Boy, she smirked at the sleeping form beside her as she trailed her fingertips from his shoulder over his spine and swept them into the dimple of his lower back and finally over the swell of his well-toned backside, he certainly knows how to hibernate.

Slipping free of the blankets, she shuffled into the bathroom and looked into the mirror with a smile. For the first time in years, she didn't wince or reach for a towel to cover herself up. Instead she stood there with the early light of dawn illuminating her naked body.

The person she saw standing before her wasn't a stranger. The woman in the mirror was confident, able to stand with her shoulders back and a smile on her face that wasn't an act. She could look over her bed tousled hair and flushed skin and see someone who was beautiful inside and out. And when she stood back into the light, she saw the hungry marks that Salvatore had left on her body. Her shoulders, breasts, all bore the marks of Salvatore’s mouth.

The one that caught her eye the most was the mark he’d left at the point where her neck met her shoulder. She traced it with the tip of her finger and found the skin sensitive but not painful, the memories made her shiver. Right before he fell asleep, Salvatore promised to replace the mark as soon as she was ready for him to make it permanent. When she wanted to be his forever, when she was ready to have him in her life forever, he was going to mark her, sink his teeth into her skin, leave her with no doubts that she belonged to him.

She covered the mark with her palm and let out a long breath from between her parted lips, ending in a smile. She looked at herself differently now. The rush of confidence that she felt wasn't because a man as handsome and powerful as Salvatore thought her desirable. The confidence that made her stand proud before the mirror came from within. The shy woman that worried so much about how others saw her had finally woken up and taken a good long look at herself.

And she knew that she didn’t need his mark to know where she belonged.

To know who she belonged with.

She went back to the bedroom and grabbed the edge of the blanket lifting it up to crawl back in beside Salvatore. She knew her schedule well enough that she could take a few more minutes cuddled up with him before starting her day.

Across the room, a little light turned on and the buzz of vibration turned her head. She didn’t want to wake Salvatore, not that she really thought it would since he apparently slept like the dead. Darting across the room, she picked up the phone and slipped from the bedroom into the hall.

“Hello?”

“Hey, cousin.”

Natale’s steps stuttered on the hardwood, nearly tripping her. “Caprice, wow. I didn’t expect to hear from you. I was really sorry that I couldn’t get to the storage and-”

She heard a bit of laughter on the other end of the call. “Yeah, well, things happen.” There was a moment of silence and then Caprice continued. “Look, I’m sorry about the other day. I know that I was a little pissed off when I called and left you those messages.”

Natale cringed. ‘Those messages’ were more than a dozen angry, yelling, ranting messages that left Natale shaken, especially on top of the attack in the park, but she didn’t tell Caprice any of that. No one, except her father knew that she’d been attacked, and even he didn’t know the full extent of it. But, maybe it was time to tell her, so that she’d understand. “I wish you’d let me explain. I was-”

“Busy,” Caprice sighed and Natale could almost see her cousin rolling her eyes, “I know. Look, I wanted to apologize. I know I’ve been an ass to deal with, Natty. I’ve just been mad since Uncle Gio made the decision to go with Bellezza instead of my line, but that’s behind me now. Durante needs all of us working together.”

Natale caught sight of her pale reflection in the surface of her oven door and smiled. She was beyond Caprice’s petty comments now. She had put it all in the past. All she was going to do was look forward. “That’s great. Anyway, I have to get going. I have to be at the venue in about an hour.”

“Oh, I know,” Caprice rushed on, “I’m already here.”

Natale was nearly stunned into silence. Nearly. “Oh?”

“Well, I had to find a way to make it up to you, right?”

“Sure,” she tried to smile, but could only manage a confused stare at the wall, “that’s really sweet of you.”

An awkward chuckle was her only answer for a long moment. “Yeah, sure. Anyway,” She sucked in a breath. “I was going through all the boxes that the delivery crew brought over last night and you’re missing a box.”

Natale grabbed a hold of the phone with both hands. “Which box.”

She could picture Caprice shrugging. “I don’t have the list with the contents. You know Ericka has that.” She scoffed. “You’d think she would have checked each and every box when they delivered it.”

