Page 75 of Powerful Deception

“Your papi is home.” I tell Alessandra, giving her sleepy gaze a smile.

I continue to read her the story as I listen to the footsteps moving through the mega mansion.

It’s crazy how big the house is, yet I’m able to hear him walking through the first floor.

After a few minutes, as I’m reading how the cat was able to get rescued from the tree, I hear the footsteps coming up the stairs.

I’m close to finishing up the book when Dante finally appears at the door. When I look up, he gives me a small smile and then nods for me to finish.

When I do, Alessandra is fast asleep against my arm, her little snores filling the room.

“I tried to keep them up so that you could see them when you got home, but I didn’t know how late that would be.” I explain as I close the book and place it on the small nightstand.

“It’s okay.” He says, his voice sounding delicate and soft, not something that I’m used to hearing from him.

“I’ll leave you to say good night to her then.” I tell him as I slowly move Allie’s head off my arm to her pillow.

As I make my way out of the room, I think that Dante is going to stop me. That he’s going to grab me by the elbow and pull me close to him and tell me in my ear to remember that we still need to talk, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t even look at me as I walk past him and head downstairs.

Once I’m downstairs, I clean up the living room of the mess that me and the kids made after dinner. I try to keep my mind occupied and not try to think about the man that is upstairs.

To my surprise, Dante comes downstairs as I fluff the couch decorative pillows for the fourth time.

He doesn’t approach the living room. Much like he was upstairs, he stands by the entry way of the room, leaning against the wall.

I try not to look up at him as I finish the fluffing. He looks too delicious standing there like that. What with his shirt sleeves rolled up to his forearms, the two top buttons popped open, his hands in his pockets.

The man is so damn sexy, he doesn’t even know it. My eyes keep betraying me by looking up at him every chance they get.

“You know you don’t have to clean, right?” He says as I move to the pillows on the love seat.

Am I overdoing it? Yes, yes, I am.

But I have to do something to keep busy because otherwise I’m going to close the distance between us and climb him like a monkey.

And I can’t do that, because I’m pretty sure that ‘we are going to talk about what happened last night’, is code for your fired.

He may not have fired me last night, but he definitely can today.

“I know, but I don’t like leaving a mess for your maid. She cleans enough, she doesn’t need me adding to it.”

“Is that why you lock your room when she’s here?” He asks, and the question has me straightening up, finally looking at him.

“How do you know I do that?” I ask, a bit confused.

He gives me a shrug. “She told me the other day. I guess she’s tried it a few times but hasn’t been able to get in.”

“Does she need to clean my room?”

Why does my voice sound shaky? It’s not like I’m hiding something I don’t want her to find. The burner phone sure, but that’s deep in my clothes that there’s no way that will ever be found. I also haven’t found anything that I had to take and keep in there.

Dante shakes his head. “Not if you don’t want to. That’s your space. Do what you want with it.”

Sometimes this man surprises me. He may come off as someone that you should be fearful of, but then he says things that are so normal, and it throws me off.

I give him a nod and go back to fluffing pillows.

Fluff. Fluff.

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