His hands landed to both her hips, his fingers digging deliciously into her naked thighs with enough force to sting and feel oh so fucking good at the same time. "Beg me to fuck you, Cat. Tell me how badly you want me and what I can do to you. Let me see what kind of woman you are beneath the control keeping you sane inside. Give that to me again. Ask me to fuck you hard, demand it even, but you better goddamn well beg me like I know you can."

Cat fell speechless, her heart hammering loudly in her chest.

"Come on, kitten, let me see it," he urged.

"Please, Dante."

His eyes darkened. "More. I know you can do so much better than that."

Cat didn't realize her hands were shaking from her need and nerves until she was grabbing his jaw and pulling him close enough that their noses touched. His warm breath washed over her skin. The slight stubble on his face dragged across her sensitive skin, surely leaving a piece of him behind as his lips ghosted over hers.

Dante's words were no louder than a breath when he said, "Beg me, bellissima."

"Fuck me, Dante," Cat whispered, keeping his gaze locked in hers. "Fuck me so hard, until I can't breathe in anything but you. Until I can't see or feel anything but you. I want you all over me, touching me, tasting me. You do it so well. Drives me crazy. Please fuck me, Dante. Please."

"That's what I wanted to hear," he said thickly.

Dante reached above her head and pulled the few pots and pans down from the metal rack above the island. He tossed them to the floor, the bangs echoing throughout the quiet condo. Then, he was yanking her dress up over her head, tossing it somewhere behind her. Cat wore no bra beneath her dress, just her thong. Dante's mouth instantly found her right breast, his hand covering her left. His tongue laid flat to the hardened bud, lapping at her nipple while his fingers teased her other one.

"Love your tits," Dante murmured against her skin before nipping to the sensitive swell of her breast. Cat gasped in a lungful of air, needing to feel like she wasn't going to drown under this man's want.

Dante's hand left her breast, sliding between her thighs and under the fabric of her thong. His mouth on her nipple let go of the pink bud as he regarded her the moment his fingers came in contact with her sex. Cat couldn't help but jolt at the sensation. It had been months since he touched her like this ... and she couldn't stand the wait. With the barest of grazes, his knuckles swept over her folds while his fingers explored.

"So wet, kitten. Like hot silk. I can't wait to have you soaking me."

Dante's hand disappeared from the confines of her thong and then he pulled the flimsy fabric down around her backside and off her legs. The tie he'd tossed over his shoulder was back in his grasp. Dante caught Cat's wrists in his palms before she could protest, the tie weaving in and around her wrists with several loops, though never too tight to cut off her blood flow.

"You good?" Dante asked, tugging on tail of the tie.

Cat nodded. "Yes."

She watched in silence as he pulled her arms high above her head. Dante tied the silk around the rack in a clean looped knot that didn't look as though it would come undone if she yanked on it.

"Damn, look at you," Dante said, dragging his hands down Cat's body. "You are the sexiest woman I have ever had the pleasure of fucking, Catrina. My dangerous little wife, you don't know how often I've thought about this. The things I want to do to you are downright filthy."

"Fuck me," Cat demanded.

"Soon."

Cat's chest heaved with her heavy breaths as she stared up at the rack and the tie knotted around her wrists, keeping her arms high and her body on display for him.

"Tug on that fucking thing all you want, Cat. It's bolted up there, and it isn't coming down."

She swallowed audibly. "I suppose I should say that's a good thing."

Dante chuckled as he shoved his cotton sleep pants down around his hips, freeing his erection to his palm. He stroked his member, his thumb rolling over the head of his cock every time he came to the tip. Stepping in between her wide open thighs once more, Dante said, "Last chance to back out."

"Not a chance in hell," Cat bit out.

"I was hoping you'd say that."

Dante didn't give her any warning. He simply slid the head of his dick between her folds and slammed into the heat of her pussy with one hard thrust. Cat was more than wet enough to take his intrusion, but every part of her felt it, right down to the soles of her feet. Her walls contracted around his length, taking him as deep into her sex as he could go. His girth stretched her open, his hands widening her thighs even further than before.

A burn settled in her muscles, but it only added to the absolute bliss of his cock beginning to pound into her at an unrelenting pace. Cat's head tossed back, air cutting through her lips in a whoosh at the immediate relief flooding her bloodstream.

