"A tea party, really? I know they call me a queen, Dante, but I'm not going to play nice with a bunch of bitchy mob wives just because I have a uterus, a pair of tits, and a good dose of estrogen like they do. That's about the only thing we would have in common. I'm more likely to kill one of them than make friends if you put us alone in a room together."

"It was a joke, bella mia."

"I hope so," Cat said frankly.

"And the killing them thing better have been a joke, too," Dante added, cocking his eyebrow.

She couldn't promise him that.

"I don't like women, Dante. Especially those kinds of women. They do little but annoy me with their complaints, gossip, and bickering. Their idea of fun is drinking wine, chatting about who is fucking who, and ignoring what their husbands are doing behind their backs. So long as they've got new furs, a fast car, and a diamond on every finger, who cares that their men have a dozen whores housed across the city?"

"Cat-"

"I am not making nice with those women just to suit your needs."

"I didn't say you had to!"

Cat tucked her chin downward, surprised at Dante's sudden outburst. "Okay."

"Good God, woman, let me fucking speak."

"Okay," Cat repeated.

"Carl Calabrese is not a stupid man. When Lucian tells him I said my wife and his wife could have a tea party together, trust that he knows I'm being nothing more than an asshole and challenging him at the same time. If he is already aware you have men working under you, he also knows you're nothing like his easily pleased wife who likes to pretend her husband isn't running a criminal organization."

"Oh."

"Yes, Cat."

"Well, then." As long as her husband wasn't setting her up for some throat-slashing-worthy dinner, Cat was good. "Fine, I'll do the ... whatever it is you need me to do."

"You are insufferable," Dante said, shaking his head.

Cat's fists met her hips. "I beg your pardon?"

"Exactly what I said. You're combative and difficult. Nothing irks me more than a woman who likes to press my buttons."

Cat didn't bother to hide her smug smirk. "It's good to know I unnerve you, bello."

"Unnerve, annoy ... same thing."

"Be nice," Cat warned. "It's our wedding night, after all."

"Yes and we're arguing already not to mention we're not even fucking," Dante replied just as fast. "I happen to think if we were, it might make your attitude a little more bearable sometimes, but you're probably not willing to test that theory out. No doubt this is going to be a good indicator of the next fifty years of my life with you at my side. I'm so looking forward to that."

Dante didn't look pleased at all as he went about shrugging off his dress pants. Cat had to avert her eyes again to keep from gawking at his very fit form that could make her mouth water. Even his thighs were fantastic, for Christ's sake. He pulled out a pair of cotton sleep pants and tugged them on, staying silent.

Cat felt bad for being contrite. She wasn't a spoiled woman, as far as that went. However, she also wasn't used to dealing with a man like Dante Marcello. Or rather, a man in his position while he was supposed to be her partner. Cat never had partners at all. Men worked under her. Men worked for her. But men never worked with her. This was new.

She reminded herself Dante wasn't out to get anything from her other than a marriage license and now he had that. What else could he want from her but to treat her like a wife? Without the physical side of things, of course.

Somehow, Cat had to figure out a way to give Dante a bit of leg room before she extended her claws.

Breaking old habits were easier said than done.

"I'll try not to be so difficult."

Dante sighed. "I'd appreciate that."

"About certain things," she added quickly.

"Insufferable."

"You have to see it from my perspective, too, Dante."

"I've tried and failed," he muttered.

"I will be respectful at this ... sit-down, or at least attempt to be on something worthy of good behavior."

Dante's green eyes leveled on Cat with an intensity that pinned her in place. She didn't have the first clue why this man had that kind of effect on her. No man could tame Catrina, they never had. Dante, on the other hand, could make her feel both like spun glass and cold steel with just a glance. It was no wonder she wanted to rebel back and push his limits.

Every man had a breaking point, after all.

Old habits, her mind repeated.

"It's pretty simple, Cat."

"Is it?"

"I think so. It's like this: in Cosa Nostra, you don't mean a thing. And I'm not saying that to be an ass, either. It's the truth, whether you like it or not. Unless you have a dick between your legs, there isn't going to be one made man who cares or wants to hear your opinion on something unless you can earn their respect first. Even then, some of them might not give a good goddamn. When you're standing at my side and doing business with me, it makes you that much more admirable to them.

"You don't have to agree with it, but it's fact," Dante said sharply, making Cat wince internally. "So if I ask you to make nice with a certain man's wife for a single dinner, you might want to do just that for not only the sake of your status as my wife, but also our mutual work."

