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“Now? You have to leave right now?” My voice breaks. “Don’t you want to come in and rest for the night? It’s so late.”
“I know, but it’s better if I go and you get back to your life.”
My gaze drops briefly to the space between us.
“I’m not going to see you again, am I?”
“No.”
My heart hurts. It physically aches at the thought of this final moment.
“I…”
“Bellezza, if you hadn’t met me, you wouldn’t have needed saving today. It’s as simple as that. You’ll be safe now. I’ll make sure of that.” He steps away from me, and I feel like something shattered around us, breaking the spell. “Goodbye, Tennessee.”
“Goodbye…Nick.” As the words fall from my lips, my heart shatters, too.
I swore I would never love again, but I didn’t realize I hadn’t begun to love yet until I met the man who would risk his life to save mine.
ChapterSixteen
Nick
One month later…
Leo rests his hands on my desk and grins at me.
“What now?” I snap.
“Working late again?”
“Something like that.” I move the papers next to me and stare back at him knowing he’s going to take a dig at me again.
When we’re not on the streets, we’re at D’Agostinos Inc. acting like normal people who have a day job. We do the security checks for Massimo on his new clients.
“So, let me guess. I’ll go home, and you’ll pretend you’re working, but really, you’re checking up on her.”
Her—Tennessee.
Since we both know how I spend most nights when I’m here late, I won’t pretend I don’t know what he’s talking about.
Every now and again—which is practically every other day—I look in on her to see if she’s okay. That’s it. That’s all I do.
There’s no threat from anyone, and she’s safe. It’s just me finding it hard to let her go.
“There’s no harm in it.”
“There’s no harm in being with her either.” Leo nods.
“I don’t know how you can say that to me. Look what happened.”
“And you fixed it. Now look at the state of you. Have you ever thought that maybe the reason you can’t get this woman out of your head is because she’s supposed to stay there?”
“No, I haven’t.” I chuckle. “I need to move on. She’s not safe with a guy like me.”
“Do you know how many of us could say shit like that? We all could. I would never meet a woman like that and try to move on. Move on to what?”
He couldn’t be more right, but I dare not entertain the thought.
