Page 40 of Under His Control

But for her, for Eva…

I was already in too deep to backtrack now.

“I consider myself a good judge of character, Liam,” Dante said. “It comes with the job.”

I laughed lightly, nodding. “I imagine it would.”

“I’ve had a good feeling about you from the moment we met.”

“That’s impressive, considering I had to look clueless and bewildered that night I arrived.”

“Becoming a father is never easy.” He chuckled. “And I can only sympathize with how suddenly you learned about Olivia. But I had a good feeling about you from the beginning. You don’t need to tell me or promise that you’ll keep my family in your best interests. That you’ll protect Eva no matter what. I know it. You are a loyal man through your actions and guardedness, and I’m honored that you’ll fight with us and support the family.”

He was accurate. I would be loyal. And if I had to personally protect Eva again, I damn well would, without hesitation.

But with matters of the heart, I wasn’t so sure.

I doubted that I could resist her forever. That if she accepted my apology for how I lashed out, we’d be able to keep our hands off each other.

Now that I would be working for the Constella Family, this was a business deal keeping me here near her.

I had to be careful, more than ever. This gig wasn’t something that just anyone could walk into like I had. I wouldn’t take it for granted, which meant I’d need to improvise about how I could get away with sleeping with the boss’s niece.

If she’ll give me the time of the day again.

14

EVA

Tessa held up another end of the pink and blue streamers for me to measure. I hurried onto the stepstool too quickly and almost fell, making her laugh.

“Easy there,” she teased. “I don’t want to deal with ordering more streamers and ribbons if you crumple all these.”

I smiled, recalling how Olivia had crawled into the box of party decorations Tessa and I had been going through at the big house. I’d been staying in my room there so long now while my place was being repainted that it was feeling more like the home I belonged in. With Nina and Tessa both there, it was easier to spend time with them.

And Olivia. That precious girl was too cute. Even when she crawled into the box and messed up the streamers and ribbons Tessa bought for Nina’s baby shower we would be throwing at this downtown tea room in a couple of weeks. Tessa and I were here to practice setting up the décor, just to see if we had enough, or too much, or if we liked the theme of the space with the things we’d gotten already.

Dante suggested hiring a party planner, but Tessa wouldn’t hear of it. Now that we were so busy preparing for it, I liked doing it ourselves too.

“Just store the boxes of supplies somewhere baby safe,” I told her as we stretched our arms up and stuck the hanging lengths at equal loops.

“Yeah, I will. But Liv’s too cute to be mad at.”

You’ve got that right, I mused as we stepped back.

“Hmm. Maybe the middle dip can hang lower and the side ones can be higher,” Tessa said.

“No.” I took the seat where Nina would be at the head table. “If she’s sitting here, any pictures with the low loops behind her at the height would make it look like she has horns coming out of her head.”

After Tessa cracked up, agreeing, she adjusted the décor with me again. “And she really hasn’t been devilish during her pregnancy.”

“No. She hasn’t.” Nina was a sweet-mannered woman, though, so I wasn’t shocked that the pregnancy hormones hadn’t turned her into a crazed, mean mama-to-be.

“Now you, on the other hand,” she teased.

I shot her a dirty look. “What about me?”

“You’re already a handful as a pampered princess, so you’d only ramp that up if you were expecting.”

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