Page 67 of Under His Watch

“You seem to be helping him, though,” Max said.

I raised my brows at him. “How?”

“By being another ‘project’ for him. Someone else to protect in a different way, in a way he’s never been overprotective before.”

I smiled. “Are you saying he’s never had a girlfriend before?”Yeah, right. That can’t be true.

“Are you saying that you think you’re just a girlfriend for him?”

Whoa. That’s blunt.My cheeks heated with a flush.

“What I’m saying is that you’re giving him another purpose to live for. Not just for the family and for working for Dante. But for love. For a future.”

“I’ve got to say, Max, you’re the most perceptive soldier I’ve met yet.”

He nodded. “You’re welcome. I think.”

“I do miss that house, though. Maybe it was because of the trauma being so fresh and not knowing where I’d go or what I’d do, but it clicked with me. I could see it being fixed up and modernized.”

“That makes sense. At a time of turmoil, it was something to scrub clean and start over with.”

“Well, yeah. But it’s not my place to fix up.”

“It could be. You and Romeo there while Dante and Nina start another family in the big house.”

I watched him, wondering if it could be possible. “But if it’s not secure, with those bikers creeping close and killing Joseph…”

He shook his head. “Nah. It’s not impossible. I think Romeo moved you so quickly because he was nervous at the moment. With more preparation and installing cameras, that property could be as safe as any other in the Constella empire.”

Huh.I enjoyed havingaplace to stay with Romeo, but the penthouse wasn’t my style. I suspected it wasn’t Romeo’s, either. We’d hopped around a lot lately, and I wondered how Romeo would feel if I asked him about staying there when we could.

Assuming Max and Nina and Eva are right in saying I’m more than just a fling or girlfriend for him…

I planned to ask Romeo about the opportunity to renovate that house. It would give me a good thing to busy myself with.

After the shooting practice, Max saw me back to the mansion where Nina lived with Dante. We had arrangements to go to a store to set up her baby registry, and I was excited to do thiswith my best friend. Some days, I still couldn’t believe she was pregnant. Romeo and I didn’t use protection, but I wasn’t in a rush to get pregnant. Not until I knew what I was to him.

Hah. As if I’d ever turn down sex with that man.I smiled as I thought about how rabid we were for each other.

On the drive to the mansion, my phone rang and I answered, assuming it would be Romeo.

“Hello?”

“Are you through with those bad men yet?”

I clenched my teeth at my mother’s voice. “How did you get this number?”

“I asked Elliot to find it. He’s got private investigators, you know. PIs who track down criminals like the man you were with.”

“He’s not a bad man.” I was wasting my breath arguing with her, but it was instinct to defend him. He did bad things, but he was a good man. I knew that with every fiber of my being.

Even if he was morally gray, I couldn’t imagine my life without him.

“Your father and I will disown you,” she threatened.

“I thought you already had,” I retorted.

“If you insist on running off with that bad man, you won’t be any daughter of ours. We raised you better than this. We taught you to do the right thing and look forward to stability with an honorable man like Elliot. You?—”

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