My cheeks are hurting from smiling so much. Despite this not being in any way the wedding that I’d imagined for myself, it’s been an incredible day. Dante has been charming and attentive. I finally met his half sister, Toni, and if I thought that Joey was a whole ball of trouble it was only because I hadn’t met Toni. She is funny as hell and she teases Dante like no-one else I have ever met.
Dante’s friends and extended family have been so welcoming. Aside from him threatening to crush his father’s skull for asking to dance with me, which was weird, there has been no drama at all.
We cut the cake. We had our first dance where he held me close and looked into my eyes like I was the most important person in the world. And even if I’m not, even if he’ll never love me the way that I want him to, in that moment I felt it. I will remember this day with nothing but a smile for the rest of my life.
The only sad part was when Mia had to leave early. She made up some excuse about not being able to stay over because of work, but I know it was probably more to do with Brad.
“Your dress is beautiful, Katerina,” a cousin of Dante’s says as she walks toward me.
“Thank you,” I say with a genuine smile. I was worried about getting a dress that would hide my increasing belly, but the stylist persuaded me to make the most of my pregnancy figure, so we went with something that accentuated my bump instead.
I feel his presence before he even touches me. It’s like my body is hardwired to his. Then his hands are on my waist and his mouth is against my ear.
“Have I ever told you how beautiful that smile is?” Dante whispers in my ear.
“No,” I say, my cheeks turning pink as his cousin stares at us.
He laughs softly before lifting his head. “Say goodnight, Beth,” he says to his cousin. “I think it’s time we called it a night, amore mio.”
“You can’t go yet. It’s not even ten,” Beth whines.
“You guys can party as long as you want to, but my wife is seven months pregnant and she needs her rest,” he says, his tone clipped.
She rolls her eyes and stalks off across the dance-floor.
I turn around to face him, and he wraps his arms around me. “I’m not even a bit tired yet. Can’t we stay a little longer?”
“Don’t worry, kitten. Now, we’re headed to the real party,” he says with a wicked grin.
“That is not a party,” I say, trying to fake a scowl, but still, I can’t stop smiling.
“Um, it is if you do it right. But that’s not what I was talking about.”
“Then?”
He takes my hand in his and gives me a soft kiss on the lips. “Come find out.”
Then he leads me out of the room, along the hallway and toward the main house. The guard stationed outside the door that leads to the living quarters opens it as we reach it, giving us a quiet word of congratulations as we pass.
“Thank you,” I whisper before Dante leads me to the kitchen. I hear muffled voices and laughter as we approach. But when we walk inside a few seconds later, we are showered with rice and congratulatory cheers. Lorenzo, Anya, Joey, Maximo and Toni clap for us. Lorenzo even has a faint smile on his face.
Dante has his arm around my waist, and I stand on my tiptoe so I can whisper to him. “Is Lorenzo smiling?”
“Yup,” he says with a grin. “You should take a picture. It’s a rare thing.”
“We have drinks,” Toni shouts as she walks to the table and picks up a bottle of incredibly expensive Scotch.
“And iced tea for the bride,” Anya adds as Dante frowns at his half-sister.
“Because this definitely calls for a toast,” Maximo says as he heads to the table too and helps Toni pour everyone a drink.
Maximo holds out a glass of Scotch in one hand and a tall glass of iced tea in the other, and with his hand on the small of my back, Dante guides us both to the wooden table. I take the drink and then have a seat on the bench, but my husband remains standing behind me with a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
“Toast!” Joey declares, drumming her fists on the table.
“We did the toasts already,” I remind them. Dante and Maximo each made one. They were beautiful too. Simple but beautiful.
Anya places her warm hand over mine and smiles. “These are the real toasts, Kat.”
“Oh?” I look around at their grinning faces. “Is this another tradition I don’t know about?”
“We did this after Lorenzo and Anya’s wedding,” Dante tells me.