The gnawing ache in Natale’s stomach eased for a moment. Ericka. “Hold on, Caprice.” Natale dialed her friend and waited for the call to pick up. One. Two. Three rings. The answering machine clicked on and Natale hung up.

Immediately, her phone clicked back to Caprice. “Is Ericka there?”

A huff of sound. “If she was, Natty, I’d just ask her. I’m not stupid.”

“No, no,” she winced, “I didn’t say that, I was just wondering. I was just thinking...”

Something like a murmur came through the phone.

Natale was already opening up the Dropbox on her phone. “What’s the number?”

A moment, then, “Twenty three.”

A gasp escaped her lips. “The jewelry!” All of the jewelry that the models were going to use had been a collaboration with Benita Morales’ company to promote both lines. Without the jewelry, they wouldn’t have any accessories on the models.

“I know we set everything out yesterday.”

“Sure, I guess,” Caprice sighed, “but look, you’re closer to the workroom than I am. And my car is in valet parking. You know how long they can take to find the car. You can stop by on your way and pick it up, right?”

“Right.” Her mind was awash with a half-dozen plans to get the box to the venue, but Caprice was right, if Ericka wasn’t answering her phone, she was likely putting out any number of fires for the show. If she wanted to make sure that the jewelry got to the fashion show, Natale was going to have to go get it herself.

It would be just fine.

“Okay,” she said the word as she organized the thoughts in her head, “I can do that. I need a few minutes to get dressed and then I’ll grab a cab.”

“A cab?” Caprice was momentarily stunned. “What about your boyfriend?”

Natale laughed, enjoying Caprice’s discomfort. It was nice to shock her cousin for once. “I’m sure he’ll come to the venue when he wakes up.”

That got a reaction. “Sleeping?” Caprice laughed. “Falling down on the job, huh?”

“Well, he’s tired,” Natale sighed, looking back toward her bedroom door, “so I left him in bed when you called.”

That was it.

The silence from the other end of the phone.

Natale wished that Ericka was there so she could fist bump her friend. The fact that she’d had the presence of mind to say it to Caprice. She was sure that her cousin would never have expected her to utter the words, let alone having a man in her bed at all. So what if she was shocked? It was time Caprice saw her as a woman, not just her cousin who she could push around all the time.

“Look, you let me worry about Salvatore. I need to get moving. I’ll pick up the box and meet you at the venue.”

“Don’t worry,” Caprice had managed to recover quickly, “I’ll take over here until you show up.”

“Oh, I don’t need you to do that, Caprice. I’m sure Ericka will be there any minute. Just let her know where I’ve gone, and tell her to give me a call, okay?”

“Sure, sure… yeah. I’ll let her know. Just, um, hurry, okay?”

Natale winced. Caprice actually sounded concerned. “Yeah, I will. Thanks.”

Before Natale could say anything the phone call ended.

Shaking her head, she logged out of her phone and headed back into the bedroom. Setting her hand on the doorframe. “Hey, Salvatore?”

He slept on in the bed.

“Okay,” she moved toward her closet, “look, I’m going to make a quick stop at the workroom. We’ve got a ton of security over there thanks to you and your brothers. So I’ll let you sleep and you can meet me there.”

She stopped just inside her closet and turned around to see Salvatore’s dark complected skin in stark comparison to her pale sheets. It would have been nice to have a few last moments with him, but she really needed that box.

* * *

Caprice lowered her cell phone and dropped it into her purse. Crossing to the craft services table, she grabbed her keys. Picking up a handful of wrapped mints, she dropped them in her purse for the ride. She had a car waiting outside and only had a minute or two to get out there.

“Hey!”

She stopped short and turned around. “Oh, hi!” She had to plaster a grin on her face, it didn’t come easy to her.

Ericka walked up beside the craft services table and lifted the lid off of the Red Vines container to fish out a few pieces to munch on. “What are you doing here?”

Caprice drew herself up, adding an inch or two of indignation to her stature. “I’m part of Durante Fashion. I have every right to be here.”

