it to. It’s an idea neither of us can entertain, so why bother talking about it?”

Dante’s gaze narrowed. “What idea?”

Cat wet her lips, wondering how to voice her gloomy thoughts. “I was thinking about children.”

“Uh …” A frown marred Dante’s features, his own sadness darkening his eyes. “I’m sorry, you’re going to need to explain that, Cat, because we both know there’s nothing to talk about.”

“Exactly,” Cat murmured. “Just the look on your face said it all.”

“Because we have a child. Our son. I don’t understand why you’re thinking of more children at all.”

“I was thinking you were such a good father and you loved kids, so I wished I could give you more.”

Dante cleared his throat, giving his wife a confused look. “
Dolcezza
, between us, I’m the one who can’t give you more children. You work just fine. I don’t.”

“I don’t like it when you say it that way, Dante.”

“Well, it’s true. You were right, why bother talking about it? We can’t entertain it.”

Cat blinked away tears she hadn’t realized were there until they stung her eyes. Silent and somber, Dante walked past her, leaving her alone in the bathroom. Breathing deeply to ward off the battering emotions threatening to take her under its current, Cat took a few minutes to rethink what she wanted from Dante. Most importantly, in regards to children.

Dante kept saying the possibility was dead. Knowing the advancements in the field of infertility treatment, Cat doubted that was really the case. There had to be some kind of treatment to help them besides donors. That one was out of the question.

If she were truly honest, being with and loving her husband made her want to be a mother again, too. Her reasons for considering more children wasn’t just for Dante, but for herself. Michel hadn’t just changed Dante, he changed Cat, too.

Cat grabbed her silk robe off the hook on the back of the bathroom door. She pulled it on and tied the sash tight at her waist. Dante was already under the blankets in their bed, his back turned to her.

“You’re angry with me now.” She could practically feeling his irritation from across the room.

“Not you, more myself,” Dante said. “I would never blame you for wanting something normal. And like I always knew I would, I’m left apologizing to a woman who loves me for being incapable of giving her what she wants and deserves. My failures only hold you back and that pisses me off, Catrina.”

“This isn’t a failure on your part, and I don’t want your apology. I don’t need it. I want to go have testing done,” Cat said before her nerve ran out.

Dante’s shoulders stiffened before he rotated in the bed to face Cat. “I beg your pardon?”

“Just what I said. We should know if the possibility is completely nil or not.”

“It is,” Dante said, the words hissing through his teeth. “I’ve had two rounds of testing done. I have no desire to go through it again just to be told I don’t have the soldiers to get the job done, Cat. It’s fucking embarrassing and goddamn undignified.”

“You had the last round of testing done nearly a decade ago.”

“So, what’s your point?”

“Didn’t they tell you your fertility might come back, even if it would be at a lesser potency?” Cat asked.

Dante’s jaw ticked. “How do you know that?”

“Because I wanted to understand, Dante. I know reading up doesn’t give a clear outlook on the precise issue, but it does give me an idea about things. The fact remains, there is a chance your fertility could return.”

“It returning is about as rare as losing it to rubella.”

“I’m aware of that, too.”

“What do you want from me, Cat?”

“I want you to have the testing done again, and not just for you, but for me, too. It would be nice to know if the option of another child might possibly be there for the future.”

“And if it isn’t, will you end up resenting me for it?”

“No. How could I when I love you?”

Dante nodded once. “Fine. Come to bed,
bellissima donna
.”

• • •

“Antony won’t be joining us today?” a male voice asked.

“No,” Giovanni answered. “Neither will Paulie, which is why I’m here to take his place.”

“Good to see you again, Giovanni.”

“And you, Max.”

“Maximo Sorrento, Vegas,” Dante said quickly to his wife. “Gio had some issues in that sector.”

Cat nodded.

Yeah, Kim. She knew.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” Maximo Sorrento said with not a hint of disdain in his words. “You missed last year’s Commission meeting.”

“Is me being here going to be a problem?” Giovanni asked.

“Absolutely not. How is your wife?”

“Happy. Very loved.”

“Wonderful,” Maximo murmured. “Her brother will be pleased to hear it.”

Cat was sure she could hear the smirk in her brother-in-law’s voice when Gio said, “Send our regards.”

“I’ll consider it.”

A sigh resounded in the private dining room of a restaurant owned by a fellow New York family. Men shifted in their seats, a sign of restlessness and impatience. The restaurant seemed the best place for the meeting of the Commission to be held this year, according to Cat’s husband, and the safest.

“Lucian …” a new voice said as the oldest Marcello brother walked into the room ahead of Cat and Dante. “I hear congratulations are in order.”

“Terrance, Chicago; Lucian thinks lowly of him for some issues that went down a couple of years back,” Dante explained.

Cat’s hand in Dante’s tightened in acknowledgment. She had already met the families from New York, but this had been her husband’s way of setting the men inside even more off kilter with Cat’s presence. Nobody liked to be known before they had introduced themselves.

“Oh, why do I deserve congratulating?” Lucian asked.

“Your little boy.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

When Cat heard Lucian take a seat, another new voice asked, “If Antony isn’t coming and neither is his consigliere, I can safely assume the Commission will be giving our approval on your new leader, yes?”

“Guzzi leader, Canada. Easy to handle since he doesn’t need much; usually quiet,” Dante said.

“For one,” Gio answered the Canadian Don vaguely.

“
Hmm
,” Maximo hummed low. “I heard there was some interesting things happening down this way, but I couldn’t get any real confirmation.”

“Like what?” Lucian asked.

“I think you know,” Maximo said. “And I’m not sure how I like it.”

“What am I missing?” Terrance asked.

Maximo chuckled. “A woman.”

“A woman, is that all?” Terrance scoffed. “Dante had to marry, didn’t he? Shame practically no one was invited to the wedding.”

“
Sì
, a woman … but in business, no less. Can you imagine?”

“No one, including Dante, is asking for anyone’s permission regarding my brother’s new wife and her profession intermingling with his,” Lucian stated like there wasn’t a soul around him who mattered.

Dante smiled over at his wife. Cat’s grin matched his. “Ready?”

Cat winked. “Always,
bello
.”

“Try to behave, huh?” Then, Dante rolled his eyes. “Never mind, we both know you won’t.”

“You love it, admit it.”

Dante’s fingers weaved with hers squeezed. “Later.”

“What do you mean, Maximo?” Terrance asked. “Are you saying his wife is—”

Cat walked into the private dining room at her husband’s side, immediately catching every eye in the room. There was more men than she had expected, given only a few had talked. Each boss sported a team of men at his disposal for the meeting, it seemed.

She almost laughed at their gawking, but refrained when their years of learned manners kicked in and all stood from their chairs. Mobsters, sure, but gentlemen nonetheless. A proper man always stood for a lady, even if she wasn’t supposed to be where she was.