The Tyrant (Banker #3)(6)

“He’s a complicated man. I suspect it’ll take a bit of time. I’ve seen the other women he’s been with.” He shook his head. “Maybe it was fun at the time, but they don’t care about him at all. He could drop dead, and they would pick his pockets and steal whatever they could find. They pretend to be exactly what he wants in the hope they’ll get a diamond ring and access to his wealth. You’re the only woman I’ve met who seems to appreciate him for who he is…so he’d better not do something stupid and lose you.”

Cato stepped through the door, dressed in his navy suit and black tie. Spots of water were on his clothes because it’d been raining all day. “Who better not do something stupid and lose you?” He joined me at the kitchen counter and wrapped his arm around my waist.

Giovanni was saved when the timer went off. “Better get the cookies…” He opened the oven and pulled out the tray.

Cato looked down at me, suspicion in his eyes.

“Giovanni said I’m the only woman who’s ever liked you for you…and you’d be stupid to let me go.” My fingers walked up his tie before I rose onto my tiptoes and kissed him on the mouth.

He kissed me back.

Giovanni set the tray of cookies on the counter. “They came out nice.”

Cato broke our kiss and examined the cookies the two of us had made together. “What are these?”

“You can make billions of dollars but not figure out these are cookies?” I asked incredulously. I grabbed a candy cane and broke off a piece for him to try.

He pushed my hand away. “No thank you.”

“You’ll stay at six percent even with a bite.” I pressed it against his lips again.

He finally ate out of my hand, his eyes locked to mine.

“Good. You need to live a little.” I ate the other half of the candy cane. “Yum…those are amazing.”

Even Giovanni ate one.

“I don’t know how much I like the two of you spending all day together,” Cato said. “Plotting against me…”

“We talk about you all the time,” I said honestly. “But we don’t plot against you. And no, we never say anything negative.”

“Sure.” Cato stripped off his jacket and hung it on the back of the chair. He pulled his tie off next.

“By the way, Giovanni is getting Christmas off,” I said. “And I will make Christmas dinner.”

Giovanni dropped the cookie dough he was scooping. “Sir, I didn’t agree to that. I’m more than happy to make Christmas dinner. It’s absolutely no trouble—”

“He’s taking the day off. He gets to sleep in and spend the day with his kids. They’ll both be home for the holidays.” Giovanni worked seven days a week, and it was inhumane that he ever had to work on Christmas. “I’ll make dinner. You’ve had my cooking. You know it’s good.”

Cato stared at me coldly, like he didn’t approve of that at all. “I’m the master of this house, not you. If I want to give my employees a day off, I will. You don’t call the shots around here. I do.”

My eyebrow rose so high at the cold way he’d just spoken to me. Everything eventually came back to his ego, his need for power. If I ever crossed the line, he always put me in my place. “You tell me to make myself at home here, and then the second I do, you act like an asshole again. You say you want to take care of me, but then I do something nice for your most loyal employee and offer to cook for your family, and that somehow offends you? Take your ego and shove it up your ass, Cato. If I didn’t love you so much, I would shove my foot up your ass myself.” I stormed off and left the Christmas sweaters behind.

Cato came up behind me and grabbed me by the elbow. “Baby, hold on.”

I twisted out of his grasp. “Don’t baby me.”

He grabbed me again. “I’m sorry, alright? I don’t know why I do that sometimes.”

I turned back to him. “Because you’re an egotistical asshole. Is this my home too? Or am I still a guest here? Because I thought after everything we’ve been through, having a baby together, being in love with each other, that I would have more rights than what you’re giving me. I signed that paperwork excluding me from ever getting a dime from you. If that’s not the ultimate declaration of love, then what is?”

For the first time, Cato was speechless. He stared at me with a pained expression, like he wished he had something good to say.

“I just wanted to do something nice for Giovanni. Didn’t realize that was so fucking terrible.” I marched out the door and left him behind, wanting him to think about his behavior and know that I wouldn’t put up with it. Not now. Not ever.





Thirty minutes later, he came upstairs.

I sat on the couch and watched TV, expecting to ignore him for the rest of the night. He would probably apologize and we would have make-up sex, but for right now, I was still pissed. We’d been having such a good week, spending time in front of the fire talking, decorating the Christmas tree, and making love in Christmas lingerie. Just when things got really good, he fucked them up. It was like he sabotaged himself on purpose.

He stepped inside the doorway. “Baby?”

I kept my eyes on the TV and didn’t look at him. “I’m not done ignoring you.”