She was high on this man when he was inside her. Her memories didn't do him justice. Not the way the bands of muscles on his body shuddered as he fucked her. Not the way he watched her like every moan and cry of his name was perfect music. Not how his hands explored her, touched her, and worked her closer to the edge with every stroke. None of her memories fulfilled the dark spots inside her soul like Dante could when he fucked her.

He demanded from her body and took without question. It was as if her body were the strings to an instrument and he was the only musician who knew how to play her.

"How's that, kitten?" Dante asked, his mouth coming dangerously close to hers again.

"So good," Cat managed to whine.

"Tell me."

"I fucking feel you everywhere."

Dante eyes flashed with satisfaction as he smiled. "I don't think you do, but I'll sure as fuck make certain you will once I'm done."

Cat's teeth clenched, a coiling heat taking over her middle and spreading down to the sex. "Oh my God, Dante."

"Louder, baby. I want to hear your voice screaming my goddamn name for days, Catrina."

Not for one second did his brutal pace relent. Every crack of his groin meeting her center threatened to send her off the counter, but her wrists locked high above her and his fingers holding her thighs open kept her in place. She yanked on her restraints, loving how the softness of the silk tie bit into her skin with just enough of a sting to put an edge on her oncoming orgasm. He filled her so fucking well-sweet Christ, did he ever fill her.

"Almost," Cat breathed.

"Perfect," she heard him hiss.

One of his hands left her thighs, coming to find her pussy. She felt wetness smear from the tips of his fingers over her folds as his thumb pressed into her clit roughly. Any breath that was left in Cat's lungs rushed out, taking her sanity with it. She couldn't see, and there weren't very many thoughts in her mind, either.

Nothing but him.

All she could feel was him. Fucking her. His mouth kissing the small dimple on her right cheek, teeth nipping to the side of her lips. His breath, harsh and short in her ear. Those fingers of his teasing, pinching at the hood of her clit, sending bursts of sensations shooting straight into her womb.

Then, the hand that had been pushing her leg wide on the counter was grabbing her jaw, under her chin. Dante forced Cat's face up, making her stare straight into his hooded, heady gaze. His fingers dug roughly into her flesh, so beautifully harsh. Cat couldn't speak, not with the force of his fucking driving her insane and the way he was looking at her like he owned her.

"You're mine."

The two words came out thick and forced past his clenching teeth as his eyes searched hers.

So goddamn simple, but they weren't.

"You're mine, Catrina," Dante repeated.

Cat nodded. "Yours."

"Nobody ever touches you but me."

"No one, bello."

Cat's orgasm came so hard and fast, she literally felt her body release with it. All of the tension let go as it raged through, her eyes flying wide to find Dante staring at her with a hunger that set her nerves on fire. Her body turned hot, like someone had dropped her into a sauna. She tried to calm as the last bit of the euphoria drove through her trembling, sweaty body, but she couldn't.

Hell, Cat couldn't even think.

Without a word, Dante reached up and untied the makeshift restraint. He caught her arms with his hands, wrapping them around his neck. Cat's whole body was jelly. She needed a second to get back down on solid ground.

Dante picked her up from the counter as if she didn't weigh a thing. It was only then Cat realized his cock was still hard and buried inside the clenching, soaked walls of her sex. Every step he took toward his bedroom jostled her on his length, waking her up, promising ...

"We're not even close to being done," Dante whispered into her ear as her back met the bed.

It was all too reminiscent of their wedding night.

Cat couldn't fucking wait.

Cat's gaze caught the sign directing her toward the airport, but she wasn't paying attention. Her anger was boiling and the only thing keeping her from going into a rage was thinking about how well Dante had kept her sated and thoroughly fucked for the last week.

Because if she didn't think about sex with him, she was going to think about slicing his throat with her knife. Pretty fucking simple.

Cat dialed her husband's cell number, agitation churning her stomach. Dante picked up on the second ring, but she didn't even give him the chance to greet her. "I thought I told you no enforcers were to follow me on this trip, Dante."

"He was simply making sure you arrived at the airport safe and sound, Amore."

She tried to keep cool, but nothing seemed to help. After specifically asking him to let her do her thing, especially since this was intended-to his knowledge-to be her first trip away doing business again, he still sent someone to watch after her.

Cat was pissed.

"Well, I'm not even half way to the airport yet and I've already lost him," Cat informed, keeping her tone cool. "Next time, pick a better fool to babysit me or fuck off, Dante."