She saw Ericka pause and watched her take a step back. “Sure. That’s great. Look,” she gestured toward the runway, “I’m trying to find my phone. I set it down when I came in a few minutes ago. It was right over there by my bag,” she tipped her head toward the nearest dressing table. “Did you see it?”

Irritation was immediate for Caprice. “It’s your phone, how would I know what it looks like?”

Ericka held up her hands in surrender, the tops of her Red Vines waving over her hand. “Hey, sorry, just asking. I’ll see if anyone else saw it and maybe picked it up.”

“Yeah,” she huffed, “you do that, I’ll be back later.”

“Okay!” Ericka sounded a little too happy to walk away.

Caprice stared at her back as if she could knock her over with a glare. Reaching into her purse, she walked her fingers through the items in there. She felt her phone case easily, it was covered in Swarovski crystals, and right next to it, another phone.

“You really should keep a better eye on your stuff, Ericka.” She shook her head. “I’ll take good care of it for you.”

* * *

Salvatore awoke with a start. Bear. Male. In his territory. Sitting bolt upright he reached out for Natale and felt the bed empty beside him.

Growling, his head snapped toward the doorway as he launched himself from the bed. He was through the doorway into the living room a moment later fighting his bear for control. Both of them were one surprise away from blind panic.

A quick sweep of the room with his ears and his sharpened eyesight told him that Natale was gone. A growl rolled free of his throat as the front door opened.

Salvatore lunged halfway across the room before he realized who was in the doorway. “Valerio!” The sound of his voice was only half-human and he fought down the change, feeling the fur retreat into his skin as he drew himself up before his brother. He felt the bear recede another step when his brother held up his hands in a human gesture of surrender. His bear understood the supplication of a weaker bear. “What are you doing here?”

Valerio’s eyes narrowed on him. “I would ask you the same question. Natale’s gone.”

Again, panic rose up and cut off the air to his lungs. “What do you know?”

“I was coming to check on you, you should be on your way to the venue by now, and the doorman recognized me and asked me to wish Miss Durante the best on her show. He said he saw her leave twenty minutes ago. He called out to her, but she was on her phone and didn’t hear him.”

Her phone.

The words pushed through the panic that shivered up from the soles of his feet. Thinking of Natale, he felt even more, as if he could sense her like seismic frisson vibrating through his body. She was alone, mere hours away from her fashion show, and she was in danger. He knew something was very wrong.

And when he raised his eyes to look at Valerio, he knew his brother felt it too. A rush for the bedroom found his cell phone tangled in the sheets. He ignored the curious look from his brother and activated the phone, selected the app, and waited for a few frustrating beats of his heart and then a flare of light popped up on the screen a strong pulse of red. Tossing the phone into Valerio’s suddenly outstretched hand, Salvatore grabbed his slacks from the floor with one hand and shoved a leg in. “Is she moving?”

Valerio watched the screen while Salvatore managed to pull his pants on, swearing as he picked up his shirt, twisting free of the comforter on the floor.

“Well?”

“She’s stopped now.”

Salvatore grabbed his holster off the bedside chair and glared at his brother. “Where is she?”

He heard Valerio’s in-drawn breath before a sigh of relief. “The Durante Workroom.” Lifting a smile, his younger brother’s shoulders relaxed into an easy line. “So, she’s alright.”

Looking at his watch, Salvatore mulled over Natale’s precise schedule that he’d memorized. “She should be at the tent. If she would leave here to go anywhere, she would go to the tent.”

He made short work of his shirt buttons as he pondered the reason for her odd side trip. It was Valerio that offered up a possible answer. “Something she left behind for the show?”

Salvatore knew the suggestion was wrong. “Not Natale. She has everything under control, if someone forgot something-”

The answer was suddenly at the forefront of his mind, the one person who would get Natale to abandon her tight schedule and go off track on a day as important as her show. The one person who’d pushed her buttons enough to get her to leave his side on a fool’s errand.

Every nerve ending in his body went hot and then cold as he fought down the sudden rush of his bear. “We need to go,” Salvatore ran for the door with Valerio close behind him, “we’re already so far behind.”

