Page 37 of Now and Forever

He kissed my lips. “You have choices. Did you think you didn’t have a choice last night?”

I shook my head. “I had a choice, and I chose you.”

The sound of voices outside the bedroom caused us both to turn toward the door.

“It’s locked,” Dario said as he lifted my chin. “They want a show.”

“A show?” I didn’t have time to say more as Dario’s lips came down on mine. In the privacy of the bedroom, I remembered the way his kisses made me feel and made my body react. I leaned into him, my nipples hardening against his solid chest. My circulation began to hum when he pulled away.

His lips curled into a smile as he ran his thumb over mine. “There, your lips are swollen.” He winked. “Let the show begin.”

With a nod, I hurried to the bathroom. In the mirror, I looked at my lips. They were pink and inflamed. I liked Dario’s kisses. I didn’t hate sex. It would get better. That’s what he said.

Even with the knocks, Dario took his time opening the door. By the time I emerged from the bathroom, with my face washed and my body covered with the nightgown I never put on last night and a real robe, Dario was wearing blue jeans and had a knife holstered to his bare chest and a gun holstered to his back as he opened the door.

“Good morning,” Arianna said, her eyes going from Dario to me. “Breakfast will be ready downstairs. I thought you might need help.”

Doing what?

Dario’s mother wasn’t alone. Two of Dario’s aunts were a step behind her. One was Giorgia’s mother, and I couldn’t remember the other one.

“I should shower first.”

Her gaze skirted the bed and the damaged corset still lying on the floor, then came back to me as her expression softened. “Is there anything we can get you?”

Giorgia’s mother lifted the corset, and the other aunt inspected my wedding gown.

Ignoring all of them, Dario shrugged a shirt on over his wide shoulders covering his weapons and came my way. “I’m going to head down.” His dark gaze met mine. It was as if, without saying a word, he was apologizing for the way the women acted. “I’ll be back up to get you for breakfast.”

I stiffened as he brushed his lips over mine.

Arianna waited until he left before reaching for my arm. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” I replied with a nod.

“It gets better.”

“That’s what I’ve been told.”

“After you shower, come downstairs, and I’ll have the maids take care of the bed. No one else needs to see it.”

No. Just the three of you.

Italians have savage traditions.

ChapterEleven

Dario

Catalina stiffened as my lips met hers, the way she had throughout the reception. Just seconds before, she’d melded her beautifully naked body against me as we kissed. When I pulled away, I was captured by her emerald stare. The fear from last night was gone, giving me hope that this marriage could work. It wasn’t as if either one of us could walk away.

Taking one last glance toward my mother and aunts, I felt the need to protect my wife. If I could spare Catalina their intrusion, I would. I reminded myself that she wasn’t in true danger, and there were other matters to attend to.

I wanted to get the meeting with the men downstairs over with before Catalina was required to suffer their lewd comments. The women would be bad enough. I’d attended enough weddings to know what the topic of conversation would be. The men were probably already discussing how I’d taken Catalina’s virtue. A man with my reputation would have been expected to claim her regardless of her willingness. Half of the men, especially my uncles, would eat up a story of rape.

Hell, Aunt Aurora had cowered from Uncle Salvatore my entire life. She paled if he so much as raised his voice. Force wasn’t frowned upon. If anything, it was encouraged.

I wouldn’t have forced Catalina. It’s not who I am. I told her I had a backup plan if she hadn’t bled. The blood would have been mine. A slice to my inner thigh and no one would know the difference.