Page 18 of Under His Control

“I don’t understand why he’s got to visit for so long.”

“Maybe it’s more than a visit,” Tessa argued, defensive and curt. She stepped into the heated pool but kept her focus on me.

“He’s moving here?”God, no. No, no, no.I needed him to go and stop messing with me. He might have said that he’d ruin me as a smug, self-centered man who thought he was God’s gift to womankind. But hehadruined me, at least in this case of temporary insanity.

I'd caught myself mentally replaying the terse arguments we had, brief though they were. I thought about him before I fell asleep, damning him for challenging me. I slept and experienced illicit dreams of him kissing me and fucking me harder, everywhere. And I would be so damn grateful for a break from wanting him. He’d burrowed in so deep that I couldn’t shake my mind from all thoughts of him, and it was grating on my nerves.

“Why?” I blurted the simple question before I could stop myself.

Nina and Tessa both faced me, suspicion clear in their expressions.

“What do you mean,why?” Tessa asked. “There’s more than enough room here. He’s not in your way, in anyone’s way.”

Oh, au contraire, Tess. He is. He is so totally in my way—mentally.

I was so frustrated with wanting him again that I was half-tempted to leave for an impulsive vacation far, far from here.

A change of scenery would surely cure this stupid fixation, one I had no business having for someone like him, an outsider who didn’t seem to care who I was in this organization.

“He’s my guest. My friend.”

I raked my teeth over my lower lip. “Yeah. I know. I get that. But?—”

“Nobut.” Tessa narrowed her eyes again, not happy with how I questioned her. She’d struggled with thinking that she fit in with us, that she could be arealpart of the Constella Family. I bet a lot of that doubt took root when the Giovannis tried to kidnap Nina but dismissed Tessa, claiming she was just a piece of ass to Romeo. How wrong they were. Tessa was irrefutably part of our family, and she belonged with my cousin.

“Liam is as welcome here as anyone else acquainted with the Constella Family. Even though Liam’smyfriend and someone I knew before I met you all, he’s just as worthy of staying here.”

I looked away, not wanting to make this an issue about her importance here. If she wanted to invite a guest to stay here at any of the Constella properties, then she could. I didn’t care. I just wantedhimgone, to remove the temptation so I could go back to being my usual sort of miserable.

“He is welcome to stay for as long as he wants,” Nina said.

“And if that takes a while, until he figures out what he’s going to do next, then so be it,” Tessa concluded.

“Until he figures out what to do?” I asked, shaking my head. “Why? Because he just got out of the military?” A memory clicked. Before the engagement party, I walked through the kitchen and overheard these two women talking about someone getting a job. I pointed at Tessa. “Is that what you two were talking about before the party? That someone needs a job?”

Tessa nodded. “Yes. A job and a place to stay.” She glanced at Nina. “I don’t see why he can’t just work for the family, but he’s been… stubborn about that.”

Oh, fuck no.If Liam were recruited as a soldier, I’d be stuck with this forbidden attraction for good. “Stubborn how?”

“He’s too quick to label us all as Mafia gangsters. Automatically, the bad guys—oh, hey!” Nina brightened assomeone else entered the solarium. “Time for some fun in the water.”

A tiny little voice of glee reached my ears. It sounded an awful lot like a baby, but there weren’t any kids around here.

Frowning, I slowly turned to see Liam stride into the room. In his arms was proof of my ignorance.

There was a kid in the house, and not the baby still in Nina’s belly.

He held one, a sweet, smiling, golden-haired toddler. She clapped and kicked as she saw Tessa in the water.

“Are you…”

A father?That child had to be his. The family resemblance was so obvious. But…

“Are you shitting me?” I asked, stunned and stupefied as I took in the package look of Liam and his daughter. Seeing him in a tight T-shirt and swim shorts was mouth-watering enough. But seeing him with a baby?’

Oh, fuck no.

“What…” I shook my head, having the slightest clarity of mind to stop gawking. “What is this?”

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