“And we’ll do it after Toni’s, and mine and Maximo’s,” Joey says with a wicked grin. Did I hear that right? I glance at Maximo and his jaw ticks as he stares at her.
“You’re never getting married, Guiseppina,” Lorenzo says with a scowl.
“And I’m definitely not,” Toni snorts.
“I guess it’s all on you then, buddy,” Dante says to Maximo before he takes a sip of his Scotch, “or the tradition ends here.”
Maximo clears his throat. “To the end of tradition then,” he laughs and then downs his whisky in one before pouring himself another.
“I’ll start,” Joey says with a sigh and a roll of her eyes.
“To my favorite big brother and my second favorite sister-in-law,” she giggles as she holds up her glass.
“How much has she been drinking?” Dante asks, directing his question to Maximo.
“It’s your wedding. She’s twenty-one,” Maximo replies with a shrug.
“Not like I can ever get into any trouble with my constant bodyguard,” Joey adds. “Anyway, I was playing. That wasn’t my toast.”
“Get on with it.” Lorenzo sighs.
“Fine,” Joey snaps. Then she raises her glass again. “I never thought that any woman would capture my brother’s heart, Kat. I know I was kind of a bitch to you when we met —”
“Kind of?” Dante says with an arch of an eyebrow.
“Yes, but that was before I knew how much you meant to him, and also before I knew how much you would come to mean to me,” she adds as her eyes shine with tears. She shakes her head, as though annoyed with herself for getting so emotional. “I cannot wait to be an aunt and corrupt your little angel, and I’m so glad that you’re here to dilute some of the testosterone and toxic masculinity in this house,” she adds triumphantly. “To Dante and Kat.”
“Dante and Kat,” the others echo before they all down their Scotch and Maximo pours more.
“Anya,” Lorenzo says quietly, and she obediently raises her glass.
“You two are made for each other, like the moon and the stars. You fit together so beautifully. I’m so glad you found a great love, Dante. And Kat, you are the only woman I have ever met who is strong enough to stand by his side. To Dante and Kat.”
Everyone toasts again and downs their shot while I slug my iced tea.
“Me next,” Toni insists. “Kat, I don’t know you very well yet, but I do know Dante. When he told me he was getting married, I almost fell off my damn chair. I thought Sal had finally convinced him to do the unthinkable. That was the only explanation that made sense to me. But then I met you and I saw the way he looked at you, and it all fell into place. The only explanation is you. You two are so meant to be, it’s kind of sickening. And I hope you know what you’re letting yourself into, honey. To Kat and Dante,” she adds with a wink and the shot/ toast process is repeated.
“Ah, I guess I’m up next,” Maximo says with a sigh.
“You sure are,” Dante replies.
Maximo turns in his seat and looks at us both. “Kat. You stole my best friend,” he says with a shake of his head, and everyone laughs. “But you made him a better man for loving you. He’s way less grumpy these days…”
I laugh now too.
“And he no longer works one hundred hours a week, which means that I don’t either. I’m not gonna lie, I really wanted to not like you, Kat, but you make it kind of impossible. And now you’re Dante and Kat and I don’t know when that happened but you’re just a part of him now, and I can’t imagine you not being a part of my life too.”
“Aw,” Joey says, staring up at him with a huge dopey grin on her face.
“To Kante,” Maximo finishes.
“Kante? Fuck no,” Dante says with a scowl.
“Dat?” Anya chuckles.
“True dat,” Joey giggles, and I almost snort the liquid out of my nose.
“Dante and Kat is fine.” Dante sighs.
“Dante and Kat then,” Maximo says with a wink before he stands and gives his best buddy a bear hug.
“It’s all on you now, big guy,” Joey says to her oldest brother with a wiggle of her eyebrows.
I swallow as I look at Lorenzo. He didn’t do a toast at the wedding. Dante told me it’s because he doesn’t like speaking in public, but I figure he doesn’t like speaking much in private either. Because he barely does. He observes.
