Page 71 of Hers to Control

I shake my head again. There is a real chance he actually screwed my brains out last night. “You can’t just decide that I’ll marry you.”

“Maybe not, but I can convince you that it’d be fun.” The bastard smirks and I have a bad feeling he read my thoughts from a few seconds ago. Did I bite my lip when I pictured the way he went down on me last night?

Maybe.

Damn.

“But you don’t love me.” The words are out now. Not planned or considered. They just spilled out of me without ever having registered in my brain.

Eric raises an eyebrow, but before I can take the words back or protest further, Maria arrives at our table with a plate of bruschetta, her smile wide and welcoming. “Here you go. A little something to whet your appetite.”

“Thank you,” I mumble.

Instead of leaving, Maria takes a seat, her eyes flickering between Eric and me with curiosity. “So, how did you two lovebirds meet?” she asks, her tone playful.

“I was supposed to protect her and knocked her up instead. Now she doesn’t think I love her.”

What the actual fuck?I stare at Eric, unable to believe he just said that.

Eric

Mia is staring at me with an expression that looks like she’s torn between beating my ass or yelling at me. It cheers me up immensely.

I hadn’t planned on announcing our engagement to Mateo and Maria, but fuck it if I didn’t want them to know right from the start who Mia is to me. I wanted her to be welcomed here as family. Because that’s exactly what she already is.

Maria chuckles. “And how do you plan on convincing her? How will you prove you love her?”

I pull my knife out of the table and sheath it. Maria doesn’t say a word, though I’m sure Mateo will send me the bill for the new table cloth within a day. Punch him in the face? No big deal. Mess with anything in his family’s restaurant? The guy turns into the freaking tableclothpolizia.

“I’m just not going to leave her alone until she gives in.”

Mia’s defiant glare makes my dick perk up. If she doesn’t like that plan, it might even be more fun.

“I’m going back to my apartment after this. I need to see if I can save the studio.”

“Fine. We can do that.”

At that moment, Mateo joins us, placing our pasta dishes in front of us. “Buon appetito.”

“Well, if you guys have everything you need, I’ll leave you to your meal,” Maria says, chuckling as she walks away, pulling Mateo along with her.

When my eyes land on Mia again, she’s still glowering at me. I nod at her plate. “It’ll get cold if you don’t eat it.”

Her eyes flicker down and catch on the food. I snort and her eyes flick up again. Damn. I need her to eat, but fuck if she’s not all kinds of amusing the way she’s eye fucking the spaghetti.

“Eat, woman. You can yell at me some more later if you want.”

“I wasn’t yelling.”

I shrug. “Arguing then.” I push the plate towards her. “Here, eat.”

She weighs her priorities for a mere second before picking up her fork and twirling the spaghetti around it. When she brings the food to her mouth, I watch her lips as they close around the bite, a bit of red sauce wetting her lips.

Hell. My dick is definitely invested now.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Mia

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