Dinner on Friday

1. Dante

MOTIVE

The first threat I received was on our wedding night a year later in Ibiza. My hand stilled when I picked up the greeting card on the dressing table and opened it.

The menacing words sprang out at me in a handwriting I did not recognize. Blood rushed from my face and my heart thudded against my chest in a deadly rhythm as I read the two sentences for the third time.

'She won't be yours for long.
Enjoy your honeymoon.'

I dropped the card back on the table as if it was scalding hot. A quick scan around the room told me that nothing else was amiss, but that didn't stop sweat from forming on my forehead and around my neck.

God, I felt like I was going to fucking suffocate.

Loosening my tie didn't help, causing me to clench my jaw as my level of discomfort increased.

I needed to move. I needed to kill something.

Or rather someone.

I hadn't carried a gun around with me in over a year and right now I desperately wished I had one at hand.

I heard Carla's voice through the bathroom as she hummed and sang along to our wedding playlist which Eva had somehow connected to the villa's inbuilt speakers on repeat.

Drawn to her, I followed the sound of her negligibly off-key voice. With every step, the tension in my shoulders eased, but I grew more irritable at the thought of losing her.

She came into view and I released a long, slow breath.

She was okay.

And she was mine.

For now.

Nah, fuck that.

Forever.

I paused behind her perfect body, my eyes glued to her ass. Dressed only in a white lacy panty and strapless bra, she was the hottest woman on the planet right now.

Dammit, the way those panties hugged her fat ass was nothing short of sinful.

"Carla," I said gently so I didn't alarm her.

"Hey, love."

She turned around, her brown eyes large and filled with affection. I leaned in and kissed her forehead, relishing the warmth emanating from her skin.

She moaned and I fisted my hands at my side to keep from touching her.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Fuck. I had to remember she was exceptional at reading me.

I felt bad for what I did next, but I didn't want to worry her on our wedding night without doing some research first. I needed to find out if the threat to her was real and who was behind it.

Whoever it was, they had to have big, dinosaurus balls of steel. I could think of less than a handful of people who would have the audacity to fuck with me and mine.

"Nothing's wrong, cariño." I trailed my hand down her cheek and cupped her jaw. She blinked and before she could question my words, I fused our lips in a fiery kiss.

Boldly, her tongue slipped into my mouth, and no matter how much I fought, I couldn't stop my body from responding.

My muscles hardened against her soft curves, and I met the thrust of her tongue with a deep groan. Her unique flavor exploded on my taste buds like skittles submerged in a bottle of Coca-Cola.