Maximo refills everyone’s glasses again and Lorenzo raises his. “Katerina, you’re one of us now. I don’t mean just a Moretti, it’s more than bearing our name. I would die for every single person in this room. You’ll be one of us until your dying breath. It can be a blessing or a curse, but only you get to decide which. Choose wisely.”
“Fuck, Lorenzo,” Dante says with a shake of his head and a dark laugh.
“Jeez, dude,” Joey giggles while Toni and Maximo laugh too.
“No, I get it,” I say as Lorenzo’s dark eyes burn into mine from across the table. I understand what he’s telling me about the family I’ve become part of. Being the object of Dante’s affection could well be considered a curse, but not to me. “There’s no choice though. It can’t be anything but a blessing to me. I’ve never felt part of a real family since my mom died. Not one who looks out for and protects each other like you all do. My whole adult life, I’ve never really felt like I belonged anywhere. And now I do. So thank you all,” and now I’ve given my own toast and everybody except me drinks a shot of whiskey.
Thank God there is only Dante left or they would all need to be carried out of this room.
Lorenzo nods his head and gives me a faint smile. Wow, two of those in one day.
“I guess it’s my turn,” Dante says as he takes a seat beside me. He wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me closer so that I shuffle a few inches along the bench until I’m almost sitting on his knee.
“I guess it is,” I smile at him, almost breathless with anticipation at what he’s about to say.
“The only people I truly care about in this entire world are here in this room, but until a few months ago, I thought this circle would never get any bigger than this. Because let’s face it, I’m not going to like anyone that either of my sisters marry, and the chances of Maximo finding a woman to handle his crazy are slim to none.” He turns and winks at his best friend. “But then I met this incredible woman, and she changed my life in so many ways that I would never have imagined. So, this final toast is just for her.” He raises his glass and the rest of them do the same while I press my face against his shoulder. I’m so unused to being the center of attention. “To Kat, my best friend. My wife. The woman who made me a father. Vita mia. Sei la cosa più bella che mi sia mai capitata .”
I don’t know what it means, but it makes Anya sigh softly and Joey sniff loudly. “To Kat,” they all say as Dante hugs me tighter.
He kisses the top of my head and I find the courage to look up and see them all drinking and smiling, except for Lorenzo who has already used up his lifetime quota of smiles today.
“But now it really is getting late and I can’t have any more to drink because it’s my wedding night,” Dante says.
“Of course. You have duties to take care of,” Lorenzo replies, and it’s met with more laughter.
“If it’s a duty, then you’re doing it wrong, brother,” Dante retorts.
Lorenzo snorts and his shoulders start shaking, and for a second, I worry that he’s about to have a stroke, but he’s not. He’s laughing. Lorenzo Moretti is laughing.
“Ah, it’s the whiskey,” Anya says to me as I stare at her husband, open mouthed.
Dante stands and takes my hand, pulling me up with him before he scoops me into his arms to a chorus of whistles and cheers that does nothing for my embarrassment levels.
“I can walk,” I whisper.
“I know,” he replies, kissing the tip of my nose before he carries me out of the kitchen and leaves the rest of our family to go on drinking and talking into the night.
I loop my arms around his neck as he carries me up the stairs. He’s not even breathing any heavier with the effort, which is a feat in itself considering how huge I’ve gotten. “Hey, I forgot something,” I tell him.
“What’s that, kitten?”
“I thanked everyone in there, but I didn’t thank you. Not by name. And not enough,” I admit as I stare at him.
“You don’t have to thank me for anything.”
“Yeah, I do. I wouldn’t have any of this without you.”
His brow furrows in a frown, but he doesn’t say anything else until he’s carried me into our bedroom and closed the door behind him. He puts me on my feet and cups my face in his hands. “I need you to know something, Kat,” his eyes narrowed as he stares into mine. “I never thought today would happen for me. I never wanted a wife. Never wanted to be tied to anyone and have to make decisions based on somebody else’s wants and needs…”
“But the baby changed that,” I whisper.
