Page 36 of Secret Mafia Daddy

She doesn’t seem to know what quite to say to that, so drain my wine and get up. My appetite is gone.

“What are you doing?” she hisses, looking at the table as I throw a couple of hundreds on it for their trouble.

“I can’t sit here anymore,” I say. “Let’s go.”

Her breath catches in her throat as I pull her up and drag her to the valet to get my car back. “Angelo, we should talk about this. We can’t just-”

My car pulls up and I tip the valet before opening her door and helping her inside before going around to my door and starting the car. “Are we going back to the house, or a hotel?”

Catarina looks at me with wide eyes.

“Which is it?” I ask her, turning to look at her.

“A hotel,” she blurts out after a few seconds of opening and closing her mouth, and I grin and take off as if the hounds of hell are on my heels.

“What is wrong with you?” she gasps, sitting back in her seat with her hand over her heart.

I shrug. I think I just don’t want to give her the chance to change her mind.

I take us to the nearest Four Seasons, just about half an hour from the house, and she bites her lip.

“What about Chelsea?”

“Mia’s staying overnight,” I say easily. “That was always the plan.”

“I didn’t know the plan,” Catarina complains with a huff.

As we get out of the car and I throw the valet my keys, I cup her cheek in one hand, getting her to look at me.

“Here’s the plan,” I say softly. “I’m going to make you come half a dozen times before I ever think about fucking you.”

Catarina’s gray eyes go all glossy with lust and she all but melts against me.

I grin, happy with her reaction, and drop my hand, striding inside to check in. The penthouse isn’t available, but they have a nice suite on the fortieth floor.

I’m going to win over Catarina DeLuca if it kills me. I want to be married, but not to someone who hates me, so step one is making her fall for me.

From how she follows me into the elevator, stumbling on her heels and grabbing onto me, I don’t think it’ll be that hard, as long as it starts in the bedroom.

16

CATARINA

What am I doing? Why did I blurt out “hotel?” I should have gone home to my daughter.

I know that Chelsea’s probably not even thinking about us, too busy on an adventure with Alessia and Mia. She loves having friends around and I haven’t been too good about finding her playdates, so I’m glad that she gets along so well with Alessia.

I hope they’re still friends when Alessia is older and Chelsea doesn’t think of her as some kind of bother. Wait, what am I thinking? I’m not going to wait around until Chelsea’s fifteen to move away, start my own life.

I’m just...somehow hypnotized by Angelo. I still don’t like him. But I like how he touches me, how he looks at me. I like how he makes me feel in the bedroom, and I like what a good father he is, but that’s as far as it goes.

Right?

So sure, my heart skips a few beats when he’s playing with Chelsea. It makes me happy. That’s normal. And maybe I’m just a little disappointed that our courthouse wedding was so rushed.

But that’s stupid. That’s just the little girl part of me that dreamed of my wedding someday. I don’t have those dreams anymore.

But I sure gave into Angelo quickly. When he approaches me in the elevator, backing me up against the railing, I leap up, wrapping my ankles around his back. He kisses between my breasts first, licking his way across my modest cleavage. I’ve never had much to brag about in the bust area, but I’m sensitive there, and guys usually kind of ignore them.

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