Page 68 of Vows of a Mobster

She rolled her eyes. “No, thank you.”

What was it with this woman? If I offered this to any other woman I had fucked before, they’d leave their lunch behind and be moved in within the same hour.

“Why do you need a job?”

“Health insurance,” she murmured and put a fork full of salad into her mouth.

That made sense. She probably couldn’t have her daughter in daycare without appropriate health insurance. I observed this mystery of a woman.

“Speaking of jobs,” she spoke up once she was done chewing. “What is it exactly that you want me to do for you?”

Then the moment she realized how that sounded, she blushed hard. I loved seeing all those emotions cross her face.

“You want to discuss that here?” I edged her on, although I knew it was stupid. It was already hard to keep myself from touching her.

“No.”

“We should go get your daughter so both of you have the evening to get settled.” She refused the idea of staying in my place but there was no alternative.

“I can’t,” her eyes lowered, avoiding looking at me. “I told you, Emma doesn’t do well with change.”

“And I told you, I’m not letting you out of my sight,” I answered her in a hard tone. She winced, and I knew I was being harsher than necessary. But damn it, how was the child to get used to a new surrounding if Brianna won’t even let her try it out.

She pushed her food away. At least she ate well, although I had a feeling my conversation made her lose her appetite.

“Can we set some ground rules?” She met my eyes, a determination edged on her soft face.

“When we get home,” I told her. Her eyes flashed in annoyance, and I knew it was my term of home that irritated her.

“I’m ready whenever you are.” She was stubborn, there was no doubt about that.

We got up and exited Panera Bread. Next time, we would eat at the place of my choosing. Brianna deserved the best.

“I can follow you to your place,” she announced as my driver pulled in front of us.

“No, you’ll drive with me,” I wrapped my hand around her small waist and pulled her along. “One of my men will bring your Jeep to the house.”

“Mateo,” she stopped and turned to face me. “You can’t be with me twenty-four seven,” she objected. “Or your people can’t be around me all the time. I like my alone time. I need my alone time.”

“You can have alone time when we get home.”

“That is your home,” she hissed under her breath. “Aren’t you going slightly overboard?”

“I might be, but I also know you would do anything to prevent another pregnancy.”

Her agitation was all over her. “You are forty-nine,” she spoke in a soft tone, “I’m twenty-five. I already have one kid. I’m too young to have another one.”

“Maybe but the fact remains that we had sex without protection.”

“It was an oversight, by both of us. But it can still be prevented,” she answered in exasperation. “This is my body, not yours. You didn’t say you were looking for a broodmare.”

“I’m not.”

“Why won’t you listen?” she pushed her hand through her hair. “We don’t even know each other.”

“Brianna, get in the car.”

She stared at me, stubbornness written all over her face. I should have known she was a stubborn woman, used to her own way. It required a strong woman to survive having a child young and alone; the only support being her older grandmother and friends.