Page 35 of Under His Watch

I stared at her, unblinking. “Too fucking late for that, Tess. I worried the second I heard you in the alley.”

“But—”

I pressed my finger to her lips. “No. Nobut. I worry about you, and I will stand by my offer to help you and keep you safe. However, killing Elliot won’t be feasible as we build our cases against our enemies. He’s corrupt.”

She nodded, grimacing at the fact.

“And he’s got a long history of representing those kinds of fuckers. He was involved in criminal and civil cases that the Domino Family was dealing with. He’s behind getting the bikers off scot-free from numerous charges. And we’re finding evidence of embezzlement that ties him with Stefan Giovanni. While he’s indirectly or directly connected to our enemies, we need to plan a proper way of getting him to forget about this supposed arrangement for you to marry him.”

Tessa nodded and leaned her head against my arm.

This wasn’t as intimate and peaceful as when she asked me to hold her at the other place, but I welcomed the peace to talk and be together. Through the good times and bad, I wanted her with me.

I wished all these circumstances weren’t an issue, all these complications that Tessa claimed to make her a problem that I didn’t have time for.

All I wanted, deep down, was a chance to take care of her in every way I could. Sexually and otherwise. Her happiness was my project, and I doubted that I’d let anything stand in my way.

“I amnottoo busy for you, Tess.”

She sighed and nodded. “Okay.”

Dammit. That sounded like a copout, giving me the answer I wanted to hear.

“And you are welcome to stay with me for as long as you want. You understand?”

Again, she nodded. When she threaded our fingers together, holding my hand, I exhaled and hoped that his conversation had done more good than harm.

Before we could resort to the quiet of the morning again, just sitting and being together, I asked what I’d almost forgotten about. “Who’s Liam?”

She laughed lightly. “No one to be jealous of,” she teased.

I smiled, realizing how hard I must have sounded when I asked that.

“An old friend, a childhood friend. I haven’t seen him since he graduated from high school because he went straight into the army. We’ve texted and called here and there, but I’ve only just recently gotten a text from him. That’s why I’m holding on to my old phone yet. My parents and Elliot can fuck off, but I can’t lose my ties with my old buddy.”

“Just friends?” I asked.

“Yes. He’s like the brother I never had.”

Good.The last thing I needed was to contend with competition.

“I wonder if he’s going to be able to visit soon or something.” She shrugged, showing how little the man mattered, almost flippant and casual about it. “And if he is…” She groaned. “I’ve got no clue how to make that happen.”

“Hey, a friend of yours will be a friend of mine,” I said calmly.

“Careful, Romeo.” She squeezed my hand. “If you keep being too good to be true like this, you’ll risk me falling head over heels.”

I think I already have.Keeping that to myself, I lifted our joined hands and kissed her knuckle.

It’swaytoo soon to overwhelm her like that.If she couldn’t see herself with me and disregard details about where she’d live and not face Elliot, I wasn’t sure whether she meant that as a joke or not.

14

TESSA

Ithought that having sex with Romeo would reset things between us.

That was how naïve I was about men.

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