A weekend of warm bedding and more sex than I’d had in a year gave way to Monday. Kat woke early so she could get to her penthouse and start packing.

I tried to drag her back to bed. “You can pay someone to do that for you. Between my money and your inheritance, you don’t need to do anything but make a call.”

She pinched my thigh, and I let her go with a hiss. She took the escape, wading through the tangled linens to her suitcase at the foot of the bed.

I sat up and scooted to sit next to her. “We could put someone on packing and go on a honeymoon. Like normal people.”

She didn’t answer as she shoved her legs into her jeans and stood to bounce them over her hips and ass. Once she buttoned the top, she spun and placed her hands gently on my shoulders.

I refused to kiss the delicate bone of her wrist. We hadn’t discussed our feelings past that first night, and Kat rarely did in all the years I knew her. I feared scaring her with the intensity of mine.

“I don’t trust other people with my stuff. I’ll get help to pack, but I’m overseeing everything myself. I also need to see the lawyer today.”

I captured her hand before she could pull away. “Please take one of the guys with you.”

“It’s not necessary.”

“Your safety is important.”

“And I can take care of myself,” she said, muffled while she pulled a t-shirt down.

I forced some growl into my loud sigh. “I never said you couldn’t take care of yourself, but I’d feel better, happier, knowing you had protection in case something happened.”

She leveled her face with mine and leaned in close. I liked the mingling of our scents on her skin. Smelling her made me want to bury my nose in the curve if her neck and stay there. “My father couldn’t convince me to have a guard, even after I was attacked. There is no way in hell you will.”

I grabbed her ass in both hands and placed her between my open knees. “Yes, but your father didn’t have my vast arsenal”—I lifted her shirt and kissed the scar on her belly—“of techniques at his disposal.”

She swatted at her hem of her shirt and headed toward the door. “Nice try, Mr. St. James. Not going to happen,” she called over her shoulder.

I grabbed my jeans off the floor and shrugged into a t-shirt. I’d have to put on real clothes later to see my father, but for now, it would do.

She rifled around near the front door for something, when I came out. I leaned on the corner leading to the kitchen to watch her. “What are you looking for?”

“Your phone, so I can call a car.”

I put on a face of mock innocence. “Oh, I just assumed Ms. Independent would call an Uber or something.”

She glared over her shoulder, her own phone and one of my beat up old leather jackets in her hand. “I’m independent, sure. I’m not pedestrian.”

“And that’s what I’m putting on your tombstone.” I laughed and shot a text to the on call driver. “He’ll be out front in a second.”

She opened the door and paused in the entry. “I’ll text you when I’m on my way back.”

“Home,” I supplied.

She rolled her eyes and shut the door with a quiet click.

In only a couple of days, she’d infiltrated my life completely. Something in my gut rolled around in protest of her leaving. As if I feared she’d never come back. I went to the kitchen to make some coffee. At least with caffeine, I could overthink on a higher level.

Gerry came in through the patio door which lead to the back staircase leading up to where the staff lived on the upper level. Gerry was in mid-forties with salt and pepper hair. His age was only a number, though, as he’d built himself like a brick wall. He’d been one of my guards since I was old enough to have any. “Hey B, got an appointment request for you. An interesting one.”

I finished the coffee, poured Gerry a cup, and handed it to him while I leaned on the counter. “What kind of an appointment?”

“Not the usual kind, that’s for sure.”

“Is it the kind that can get me arrested, or the kind that will make me money? Because we know which of those I prefer.”

Gerry bobbed his head back and forth considering. “The kind that will get you in trouble with the sh…I mean…the lady of the house, but you also don’t want anyone else to take this.”

I sipped the hot espresso carefully and considered. I’d known for a while Kat’s nickname amongst our people was The Shrew. If this meeting could get me in trouble with Kat, then I was already screwed. She’d hear whatever the rumor mill spat out this week and assume I already did anyway. I was sure there should be more logic to this marriage thing, but for now, I would wing it.

“When do they want to meet?”

Gerry rubbed the back of his neck and dropped his eyes. “Now.”

“Right now?”

“They showed up a half hour ago. I was just waiting for Ms. Katherine to leave before I came down to talk to you. I don’t think she should speak to them.”

“Let me get changed and set them up here in the dining room. I want two of my guys in here as well.”

He nodded and made a quick retreat out the patio door with his mug. I went into the bedroom and changed into my usual uniform of black pants, black button down. It took me a few minutes to brush my teeth and shave. Once presentable, I exited the bedroom and headed straight for the dining room table.

A young man about twenty-three sat across the granite, peering around carefully. I’d never seen him before, but his dark eyes and hair made me think he belonged to the Italians. Which explained why I was about to be in trouble with Kat.

I held my hand out as I approached, and he shook it firmly.

“You know who I am. Who are you?” I asked.