* * *

Drawers, storeroom, cupboards, all of them, checked and rechecked. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

The door to the workshop opened, the sound echoed in the silence of the room and Natale stood, leaning toward the entryway. She didn’t even have to see who it was. Those heels were unmistakable. “Hey, what are you doing here? I thought you asked me to come get the jewelry.”

“I did.”

Confusion pinched between Natale’s brows and she dusted off the knees of her palazzo pants with a little wince of pain. “You should be at the tent.” Crossing the room, she picked her purse up from the worktable. “We’ll just have to do without the jewelry,” she sighed, “there’s no sign of the box here.”

The next words stopped her in her tracks. “Of course you can’t find them. The jewelry is at the tent, along with the rest of your insipid collection, waiting to destroy our family’s reputation.”

Natale felt like she hit a wall. She was tired and confused, tears prickling behind her eyelids. “Caprice, please. This isn’t the time-”

As Natale moved past her cousin, a hand latched onto her forearm, manicured nails digging in deep enough to stop her in her tracks.

When she met Caprice’s eyes in the dimly lit room she flinched away from the open malice she saw in her gaze.

“When will it be the time, Natale?” Caprice’s pearly white teeth were revealed as her pearly-pink lips pulled back in a snarl. “When do I get to have my turn? If you destroy this company with this ridiculous scheme of yours, I’ll never get my chance!”

Natale tried to pull her arm out of Caprice’s grasp, but all she got in exchange for her movement was the sudden pinch of pain on her arm from the manicured nails that weren’t going to let her go.

“This line is going to be a success. I know it.”

“This line,” Caprice mocked, “is ridiculous. What serious fashion house puts out a bunch of clothes for big fat-“

“Beautiful women.” Natale felt a pain stab through her heart. “Do you really believe that?”

“You’ve always had it all, haven’t you?” Caprice tugged at Natale’s arm, pulling her back toward the worktable. “Just because you were born to the older brother. You got all the opportunities. You got to go to design school and-”

“I got into school on my own, Caprice. And the money to pay my tuition-”

“Was paid by the company.” She yanked Natale to the table, slamming her arm down onto the cold metal surface. “I know.”

“No,” Natale tried to pull her arm away again and felt a sudden tear track down her cheek, “you don’t. I paid for design school with the money I earned working for Durante, you were paid just like me.”

The ire in Caprice’s eyes flashed and Natale’s stomach twisted painfully in her middle. The couple of sips of coffee she’d managed to drink on the way to the workroom warred with the half a pretzel she’d gulped down from the corner vendor and she wished beyond reason that she’d brought Salvatore with her. She’d felt something was off when Caprice told her to go on her own, but it was her cousin asking her for her help and call it stupid, but that meant something to her.

“It was wasted on you, Natale. No one is going to take you seriously and after today when you don’t show up to your own show… well, I can imagine what Uncle will say when I just happen to have my own collection ready to show? A collection that will make the right impression on the fashion scene, instead of dragging us down.”

One last pull from Natale tried to set herself free, but Caprice wouldn’t let her go, instead, she laid Natale’s forearm flat on the table and then reached across the surface for a pair of wickedly sharp Gingher shears. “Don’t worry about what everyone will think, Natty. I typed up a sappy little goodbye letter on your computer. All this pressure… it was just too much for you.”

The flash of metal set Natale’s heart pounding, but it wasn’t the wicked glare on her cousin’s face that she saw in her mind’s eye. As Caprice struggled to hold her arm down on the table, Natale struggled just as much to free herself, and that brought Salvatore back to the center of her thoughts. She should have told him where she was going. Should have left him a note. To know that her blind faith in Caprice was likely going to get her killed made her feel like the kind of fool that her cousin said she was.

“Don’t, please.” She had to try. “This isn’t you.”

A bitter laugh seemed to bang off the walls. “You don’t know who the hell I am!”

Something hit the studio door and shook Caprice’s confidence, her first cut glanced across Natale’s wrist and caught in the buckle of her watch, the leather saving her skin from the worst of the scissor’s plunging point.

A second hit on the heavy metal door of the workroom made Caprice panic, a second swipe missed and glanced off the metal table with a screech of sound. She drew her arm back again, desperation widening her eyes until the whites nearly consumed them.

