Quiet confirmations rang out around the room.

"There's one more thing I brought my beautiful fiancee in for today," Dante informed, stepping down from the table. Cat stayed where she sat, content in her place above the men. She usually was, anyway. "From here on out, Cat controls your import and supply of blow. If you need something on that end, take it to her or one of her men. They have a decent connection and you've already seen what their product can do."

Silence answered Dante back, but only for a short while. Loud, angry refusals filled the club's floor. Indignant and frustrated over a woman being given any sort of power. Cat didn't hold back her amusement for a minute.

Men, they were all the same.

Sliding off the table, Cat patted Dante on the cheek and gave him a wink.

"Have fun, bello. I have no desire to play shouting games with stupid men today, and you're their boss, not me. I think I'll go cure my new headache with a drink."

"Get me one, too."

Cat laughed. "Whiskey, neat. I remember. Make sure they're all good, compliant little sheep when I get back."

Dante grinned a sexy sight that could make a woman wet. Cat was no exception.

"Will do," he murmured.

"What do you think?" Cat asked her soon-to-be sisters-in-law.

"Oh, I definitely like that blush cream," Jordyn said as Cat held up another swath of material. "It looks great on Cecelia's walls."

"I agree," Kim replied.

Cat sighed, comparing the colors with the natural earthy tones of the Marcello mansion walls in the kitchen. The color swaths were her choices for the wedding and reception decorations. Cat wasn't doing the organizing herself, as Dante hired her two event planners, but she did have to give the okay on most things.

She needed to see the blocks of fabric against a couple of more rooms, but Cecelia Marcello was nothing if not particular. Cat had come to learn that over the last few weeks spending time with the family. The woman liked things, mostly her own, to be similar. Her design styles reflected that.

"I like it," Cat finally said. "I'll check the common room as well, but I think it's a done deal."

Spinning on her heel, Jordyn held out a small dish of food for Cat to take. "Here, try these. Pick which ones you like, and we'll put it on the menu. Kim's finishing up the dessert selections."

Cat took the offering. "Thanks."

Sitting down at the table across the room, Cat went to work trying the different manicotti dishes the girls had prepared. The reception she and Dante planned wasn't intended to be a huge affair, but there would be a decent amount of people. They deserved to be fed and well, for that matter.

"Sexy or straight-laced for your dress?" Kim asked, tossing a wink over her shoulder at Cat.

Cat laughed right along with Jordyn at Kim's teasing leer.

"What did you two go with?"

"Our wedding was in front of the entire congregation on a Sunday morning and Father Peter made it clear I was to dress appropriately," Jordyn said. "Lucian acted like he didn't care, but I think he didn't want to push anyone's buttons. A fun sucker, that's what he is."

Cat snorted derisively. "I'll wear what I please. The church is too strict on those sorts of things, anyway."

"And yet, we still go," Kim muttered. "I didn't have a wedding dress. I wore jeans and his jacket. We eloped."

"Oh," Cat said, sinking into her chair. "I didn't know that."

Kim shrugged. "It was fine for us-perfect, really. Giovanni doesn't like people making a big fuss about him."

Jordyn poked her sister-in-law in the side. "That is not why you two married in a Vegas ceremony."

That fact, Cat did know a little bit about. "You were arranged to marry someone else, yes?"

Kim turned to face Cat, smiling sadly. "I was, but Giovanni stepped in and I couldn't follow through with the wedding. Not that I wanted to in the first place. I'm giving the clean version, but that's only because it's easier than explaining the whole story."

Cat grinned. "I don't mind a little filth."

Jordyn cracked up. "You're going to fit right in."

"I try." Cat flashed her Queen tattoo, making the girls laugh all over again. Something about her profession amused the two women. All Cat understood was that they thought she looked too innocent and pretty to be a drug dealer. Once they calmed, Cat said, "Seriously, tell me what happened that caused the Vegas ceremony."

Kim sobered, shooting Jordyn a glance. Jordyn simply shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Fine," Kim said. "I was involved with Gio while engaged to another made man."

"And they found out?"

"Yes. We just don't talk a lot about it. Gio's taken a lot of shit for it on the business side of things with the other capos, I guess. He brushes it off, but ..."

"You know it bothers him," Cat filled in.

"Kind of."

The snarkiness she'd witnessed two weeks ago at the tribute meeting between Giovanni and his comrades made a lot more sense. His foundation of respect had suffered a hit. Cat sympathized for Giovanni, but she didn't understand his situation as she had never been put in a similar one.

"Reputation is everything to men like them, Kim. He'll get it back, eventually."

"I hope so," Kim replied quietly.

Watching the two girls flip through a bridal magazine and chat about the different dresses at the island was enlightening for Cat. Mostly because she and women didn't mix well, yet she found herself strangely drawn to these two women like maybe they could be friends.

Or hell, maybe they already were.

Well, Cat supposed if she was going to make nice with any women, she'd want it to be the Marcello bunch. They had to be made of some kind of toughness to marry the men they had. Jordyn and Kim held their own just fine, too. Cat respected that more than the two women could possibly understand.

