Dante: Chapter 44

I take Kat’s hand and lead her to the dance-floor, a sea of faces watching us as we prepare to have our first dance. Suddenly, I’m regretting allowing her to plan every aspect of this wedding with no input, because if she makes me dance to One Direction or a country music ballad, I might never forgive her.

I slip my arms around her waist and pull her as close as I can, but our child growing inside her is making it increasingly difficult to get her body as pressed up against mine as I’d usually like. I have had to be way more creative when I’m fucking her too, because I can’t stop doing that every single chance I get.

She loops her arms around my neck and the opening bars of “At Last” by Etta James begin to play.

I smile at her as I move her around the floor to a chorus of clapping, sighing and cheering. “I love this song.”

“I know. Joey told me. I love it too. She said you used to listen to it with your mom.”

“Hmm.” I kiss her forehead. “I was worried you were going to make me dance to Harry Styles or Taylor Swift.”

“Hey, Taylor is an icon.”

She rests her head on my shoulder. I press my lips against her ear. “Have I told you how beautiful you look today?”

“Only half a dozen times, so not nearly enough.” She laughs softly.

“I am the most envied man in this room, kitten.”

“I don’t doubt that for a second, Mr. Moretti,” she purrs.

“Only because I have you, Mrs. Moretti,” I tell her, and she shivers in my arms.

“Well, I’m pretty sure half of the women in this room would trade places with me in a heartbeat because you are looking pretty hot yourself in that tuxedo.”

“Half of the women in this room are related to me,” I remind her.

“Yeah, so I’m talking about the other half, obviously,” she says with a wicked grin.

“Wife or not, I will still fuck that attitude out of you,” I whisper in her ear.

“I’m counting on it, now stop talking and listen to the song.”

I slide one hand to the back of her neck, gripping her possessively as Etta James sings that last line. It’s perfect for us.

As soon as the song is over, the floor is filled with our guests who join us for the next one. It’s then that I feel his hand on my shoulder, and I bristle.

“How about a dance with your father-in-law?” my father says to Kat. And because she is a nice person, who has no idea what a piece of work my old man really is, she goes to take the hand he is offering her while giving him one of her killer smiles.

I yank her back before he can touch her. “You ever lay a finger on her and I will crush your skull, old man.”

His face twists in confusion and anger, and I pull Kat behind me as she stares at me, bewildered.

“Who do you think you’re talking to, ragazzo?” he snaps.

“Just stay the fuck away from my wife.”

I turn around to face Kat and wrap my arms around her again.

“What was that about?” she whispers.

“Nothing for you to be concerned about, kitten.”

She doesn’t believe me, but she doesn’t push me any further. Instead, we dance to a slow song, and I bury my face in her hair as I try to forget about my former fiancee the reason I hate my father so much.