Sweet Temptation by Cora Reilly

Elia ran his hand through his hair. I’d backed him into a corner. It was
obvious that neither he nor Cassio had expected me to catch onto them. This
made me even more furious than the fact that they’d tried this trick at all.
“I’m your bodyguard. I’m meant to protect you. You should talk to Cassio if
you think I’m doing a bad job.”
I rolled my eyes. “Maybe you should go to the staff room now. I really don’t
feel like being lied to at the moment.”
Elia inclined his head and left. He’d call Cassio the second he was in the
back room. I leaned back against the headrest, closing my eyes briefly, feeling
drained. My shirt stuck to my sweaty back. A hot snout nudged my arm. I
opened my eyes to find Loulou on the couch beside me. Was she trying to
console me? I’d read that dogs could pick up on human emotions, but I hadn’t
expected Loulou to act on it.
She probably wasn’t allowed on the sofa, but I didn’t care if Cassio would
approve or not. I patted my lap and she curled up there.
Daniele put down his tablet and approached me. He climbed on the sofa and
sat beside me. His little legs didn’t even reach the edge. I smiled at him. His eyes
conveyed questions that he didn’t voice.
“I’m fine, just tired. Loulou is trying to console me because she can feel that
I’m tired.”
Daniele nodded slowly. I stroked his head carefully, seeing if he’d pull back,
but he didn’t. I felt the knots at his back. I’d seen how he struggled when Sybil
or Cassio tried to comb his hair. From the way it felt, I doubted combing would
work. “Loulou looks cute with her short hair, right?”
Daniele gave a nod.
“Will you let me cut your hair a bit? Not much, just a bit, so Loulou doesn’t
feel alone with her short hair?”
An even smaller nod was his response. I gently put Loulou down on the sofa
and went to get the scissors. When I returned, Loulou was curled up on the sofa
and Daniele was sitting very close, but he wasn’t touching her even though I
could see that he wanted to.
“Can you sit on my lap while I cut your hair?”
Nod.
I lifted Daniele and positioned him on my knee as I sat down. I stroked his
head gently before I began to cut the hair at the back of his head. He didn’t
move, only looked at Loulou. I shortened the hair on the sides too, only left the
hair on top as it was. “You look really cool now.”
Daniele remained seated on my leg, and I kept stroking his little head.
“I hope you’ll talk to me one day. I’d love to hear your voice. You can talk to
me about everything. I can keep secrets if you need me to. Okay?”
He looked over his shoulder, really looked me in the eye, and in that
moment, he seemed so much older than almost three. “Your dad loves you.”
Daniele looked away and slid off my leg. He sank down on the floor with his
tablet once more.