Sweet Temptation by Cora Reilly

“I’m sorry, sir.”
I looked down at the girl before me. She watched me with huge blue eyes
and parted lips. Then I realized who the girl was. Giulia Rizzo, my future wife.
I stared. Beside me, Faro was holding back laughter, but I wasn’t close to
fucking amusement. The woman—the girl—who would become my wife in less
than three months had just called me “sir.”
My eyes raked over her body, taking in her bare feet, slender legs, ugly
denim dress, and the flowery atrocity she wore as a top. Finally, my eyes settled
on her face. She still had bangs, but the rest of her hair was long and wavy,
trailing down her bare shoulders.
She raised her eyes when I didn’t make a move to let her past and stiffened,
obviously surprised by my unwavering attention.
I had to admit that the bangs didn’t look half bad. She was very pretty. A
lovely girl. That was the problem. Dressed as she was, she looked like a teenage
girl, not a woman—definitely not a wife and mother.
She touched her bangs with shaking fingers, a blush creeping over her
cheeks.
She must have heard everything we’d said.
I sighed. This was a bad idea. I knew it from the start, but things had been
agreed upon and now there was no going back. She would become my wife and
hopefully never call me sir again.
She dropped her hand and straightened. “Excuse me, sir, I don’t mean to
offend you, but you shouldn’t be alone with me without supervision, much less
stand this close to me.”
Faro gave me a look that made it clear he was close to pissing himself.
I narrowed my eyes at Giulia, not stepping back, but I had to admit I liked
that she stood up to me despite the power I held. “You know who I am?”
“Yes, you are Underboss in Philadelphia, but I fall under the rule of my
father, not yours, and even if I did, honor forbids me to be alone with a man I’m
not married to.”
“That’s true,” I said quietly. “But in less than four months you will be my
wife.”