Page 23 of Broken Princess

He must notice I'm making an attempt to avoid meeting his eyes, because he tilts my chin toward him. As soon I look into those frigid depths, I know I'm right to avoid it.

"I'm not saying I have this all figured out. I'm not even saying I would be a good father, and I know I don't even deserve the chance to prove otherwise, but this is my kid, and that makes you the mother of my child. It's not fair to any of us for you to have to do any of this by yourself. And you don't. If nothing else, just give me the chance to take care of both of you, and we'll figure out the rest. Can you do that? Can you give me that chance?"

I swallow hard. Now I can't look away, which is another dangerous effect he has on me. Even more concerning is the fact that I don't want to.

"I'm not really good at accepting help. And I definitely don't have any intentions of becoming your charity case," I say firmly. "Before the whole kidnapping thing, believe it or not, I was fine."

"That's a pretty big caveat," he says flatly.

I give him a look.

He sighs. "I'm not talking about you being a charity case. Yeah, you made it clear, you're capable of taking care of yourself under normal circumstances, but like you yourself pointed out, these aren't normal circumstances. You might not have chosen to be part of this world, but youarea part of it, and that means our baby is going to be a part of it."

Our baby…

Hearing those words come out of his mouth plays all kinds of dangerous games with my head.

I push those thoughts aside and try to focus on the matter at hand. "That's my point. I don't want our baby wrapped up in any of this."

"That's not an option," he says. "This should be clear enough now, shouldn't it? You might want to be someone else, but you can't. Our kid is a Rossi, and a Carrillo, and you might not like that, but it means you're both going to be targets. You can't hide from that. Trust me, if I thought it was that simple, we'd be having a different conversation."

His words take me by surprise. It takes me a moment to process them. "So, what are you saying?" I ask. "What do you want out of this?"

"Let me take care of you," he answers. There's more sincerity in his tone than I think I've ever heard before. "Not because you can't take care of yourself or some bullshit, but because you shouldn't have to deal with this by yourself."

I swallow hard, looking out the window. "I can't go back to the way things were, Lorenzo. I care about you too much to pretend like I don't. And I'm not going to be your mistress."

"The doesn't mean I can't be there for you," he protests. "And our baby. Just give me the chance to prove to you that I can be a decent father. Maybe even a decent friend, and we'll go from there. Will you?”

I hesitate. I want to believe that he means what he's saying, and I'm kind of scared that part of me does. I do believe he believes it is, if nothing else.

"Okay," I finally answer. "As long as you promise that's all. No more mistakes, no more trying to seduce me."

"Trying?" He raises an eyebrow. "I think I was pretty damn successful."

"Lorenzo!"

"Okay," he says, holding up his hands. "I'm just kidding. If that's what you want, you have my word."

I settle back into my seat, taking a moment to process what he's saying. "Okay. Then, yeah… I guess we can try."

I believe him when he says he will. I just need to make sure I have as much restraint.

CHAPTER 12

LORENZO

Getting Amelia back to my hotel takes top priority, and it doesn't take long before she gets out of the shower, wraps herself up in a bathrobe, and curls up in bed to get some much-needed sleep.

I'm still having a hard time keeping my thoughts straight. Adrenaline is still coursing through my veins, and I want more than anything to go after the fucker who took her. I haven't heard anything from her father, so I have no idea what's going on with that.

There's no way I'm leaving Amelia's side, though. Not right now. Not until her father gets back, at least.

Although I'm not sure I even trust him to watch out for her. And why should I?

I understand her trepidations about him knowing about our baby. That could go all kinds of wrong, and he hasn't exactly done anything to deserve her honesty, either. He's let her down at every turn.

We have that in common, I guess.

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