Liss
I finish my second cup of coffee and grab a mint just a few seconds before I turn into Matteo’s driveway. Damn, it’s so pretty.
His lawn is bathing in lingering dew and early morning sun, and the shadow of the house is stretching down the property. I shiver in the chilly morning air as soon as I get out of the car and pause to take a deep breath, feeling the buzz of excitement that woke me up this morning.
God, I’m here again.
Matteo Messina has taken the bait-and it’s the first and most important step on my way to ruin him.
The thought sends a hot wave of exhilaration through my veins, and I straighten up, hide my smirk, and dust off my pullover while walking to the door. It’s time to start my first day at work as the perfect nanny for Romeo.
Just like the last time, Dolce greets me with excited barking from behind the closed door even before I ring the doorbell. He pushes his nose into the crack as soon as Matteo opens the door, and before I know it Dolce rushes past me in a flash of golden light.
“He was waiting all morning. My bad.” Matteo chuckles, scratching the back of his head, and turns to look at me. “Well, good morning, Liss. To be honest, I didn’t expect to see you so early.”
My ear catches hoarse notes in Matteo’s voice, and the thin bathrobe he’s wearing doesn’t help me to keep my attention to myself. He must’ve
woken up not so long ago, that’s why his voice sounds so seductive, but those notes still make something inside of me tighten. Goddamnit. I’ve always had a thing for men with low, commanding voices-but obviously not for someone like him. God, not this bastard.
So I force myself to send those stupid thoughts away and focus on Matteo’s dark brown eyes with an apologetic smile. “Good morning,
Matteo. I hope it’s alright that I’m here. I just wanted to make sure I have plenty of time to get Romeo ready for school.”
“Ah, sure, sure, it’s not a problem.” He shakes his head with a chuckle and steps back, gesturing for me to come in. “Romeo is still waking up, so maybe you could help him with that. Dolce! Come back home!”
Matteo lingers in the doorway, waiting for Dolce to trudge past him inside and shake off the morning dew before walking over to sniff me.
What a good boy!
“I usually don’t let him outside on his own,” Matteo says, walking past me to the living room and readjusting the tie of his bathrobe. “He likes to munch on some gross things. Are you hungry, Liss? I’m making breakfast.”
“Oh, you don’t have to,” I say automatically, tearing myself away from Dolce only to see Matteo enter the kitchen, his curly hair and sharp cheekbones glistening in the sun coming from the window. God, why does this asshole have to be so handsome?
“It’s alright, don’t be shy,” he murmurs, checking the fridge. “We’ll be happy to share.”
“No, I mean, I can make breakfast, don’t worry.” I walk into the kitchen after Matteo, keeping a distance between us, and look around. Yes, I can find my way around here. “I see you have a toaster oven. Would you like to try one of my favorites?”
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.
Oh, also, both of them praise my toast, one with more excitement than the other, and I can’t help a pleasant surge of pride in my chest. My original plan was to impress Matteo just for the sake of it, but actually, it’s quite nice to receive compliments just for being good at something.
Finally, after stacking the plates in the dishwasher and making sure Romeo’s shoelaces are tied properly, I get up to my feet and come face to face with Matteo. He came out of the dining room to bid us goodbye, and after giving Romeo a rather awkward kiss on his forehead, he turns to me.
“Good luck,” he says, still with that husky undertone in his voice. “Thanks for, you know, everything.”
“Oh, don’t worry, it’s my job,” I say with a chuckle, feeling stupid warmth on my cheeks, and turn to Romeo. “Well, are you ready, hero?”
“Yes!”
We leave the house some five minutes later than I planned, but we’re still very much on schedule. I follow the directions of my GPS and Romeo himself, who is glad to point out every single turn and interesting place on the way. Apparently, one of the poles got knocked over last winter, and there’s a very big playground if we turn left at that intersection.
I listen to him without much attention, focusing more on the road, until something catches my ear. “Wait, what did you just say?”
I glance at Romeo through the rearview mirror. He isn’t even looking at me, staring at the window instead, but he repeats without a bat of an eye, “Misha and Max go to a soccer practice here. I don’t like soccer, but it’s fun to watch them sometimes.”
Misha and Max, huh?
“Are they your friends?” I ask, trying to sound careless, and Romeo nods a few times.
“Yes. We’re best friends.”
“Oh, that’s nice.” I pause for a moment. “They have interesting names, don’t you think?”
“I know, right?” Romeo finally turns to look at me with a grin, swinging his feet in the air. “It’s because they’re Russians. I think it’s so cool!”
I can’t help but laugh, catching sight of a sign with Rockford Elementary School on it. “Do you think it’s cool to be a Russian?”
Romeo doesn’t say anything, frowning in deep thought, and I don’t nudge him. We’re almost there anyway. I drive into the crowded parking lot, looking for an empty space, while Romeo gets all fidgety in his booster seat. He grabs his backpack, ready to take off, and I can’t help but chuckle.
“Looks like you are excited to see your friends, after all,” I say with a smile, and he audibly huffs but doesn’t protest while I park the car. “Now, wait until I unbuckle you.”
“Papa allows me to do it.”
“Well, your Papa isn’t here, and I can’t let you run away wherever you want,” I say with a slightly stricter note, unbuckling my own seatbelt. Romeo puffs his cheeks again and crosses his arms, looking away. Oh well, too bad I can’t let him do whatever he wants.
Romeo demonstratively turns away while I unbuckle him, and as soon as I’m done he jumps out of the car and looks around. I quickly catch his shoulder before he runs away, and Romeo purses his lips and huffs before pointing at the school entrance.
“My friends are there, see? With blue and purple backpacks. I’m going to them.” He looks up at me with frustration in his frown, and I finally let him go.
“Okay, I’m just making sure you’re safe.” I shake my head with a big sigh, and Romeo lingers for a moment, glancing at me.
“I’m fine, I promise, Miss Liss.”
Ah, isn’t he sweet? I can’t help but smile and wave my hand, shooing him away. “Good, good, now, go to your friends until the lesson starts. I’ll pick you up later!”
I almost yell the last words at Romeo’s back as he runs away to the entrance, and of course he doesn’t even glance at me. Kids, what can I say. I huff under my breath, feeling weirdly endeared, and lean on the car to watch him join his friends. Misha and Max, huh? Interesting. That’s something to keep in mind for later. I wonder if-
“Excuse me.”
I startle and push myself off my car, turning around. There’s a man a few feet away from me, studying me with a serious frown, and it takes me one glance to figure out that he’s Italian. What, are the Messinas going to
stalk me now? But I can’t show that I know who he is and only look at him with surprise and caution.
“Are you Romeo’s new nanny?” he asks straight away, and I barely stop myself from chuckling. He couldn’t have been more delicate, could he?
“Yes, I am. Why?”
“Just confirming. Have a good day.”
The man nods and walks away just like that, leaving me staring after him with raised eyebrows. Okay, that was weird, but I guess I have to get used to it. The Mafia world has its own rules, and I don’t have to understand them to pretend like I follow them.