Page 73 of Under His Protection

“I feel like a puddle.”

Eva nodded, stretching back as she moaned lightly. “It’s been a while since I’ve felt this loose.”

“It’s… world changing,” I joked. “I never realized a massage could be this good.” Good, but still not as good as sex with Dante. Or his brand of massage that he liked to give me. Any time that sexy man had his hands on me was a gift.

She glanced at me as the spa staff member brought us our iced waters. “You’ve never had one?”

I shook my head, then sipped. Even the water tasted better somehow. The masseuse liquified me with that deep tissue kneading, and I was parched.

“Never had the money.”

Eva raised her brows. “You do now, cozying up with my uncle.”

I didn’t flinch. I was sick of her mean girl routine, but I’d started to think she was lightening up on me.

Guess not.

“I’m not a gold-digger, Eva.” I sipped more water. “I’m not the bad guy no matter how desperate you are to see me as the villain.”

She didn’t double down with the attack. Instead, she nodded. “I just want to make sure.”

I shrugged. If I hadn’t convinced her to not be a bitch to me by now, there was nothing else I could do to salvage the situation. “If you loathe me so much, why’d you invite me along tonight?”

“I don’t loathe you. And I can tell you’re not a gold-digger. I went through your guest room.” She smirked. “You haven’t even touched any of the clothes I ordered for you.”

I laughed lightly, too relaxed to find the energy to show my amusement completely. “No, I didn’t. I had to wear those dresses when Dante told me to. But he ordered me things more my preference?—”

“Cheaper, you mean.”

I shrugged one shoulder. “We have different tastes. That’s not a crime.”

“I suppose.”

“Why do you keep giving me a hard time if you know I’m not a materialist user trying to take advantage of Dante?”

“Because he’s suffered through women like that before, one-night stands who got it in their heads that he’d be their sugar daddy.”

Her saying that reminded me of that time Tessa and I joked about it. Sugar daddies. Dante wasn’t one. He was… my boyfriend.

Speak of the devil. My phone chimed with another text, and I frowned as I pulled it out of my purse while Eva chattered.

“Many women have looked at my uncle—and my cousin—as easy ways to get rich.”

“He has yet to give me any money,” I told her.

“But all his flings?—”

Before I looked at my phone, I shot her a look.

“What, you don’t like me mentioning that he’s slept around?” she taunted.

“He’s had sex before. I’m well aware. He’s much older than me, but I think you’re overexaggerating. Dante was married to his job, to the family’s businesses and deals, before I moved in.”

She huffed. “You’re right about that.”

“His not being quite the player you’re making him out to be?”

“That. But also that he’s changed his workaholic habits since you showed up.”

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