I left the convent with the sage words of a nun running through my head. They played on a loop as I walked across the street toward the park where Vincent, Ruben and Deidra talked at a picnic table. I wanted to punch Deidra in her classic face, but that would not end well for me. Or, I could use Petula's advice. Find a way to tackle the obstacle that was Deidra, knowing I would never be rid of her.

Ruben left his seat and hurried to meet me ahead of Vincent. "Don't listen to anything Deidra spouts off," he said in a rush. "This is just a game to her and you don't have to play."

"Why are you ambushing me with advice? Is she going to challenge me to a battle right here?"

"No, but she is beyond reasoning with. She thought she had Vincent in the bag. Now, you come along and – BAM!"

"I can fight my own battles, Ruben, but I appreciate the friendly advice." I silenced my helpful brother just as Vincent reached us and tugged me against his hip.

"How did it go in there," he said, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

"Enlightening. I'll fill you in later."

"Having a chat with your long-lost grandmother?" Deidra said, taking her time to vacate the table and making sure we all saw her cleavage as she bent over.

"Yes. Thanks for coming to meet us, Deidra." I tried to keep the sarcasm out of my voice and paired it with a casual chin jut at the park. "We didn't get a chance to talk much during your visit to New York. Why don't you join us for dinner? I could go for some Thai."

Not only did Deidra look astonished, but Vincent and Ruben gaped at me like I'd been baptized inside the convent, and Vincent's arm tightened around my waist, forcing a small gasp from my throat. I knew a dinner date with Deidra The She-Devil was not on our agenda, but I had a theory I wanted to test.

Quick on the take, Deidra adopted the fake smile of royals as she nodded. "Sure. I know the perfect place. Vincent knows it too."

As it turned out, the Thai joint Deidra chose sat in the center of downtown everything, giving anyone with a phone easy access to our private life. But that seemed to be the way Deidra liked it, and I indulged her for the chance to turn the tides a little. I knew she wasn't really made of stone, but I wanted to see how far I could push before she cracked.

"So, here we are, Reese, like you suggested," Deidra said as soon as the waiter left our table. "What would you like to talk about? Do you want to pretend there isn't a naked elephant in the room and just talk shop?"

"I don't know about any naked elephants," I said. "I just want things to be civil between us. Now that I'm a member of the Valentino domus, you and I will see more of each other, and I'm not a fan of confrontation."

She blew into the loose strands of her hair, looking bored. "A bleeding heart. I knew it." She gave Vincent a curt shake of her head. "C'mon, Vincent. We both know you'll never make it on a diet of white fish. You yearn for something more exotic." Deidra wrapped her lips around her straw and drew water up as she held his gaze.

"You don't know me at all, Deidra. You never have," he said blandly.

"What are your aspirations, Deidra?" I asked, swooping in on the heels of Vincent's insult.

"Not ending-up complacent raising kids in a penthouse." The words rolled off her tongue as if she recited the mantra every morning.

"Okay, I'm there with you," I said. "So, what else? Do you have a degree? Are you training for the Boston Marathon? Thinking of running for president?"

Ruben laughed. "Deidra for president? Now there's an idea. Anyone who steps out of line will get a talon in the face."

Deidra shot Ruben a squinty-eyed warning before providing her answer. "I teach Krav Maga. Specifically, I teach Krav Maga to the US Marine Corps."

Yikes.

"Do you enjoy it?" I asked, pushing the boundaries of fake niceties.

"Kicking a Marine's ass? Hell yes, I enjoy it."

"Have you ever thought of becoming a Marine?" I pressed.

"Never. Too many people to answer to and too many expectations. I get enough of that from my domus." She and Ruben exchanged a knowing glance, but the twinkle in his eyes told me he was holding back a comment that would probably get him smacked.

"Is that why you've stayed off the market so long?" I said. "Taking a mate would add more expectations to your life?"

She glowered at me and Vincent squeezed my leg under the table. I knew he wasn't happy with my idea of making peace with the girl we put on the 'bitches be crazy' list, but if it worked, maybe I wouldn't have to fight the crazy bitch.

"My reasons are nobody's business," Deidra said with an exasperated huff.

"You should be considering the legacy of the domus," Vincent offered. "How old are you now, thirty-seven?"

Oh, snap. Playing the age card are we, Vincent?

Deidra played right back, forcing out her chest like a warrior accepting a challenge. "I am still well within procreation age for a gollum. Based on stamina alone, my chances are higher than average." She flashed Vincent a satisfied smirk, but he was having none of her shenanigans.

"Yet, you have spent the past twenty years showing us that is not what you want," he said. "A habit like that will be hard to quit. You will need to find a mate who is willing to deal with your insolence while he breaks you."