He shakes his head. “You changed that. Baby or not, I knew the minute you walked into this house, I could never let you leave. I wanted you. I needed you. And I figured that was enough for me to keep you here forever. But then you went and spent every damn minute of every damn day making me fall in love with you too.”
A sob wells in my throat and I swallow it down. He loves me.
“You never have to thank me, Kat, because you have given me everything. Or maybe I just took it and you didn’t really give it at all, but it’s mine now. You’re mine and I will never let you go. I meant it when I said I would die to protect you and I would scorch this world before I ever let anyone hurt you or our child.”
“You didn’t just take it from me,” I whisper as a tear rolls down my cheek, and he wipes it away with his thumb. “I gave it all willingly. I’m yours, Dante. Only ever yours.”
“Vita mia,” he says softly, his warm breath dancing over my skin and sending a shiver down my spine.
“What does that mean?”
“My life.”
“Vita mia.” I repeat, smiling as I’m filled with a happiness that I thought I’d never feel again. How is it that the devil called Dante Moretti, a man with so much darkness in him, could become the light in my previously bleak existence? “And that other thing you said in your toast?”
“Sei la cosa più bella che mi sia mai capitata?”
“Yes.”
“You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Wow! “I am?”
“Hmm,” he murmurs as his hands glide down my body, over my huge belly and over the curve of my hips until he’s squeezing my ass in his palms. “Enough talking. I believe I have some duties to take care of.”
“If it’s a duty, you’re not doing it right,” I purr, parroting what he told his brother a few minutes earlier.
“Well, maybe I’ll make you come a few times and then you can tell me if I’m doing it right,” he growls as his fingers easily find the concealed zipper of my dress.
“Oh, you always do it right,” I breathe as he slides the zipper down slowly while he trails soft kisses over my neck.
A few seconds later, my beautiful wedding gown lies in a pool of fabric at my feet. He looks at my cream lace panties and growls his appreciation as he slips his hand inside. “These are sexy as fuck on you. I’m going to buy you a pair in every color.”
“Hmm, I’d like that,” I giggle as he starts to rub his fingers over my clit. I run my hands over his chest, fingering the buttons of his white shirt but he catches my wrist with his free hand.
“Not yet, kitten. Let me take care of you first.”
I smile at him. “I guess I can live with that.”
“I hope so, because I’m going to be taking care of you a whole lot.”
He pushes me to lie on the bed before kneeling on the floor between my thighs. I shiver in anticipation as he slowly pulls my panties off, squirming as his fingers brush softly over my skin.
“Please,” I murmur as my body burns with heat and desire.
“I’ve been waiting to taste my wife’s beautiful pussy all day.” He starts to trail kisses up my thighs. “You’re already so wet, Kat. I wish you could see your cunt glistening with your juices.”
“What do you expect? I’ve been staring at you in that tux all day.”
“I might just wear it more often.”
His tongue swirls over my skin at the top of my thighs, so close to where I want him but tantalizingly far away. But when he slips two fingers deep into me, I forget about his mouth for a second as my back arches in pleasure and I moan his name.
“That what you wanted, kitten? You need me inside you?”
“Yes,” I whimper.
“Soon,” he whispers as he slides his fingers out of me again and my pussy quivers at the loss of him.
“Can you lift your hips for me a little?” he asks before he seals his mouth over my clit and flicks it with his expert tongue.
I groan in pleasure as I lift my hips like he asked, and he takes the opportunity to slide his two fingers into my ass.
“Fuck, Dante,” I hiss at the delicious feeling of him stretching me wide as he eats my pussy. He slides his fingers gently in and out of my ass as he sucks and nibbles and licks the length of my folds. Circling my clit before moving to my hot entrance and back again. When I start grinding myself on his face and his fingers, desperate for some release, he fucks my ass harder while he feasts on my pussy like he’s been desperate to taste me forever and might never get the chance again.