The door banged open against the wall and Natale nearly sagged in relief as Salvatore stepped into the room. Even with the bloodlust that darkened his eyes, his bear pushing forward with hunger, he seemed to be just a moment too far from her to do any good.

And yet, his presence brought a measure of calm to her in the center of her heart-pounding fear. Just as Caprice narrowed her eyes and started to bring the scissor down across her open arm, Natale lunged forward, and pressed her hand into the taut flesh of her cousin’s side and squeezed. The tiny hand-held taser flared to life and as the tiny explosions of light set off like fireworks in the soft layers of Caprice’s silk blouse, her hand froze around the shank of her shears, rattling the point in a frantic staccato rhythm as the pain arcing through her rolled her eyes back into her head.

For a moment, Natale worried how she’d free herself from Caprice’s vice-like grip, and then she wasn’t worrying any more. Salvatore pushed between them, knocking Caprice to the floor, her scissors skidding in the direction of Valerio’s feet.

“Tesoro,” the sound of Salvatore’s voice sent shivers through her body and her hand relaxed, letting the taser fall from her fingers, “I was so afraid.”

She touched him, open palms gliding over his chest and then his shoulders and then his upper arms until her fingers grasped his biceps and she felt his muscles twitch in response to her touch. “I’m sorry I left without telling you.”

A growl rolled out from between his lips and she tilted her head back to look into eyes and saw the wild bear gazing back at her. She didn’t feel fear, nor did she shrink back when the voice that clawed its way from his throat was more growl than speech. “Never again.”

She shook her head. “No, Salvatore, never again.”

His hand cradled her face at first, his fingertips skirting over her skin at her temples, then drawing down over her cheeks until his hands cupped under her chin.

Natale watched his face descend toward hers and she blinked back the tears that came with the mind-numbing relief. The rough scratch of his callused hands against her skin brought her back to the night before when those same hands held her beneath him as he drove into her body. His lips smoothed over hers in a trembling caress, and she pulled him forward until she stole his breath, swallowing it straight from his mouth.

He touched her forearm and she hissed into his mouth. Salvatore leaned back. “Let Valerio look at your arm.”

She looked down and groaned at the uneven slashes across her skin. “I’m never going to be able to wear sleeveless outfits again.” Then she laughed and worried that the brothers would think she’d lost her mind. She waved off Salvatore’s concern. “Sorry, I’m still trying to wrap my mind around what just happened.”

Valerio stepped up at that moment, taking her arm in his hand. “You’re in shock. It’s not going to make sense for a while. After I bandage you up, again,” he gave her a grin and a wink, turning a deaf ear to his brother’s possessive growl. “I suggest you let him take you back to your apartment and get some rest.”

Salvatore shook his head. “I’ll make sure she gets a moment, but I’ll take her to the venue once you’re done.”

Turning toward his brother, Valerio narrowed his gaze at him. “She should rest.”

“No,” Natale pulled Valerio’s attention back to her, “he’s right. That’s where I need to be. I’m already late.” She could tell by the hard set of his jaw that he wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t going to argue.

“Then we need to take care of your arm so you can ignore all of my sage advice.”

The door swung open and Uberto stalked in, his acute sense of sight taking in the scene before him. He took one look at Caprice laying on the floor and the small black device on the floor before he gave her a fang-baring grin. “You may not know how to follow the rules, but at least you think on your feet.”

Salvatore gave his brother a cold look. “You gave her the taser?”

Uberto bent to pick up the taser from the floor, and tucked it in his pocket. Reaching out he grasped his eldest brother on the arm. “Looks like she made good use of it.” Nodding a look at the young woman prone and gasping on the floor, he gave a shrug. “I’ll take care of her, you take your woman to her show.”

Salvatore’s narrowed expression eased up a bit. “My woman?”

Nodding, Uberto gave his brother a rare smile. “She’s a tough woman, brother. You’ll have your hands full with that one.”

Natale looked up at Salvatore when he set his gaze on her face and she read the heat in his eyes. His anger and fear bled into need. She had a distinct feeling that Salvatore wanted his hands full of her and she couldn’t wait to return the favor. “Let’s go.”