Chapter 171Cephus’ POVJust thinking about the Italian contingent, you’re going to have to choose between the Capriottis and the Rosens, to begin with. Both, and you’re liable to have someone pull out a gun eventually. They might restrain themselves enough not to shoot, but I wouldn’t count on it with the Italians, they love going full mob with things, and the flash of a muzzle tends to ruin the event anyway.”I tried not to burst out giggling. In the space of a handful of hours, I’d gone from possibly dying a technical virgin at the hands of unexpected captors, to getting into an engagement with a man slightly out of my league that might see me becoming very wealthy in my own right, if that man’s sense of honor worked the way I thought… to needing to work out how to not die possibly still a virgin at my wedding reception from a stray gunshot.It was certainly going to be a good way to get to know the family, though. “Do I get some say in this? Like, can I see who the options are fo
Chapter 172Cephus’ POV“I’m not like one of your usual little boys who is too afraid to even touch you. If you try to play games with me, I won’t allow you to assign me different rules.”“You know what I think,” I muttered, “you have a problem with expressing intimacy with a woman unless there’s a point to it.”“Spoken like a young woman who has never used intimacy without a purpose—and that being a purpose that pleases her and nobody else.”“Who else am I supposed to be looking to please?” I demanded.“If you intend to be intimate with me, you will need to be focused on pleasing me.”“That sounds a little bit like your personal fantasy, Mr. Cephus.”Cephus turned away from a very meticulously spread piece of toast on the jam to frown at me. “No, Katie, I can’t say it’s ever been a fantasy of mine to have to put a young woman with a bad attitude back in her place. Some men may feel differently but you’ve chosen wrong in this case, if that was what you were hoping for.”“It’s not lik
Chapter 173Cephus’ POV“She’s going to judge you,” said Cephus after we’d been driving for maybe ten minutes.I had been occupying myself in trying to smooth down a crease in my black skirt that just kept on puckering up while I was sitting down; those words were exactly what it took to send me into an accelerated frenzy of smoothing.“I’m telling you this because you need to hear it if you want to make this work,” Cephus added. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you at all, quite the opposite. But she’s going to look at you right now and see a little girl on her way to a job interview.”“Isn’t that what this is?” I retorted, mostly just to have something to say.Cephus snorted. “You’d better hope not. If she had a say you would already be out on your arse.”I clenched my hands into fists so hard I started as my nails started to pierce my skin.“It’s really up to you.” Cephus’s tone was conversational, his arms relaxed as he steered. “If you want to have this turn out the sam
Chapter 174Cephus’ POV“It was my idea. I’m more than happy to forgive the debt for the privilege of humiliating them,” said Cephus.Angel crossed her ankles. “Well, I don’t disagree in principle. She’s not much of a find though, is she?”Cephus’s grip on my hand was starting to hurt, and I wasn’t having any luck getting his attention to make him let go of me. “I see her having potential.”“Ah yes, potential… the metric of underachievers,” Angel smirked at me like she’d been waiting to use that one on someone for a long time. “I’ve been looking forward to an opportunity arising to use that one.”I wasn’t going to take that jab and just stay silent. “I’m so happy for you.”I cringed into Cephus’s side when Angel began looking me up and down in a new, much more appraising way, hating that it was to him like that. I didn’t think he felt much of anything in return.“I appreciate your spirit,” she said. “But that is only going to take you so far. You’re defensive when it comes to your s,
Chapter 175Katie's POV“Am I supposed to believe you are shy?”I was so startled by Cephus's Voice that here I dropped the capsicum I’d been fidgeting with. It rolled across the bench, and Cephus caught it with one hand while he continued dicing its unlucky sibling with the other.“I guess you wouldn’t,” I admitted, “but if any situation was going to make me feel that way… I mean, we’ve gone from you having me dragged out If bed to trying to cook with me?”“You’ve got to roll with the challenges life presents you sometimes, Katie,” said Cephus, rolling the second capsicum into the path of his knife.“Are you talking about me here or you?”“Both of us, for once.” His expression visibly dulled. It struck me then just how much more animated he had become since we had first met. It was just a handful of hours but there was someone behind the mafia man front he was slowly letting me see, whether by choice or unconsciously I did not know.It bothered disappearing again. It was messing wi
Chapter 176Katie's POV“Madonna and child.” Cephus folded his arms and leaned back; it felt like an acknowledgment that I’d landed a hit, but I didn’t have any idea how. I’d just been trying to give a voice to my frustrations. “So you know a little bit about art, then.”“I think that’s kind of something I picked up through pop culture actually,” I said. I was hoping to screw with him while I seemed to have an advantage, and he did appear to deflate a little in response. “You’d be more eager to get a leg over if I was the kind of girl who t art and how to engage with you because I have any desire to ‘get a leg over’. And I have no intention of scorning you because you lack cultural polish. I assure you that I will be able to provide for you sexually in every way you might require.”“What kind of statement is that? Trust me, I’m a sexy beast, even though from the way I behave you would expect pretty much any Arctic land to be less frigid than I am?”“Do you want me to provide referen
Chapter 177Katie's POVI kept trying to convince myself that what I was craving was the worst craving anyone had ever had, including anything that had been thought up by a brain on pregnancy. But it was ridiculous to be so worried about whether I did or didn’t sleep with him when I was already making myself vulnerable to him, right? Or was this just how I was convincing myself to go along with wherever my lust took me?I don’t think about looking at my plate. Then when Cephus abruptly slid his chair backwards and stood, I startled like a tiny animal that could run away if provoked further. I knew damn well I couldn’t run.Cephus came to my side and put his hand out for mine, drawing me to my feet when I complied.“You have sauce on you,” he said and pointed it out on my shirt—his fingertip pressing slightly into my breast in a way that was, I’m sure, entirely necessary.I looked down at his hand there. Well, I’d managed to at least try to eat something.I thrust my chest forward in
Chapter 178Katie's POVI sat up with a gasp.It was just like the morning before when I had woken to unexpected voices. But this time I was in a strange bed again, and at least one of those voices didn’t seem familiar at all.I’d learned my lesson from the day before. I couldn’t get myself into the single bathroom in the apartment, but I pulled on a proper outfit, brushed out my hair, and cleaned my face thoroughly with some wipes. I didn’t dare put on makeup without a full mirror, but I was young and fresh enough that I could probably get away without it.Once I was decent, I made a quick and quiet tidy of my room and then stepped up to the door for a bit of strategic eavesdropping before I joined the action.A childish female voice was doing most of the talking. “She’ll need someone to guide her through the process.”Cephus’s voice sounded both amused and exasperated. “Someone who has never been even close to getting married before?”“You know exactly what Caroline means.” The thi