Page 56 of Her Cruel Bodyguard

Maybe I should find a silver lining in this, too.

Maybe that’s what love should truly be about.

You give your heart to someone not because you expect the same in return, but because you know there is no one else in the world you would rather have break your heart than them.

I blink, waving away my tears as I sit back to stare at Fabio in the car's headlights. He is wearing a dress shirt and dress pants, has a mop of unruly hair on his head, and his back bunches slightly. He has a holster strapped to his chest, one hand in his pocket and the other holding his phone to his ear.

There is no one else I would want to love me except Fabio De Luca.

And there is equally no one else I would allow to break my heart except him.

I swallow and hold my breath as he turns in my direction, squinting those piercing green eyes that dig out my every fantasy and desire. He takes the phone off his ear and struts over to the car.

The way he walks. The way he talks. His aura. His charisma. His mind.

It is everything about him.

And it is not that I haven’t seen other men, or that I fool myself into thinking that there are no other men with such qualities, but the simple truth is that there will never be a man for me that will possess them quite like Fabio De Luca.

There will never be a man who can take me like he does. He is the one I want above all else. I feel like my soul needs him.

As expected, he steps into the car and cinches his seatbelt in place, sparing me a scalding gaze before swinging his eyes to stare over his shoulder at Jake, who is already sleeping.

“Are you good?” He starts the car. “You seem a little…” He focuses his attention to me, taking his hands away from the steering wheel. “Did Salvatore hurt you?”

I shake my head. “I didn’t see him,” I relive the moment briefly.

I didn’t have to see him. It was Nina who went in with the cops. Vittoria and I sat in our car and watched as the cops cleared out the entire estate, taking him and some armed men with them. Salvatore didn’t even protest. He looked too confident, probably thinking he would be able to buy his way out.

Too bad for him, he will never be coming out of this one.

“Eva,” Fabio’s soft voice calls to me as his hand reaches over to take mine and he strokes his thumb on the back of it. “Thank you,” he lifts my hand to his mouth and presses a kiss on it. “Thank you,” this time he holds my gaze in a wickedly nerve-twisting lock as he presses a wet kiss on the back of my hand.

My heart flips and hops to my throat. I swallow to send it back down.

If anyone should ask me what it is about Fabio that has me under a spell, I would stutter for the next year, trying to put it in words.

“We should take him home,” I retrieve my hand, leaving my heart in his. “He is tired,” I add, because he might be interpreting it differently. I don’t know how I want him to interpret it exactly.

“Sure,” he says, turning his attention back to the steering wheel. With a stern demeanor and clenched jaw, he starts driving.

Fabio parks the car outside Mindy’s house.

“I will wait here,” I say, hugging myself to show him that I have no plans to step out of this car.

He nods, hops out, and opens the backseat to take Jake into his arms. At the same time, Mindy flies out of the house, her eyes puffy from crying. She scuttles to Fabio and Jake in his arms, throwing herself at them to embrace them both.

She is saying something, but I can’t hear a thing, and I don’t want to.

He may not want her in that way, but she has a piece of him. I have nothing of him. I have been reminded too much of how little of him I have tonight, and I would love to go back home and stew on it.

Fabio walks with Jake in his arms and Mindy beside him inside the house.

I keep staring at the door, and it is only when I feel the hotness of my tears on my cheeks that I realize I am crying. I quickly wipe them off and compose myself.

I wait for a while, struggling to keep my mind on the bouncing of my feet instead of wandering to places and things that will rip me into useless pieces.

Fabio steps out of the house, and Mindy comes after him. She struts down the short stairs and comes to my side of the car. She waves, and I am forced to wind down.

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