Page 108 of South Beach Bodyguards

His hand reached up and cupped my cheek. “Because this is real. We’re in love. We’ve missed each other and we’re together. We’re leaving on a cruise later.”

Damn it, he was saying what he had said to me in the room at Benito’s house. “Imagine that you’re here, because you are.” He took my hand and pressed it to his chest.

“I don’t believe you,” I whispered. Even though I wanted to because with him, I had felt such a connection. I wanted to believe that it was real. God, could it be real?

“Believe this.” He reached into the pocket of his suit coat and pulled out two tickets. For a cruise. “And before you ask, Ricardo did not pay for this. I destroyed my savings account, but it was worth it. Or it will be when you say yes.”

Oh, I was going to say yes. But I was going to make him work for it. I knew I shouldn’t give in so easily, but my sister and Ricardo stood firm that Wester hadn’t been paid. This was not a man who said he was in love lightly. Not only had he spoken the words, I could see it in his pale blue eyes. He looked agonized.

“What does your tattoo mean?” I asked.

He stared at me blankly. “Which one?”

“The voodoo doll.” I had asked before and been brushed off.

He didn’t hesitate. “It’s my old life. When I was running around with drug dealers and acting tough. The pins represent destroying it. The face stares out as a reminder to never go backward. Only forward.”

Maybe that was what I needed to do, too. With Wester.

“I’ll go on the cruise with you,” I said. “No promises for what happens at the end of it, but I’ll go.”

His face lit up and it was pretty damn adorable. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Thank you,” he said. The sincerity with which he spoke was almost amusing.

“I’ve always wanted a bodyguard.” Or this one anyway.

epilogue

“So why don’t you have any furniture?” Olivia asked me. “You clearly have money saved.”

We were sitting on our stateroom balcony on the cruise ship, watching Miami recede in the distance as we headed toward Mexico. Sharing a bottle of wine, I was feeling lucky as shit to be there with Olivia. I hadn’t been convinced she would agree to go with me and then I would have been taking a cruise solo and feeling like a rejected loser. But instead, here I was with the most beautiful woman I’d ever met, watching her smile at me.

“Because my mother always told me if you save your money, they can never break you. Because you won’t be tempted by easy illegal money if you have your own in the bank. I don’t need to show off by buying stuff. I know what I have. My integrity.” And more now. The chance to have love in my life again, and I was one happy motherfucker.

“What do you have?” She reached out and ran her fingers lightly over my knee, raising her wine glass to her lips.

“I have a job, a roof over my head, friends, and a mother who would strangle a man with her bare hands for me. If I let her, which I wouldn’t.” I covered my hand over Olivia’s and let her see the truth in my eyes. “And I have you. A woman smart enough to see through my bullshit and call me out on it.”

She took a sip of her wine slowly and set the glass down on the end table. “You’re welcome.”

That made me laugh. “There’s a robe in the closet.” I gave her a wink. “I think you should put it on for old times’ sake. With nothing underneath.”

“Is it a matter of life or death?” she asked, giving me a flirtatious tilt of her head.

“Yes. I will die if you don’t get naked.”

She smiled. “Well, I can’t have that on my conscience.” She rose out of the chair slowly, seductively.

And I followed her in to the future I had never expected, and now intended to hang on to with both fucking hands.

heat

BY ERIN MCCARTHY

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