Page 84 of Bound By A Promise

I sat forward, my smile growing. “Oh, I love that idea, too. We’ve hardly been outside, and I’ve heard so much about autumn in Missouri.”

“You should see Arianna’s place this time of year.”

My elation morphed. “Yeah, my mother-in-law.” With her home in the Ozarks. “Dante said she’s upset that she wasn’t invited to our wedding. He promised her when things quieted down, he’d take me to her.”

Cat pressed her lips together. “Our mother-in-law can be?—”

“A bitch,” Mia volunteered. “But she’ll get over it. Mom likes to make a statement.” Mia smiled in my direction. “I talked to her when I spent the night and explained why the wedding was so rushed. Once she’s done with her temper tantrum, she’ll be all gushy.”

Cat laughed. “I couldn’t have said it better myself. In the long run, she’ll have a better response than Papá.”

Mama rolled her eyes.

“Okay,” I said, bending my knee and sitting on my leg. “Lunch.”

Everyone nodded.

Two hours later, I stepped into my closet, wrapped in a towel. While I’d thrown together a few suitcases of clothes, each time I started to dress, I thought of something else I didn’t have. Despite Mia’s declaration that we could be more than trophy wives, the idea of shopping was appealing. I’d meant to ask Dante if he’d gotten an answer from Miguel. It would be familiar to have him as my bodyguard, but at the same time, I was afraid he would still see me as the little girl he’d protected all my life.

Catalina had adapted to new bodyguards from the famiglia. I could too.

As I was deciding on what to wear, I turned, looking out the window. Missouri weather was new to me. Southern California was much more predictable. I checked my phone for the temperature and forecast.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I saw a text message from an unknown number. The message was written in Spanish.

“Hola Camila,escuché sobre tus emocionantes noticias. Espero que el Patr?n no te haya obligado a casarte con un Italiano. Cat me dio tu numero. Llámame si Podemos ayudarte. Te deseo lo mejor.”

Pursing my lips,I shook my head as my mind filled with questions.

Who was this from?

Who did Cat give my number to?

Why did they assume I was forced to marry Dante?

Closing the text message, I chose not to respond. As Dante would say, it was a conversation for another day. Quickly, I checked my weather app. The forecast was for sunny and mid-seventies.

By 11:15, I was dressed and back up to Cat’s apartment. Everyone was brimming with excitement at the prospect of going out into the world. The elevator filled with chatter as Armando took us down to the garage where Giovanni waited with a large three-row SUV.

The doors were extra thick, letting me know they were bulletproof.

“Oh,” Mia said. “I can’t sit in the very back.”

“I can,” I volunteered.

With the two guards in the front, Cat, Mia, and Mama sat in the middle and I climbed into the very back. Cat shared what she liked about the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. It was where we’d gone on my first visit to Kansas City. I remembered to ask my sister about the text message, but the thought was forgotten as everyone talked about the exhibits they wanted to see.

While Cat went on about their Monet exhibit, I remembered a jewelry exhibit from before. “Is the jewelry exhibit still there?”

“Oh, it is.” My sister absolutely beamed when she could discuss art. It had always been her passion. “And for a few more months, there’s an exhibit of male nudes from the 1800’s.”

“Have they changed since then?”

“I’m not that old,” Mama said.

I was happy to be by myself in the back seat, as my mind went to my recent lessons on male anatomy. I doubted anything at the museum could rival the gorgeous male specimen now at my fingertips. While I was a bit embarrassed about my naiveté at first, Dante had eased my inhibitions. That didn’t mean he wasn’t amused by some of my comments. I’d seen the gleam in his eyes.

Last night, after he’d reminded me that I enjoyed our intimacy and he pulled me to his shoulder, I ran my fingers over his chest, memorizing every peak and valley and twirling my fingers in his chest hair. I was truly fascinated with the access he granted me to explore. I peppered kisses as I followed a lower trail of hair down to the penis that had been inside me.