He met my eyes squarely. No fear, something I couldn’t say about many men who sat at my table. “I am Lucien Cambio. Heir to the Cambio family.”

I sat and stared at him long enough to see if he’d fidget.

He did.

“If you have business concerning the five families, you should be talking to my wife.”

“As the man…”

I held my hand up to stop him. “I advise you not to say that in front of her. She might rip your balls off and carry them on a keychain.”

His forehead scrunched up, making him appear younger. “I thought— “

“You thought what? I’m not giving you anything or agreeing to anything, but I want to know why you came to my side of town.”

“I would like to put in a formal bid to marry Bianca.”

The laugh bubbled out of my mouth before I could stop it. “You came here to ask me to marry Bianca Minola?”

“As…”

The boy stopped and considered his words. A trainable pup then.

“As the husband to Katherine Minola— “

“St. James now…go on.”

“I assumed you’d be the one to ask.”

I pushed off the table and stood. “You severely miscalculated. And if the five families think I’m the one to come to for Italian business now, you all have it wrong. Katherine intends to take her father’s place. This meeting is over.”

Gerry who’d been standing in the kitchen scrolling through his phone the entire time came out and hauled the boy out of the chair by his thousand-dollar suit collar. I smiled when he jerked free and preceded Gerry outside. Fox, the other guard who’d been lounging on the living room couch, crossed the room to stand next to me.

“Too bad. He was kinda pretty.”

“You want me to ask him out for you?”

Fox winked. “That pretty boy wouldn’t know what to do with me.”

“Was that all the meetings for this morning?”

Fox chuckled softly and ran his hand over his buzzed ginger head. “You won’t believe who is up next.”

Another young man entered the door in front of Gerry and sat down. I held out my hand again to shake. He eyed it before acquiescing and then settled both his hands on the table.

“And you are?” I asked, standing in case this was a short as the last. Fox wandered back to his seat and Gerry into the kitchen again.

“Hortensio Litio.”

I sighed and didn’t bother taking up the chair again. “If you are here to ask to marry Bianca, you need to make an appointment with my wife.”

“How did you…” He glanced at the door and slammed his fist on the table.

He contained a little more fire than the first one did, but his nose had been broken too many times, marring up his slight feminine features in a weird way.

“Did Cambio come here for the same reason?”

I gave him a wide feral smile, and he flinched back. “Gerry will escort you out,” was my only answer.

He left with a string of curses as Gerry shoved him out the door. I stared at Fox, his feet up on the table as he lounged on the soft gray microfiber. “I’m a dead man,” I said.

Fox laughed. “I’m glad I’m not on duty tonight. When she hears about this…”

“Maybe I can talk sense into her and tell her before she finds out. Cut it off before the rumors spread, and she thinks… I don’t know… I’m trying to usurp her position or something.”

“I’d bring in Mama Grace.”

I shook my head. “I wanted to save Mama Grace for when I really fucked up. We both know it’s bound to happen.”

He didn’t answer that, so I went and got more coffee. Gerry returned and sat in the seat I’d been occupying before. “So how bad will Ms. Katherine take this?” he asked.

I dragged a chair out from under the table, sat, and slung my feet up onto the other one. “I’m hoping I can explain. But if she hears something like I’ve been holding meetings to marry off her sister, I might need to start wearing a cup or clear out all the breakables.”

Gerry pointed to a ding in the wall by the door. “We saw that this morning. What happened there?”

I smiled as the memory of my wedding night came back. “Yet another misunderstanding. Katherine is an act first, ask questions whenever it becomes convenient kind of woman.”

“Your mother would have loved her.”

I nodded, my throat tightening at the involuntary thought of my mother. She’d died five years ago, and I missed her every single time her name came up, every single time I smelled Scotch.

The warm mug gave me a grounding point while I considered. “Were there anymore meetings this morning? I’ll need to go see my father. He has some paperwork, apparently.”

Fox fielded the question. “No more meetings. He already called this morning. You should head over there next.”

I put the mug down and went to get my wallet. “Fox, you’re driving. Kat has my car. I might need to hire a new driver for her, or me, if she can stand being driven by Holt.”

Gerry waved us off as I followed Fox out the door. Benson sat outside the entryway, knitting something with tiny delicate needles. I clapped him on the shoulders as I passed. “That’s looking good, Ben. Your pressure is getting more even. Maybe we can start training you on handguns next week.”

He didn’t answer as I climbed into Fox’s passenger seat. We both started laughing at the glare he leveled toward the car while we drove away.

“I think he still thinks the knitting is a joke.”

“I’m sure he does. As did all of you when you were brought on. And now you can shoot better than any guards in the city and make your grandmother a nice scarf for Christmas.”

He shook his head and pulled out into the Monday morning traffic. I stared out the window and wondered if I should tell Kat about my meetings first or let her ask me about them.

Regardless, the five families were about to be rattled.