With wide, disbelieving eyes, Deidra slammed her fisted hand down on the table. "Don't use that traditionalist tone with me, Vincent Valentino. Under that controlled exterior, you're just like any other guy. A big dick with a weakness for a supreme lay."

Vincent leaned over the table, giving Deidra a full dose of his stone-faced intensity. "If you have been waiting until I bowed to your sexual dexterity, that was a very foolish move."

Burn.

This was some daytime drama shit, and I dared not look around the restaurant for fear my humiliation would be captured and turned into a meme.

"Fine," Deidra said, reclining back and crossing her arms. "If I can't appeal to your depravity, look at it from a progeny point of view. My blood is better than hers."

"This is not about bloodlines, Deidra," Vincent ground out. "This is about love. I am in love with Reese. I am not in love with you. I never have been and I never will be. Get over it and move on."

Vincent's harsh words had Deidra stewing silently in her own juices for the remainder of the meal, and I determined my theory was spot-on. Deidra could let her arrogance trump her better judgment. This making peace thing was starting out well.

~ ~ ~

After the lunch from hell, we headed for the Ritz-Carlton in Ruben's BMW. Thanks to Deidra's big mouth, Vincent's phone didn't stop chiming and his lips didn't loosen as he responded to it. Ruben wished us good luck as he dropped us at valet, and Vincent and I escaped up to our suite. As soon as the door clicked shut, Vincent lifted me in his arms and carried me to the king-sized bed.

His phone continued to chime on the pillow as he covered me with his body, trapping me lightly beneath him. His scent was my undoing, and I lifted up to kiss him, but he ducked playfully out of my reach.

"Caleb wants to see us at ten," he said. "Are you good with that?"

"Of course. I wouldn't deny you time with your uncle." I arched into his pelvis, seeking out the hard-on he was not trying to hide, but he maneuvered away. "Hey, what gives?"

"I'm angry with you, but we can discuss that after I've screwed you six ways from Sunday."

"Like hell you are." I pushed against his arm as I tried to escape under it. "I'm not having sex with you while you're angry."

"But I like fucking you when I'm angry. And you always come. I want to make you come, baby." He flipped me over, trapping me on my stomach and slipping his hand underneath to unzip my jeans.

"I thought you said using the F-word cheapened the act."

"I said it sounded cheap, and you caught me at a weak moment."

"And this isn't?" I spun around to face him again, dislodging his hand as he tried to tug off my pants.

"The more you fight me, the more I want to see you in those ropes," he growled.

What?

I stilled beneath him as I experienced a freefall moment. That moment you realize you might not know someone as well as you think. "It's a form of punishment, isn't it? The rope tricks."

"Reese..." Vincent's intense gaze mellowed, and he let me all the way in before he went on. "I would never intentionally hurt you. The bondage is my way of blowing off steam. I don't use it to punish females. They are all willing participants."

I nodded my acknowledgment without really meaning to, maybe because I didn't want him to think I was judging him, even though I was. "How many participants?"

"Seven."

"And why did none of this ever come out in print?"

"Non-disclosure agreements."

"Ah, sure." I kept Vincent busy with questions while I decided how to handle the situation. I liked getting it on with Vincent's beastly side, but there were definite risks. "I will submit to your wickedness only if you take me nice and slow."

He groaned at my ear, teasing me with a nip on my lobe. "But I'm not feeling nice at the moment."

"And why is that? Are you angry because I tried to make peace with Deidra?" I showed him my pouty lips, and he took the opportunity to bite them.

"Is that what you were doing? I thought you were trying to incite a riot in a public place."

"Everyone handled themselves, and Deidra had her mouth shut for her."

"And if the situation had escalated, emotions might have taken over, compromising certain secrets. I don't want to be responsible for a domus war."

"Between who? The Bourdains and the Valentinos?"

"No. The Bourdains and the Barad's, Manjari's family. News of Marco's infidelity would be met with swift and ferocious retaliation. You could have cost your father his life. The next time you decide to pull a stunt like that, tell me first so I can talk you out of it."

Whoops.

"Gee, a girl can't even make peace around here without earning herself ten lashes."

"I'd like to shoot for twenty." Vincent started on my jeans again, and I continued my obstinance, crossing my legs and wiggling away. He redirected his efforts to keeping me on lockdown, lowering his mouth until it rested on mine. "If I tell you I am no longer angry, will you let me bend you over the table and make you come?"

"So, you didn't get enough on the balcony, huh?" I smirked at him, and he quickly captured my lips, silencing me with a kiss. Next thing I felt was his fingers traveling up my torso, breaching the barrier of my bra then taking a handful of breast.

"Tell me what you want, Reese. I am running low on willpower."

Vincent fondled my sensitive nipple until I gasped under his assault. Down below, he had begun to grind on me with his stiff arousal, stimulating my happy place, and I blurted out my surrender.

"You. Me. Table."