“Are you going to introduce me to my nephew?”
“OK, but we’re saving the uncle talk with him for later”–leaning in close, her smile vanishes–“and don’t get the wrong impression when I tell him we’re friends. It’s only to make him feel safe around you,” she whispers.
Placing my fingers under her chin, I lift it up.
“Oh, Camilla, we’re going to be close friends soon.”
“We’re not friends, and I’d slap your hand away if it wouldn’t scare Liam. Don’t ever touch me in front of him.”
Dropping my hand, I grimace.
“Introduce me so you and I can have a private discussion. We have some things to get straight.”
Sighing, she turns back to Liam. He’s staring up at us from the floor while playing with a truck in his hand.
“Liam, I want you to meet Mr. Burke.”
“Ellis,” I interject.
“We’re going to call him Ellis. He’s our new friend who bought you all these fun toys and made this nice bedroom for you.”
His eyes never stray from mine as he stands and sidles up next to her leg. Wrapping his arm around it, he hugs it for dear life.
“Tell him thank you for the presents.”
A faint smile curves from his lips as he gazes up at me and over my head like I’m the tallest man he’s ever seen.
“Thank you for my toys.”
“You’re welcome. I can’t get over how much he resembles the males in my family.”
She ruffles Liam’s hair with her hand.
“I wish he had inherited my hair or eye color, but no such luck for either one.”
“I don’t know. I see a touch of auburn in his light brown hair. He gets that from you.” I pull my phone from my pocket. “I’m going to have Irene come up to watch him while we talk, but tomorrow we’ll interview nannies and get someone hired right away.”
“Wait.” Her hand grabs my wrist, and her hot touch catches me off guard. I look down at her fingers wrapped tightly around my skin the way I’d like them to wrap around my cock.
Is it wrong I’m thinking about this in front of her kid? This is too confusing. Her hand releases me, so I meet her gaze. “I’m sorry, but could Mr. Day watch him? Liam took to him quickly.”
For some reason, it irritates me that Liam is comfortable with Christopher already, but I’m going to have to bend a little for her to do the same.
“Fine.” Hitting his number on my phone, I wait for him to answer.
“Christopher, please come to Liam’s room–now.”
CHAPTER SIX
Camilla
Giving a nervous smile at the doorway, Christopher strolls into Liam’s room.
“Chris,” Liam says, his eyes lighting up before he rushes past Ellis to show his old friend his new truck. Shit! I never thought of Liam outing us by way of his enthusiasm toward Christopher.
“Hi there, little buddy,” Chris replies hesitantly. Ellis’s furrowed brow doesn’t go unnoticed.
“Well, it appears he likes you already,” he scoffs. “Stay here and, uh, play with him while Camilla and I go discuss some things.”
“Sure.”
“Please watch that he doesn’t run out of the room toward the staircase,” I add.
Following Ellis to the door, my eyes round as I pass by Christopher. He’s delivering the same nervous expression, and I imagine he’s wondering, too, if we’ll be able to pull this off.
“Have you seen your bedroom yet?” Ellis asks, not looking back at me.
“No. Like I said, we hit a roadblock once we reached Liam’s room.”
“Then we’ll speak in there.”
“Can’t we talk elsewhere?”
“No,” he quips.
Geez, he’s annoying … and sexy … and moody it seems. Walking down the wide hallway, I try to pull my eyes away from his firm ass that’s accentuated beneath a pair of black tailored dress pants.
He works from home, so I’m curious as to why he’s wearing professional attire. Hell, I wouldn’t get out of my pajama pants if I was working from home all day. Well, if it were just the three of us there: Liam, Sasha and me.
A panic over how my sister will do living on her own washes over me. How often will I be able to see her? Will she fall further into her addiction if I’m not there to keep her in check?
I’m disappointed, too, over the lack of privacy I now have. I can’t help but think of that as Ellis holds open the door to my room. Gasping, I cover my mouth. I struggle to take a step forward as my eyes absorb the stunning space.
“Is there a problem? Christopher said you prefer light colors, but if he misunderstood, we’ll have it changed. The interior decorator is prompt to respond to my needs.”