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“Because I know your body and mind better than you do. I want you to trust me with your pleasure. I know what can make you feel amazing, Elle. You can let your inhibitions go with me. You are the sexiest fucking woman I have ever met in my life.”
He reached forward and brushed my hair behind my ear.
“So, you want me to be your own personal pornstar?” I chuckled, rolling over onto my back as he climbed off the bed with a cheeky grin.
“I want you to be my ‘lots of things,’ Elenora Buccini. But we can start with that,” he winked. He pulled a burner phone out of his pocket and threw it on the bed beside me.
“What’s this?” I asked with confusion.
He held my gaze, slight uncertainty in his eyes but a look of affection also. “As soon as we land, you can call your brother. Or Olivia. Whoever you want. Let them know you are okay. Just…” he paused, his face tightening with concern. “Give me these next three days, Elle. Don’t tell them where you are.”
With that, he turned and left the bedroom. I stared at the door with a mixture of emotions swarming through me. I couldn’t believe he was allowing me to ring them. In private. Tears welled in my eyes as my heart expanded with gratitude and something else. Something far stronger than I had ever felt before for anyone… No. Not love. Anything but... love.
The Bodyguard
Finn
“It’s a beautiful day,” I stated, looking up at the clear blue skies above us as we took our morning stroll through the Buccini grounds. It was the doctor’s orders that I try to walk a little further each day and put more weight on my right leg. After Alessio had given me a good beating, Leone’s men threw me out of a pretty fast moving vehicle, which caused me to break two ribs and my leg. I was close to losing my mind from staying in bed every fucking day. At least now, I could move with crutches, although not far.
“It really is,” Olivia paused our walk to glance up at the birds in the trees chirping with a small smile. She had become my walking buddy the last few days. She was trapped in this house now, unable to leave due to Gio’s concern for her safety. Our daily walks were a nice distraction for us both. I enjoyed the company and I think she did too. “Can we stop for a moment?”
“Sure,” I smiled as we both took a seat on the wooden bench. Her face had paled and she raised her fingers to her mouth. “You okay?”
I already knew what was coming before she could shake her head. She suddenly leaned over the side of the bench and started puking her guts out into the flower bed. I hobbled over to her, balancing on my good leg and held her hair out of the way. The morning sickness started yesterday. Poor girl was suffering.
She sat back up, wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her top as I took a seat next to her.
“Thanks for that. Sorry, I am sure the last thing you want to be doing with your day is holding a pregnant woman’s hair back while she shows you what she had for breakfast.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “Honestly, don’t apologise. You can’t help it and I don’t mind at all. No one should have to walk around with their reprocessed breakfast in their hair.”
She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes as she nodded slowly. “I feel like that is something Elle would say.”
I swallowed my own complicated emotions as I thought of my best friend. I fucking missed her too. I had spent every day with her for nine years and her not being here felt like I was missing a limb. I didn’t know what to do with myself. Yes, our relationship had started out professional, but we just clicked instantly. She was a sweet and funny girl who was wild at heart. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when Alessio sent me here undercover. He hadn’t really given me much explanation other than, get the position of the Buccini Princess’ bodyguard and keep her safe. If she is ever in trouble, ring him. I hadn’t questioned him on it. It wasn’t my place. But over nine years, you pick up on a few things. He obviously cared about her. He never asked for information on Giovanni’s business. He never asked for me to do anything or get him anything which could have put my life in danger. He only ever asked about her. Was she safe? Was she happy? And sometimes, he would ask if she was single. That was the one that always made me smirk. If I didn’t know any better, I would say he was in love with her. But as far as I knew, they had never met. So how could that be? My guess was that he planned to marry her one day. That he planned to form an alliance with Buccini through marriage and I was here to make sure she never married anyone else. That made the most logical sense to me. But after all this mess, I wasn’t so sure anymore. Alessio Barbieri was a fucking mystery to me. A good man, one of the best I had ever known, but a mystery.
“Do you think she is okay?” Olivia asked in a small voice.
“I know she is,” I smiled, trying to give her some reassurance.
“I just can’t get that video out of my head,” she shook her head and inhaled a shaky breath. I breathed in deeply next to her and looked across the evergreen lawn as the sprinklers showered it. The video. Yeah, I wasn’t fucking happy about that. I had called Alessio immediately to find out what the fuck that was about. I had only ever seen Dante once, years ago when I had first started training as a soldier. I had seen him from a distance and just knew he was a fucked up man. His evilness rippled off him in waves. I had known men like him growing up on the streets. I had been a victim to their sick and twisted ways on more than one occasion. So, to know he had laid hands on Elle had my blood boiling. But I knew Alessio. I knew he would never have ordered that to happen and that he wouldn’t stand for it either. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dante was no longer breathing.
“It was fucked up,” I agreed. “But I truly believe that as long as Boss does what the Barbieris ask, she will be safe.”
“But for how long? How can Gio just keep bending to their demands before they give her back? It is obvious they want to destroy us, Finn. Gio is close to breaking point. He can’t afford to lose any more of his business and still have enough influence to fight back. At some point, enough will be enough and I am so scared of that day.”
I rubbed my hand down my face and sighed. She had a point. And the guilt was eating away at me. I liked and respected Giovanni. He was a good Boss. Ruthless and pretty fucking dark when he wanted to be but fair. And this family had been through so much already. But Alessio had told me his end goal. Buccini had to lose enough power to agree that signing allegiance to the Barbieri rule in the North would be the best thing for him and his family. That none of them would be hurt if they just cooperated. And I had been trying. Trying to convince Gio not to retaliate. To not get other Northern families involved and ramp up a pending war. I didn’t want it to come to that. But I was merely a soldier and my opinion wasn’t going to sway Giovanni Buccini. He made his own decisions. Olivia and Max were the only ones who had any influence on him.
“That is why you have to be his calming force, Olivia. You have to make sure he thinks rationally about every decision he makes and not out of anger or revenge. Perhaps, joining the Barbieris like the Leones have would actually benefit this family.”
She scoffed, shaking her head. “Gio will never bend his knee to Alessio. I have never seen him hate a man so much in his life. He will see it as weakness. And Gio is anything but weak.”
Suddenly, her phone started ringing in her back pocket. She pulled it out and frowned. “It’s a private number. No one has my number but people I know.”
“Do you want me to answer it?” I asked, but she shook her head, pressing the green button and holding it to her ear.
“Hello?”
Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. I shifted in my seat to twist towards her in alarm, ignoring the slicing pain in my ribs.
