Page 53 of Under His Protection

“Oh?”

Some lady. I had to fight back a chuckle. Vanessa wouldn’t like that label.

“I’m not some woman,” she snapped as we turned to face her. It was clear that she wouldn’t take a hint and leave without saying something.

Keeping Nina pressed against me, my arm around her shoulders, I leaned my head against the top of hers.

“I’m Vanessa Giovanni,” she clarified to Nina, her lips curled with disdain.

Nina shrugged one shoulder, indifferent. “Oh.”

“She’s the daughter of someone I used to know.”

Vanessa gaped at me and crossed her arms. “What?”

I didn’t back down, maintaining this steady, blank expression. I said what I said.

“Used to know?” Vanessa scoffed. “You know my father.”

“I used to,” I argued. “Lately, it seems he and I have different visions.”

Vanessa pursed her lips. “That’s not true.”

“What does it matter?” Nina tipped her chin up for a kiss, and I obliged her. “He used to know my dad too.”

Vanessa’s snarl deepened, the best it could with all the work she’d had done. “I don’t care who you are. Dante and I?—”

I shook my head. “There is no way you can put us together. Not in any claim or sentence you can make up.”

“We—”

I sighed, beginning to steer Nina away from her. “There isn’t, never was, and never will be a we where you are concerned.” Pressing another kiss to Nina’s temple, I gloated on the victory in Vanessa’s glower. She was furious, practically vibrating with how tightly she scowled. If she hadn’t gotten the message earlier, she would now.

Mission accomplished.

But the real goal, the real objective, was having Nina at my side.

And I was winning there, too. The reward of Nina’s company felt like the ultimate gift I’d ever want in my life.

20

NINA

Nina

Dante led me away from that woman and ended up intercepted by Romeo. He glanced at me, nodding once in acknowledgment, and I appreciated how he didn’t act differently, seeing me with his father. I told him that Dante and I were faking this relationship, and he had to be viewing us with that filter of knowledge, knowing we weren’t the real deal.

But I was torn with wanting Dante so badly. I was well aware that this was supposed to be fake between us, but I wished otherwise. On his arm, at his side, and receiving his smoldering looks… I felt like I really was his. For as much as he was married to his work, I felt like a solid runner-up. Soaking up his attention was a heady experience. It had me yearning for him and wondering how we could discuss this maybe not being an act.

Once we stepped away from Romeo again, we found a quiet corner. Before I could say a word, he devoured my lips in a hungry kiss that had me questioning what was real and what wasn’t. Back here, near the shadows, no one was paying much attention to us. As fervently as he kissed me, though, he was lavishing his utmost focus on me with the goal of complete arousal.

I panted, clinging to him and licking his taste on my lips. Within his embrace, I felt the prod of his erection hardening beneath his pants.

Yes. Please.

“I have to agree with you. I’m enjoying every private moment I can steal with you,” he admitted in a gritty, gravelly growl.

I smiled, letting his praise go to my head. Before I could fall into that spiral of lust and let it consume me, I felt like I had to speak up.

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