"I wasn't trying to baby-"

She hung up the phone and tossed it into the middle console, still steaming. The moment a middle link way came up on the highway to switch from one direction to the other, Cat took it. She was headed in the complete opposite direction from the airport now.

Oh, Cat had business to do. Just not the kind her husband would want to know about.

Thirty minutes later, Cat pulled her car into a dirt road off the highway when her GPS signaled for her to. Forty or so feet into the private road, a black car was waiting. Cat drove her car beyond the black one and parked it. Getting out, she locked her white Mercedes-the only wedding gift she allowed from her husband-and walked up to the black sedan. Feeling under the wheel well, Cat quickly found the spare key she knew should be there. Five minutes later, she was back on the road again and still not driving toward the airport.

No, she just had to get out of the city to reach her destination.

She reminded herself to thank Gaetano for being so good about keeping her plans quiet. He deserved some kind of award for being as loyal as he was to Cat. She didn't know what she would do without him and Pao.

None of this would have been possible if not for them. Gaetano had flown in to New York, picked up a rental car for Cat, and dropped it off where she requested. Gaetano would lay low for a couple of days until Cat returned with Dante none the wiser about where she had really been and then he would return the car before leaving again.

Yeah, she owed that man a lot.

Cat pulled up to the single-level, modest bungalow style home. She had only been inside the house once before. Actually, when she purchased it under an assumed name. It sported two bedrooms, a small bath, the usual kitchen and living areas, and a decent sized backyard which was completely enclosed by a ten-foot high privacy fence. Along with the quiet, safe suburb neighborhood it was located in, the locale and house was a perfect fit for what Cat needed.

No one would assume the people living inside were anything other than a normal mother and son so long as they didn't get too close. Cat had made sure Isa knew the rules, anyway. She wouldn't talk to the neighbors unless she absolutely had to.

Bruno Savino would never think to look for the people Cat was keeping hidden from him if they were in plain sight. He probably thought Cat had them stored away somewhere a few states over. Or hell, maybe he thought she left them in Italy.

Wrong.

Well, truth be told, Cat didn't know what Bruno thought at all and she didn't want to. Just thinking of Bruno's name sent her anger spinning, sickness rising, and her worry compounding hard in her chest.

He was a vile man, an abusive one who cared little for women. He had been her sister's lover before Catherine's death.

And the supposed father to Cat's nephew, the little boy she stole from him to keep safe.

Cat knocked four times on the front door of the home and waited.

Isa, her nephew's nanny and full-time caretaker, opened it with a smile. "Ciao, Catrina!"

"Isa," Cat said with a smile.

"Hurry, come in. He misses you."

Cat stepped into the house, immediately reaching to take the baby boy from Isa's arms. Michel squirmed like any almost eight-month-old boy would do to be let down to the floor, but Cat wouldn't. She wanted to hold him because she wouldn't get very much time with him. To protect him, she needed to stay away. To protect this child ... she had married a man whose last name and family would scare his father from taking him back.

She wouldn't risk all that she had worked for to keep this child-her blood-safe only because she wanted to visit him more often.

It had been nearly seven months since she had last seen this child. He was practically brand new, then. He still had the new baby smell, a toothless smile that wasn't really a smile at all, and a mostly bald head. Now, his crown shined with golden curls, his brown eyes were alert and looking straight at her, and his grin was honest.

Briefly, she thought about Dante and how he would feel to learn she had hidden her true intentions for marrying him. Betrayed, likely. It was too late, now. Cat couldn't take it back. If Dante had known the full truth when she approached him, he'd have thought her nothing more than a risk to his family, and he would have turned her away.

Cat needed someone bigger than herself to protect Michel, even if they didn't know they were doing it. Dante was that person.

"Michel!" Cat tickled the baby's fat belly, watching his pink cheeks puff up. "Oh, you're such a handsome boy!"

"Ma!" the baby shouted.

Cat blinked, shocked. "No, Michel ... Zia Catrina, not your Ma."

Her heart ached to say it. Michel didn't have a mother at all, not after his father all but beat her to death, left her to birth this child alone, and at the end, did nothing to help her when she bled out.

Isa laughed. "You left a bag of your sister's belongings here. You and Catherine happen to look a lot alike, so maybe he's mistaking you for her, is all."

"Maybe," Cat echoed.

Isa's smile faded. "He will need a mother and father eventually, Catrina."

"I know."

They were the only two things Cat didn't know how to give Michel.