Dolci: The Family, #4

By Katrina Jackson

Giulio

I don't want to be the boss.

I want to stay in bed for at least sixteen hours a day with Zahra. I want to pretend that what we have can last. And every now and then I want to shoot some people. In that order.

But with Salvatore on the hunt for whoever is trying to kill him and Alfonso in Positano trying to keep Zahra's sister safe, that leaves me in Naples with the weight of our entire organization on my shoulders, with Zahra.

And what does the love of my life decide to do in the middle of all this danger? She wants to date. She wants to discover Naples and Italian cuisine. And she wants to explore a life with me.

I don't want to be the boss, but with Zahra by my side, even I start to believe that life could be sweeter if only we let it.

Content warnings

Torture on the page
Threats of violence and murder
Ableist language

• Language: English
• Publisher: Katrina Jackson
• Release date: Sep 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9781953908834

Katrina Jackson

Katrina is a college professor by day who writes romances by weekend when her cats allow. She writes high heat, diverse and mostly queer erotic romances and erotica. She also likes sleep, salt-and-pepper beards, and sunshine. I'm super active on twitter. Follow me: @katrinajax

Book preview

Dolci

Dolci

The Family

Katrina Jackson

Sea Port Press

Copyright © 2021 by Katrina Jackson

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Editor: A.K. Edits

Photographer: Roman Odintsov

Vellum flower icon Created with Vellum

Acknowledgments

Thank you to all of my patrons and Kai for giving me the space and encouragement to write exactly what was on my spirit and my characters’ libidos.

Contents

Content warnings

Gelato

Affogato

Panna Cotta

Semifreddo

Graffa

Cornetto

Other books by Katrina Jackson

Content warnings

Torture on the page

Threats of violence and murder

Ableist language

Gelato

We’ve been anticipating this moment all day, Zahra with excitement, me with dread.

I would prefer to keep Zahra in my apartment — only chained to the bed for special occasions. If it were up to me, I would burn this entire city down to keep her safe, or maybe just move to the countryside where I can try to better protect her; but we both know that’s not a guarantee. And I know better than most that this is far from a perfect world where I am in full control of my decisions.

In another life, Zahra would be exactly who she is, but I would be someone who didn’t have to look over my shoulder as we walk through the piazza, someone who didn’t have to scan each shop we walk into with one arm around Zahra’s waist and the other as close to my gun as possible.

I would prefer to be the kind of man who will always be able to protect her. Or, even better, the kind of man who doesn’t need to have guns stashed in every conceivable place in our apartment to keep her safe.

Sometimes, when I try to express this to Zahra, she holds me in her arms and tells me how happy she is to be with me with words, followed by soft touches, and then her mouth all over my body. Other times, Zahra has little patience for my brooding, and she rolls her eyes before climbing on top of my face.

That’s how we’ve arrived at a restaurant for dinner mere hours after someone tried to kill Salvatore, and he headed south with her cousin, and Alfonso fled up the coast with her sister. We should be hiding away, but Zahra won’t have it, and so I’ve brought her to Castellamare because Alfonso once described the owner as trustworthy to a point.

Some men might find that kind of description off-putting, but for me, it’s the kind of honesty I want to hear. When someone describes a stranger as good and upstanding without reservation, they’re either lying or a mark. Alfonso is far from a mark. He would prefer to throw a punch and apologize later, but he can be surprisingly soft — although, who am I to judge? At least here, with bodyguards, I can try and control my surroundings, although Salvo always says that control and power are nothing more than illusions.

And he has both, so I assume he knows what he’s talking about.

But at the heart of it all, I cave into Zahra’s demands not because I am so easily swayed by her body but because I know it will make her happy. And even though the threat of our entire operation falling apart is more pressing now than ever before, I would do anything to make Zahra laugh and smile and stay with me.

When we arrive, I tell the waiter to send all of the restaurant’s specialties to our table because Zahra wants to try everything, and I don’t want to wait for menus. Each course makes her hum in wonder or giggle with delight. She dances in her seat while the fork is still trapped between her