Page 12 of Vicious Union

“No.” She wrenches her arm away. “Don’t tell my dad.”

“Then stop sneaking out to a club, and I won’t have to.”

“Ugh. You’re so annoying.” She rakes her hands through her hair. “Fine. You can take me home. But you have to tell me more about yourself.”

I frown. “Why would I do that?”

She looks at me like I’m crazy. “Because we’re going to be married, Emilio. We should get to know each other. That’s not an insane thing to ask for, is it?”

She has me there. “No,” I admit. “It’s not.”

“Good. So, then, we can talk on the way home. Tell me more about the mysterious, bossy Emilio De Luca. I don’t know anything about you other than you love telling me what to do. Don’t you want to learn more about me?” She bats her eyelashes as if that’s going to do anything to me.

“Not really. You’re just a means to an end.”

She pouts. “You don’t have to be mean.”

“I’m not. I’m just being myself.”

“Oh, wow. So, I have that to look forward to once we’re married. Understood.” She grabs my hand, which surprises me. “Let’s walk and talk. Get to know each other. That way, you know I’m not flirting with other men. And you don’t have to boss me around because you’ll be right here. Sounds good?”

“Fine.” It doesn’t sound horrible. I don’t really care to get to know Caterina, but if this keeps her out of trouble, then so be it.

“Great!” She flashes me a smile that probably makes a lot of men want her. “Let’s go. But first, you have to catch me.”

And with that, she takes off running down the street.

CHAPTER 4

Caterina

I’m not sure what prompted me to tell Emilio De Luca himself to chase me. All I knew at that moment was I wanted him to.

I don’t make it that far before he catches up to me. Damn high heels. They looked so cute when I put them on, but I’m learning just how inconvenient they are.

Emilio grabs my arm. “You can’t just run away like that. You could get hurt.”

“Do you really care if I get hurt, or are you just scared I’ll hurt your reputation?”

He hesitates, and that tells me everything I need to know. Emilio obviously doesn’t care about me. All he wants to do is boss me around.

“That’s what I thought,” I say, wrenching my arm away from his grasp. “So, why should it matter if I get hurt? We’re young in New York City. Let’s have some fun!”

I take off running again. I can hear Emilio growl behind me as he runs after me. It makes me smile. There’s something powerful knowing I can annoy a man like Emilio. That he cares enough to be annoyed.

At least my future husband is capable of some kind of emotion, even though it’s not the emotion I want him to have.

Right as Emilio reaches me, I bend and start unbuckling my shoes, figuring he can’t grab me if I’m bent down.

“What are you doing?” he asks. “Stop being weird. I’m taking you home now.”

“I don’t think so.” I step out of my shoes.

He raises an eyebrow. “Are you sure you want to do that? These streets are dirty. You might get an infection if you step on something.”

“I’ll be fine. Live a little, Emilio.” I chuck my shoes at him, which makes him flinch and gives me just enough time to start running away again.

By the sound he makes next—a mixture of a growl and a shout—I can tell I’ve really gotten under his skin. How far will he go to get me back home? Because I want a night of freedom, and he can either join me or leave me be.

---