AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Who are you?” The question is still demanding, but not as harsh as it was the first time. It takes a great deal of effort, but I force my shoulders to relax. I can’t scare this woman away. “I mean, I’ve never seen you before and I’m here regularly.”
Her eyes are still big and round, but suspicion enters her gaze as she looks me up and down. Everything in me wants to puff upwith pride when she licks her lips as if appreciating the view. I hope she does, it’s all hers now anyway.
I’ve never been a man who has put a lot of stock in relationships. It just wasn’t something I thought I would be able to have considering the life I lead, even though I’ve watched many of the men around me fall to their knees for a woman including Tazio, the Agosti family enforcer. I’ve had more than my fair share of women warming my bed, but that’s all it was, and I was always clear about what it was.
I already know this woman is one I won’t ever walk away from and the world around me will be gray and desolate if she’s out of my life.
How it’s possible, I’ll never know, but that doesn’t make it any less true. I figured the stories the men in my circle told of knowing the other half of their soul in an instant was an over exaggeration. It wasn’t.
“Why are you here regularly?” The woman, who can’t be more than 5’2” compared to my much taller frame, looks around the alley as if she’s waiting for more people to appear. “There’s not much to see back here.”
“I’m the bodyguard of someone who teaches a ballet class,” I point toward the back of the studio where the car is parked. “You didn’t answer my question,piccola bellezza.”
“A ballet teacher needs a bodyguard?”
Even though her voice is full of worry, I arch an eyebrow at her. She still hasn’t answered my question and I need to know it. It’ll be better for me to know her name and what she’s doing here, besides taking out the trash, before I steal her away.
She lets out a huff that is fucking adorable. It tells me she has a little spunk while her innocence swirls around her. Good. She’s going to need it in my world. Even though I’ll always protect her with my life.
“My name is Marigold,” there’s a hint of shyness in her voice and her cheeks pink.
I take one step closer to her and barely stop myself from reaching out and pulling her into my arms. “It suits you,” I whisper, “you’re a beautiful flower. One that should be protected.”
“Protected from what?” She rolls her eyes and shakes her head as if she’s admonishing me, as if I’m being ridiculous. “I’ve been taking the trash out for years. I think I’ll be just fine.”
Rage fills me at the idea of her being in this alley to take out the trash. Has she ever done it at night? What if something happened to her?
As much as I want to tell her how naïve she’s being, I can’t bring myself to do it. Instead, I grab the trash bag from her hands and stomp to the closest dumpster, lifting the lid and tossing the bag inside. When I turn back toward the woman who I know I won’t be able to stop thinking about, she’s blinking at me with surprise written all over her face.
“I could have done that,” she pipes up with an adorable as fuck scowl on her face.
“Didn’t say you couldn’t,” I inform her while shrugging one shoulder. She narrows her eyes at me, and I raise my hands up in surrender. “I didn’t say anything, actually.”
“No, you just took it out of my hands,” there’s a little sass in her voice which has my dick twitching behind my zipper. Iwon’t be fucking her in the alley, not our first time at least, but it’s kind of tempting. She deserves so much better than that. “You know,” she starts, her eyebrow arching and not helping my dick situation at all, “you basically demanded my name without giving your own.”
I close the distance between us and run my knuckles down her cheek. Her skin is as soft as I thought it would be and I’m damn happy when she doesn’t flinch away from me. She probably should, but she doesn’t, and it makes a level of joy fill me that I’ve never known before.
“I apologize,” I flash the woman, who is going to look sexy as fuck round with my baby, a grin, “my name is Sergio Vitale.”
She gives a curt nod and I fight my instinct to pull her closer to me and kiss her until neither one of us can breathe. I shouldn’t even be taking the time to talk to her. I should be focusing on Zinnia’s safety, but it’s as if I can’t help myself.
Fuck.
I nod toward the door my little beauty just walked out of as I ask, “What’s on the other side of that door?”
Marigold blushes slightly and smiles up at me and it hits me right in the middle of my chest. “That is a portal to all sorts of different worlds.” I cock my head to the side and my woman giggles. “It’s a bookstore.”
I can’t help but chuckle at how adorable this woman is. I’m not good enough for her and would never be good enough for a woman like her. I’m a man who has blood on his hands, they can’t be washed clean, but that’s not going to stop me.
My phone chirps and I pull it out of my pocket. “That’s my warning alarm that the woman I’m in charge of protecting isfinishing up her class,” I inform her without giving away too much information.
“I should get back inside before my grandfather comes looking for me,” her voice has a note of disappointment in it that I feel deep in my soul.
I reach up and rub her plump bottom lip with my thumb before I force myself to take a step back. “I’ll see you soon,la mia piccola bellezza,” I promise.
I don’t know how, when, or why, but I know it’s a promise I’ll be keeping. I don’t make my way back to the car until Marigold slips back inside the bookstore and I know she’s safe. I’ll need to find out everything I can about her to ensure she’s not a threat to the family, even though I doubt she is, and then I’ll work on making her mine.
Since Zinnia will be spending more time at home, at least until the baby is born, it’ll give me time to watch my woman.
