Surviving Mateo (Morelli Family 2)

Nodding solemnly, he’s quiet for a moment. Then he looks back at me, as if he’s just thought of something. “You’re a bookkeeper.”

“Unofficially, yes.”

“Could you help out at the bakery? Francesca ran the place, and right now there’s no one to do that. You don’t have to do it permanently if you don’t want to, but until I can figure out what to do with it.”

“Sure, no problem. Should I go over tomorrow?”

“It’s closed on Sundays, but you can go Monday.”

“My first day of work, just in time for me tell you all about it during date night,” I tell him, lightly whacking his arm. “Look at you, modernizing.”

Mateo rolls his eyes. “Like I said, temporary.”

“If I want. You said if I want.”

He can argue all he wants, but I’m smug. He doesn’t argue, because he has people to intimidate into doing his bidding and enemies to track down, but he does roll his eyes at me in rebuttal.

Chapter Twenty Two

“I cannot believe you Mateo’d me into this.”

I grin at Mia, who is so, so tipsy on wine right now that she can’t sit up straight. “In my defense, I knew you’d say no.”

Jabbing a finger in my direction, she says, “That’s why you Mateo’d me. Vince thought you guys were bros. He’s gonna be so pissed at you now.”

“I don’t want Vince to be pissed at me,” I object. “We’re totally bros. I just needed some girl time. I asked Vince nicely to bring you, he told me no. I had to go over his head.”

She’s smirking, which is funny since Mia doesn’t usually smirk, and pointing a wobbly finger at me. “Mateo.”

I shrug, taking a drink of my bottled water. “I’ve been called worse.”

Mia shakes her head, taking another sip of her wine. “How’d you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Harness him. You can, like, wield him now. How did you do that?”

“I can’t wield him,” I say, laughing at the absurdity of such a thing.

Her blue eyes widen so earnestly, I have to force myself not to laugh. “You can. You do. You want something, he makes it happen. Usually he’s the one pulling the strings, but you figured out how to pull his. How?”

I shake my head in denial. “I don’t pull his strings. I just love him, and he loves me. I think I get to borrow a little bit of his power by virtue of being his woman—it’s still all his, I just get perks.”

“You seem so happy with him,” she says, like I’m exceptional actress.

“I am,” I agree.

She shakes her head for way too long, bobbing. “I never saw that coming. Mateo seemed like the kind of guy who would be impossible to handle. I thought he’d need an actual doormat, not some mouthy, bold weirdo.”

I laugh hysterically at being called a weirdo, and Mia laughs with me, just because she’s really drunk.

“You need to help me with this wine,” she states, emptying her glass and then pouring some more.

I reach out for it, afraid she’s going to spill it all over Mateo’s sitting room. He’s not fond of mess, and I don’t want to bother a maid.

She manages to get it all in the glass and put it back down. “This is fun though. I’m glad we can do stuff like this. I never actually imagined Mateo with someone, but if he was, I didn’t picture her liking me.”

“The doormat, you mean?” I ask with my own smirk.

“Yes,” she drawls. “I’m way more jealous than you. When I first met Cherie, I didn’t know she was Vince’s sister, and I was so jealous of her.”

“Cherie’s really pretty,” I say, nodding. “I’m just not a man babysitter. Rodney tried to make me jealous a few times, but it failed hard. The way I see it, I shouldn’t have to follow you around making sure you keep your dick in your pants.”

Snorting indelicately, she says, “Again, how did you end up with Mateo?”

“I don’t see him cheating. If he didn’t use you to punish me when he literally thought I was here to kill him for my rival boyfriend, he’s not gonna. I mean, I don’t know your history with him, but I think he’s smart enough to know better. Cheating on someone you care about is just about the dumbest thing a person could possibly do. If you’re cheating, you’re either so stupid you don’t know you’re going to make your partner stop loving you, or you want out. Mateo’s not stupid, and if he ever wants out, I’m fucked anyway.”

“You can’t leave him?” she questions, though she’s nodding like she already assumed.

I shake my head, fingering the locket hanging around my neck. “Nope. I took this death necklace and signed over my soul.”

“He loves to acquire souls,” she tells me, peering at the locket. “What’s inside?”