Page 41 of Poison and Wine

Dare slowly shook his head back and forth. “I never thought I’d live to see the day you’d do something so….”

Taking a step towards him, I growled, “What?”

“Nice,” Dare replied.

“Thoughtful,” Kellan added.

“Decent,” Quinn said.

“Are you all insinuating I’m an arsehole?”

Quinn cocked his brows at me. “When it comes to women? Absolutely.”

“Suck my cock,” I spat, as I started for the stairs.

“It’s a good thing, Callum,” Kellan argued. Ignoring him, I’d gotten halfway to the landing when he added, “It’s good because it means you aren’t him.”

I froze. Although I shared everything with my brothers, I’d never shared with them my fear of becoming my father. Deep down, I knew it was an unspoken fear for all of us. While I welcomed the bloodlust and venom of my father’s DNA when it came to running the family, I never, ever wanted to be him when it came to women. My father was incapable of love, and I didn’t want to ever be imprisoned by being unable to give or receive love. I didn’t want that to be my legacy.

After taking the stairs two at a time, I made it to Caterina’s door and knocked with my free hand. “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Kitten.”

I heard the rustling of bed covers before feet scurried across the hardwood floor. When she threw the door open, I was surprised to find she hadn’t put a robe over her nightgown. It only came halfway down her thighs and showed off her exquisitely long legs. Not to mention the thin straps and plunging neckline gave me an excellent view of her tits, which caused me to groan inwardly.

When she cleared her throat, I drew my eyes up to hers. “Good morning,” I pronounced.

With a suspicious look, she replied, “Good morning.”

“I wanted to let you know the priest will be here at noon.”

Caterina’s expression grew grim. “Oh, I see,” she murmured.

I tried not to let it bother me that she was so visibly disappointed that her days as a single woman were up. I wouldn’t allow my ego to be bruised over such things. While she might not want to be my wife today, there would come a time very soon that she would be grateful. Especially after all I’d bartered with her.

“My apologies for being the bearer of such bad news,” I mused.

She scowled at me. “It’s not like I didn’t know it was going to happen.”

“You just hoped for more time.”

“Maybe.” Crossing her arms over her ample chest, she asked, “What about the contract?”

“You still don’t trust me, do you?”

“Call me jaded, but no.”

“It’s downstairs. We have to sign it together with witnesses.”

“Let me throw on my robe, and we can do it right now.”

With a smirk, I said, “Look at you being all eager to join forces with me.”

“My only eagerness is in ensuring you don’t try to deny what you’ve promised.” It was then she appeared to notice the white garment bag in my arms. “What’s that?”

“Your wedding dress.”

Her eyes bulged. “Seriously?”