Page 87 of Cross + Catherine: The Companion

That was life.

And it was really only because Cross knew Juan—and his family—so well that this entire thing was not as hard for Cross as it might have been had it been another young man sitting across from him. Someone else, and Cross would not even be willing to entertain the idea of their affections for his daughter.

Cece was … special.

Beautiful.

Smart.

Kickass.

Badass.

Too much like her mother.

A good dose of him.

She was theirs.

And someone else wanted to make her theirs, too.

Juan.

“I told you to wait until she was sixteen,” Cross murmured.

Juan smiled. “Her birthday is Wednesday.”

“It is.”

“I would like to take her out on Saturday, if you didn’t mind, I mean.”

Cross chuckled dryly. “Minding is a matter of semantics. I will always mind the thought of someone dating my daughter, but … I also don’t get a choice about the fact that she’s going to grow up, and do her own thing.”

“You did let her date other people these last couple of years.”

He couldn’t have missed the heat in Juan’s words if he tried. Jealous, if Cross ever heard it. The thickness of Juan’s jealousy colored his words heavily.

The young man didn’t realize that he really had no reason to be jealous. Yes, Cece had been allowed to have boyfriends … but better she learned to cut her teeth on a boy she would dispose of than a man who had loved her since she was just a girl.

Because Cross was not stupid.

He knew.

Juan loved his girl.

He had loved her for a long time.

“Not like this,” Cross returned. “Boys her own age—supervised by my men, when needed. Never in a setting where a boy could drive her anywhere. They were never old enough to have a license, after all. Do you think that wasn’t intentional on my part? I am not a stupid man, Juan. I have lived far more years on this earth than you have. I called those boys toys for her because that’s how she treated them, and that’s fine. Is that what you want to be, too—her toy?”

Juan’s gaze flashed with something dark.

Cross smirked.

“No, I don’t want to be her toy,” Juan replied quietly.

“I didn’t think so.”

“So …”