Page 89 of Poison and Wine

Something about lying with her in my arms had splintered the emotional dam I had erected. In those moments, she’d been everything I’d wanted in a wife.

At first, I thought putting distance between us was the answer. I stopped coming home for dinner and spent more and more time at the office. It wasn’t totally a ruse since I was finishing up work on the opening for Bandia.

I soon found that distance didn’t help. I still thought about her constantly. While she didn’t know it, I remained in contact with Owen and Shane about what she was doing. Not that I distrusted her. No, I just wanted to know what she was doing.

I was fucking hopeless.

And then she had to go and weasel her way into attending the opening of the club, which was the last fucking thing I wanted her to do. Outside of our reception, it would be the first time she was on display as my wife. Caterina thought I just didn’t want to spend time with her, but that wasn’t the truth. I didn’t want her to go because I wanted to protect her.

Now that I felt even more for her, I worried for her safety. Once her face was splashed across media sites, all my enemies would have a face to go with the name. I knew it was inevitable that people would know who she was. They would no longer be satisfied with just hearing that I’d married Alessio Neretti’s daughter. They would want to see her at my side.

And for the first time in my fucking life, I was afraid. I was fucking afraid I might not be able to protect my wife from all the wolves circling us. To protect Caterina, I needed her to follow my instructions. I needed her to bury her defiance because that would only cause trouble for her in the long run. She needed to listen to me and respect my wishes.

But of course, my little hellcat couldn’t do that. Tonight she’d flaunted her disobedience in a dress that could make a man with the strongest resolve come in his pants. Part of me refusing the dress was because I didn’t want to murder every son of a bitch who looked at her with lust in his eyes. But the other part of me didn’t want her drawing so much attention. The wolves were looking for any reason to attack.

As I stared her down, I began to pace around her. I tried swallowing my growing anger. “Have I not been kind to you, Caterina?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“Have I not indulged you with your wishes to go to university and have a career?”

“Yes.”

“Compared to what your fate could have been had another man kidnapped you and forced you into marriage, you’ve practically won the bleedin’ lottery, right?”

She eyed me sullenly. “I suppose so.”

“You suppose?”

Caterina appeared to be fighting not to lash out at me. Finally, she responded, “Yes, I have.”

“Then why must you continue to provoke me by not doing as I ask?”

“It’s just a dress, Callum,” she protested softly.

“It’s more than a fucking dress!” I bellowed.

She held up her hands. “Look, I didn’t do it to make you angry or to defy you.”

Like hell she didn’t. I chuckled darkly. “Don’t lie.”

“I’m not.”

“You knew I didn’t want you to wear this dress, yet you wore it anyway. That, Kitten, is defying me.”

“But that’s not–”

“Stop fucking arguing with me.” At my menacing glare, she cowered back slightly. “I need to know why you go out of your way to disregard my instructions. I need a wife who understands that sometimes my commands are in her best interests.”

“You sure don’t act like you want me to be your wife,” she countered.

“Excuse me?”

Caterina threw up her hands. “You want to know why I bought the dress even though you told me not to?”

“Why?”

“I wanted you to notice me!”