Page 118 of Ruthless Guardian

It was not a pretty conversation.

But as Isabella loves to remind me, she always gets what she wants. I’m so damned lucky that right now,I’mwhat she wants.

After a very moving speech about how much she loves me, and what an invaluable bodyguard I’ve been, she somehow convinced her father not to kill me. The fact that an ocean still lies between us is a little bit of a comfort, and I’m dreading the day we return stateside in just a few short weeks.

Isabella shifts beside me, her arm tightening around my waist. “Buongiorno,” she whispers.

“Every morning is a good one when I wake up with you in my arms.” A smile slides across my lips, unbidden.

“I bet that’s what you say to all the mafia princesses you sleep with.”

I roll her on top of me and tug up the hem of my t-shirt she’s sleeping in so I can squeeze her ass. She’s bare beneath, and her wearing my tee with nothing underneath is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. If I wasn’t hard already when I woke up, I would be now.

She brushes her lips against mine, and the faint touch has blood racing to my cock.

I capture her lips before she can get away. “Cazzo, Isabella, you taste so good in the morning. I can’t wait to sink my cock inside you.”

“Shh!” she hisses. “He’s going to hear you.”

“So let him. We don’t have to hide anymore, remember?” I trail my fingers up her spine, reveling in her soft skin. “And, though I’ll always protect you, now I don’t have to split my focus anymore. We’ll have Harper outside to watch the perimeter.”

“Finally.” She laughs, the sound rich and bubbly, warming my insides. I spent the first four days with Andrew Harper twenty-four-seven, teaching him everything I know. I still spend an inordinate amount of time with the guy according to Isabella,but how can I not? He’s responsible for keeping the woman I love alive, and I plan on spending the rest of my life with her.

She doesn’t know that yet, but she will soon.

She’s young, and I’m not. I’m ready for it all. I promised Luca to wait a little while before I officially make her mine, but I’m not sure how long I can stick to my promise.

Isabella’s mouth claims mine, and I momentarily lose all focus as she wriggles on top of me. She’s straddling me now, her pussy rubbing against my shaft. She’s already drenched, and I’m aching to be inside her.

Before we start our life together, I need to confess the one part of my tragic story with Laura that I’d omitted. I’ve been meaning to tell her since we left the fiery hellhole of my father’s compound. Somehow, I can’t ever seem to find the words.

But I have to stop being such a coward.

Despite my cock screaming at me, I grip Isabella’s hips and stop their tantalizing roll. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

Her eyes widen as she regards me. “That sounds ominous.”

“It’s not… It just is…”

She sits back and attempts to roll onto the bed, but I dig my fingers into her hips and hold her still. “It’ll be easier for me if you stay like this. Just the feel of you on top of me makes everything better.”

“Okay…”

“When I told you about Laura and what my father did—” I pause, swallowing hard. “There was one important detail I failed to mention. Because it was just too horrible, too painful to speak… But I don’t want any secrets between us because I plan on us lasting forever.”

A smile parts her lips, andDio, she looks radiant. “I love you, Raf, and if you’re not ready to tell me?—”

“No. I’m ready.” I draw in a breath and will the words from my mind to my tongue, but it’s frozen, paralyzed in the horror of re-living that moment.

“I already know,” she whispers, her bottom lip quivering. “About the baby…” Her words trail off and I’m left gaping, unable to form a single cohesive sentence. “Giuseppe told me by accident that day in the wine cellar. He thought I knew.”

My thoughts flash to my brother, to the one person in my family who tried in the end to make up for the past. He’d given his life to save us, and I’d never forget that. Emotion constricts my throat as memories of his bullet-ridden body coalesce at the forefront of my mind. If it hadn’t been for him, Isabella and I would be dead.

“I didn’t tell you because?—”

She presses her finger to my lips then replaces it with her mouth. The kiss is gentle, comforting. “I understand why you didn’t tell me. What happened to you, to Laura, it is just unspeakable. I’m so sorry, Raffaele. I’m so sorry you had such a shitty father, and such a terrible past ten years, but I’m going to do everything in my power to make the next ten so much better.”

“Only ten?” I arch a teasing brow.

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