Family Ties (Morelli Family 4)

Mateo nods his agreement. “She does seem sweet. Not terribly bright, but nice enough.”

“Maybe you just need to get to know her.”

“I wasn’t complaining. I like easy under these circumstances.”

Now my gaze drifts back to the monitor. They’re both on the bed and Mia is sitting up on her knees. She leans in to kiss Vince, wrapping her arms around his neck. His arms go around her waist and my grimace comes back.

“Don’t you think you should turn that off? I don’t think they’re plotting against you right now.”

His dark eyes sparkle with amusement. “Don’t be such a prig, Francesca.”

“Does she live here now?” I don’t want to look at the monitor, but I steal another peek. I wonder if anyone has warned her about the cameras. Someone probably should. I don’t take her to be much of a plotter, but if she’s living here now and Mateo is going to be spying, someone should at least tell the poor girl to change clothes in the bathroom.

Mateo nods, his gaze drifting back to the screen, too. He smirks faintly as Vince unzips her dress. “I think he likes the dress I bought her,” he remarks, like I’ll be amused with him.

I am not. Shaking my head, I take a step back so I’m not tempted to look at the monitor anymore. “She’s a teenager.”

“They’re both 18. As many laws as he breaks, this isn’t one of them.”

I cock an eyebrow at him. “I obviously meant this,” I tell him, indicating the monitors. “If you want to see naked teenage girls, I have really good news for you—porn is a thing. It exists. You can watch naked strangers have all the sex you want without invading the privacy of the people living under your roof.”

Now he grins at me. “Where’s the fun in that?”

“If I have to answer that, maybe you don’t understand the point of sex.”

Shrugging, he looks back at the monitor. “This isn’t for kicks; I’m doing research.”

“The dinner went well. She lives here now. She’s with Vince. Isn’t this resolved? Why do you still need to research?”

Mateo doesn’t bother answering me. He’s losing interest in my presence here. It works out for me, since I don’t really want to stay in here anyway. I’m half-tempted to go upstairs and interrupt Vince and Mia, but I figure there’s not much point. Whatever he’s “researching,” he’ll just come back another night if he doesn’t get what he’s looking for this time.

“When she gets settled in, maybe she could help out at the bakery,” I suggest.

Mateo shakes his head—not firmly, but more dismissively. “I wouldn’t go to the trouble of training her. I don’t think she’ll be around for long.”

Now I frown. “What do you mean? She’s moving in—that seems long-term to me.”

His tone couldn’t be more dismissive. “They’re 18.”

“So why move her in if you think they’re just going to break up?”

Instead of answering, he picks up the headphones, readying to put them back on. He glances at me one last time, as a courtesy. “Did you need anything else?”

Nodding once in acceptance of my dismissal, I say, “Nope, just wondered how your night went.”

“Well, now you know.”

I nod again, backing up and pushing on the panel. I pause in the doorway, glancing back at him as he turns his attention back to his surveillance. I can’t shake the feeling that I should be worried about this. Vince immediately jumped to the conclusion that Mateo was going to try to break them up when he agreed to let the girl move in, but I wanted to believe otherwise for Vince’s sake.

Now I’m not so sure. I don’t know if he wants to break them up or kill her, but if he doesn’t plan on Mia sticking around, that means heartache for Vince one way or another.

—

It’s our first Sunday night dinner with another woman living under our roof, so I’m actually going to have help tonight. Help with the cooking, at least. Since Mia belongs to Vince, she’ll only serve him and I’ll still be the family waitress, but I’m used to doing everything myself anyway.

As I run through tonight’s menu and grab the necessary accoutrements, I can’t help daydreaming about what it would be like if Sal could come to family dinner. If I had my very own man at the table. Given he’s regrettably in the same line of work as Mateo, they’d probably get along well enough. I know Mateo doesn’t hate Sal. Now that I’ve gotten to know Sal so well though, it’s clear they’re nothing alike. From reputation alone I expected them to be, but where Mateo is cold, Sal is warm.

I can’t even contain a dreamy sigh as Mia makes her way into the kitchen. I pull myself together, putting on a friendly smile, and she tosses a polite smile my way, too. I wasn’t lying when I told Mateo I think she’s really nice. Even after I basically broke her and Vince up the first time, she’s been friendly toward me every time I’ve seen her since Mateo dragged her into this family.