Dante was right, Cat didn't like it at all, but he had a point. Also, she needed all the safety net she could get in her marriage with Dante. If earning the respect of other families around them would give her that, she would swallow her pride and do it.

Cat nodded. "I will."

"Thank you."

"But I don't like women," she repeated firmly. "And you can't force me to just because you say so, Dante."

Dante chuckled, eyeing her with amusement. "You do just fine with Kim and Jordyn. What's the difference?"

"Their husbands make all the difference," Cat replied honestly. "How they treat their wives make for good women who don't need a man to hold them up on their own two feet, if you understand what I mean."

"I do. I should point out they came like that, though. Lucian and Gio had very little to do with their wives' strengths, you know."

"Still ... it's not the same. They're family, too."

Now, Cat added silently.

"That they are."

Dante's phone vibrated on the bed, but he didn't even give it an ounce of attention.

"Did you need help, or something?" he asked.

"Well ..."

The phone stopped vibrating, but before Cat could speak, it started up again.

"Aren't you going to pick that up?" Cat asked, gesturing at the phone.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Suddenly everyone has an issue that needs discussed with the boss at this very moment like I'm on call for them or some bullshit. They forget they work under me and not the other way around. Why they believe it's acceptable for them to blow up my phone, I don't know. I'm sure they can handle their own business for a night, and if not, they have Lucian to defer to."

When the phone stopped ringing for the second time, Cat was surprised that another call didn't start coming through straightaway.

"Why did you come find me; did you need help?" he asked again.

"I do need help," she admitted.

"With your dress?"

"What gave you the first clue?"

"You're still wearing it and we arrived at the hotel nearly two hours ago," Dante said, laughing. "Not that I mind. I like it, of course. Is there a clasp you can't reach or something?"

"Not exactly," Cat replied, her cheeks turning pink.

Why she was embarrassed about her predicament, Cat wasn't entirely sure. Maybe because a small part of her thought confessing the lengths she had gone to in order to make her dress stay perfect for the entire day might seem like more than it actually was.

"Turn around," Dante ordered.

Cat did without question. "Yes, there's a clasp but-"

Dante's warm fingertips shadowed across the back of Cat's neck, making her lose her words and shudder all at the same time. If he noticed her reaction, Dante didn't say a thing.

"Quite a bit of skin you showed off today in a Catholic church, wife."

Cat couldn't help but smile at his jeering tone. "The neckline was more than appropriate."

"Oh, certainly," Dante agreed, his fingers skipping down to where the backline of the dress met at Cat's shoulders. "I won't argue that point for a second. This very open back, however, is downright fucking sinful. It hides nothing but the swell of your ass, Cat, and just barely, I might add."

Cat bit her inner cheek. "Do you think it crossed a line?"

Dante's hands on her skin froze. "No, I didn't say that."

"I know, I just wondered what you thought, that's all."

"What I thought?" Dante asked.

"Yes, that's what I said."

"Why would you worry what I thought of your dress, Catrina?"

"I ..."

Cat couldn't answer that question. But she had worried about his opinion and she couldn't deny it. When she shopped for the wedding dress, Cat had purposely chosen one she liked, clearly, but she also chose one she hoped her husband would enjoy, also.

"Bella?"

"I just hoped you would like it, that's all," Cat said, not knowing what else to say.

"I did," Dante replied quietly. "I thought it was the perfect combination of inciting and beauty. Elegant with the lace, appropriate with the color-"

Cat laughed softly. "No point in wearing white just to lie, bello."

"-and provocative with the openness of the back. Mix those things all together and I thought the dress fit your personality pretty damn well, Catrina."

"You liked it, then," Cat stated.

"Yes, it's a beautiful dress."

"It's funny you would see it like that."

"What, why?" Dante asked, his hands skimming down her sides. "It's true, Cat."

"My step-father would have said I looked like a whore in it."

Cat had no idea why she told Dante that. The words slipped out before she could stop them and she certainly couldn't take them back now.

Dante went rigid behind her. "Please tell me you're joking."

Cat turned to face him, shrugging. "Unfortunately, no. I can almost guarantee he would have called it filth, but he always did think I was trash for my choices, so it wouldn't have been anything new. Definitely not something I hadn't heard from him before."

"I don't know what to say to that."

"You don't have to say anything at all."

"I understand why you didn't want to invite your parents, now."

"I haven't spoken to them since I was fifteen, so it would have made for an awkward conversation and nothing else. That is if my father had even let me get that far to ask for their presence today."

Dante's brow lifted. "That's a long time, Cat. I mean, I knew you were doing your business for quite a while, but fifteen?"