Page 39 of Mafia Don's Secret Baby

I’d managed to avoid considering this situation for the weeks we’d been here. Sure, I’d thought about it briefly, but there were so many more pressing things at play. My brother. My father. The attacks. So many things mattered more than this, but somehow this situation had still crept in when I’d least expected it.

“When he gets older, I’d be happy to be a male influence in his life if the father isn’t in the picture, Lilianna. You don’t have to worry about that. It doesn’t bother me being called ‘dad’, especially not with him. You have a great kid.”

I nodded absently, grabbing another shirt with the correct size label.

He gripped my elbow and tugged me to a stop. He whirled me around and took in every line of my face. “I’ve never known something like this to bother you so much. What is it?”

This lie was never meant to backfire, but now it felt like it ran my life.

I forced a smile onto my lips. I straightened my shoulders and counted my breaths. I couldn’t control my racing heart, but Matteo couldn’t see that. It didn’t matter.

“I hate that he doesn’t have a dad,” I told him. “It was startling hearing him give you that name. That’s all.” He didn’t look like he believed me, so I took it up a notch. I forced a small chuckle. “We used to read a book about mommies and daddies, and he started calling every man we passed ‘daddy’. I guess I thought he was over that phase.”

Matteo’s thumb stroked my elbow in a way that made a zing of lust shoot through me. My body couldn’t seem to catch a break around him.

“We’re going to work through everything together. You, me, and Callum. You trust me?”

Yes, but you shouldn’t trust me. Not when I’ve spent so many years hiding your son from you.

“Of course.” I swallowed.

He leaned in and brushed his lips across my forehead. “Then trust that you never need to worry about anything when I’m here. I’ll always have your back, Lili. Whether it’s from genuine threats or imagined ones.”

The words hurt more than they comforted me, but I leaned into him and pressed my face into his shoulder as I hugged him. I needed a moment to compose myself, and I couldn’t have him staring down at me.

“Mommy,” Callum said, holding up a handful of shirts. I took a deep breath and pulled back, smiling down at him.

“How about we go and try these on?” I suggested, looking at the various sizes he’d grabbed. I took them and held a small pile out to Matteo without meeting his eyes. “Why don’t you find the correct sizes and meet us in the changing room area?”

He nodded as we split up.

I exhaled a long breath, not allowing myself to consider everything he’d just said. I needed a moment to compose myself, and this would have to do.

Callum and I went into the dressing room area, and a chipper young woman smiled down at him. Callum rushed inside the first dressing room without waiting for me, and the young woman laughed. “I would love to take his measurements and get him a few properly fitted pieces of clothing. It’s a unique service we offer here, and the cost is worth it.”

I opened my mouth to tell her we would just try on what we had, but Matteo’s voice came from behind me. “Please, do.”

I turned and looked at him as the young woman took measuring tape, pulled the clothes from my hands, and followed Callum into the room with the items I had selected. I watched them go, and as she closed the door behind her, I glanced back at Matteo.

He surprised me as he took my wrist and pulled me into an empty changing room on the other side of the desk.

The door closed behind him before he gripped both sides of my face. He looked at me as if searching for something. “I’ve never known someone stronger than you, Lili. Don’t let this bullshit bring you down. You don’t have to avoid looking at me because you’re ashamed. There’s nothing you could do to make me feel that way about you.”

I felt my breathing quicken again, but this time, it was from the proximity of his body to mine. All thoughts of Callum and his parentage fell away. My chest brushed against his, zings of longing shooting through me so powerfully that I gasped.

A wicked grin spread across Matteo’s lips as he moved one hand to the side of my neck and the other to my hip. He slowly wound it around my waist and tugged me closer.

“Is this what you need? A distraction to calm down?” Amusement danced in his eyes.

“We’re in a children’s clothing store,” I said, my voice coming across breathier than I had wanted it to.

His lips brushed against mine so lightly that my body melted into his grip. “We’re in a changing room where nobody can see us.”

A laugh rumbled through me as I shook my head and rested my forehead against his.

“Good point,” I admitted.

His lips brushed mine, and I closed my eyes, taking in every ounce of the contact. My body yearned for it, and I involuntarily shifted closer, gripping the shirt at his chest as if my life depended on touching him.

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