My orgasm builds in a slow, rolling wave that makes my entire body hum with pleasure and heat. Every nerve ending is tingling with electric pleasure.
“Oh, God, Dante,” I whimper as he keeps me on the edge.
“Come on my tongue, kitten,” he murmurs against my skin as he presses his fingers in an upward motion and I’m sure he just hit my G-spot from inside my ass because stars flicker in my horizon as my climax bursts through me and I almost pass out under a blanket of warm ecstasy.
I lie back, panting for breath and trying to stop my head from spinning, only vaguely aware of him standing up and disappearing into the bathroom. The sound of running water quickly follows before it shuts off again and he’s stalking back toward the bed like a lion after its prey, pulling his clothes off with every step he takes until he’s completely naked.
“My turn to take care of you,” I say, licking my lips as I stare at his beautiful thick cock.
“Tomorrow morning, you can wake me up with the best head of my life,” he says as he crawls over me, pulling me up the bed with him until my head is resting on the pillows. “But tonight is all about you, Mrs. Moretti. Let me fucking worship you.”
“Well, in that case, you can worship me as much as you like,” I breathe as I wrap my arms around his neck.
“I worship at the altar of your ass every single day already,” he says with a wink.
I bite on my lip. “Have I ever told you how much I love you?”
A frown crosses his handsome face. “No, you haven’t.”
“I do. I love you more than you will ever know. That day you took me, you saved me, Dante Moretti.”
“You saved me first, kitten,” he says and then he seals his mouth over mine as he slides his cock deep inside me. I wrap my legs around his waist as he claims me for his own. And I am his. In every single way.
It’s almost four a.m. by the time my machine of a husband finally declares that he’s tired and can’t go one more round. Which is fine by me because I think I’m already drunk on orgasms. I fear another one might see me leave this mortal plane – pretty sure I barely survived the last one.
“Today was perfect.” I sigh contentedly as I lie in his arms.
“It was,” he mumbles sleepily.
“After my mini anxiety attack in the car anyway.” I laugh as I nestle my cheek against his chest.
His muscles tense. “What anxiety attack?” he asks, suddenly alert now.
“Oh, it was nothing. I was being silly,” I say dismissively hoping he won’t press me further.
“You having an anxiety attack on our wedding day isn’t nothing, Kat.”
“It wasn’t exactly a full-blown anxiety attack. I just freaked out for a minute.”
“Freaked out about what?” he asks as the muscles in his body grow tenser.
How the hell do I tell him that I was worried he was going to kill me and our unborn baby before we got to the church?
“Kat?” he asks again, his voice dropping an octave and sending a shiver through my bones.
“When the car detoured, I panicked a little. Then I saw Mia and I almost burst out crying with happy tears instead. It was a wonderful surprise, and so thoughtful. Thank you.”
He completely ignores the latter part of what I just said. “Instead of what?”
“Huh?”
“You almost cried happy tears instead of what? Why did you have an anxiety attack, Kat?”
I shudder at his tone. It’s that don’t make me ask you again one he has that makes grown men weep and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. “I just thought… just for a moment… Joey was acting strangely and wouldn’t tell me where we were going…and those guards of yours might as well be mute…”
“Kat!”
“I thought of your ex-fiancée and I wondered —”
“If I was going to murder you and our child?” he interrupts me, his tone clipped and dripping with anger.
That sounds so awful when he says it aloud, but I’m not going to apologize for feeling that way. The truth is he did murder Nicole Santangelo right before their wedding.
“I still know so little about what happened between you and her, Dante. I panicked. This morning I didn’t know for certain whether you really wanted this with me, or you felt obligated because I got pregnant.”
“We got pregnant,” he snaps.
“Then tonight, you said that it wouldn’t have mattered and we’d be together anyway and I believe you. But this morning… I was emotional and I just wanted to get to the church to see you. It was just a moment of panic, that’s all.”
He squeezes me tighter, sliding one hand to the back of my neck and holding me against him.
“Get some sleep, kitten,” he says softly.
