Page 19 of Her UnBearable Protector

“You must love the shade.”

He nodded. “It’s the only place in the city that I can truly be myself. Where no one can see me.”

“Except,” she hedged, “for your friends, your brothers?”

“My brothers, of course. We live in the same building, but we don’t have visitors.”

“But you’d bring me there?” She shared a soft chuckle with him. “I don’t want to break your rules.”

A breeze stirred the ends of her hair and he reached out and tucked a loose curl behind her ear. “Because you’re meant to be there, Natale. You’re meant to be with me.”

He saw the way his words affected her. Laughter or shock weren’t her first reactions this time. The set of her lips softened and she touched her fingers to the top of the balcony, tracing her fingertips along the cold concrete in a slow contemplative sweep. “The way you say that,” an indrawn breath seemed to steady her nerves, “I want to believe, but it’s so fast.”

He heard the truth in her words. She didn’t have the experience that he had. She didn’t have a family like his. While the Durante family originated near the village where he’d grown up, he was sure they didn’t know anything about the Orsino’s unique history. The brothers had grown up hearing the stories from their father but the thought of a mate, of a woman, didn’t make sense to three rowdy children. Girls were ridiculous, frilly creatures with sneering looks and ear-splitting giggles. The Orsino clan was insular, rarely leaving their mountain home for other locations. The food and resources had always been plentiful in their village. But it was a rarity to have a girl born into the families that made up their clan. The number of males tipped the scales on the family trees of their people. To continue the line and ensure their survival, the men found themselves venturing out into the world to look for their mates.

Salvatore had always heard the stories, seen the women when their men had brought them back to live, but finding a woman of his own seemed more like a fairy tale than their family history. Now, he knew better.

“It may seem like that, Natale, but you’ll come to see that it's real.”

“Real?” Her voice had been reduced to a whisper. “Real is deadlines. RSVPs. Fabric wholesalers. Fashion reviewers out for blood. I can't let myself believe any of this right now. If I let myself get wrapped up in the way I feel, I'm going to mess everything up. You don't know how important this is, not if you're going to ask me to… ask me to-”

She stopped short and stared at him for a long moment before she shook her head in disbelief. “But you didn't, did you?” She blinked back tears. “You didn't ask me to do anything, it's all in my head.”

He touched her cheek with the palm of his hand and slipped his fingers through her hair until they traced the hairline at the nape of her neck, feeling her shiver at his touch.

“You need to know, that this isn't just a job. I would do anything to keep you safe, but it goes deeper than that.”

* * *

She wanted to believe. She needed to believe. All of her life she was the ‘sweet’ one. The one with ‘personality.’ Taken on their own, those words would be compliments. Pair them with a half-smile and a pitying sigh, and they cut deeper than a knife.

Men like Salvatore Orsino didn't show up every day. They didn't walk into your life and tell you they were going to make your troubles go away. Okay, at least one of her troubles.

It should be easy, she told herself, he says he cares for you. So, he does, right?

Or is he saying that because he thinks it is what she wants to hear. Because it was her Papa who hired him.

It was easier to assume that her fairytale knight in a bespoke suit was only putting on an act. That way, she didn't get her heart wrapped up in the tangle of disappointment when he walked away once the whole mess was over.

But there was something deep inside of her pushing her toward the edge. Something that told her the water wasn't that deep, that she could swim, or at least tread water long enough to give herself the gift of joy. That if she reached out and took a little happiness for herself that the world wasn't going to punish her later.

Ericka made it sound so simple.

But Ericka was the personification of bravery and courage. She would climb a mountain just to do it. She went out and grabbed at happiness because it was what she wanted.

Natale looked up into the night sky, struggling to find the dark amongst the glow of light from the city that surrounded her. She tried to find the stars in the haze of night and found herself dizzy with the possibilities before her.

She reached out, her hands fisting in his shirt, as she struggled to find her balance.

He didn't flinch or pull away. He stood there with one hand at the nape of her neck, holding her gently.

Natale lowered her gaze, watching as the sky darkened before her eyes. Stars swept through her vision and she barely recognized the Little Dipper and a few other nearby constellations before she met Salvatore’s eyes with her own.

And lost her breath.

It was a trick of the shadows. Or just her sudden movement throwing her off her axis.

Whatever it was, she knew she was lost in the midnight sky of his eyes. She felt like she was falling, or floating, there really wasn’t a name for it.

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