Page 42 of Under His Control

“Uh-huh.”

“But the idea of being a mother is growing on me.”

A lot. Most of this urge was due to Olivia. Having a baby in the house opened my eyes to something I wasn’t used to. Nina’s being pregnant added to it as well.

“Or do you mean the idea of Liam giving you a baby is growing on you?”

I gawked at her, not joining in her laughter after that blunt tease.

Does she know?I blinked quickly, stunned speechless. I didn’t know if I could lie and hide that she was right or?—

“I saw you sneaking out of his room. In nothing but a towel.” She clamped her lips shut, as though she battled giggles. “I know.”

I swallowed and held my hand over my neck. “Um…” My cheeks betrayed me, heating up with a furious blush. The tips of my ears turned hot, and I looked everywhere but at her.

“Holy shit. You’re blushing!”

I furrowed my brow and cleared my throat. “Does anyone else know?”

“I didn’t say a word. I wanted to ask you about it.”

“To ask me about sneaking out of his room in a towel?”

She laughed, so light and easy to talk with. I knew she wasn’t laughing at me, and that made a difference. “No. It’s your business what you do with him, so long as you don’t break his heart or anything like that.”

I nodded. How can I break his heart if he doesn’t even want to give it to me?

“How serious is it?” She leaned in to whisper. “Serious enough that you’ll be the next one expecting?”

I shook my head. “No. Not at all.” Even though Liam and I hadn’t used protection, it wasn’t likely to happen again. “Just a fling.”

“Oh.” She frowned, seeming disappointed. “I shouldn’t be surprised. He’s never been the kind of guy to commit for long. But I was hoping…”

I waved her off. “No, it’s definitely not serious between us.” God, how I wished it were, though. Liam was growing on me, but it was a one-sided effect here.

“But it’s true. He is kickstarting my biological clock in a big, bad way.”

“Ew…” It was her turn to scrunch her face. “Liam’s like my brother. I don’t want the details.”

I smiled. “Something about seeing a rugged, tough military man with a sweet little baby girl… He’s doing something to me, all right.”

“And Liv’s just so?—”

Franco ran into the room, cutting her off and alarming me. I’d seen that tense expression of concern on his face too many times not to know something was wrong.

“You need to come back to the house,” he ordered, rushing in while more Constella guards tracked in after him.

A sudden need for more protection could only mean danger was afoot. I scanned the tea party room we were pretending to decorate, wondering if someone was close to attacking us here. Oddly, I felt scared. For the first time, true terror filled me and I knew it was because Liam wasn’t here with me. I felt safest with him.

“Let’s go,” I told Tessa, not needing to be ordered twice.

“But what’s going on?” she protested. “We need to box all this up and store it for later and?—”

“Someone will handle it,” Franco replied. “We need you both to head to the house for security concerns.”

“Has there been an attack? Has something happened?” Tessa said as I took her hand and pulled her to follow me out with the men.

“Reports of fighting at the gambling halls,” Franco said, ushering us to the exit.

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