Page 11 of The Mobster's Nanny

Matteo frowns with a look of hesitation. "Sure, but…it’s not part of your responsibilities."

"Oh, I know." I wave a hand at him and chuckle, feeling suddenly confident and excited to impress him. "But we have some time, so why not use it? Let me plug it in, and I'll go check on Romeo before making the toast."

Humming an old song under my breath, I turn on the toaster oven and take all the ingredients I need out of the fridge, ignoring the tight sensation in my chest. Matteo remains quiet the whole time, just sitting by the counter with a calm expression and a cup of steaming coffee in hand. His dark eyes follow me everywhere, though, and it wires me up. Damn. Doesn’t he have other things to do this morning?

Finally, when everything’s ready, I quickly glance at Matteo—he’s checking his phone—and leave the kitchen to go to the second floor. The tight ball in my chest immediately loosens when I leave Matteo behind, and I can hear the fast pace of my heartbeat even clearer. Shit. I forgot how easily my body turns against me in his presence, and the realization sends a hot wave of resentment through my veins.

No, I’m not gonna let this stupid attraction distract me. Matteo may be handsome and charming as hell, but it will never change what he did to my brother. And with renewed determination, I straighten my shoulders and keep walking.

I find Romeo barely awake, sitting on the edge of his bed and rubbing his eyes with a messy nest of hair on his head. As soon as I enter the room, he yawns and whines out loud. "Papa, I don't wanna—"

I clear my throat before he can finish, and only then does Romeo focus his gaze on me. His face immediately lights up with excitement, and he jumps off the bed.

"Liss! Are you gonna be my nanny now?"

Oh. So he remembers my name. I can't help but smile at the realization, walking closer to him.

"Good morning, Romeo, and yes I am, so why don't we start getting ready for school?" I pat his back lightly, turning to the wardrobe, and hear another whine in response.

"No, I want to stay at home!"

I chuckle to myself. Is he testing my resilience right on the first day? Well, he's not the first kid in my experience to be so petulant in the morning, and they have the same reason more often than not. So I smile a little and crouch next to him, keeping my hands on his shoulders.

"Don't you want to see your friends?" I try to catch his gaze, tilting my head, but Romeo keeps pouting.

"I can see them somewhere else. I can invite them here! Papa wouldn't mind."

"Are you sure he wouldn't?" I quirk an eyebrow, watching Romeo frown even harder. "Alright then, what about your art class? Isn't it fun?"

"Not always."

"And the lunch at school when you get to play with everyone else? Isn't that better than being locked at home with me?"

Romeo purses his lips, staring down and looking even grumpier. He doesn’t say anything, though, and I finally sigh with a fond smile and ruffle his hair.

"I wonder why you're in such a bad mood today. Let me guess…" I demonstratively hum with a thoughtful frown. "Have you not done your homework, Romeo Messina?”

Romeo snaps his head up with wide eyes and parted lips only to realize a moment later that he has just given himself away. He immediately looks down, frowning hard and puffing his cheeks with a pout, but I see a tint of red on his ears.

“How do you know?”

“Oh, I know everything,” I say with a cheeky grin before squeezing Romeo’s shoulder and tilting my head in the direction of the wardrobe. “But listen, one unfinished homework is not a big deal. It won’t get you into trouble.”

“It’s not one,” Romeo mumbles under his nose, refusing to meet my gaze.

“Alright, that’s a little worse…but still not that bad,” I add quickly when Romeo purses his lips, looking like he’s about to cry. “We don’t have a lot of time now, but let’s agree that I’ll help you with homework this evening, okay? And if you don’t understand something, I’ll make sure to make it easier for you.”

Romeo hesitates for a few seconds, looking at me from the corner of his eye, but in the end, he rubs his nose and nods, his shoulders slumping.

“Great!” I smile with a wave of relief—I really didn’t want to force him to go to school—and nod at the wardrobe. “Now, let’s choose what to wear and hurry up while the toaster oven is still hot.”

“The toaster oven?” Romeo looks up at me, and I’m so glad to see the same childish excitement in his eyes. “Are we having french toast for breakfast?”

“Not just any but sweet, delicious, and so crunchy! So if you want to have enough time to eat, you better get ready soon.”

I help Romeo pick his outfit for the day, and while I fix the folds on his pants, he keeps talking about his favorite burger from a restaurant Papa sometimes takes him to. With that, we finally get down to the dining room where Matteo meets us with the same cup of coffee and the same calm look in his dark eyes. God, why does he have to keep looking at me like that?

In front of Matteo, Romeo doesn’t act as petulantly as he did with me, and when Matteo asks him about school, Romeo even says that he’s excited about the PE lesson today. Who would’ve thought such a young boy could be so sneaky, huh? But I don’t give him away, and Romeo smiles at me over his toast.

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