"Could I interrupt?"

The voice of Cecelia Marcello made Cat uneasy instantly. The two had little interaction beyond a couple of Sunday Masses at church and the dinners that followed. Cecelia had followed through with her promise of talking to Father Peter, something Dante had filled Cat in on. Really, Cat was shocked the woman offered her home for the wedding reception and dinner seeing as how she blatantly disapproved of Cat.

"Sure," Cat said, waving at the food in front of her. "We were just finishing up some food selection and color picks."

Cecelia peered over the swaths of fabric on the table. "I like that cream with the pink tone."

"Catrina did, too," Jordyn added.

"Yes, she does seem to have good taste," Cecelia said offhandedly.

Cat took that as a compliment, even if it had been directed past her, as if she wasn't even in the room. Regardless of how much it annoyed her that Cecelia didn't like her very much, Cat offered the woman the respect she deserved.

"I wanted to ask if anyone knew what the boys were doing for their birthday coming up," Cecelia said. "Lucian and Dante usually do something together, but no one's mentioned a thing to me."

Dante didn't want to have a party. Cat decided to play her knowledge off. "Dante hasn't mentioned anything to me."

"Jordyn?" Cecelia asked, turning to her daughter-in-law. "What about Lucian?"

"Lucian said there was too much going on with the wedding and-"

"That doesn't matter to me," Cecelia interrupted softly. "I've always celebrated their birthdays in some way."

Cat cringed internally. While she understood Dante's reasoning for not wanting to have a party or whatever, Cat would not give his mother more ammo to hate her with.

"Give me five minutes," Cat said, standing from the table.

Cecelia nodded, but her mouth drew thin.

Cat was already dialing Dante's cell number as she walked out of the kitchen. By the time she reached a more private area, her fiance picked up her call.

"Ciao, Catrina," Dante greeted, ever the gentleman.

"Are you busy?"

"Kind of. Looking at property contracts. Work, but the real kind."

"My work is real," Cat snapped.

"I didn't say it wasn't, Amore."

Cat softened at his casual use of a pet name. He had started that nonsense without warning and the first time, it took her off guard. Dante could be a sweet man when he wanted to be. Sometimes, that made her attraction to him a lot harder to ignore.

Actually, she was barely able to ignore it at all.

"Your birthday is in three weeks, right?" she asked.

"From Saturday," Dante answered.

"You're breaking your mother's heart by not having a party. You can't do that, Dante. Have a damn party so she can celebrate you like she always has."

Dante fell silent, but it didn't last long. "There's a lot going on right now."

"How many clubs does Giovanni own?"

"A few."

"Surely he can open one up for the night. I'll have something catered in; let me know the address when you know which club. Invite people, or whatever it is you men do. Dio, you should make that woman happy by feeding her whims, especially right now."

"I didn't want a party, Cat."

"Oh, well," Cat replied. "Your mother does."

"Catrina Danzi."

Cat turned at the unknown male voice, meeting a man at least her age with dark hair and brown eyes. A smirk seemed to be tugging at the corner of his mouth as he stared her up and down, his gaze lingering far too long on her chest.

A shudder crawled up her spine and not in a good way.

"I can't say I know your name," Cat said, refusing to let a man make her feel uncomfortable. "I never forget a name, certainly not a man's if he's done business with me. What can I do for you?"

The man grinned. "They said it was you, but I couldn't be sure. Dante's birthday party seemed like a safe place to see if the rumors were true. Apparently, they are. If I hadn't seen you with my own two eyes, I wouldn't have believed it. A little Queen Pin, imagine that."

Cat bristled. "Little? That's offensive."

His hands flew into the air. "My apologies. I also heard you were quick to anger."

Cat was done playing word games with this man. "Who are you?"

"Matteo Calabrese, though most people just call me Matty."

A fellow New York family. Their leader's son, actually. Cat recognized his name from discussing surrounding territories with her men before she went in on Dante's streets.

Well ... merda.

Cat retracted her claws, despite the creepy vibe the guy gave off. She couldn't shame her future husband at his birthday party by ripping a new asshole into this ... Matty.

Matty sidled up beside Cat at the bar, pushing his frame onto a stool. "Can I buy you a drink, bellissima?"

"I would suggest you don't call me sweet names," Cat warned. "Dante won't like it if he hears it, and truthfully, I don't like to be treated as though calling me beautiful will make me melt into a quivering pile of estrogen. It won't, but it will earn you one less ball between your legs."

Matty howled as if she were joking with him.

Cat wished she was.

"Touchy. A drink?" he asked again.

As it were, she'd already slammed back a half of a dozen and she could feel the effects of the apple martinis. She probably should have laid off at the second, but they were her weakness in a club when she wasn't working.

"No, thank you."

Matty leaned over in his seat, close enough to Cat that she could feel his breath on her cheek. "What did he promise you to get you into his bed, hmm?"

"Excuse-"