Page 121 of Ruthless Guardian

“I should be the one to give it to her. I found it.” Alessia’s voice cuts through the muttering.

“Fuck this, I’m giving it to her.” Raf’s hands curve around my cheeks, his familiar scent infiltrating my nostrils. “It was my idea anyway.” He jerks the blindfold off, and I blink quickly, my pupils adjusting to the bright lights.

I stare into a pair of ink-dark eyes. “What was your idea?”

He ticks his head just over his shoulder where my brother Vinny, Matteo, Serena and the twins are all standing around ablown-up picture on an easel. It’s a stunning modern apartment with soaring rafters, exposed brick and floor to ceiling windows.

“What’s that?” I murmur.

Alessia bounds toward me and snatches a key ring from Raf’s hand. “It’s your new apartment! It’s only a couple blocks away from NYU, in a brand new, secure building.”

Papàpokes his head into the circle and Mom sneaks in beside him. “Very secure. Raf assured me it’s virtually impenetrable.”

I turn to my bodyguard turned boyfriend. “You guys did this together?”

He nods, an indulgent smile on his lips. “After living with you for the past three months, did you really think I’d agree to anything less now that we’re back in Manhattan?”

I spin to my dad in disbelief. “You’re actually okay with us living together?”

Papàgrunts, but my mom shoots him a placating smile. “It took some convincing,” Mom interjects, “but Raf made some very persuasive arguments.”

“I bet he did.” I slide my arm around his waist, and he peers down at me, velvety eyes smoldering.

Raf leans in, brushing the sensitive shell of my ear with his lips. “I want to wake up beside you every morning for the rest of my life.”

“Isthatthe proposal?”

He chuckles, the warm sound shooting heat between my legs. “Not yet,principessa, but soon. I need to make sure I can buy an engagement ring fit for the King’s queen.”

Shaking my head, I press my lips to his. “Just being with you makes me feel like a queen,amore. I don’t need anything else.”

Muttered groans fill the space as Raf pulls me into a kiss, a slow, deep one that has my father cursing in Italian and mytoes curling inside my stilettos. I can feel the smile on Raf’s lips, mirroring my own, as he finally pulls away.

“Come on buddy, let’s liven up that music!” Serena’s shout over the crooning Frank Sinatra impersonator only widens my smile. As the melodic tune twists to a thumping beat, I scan the crowded room filled with all the people I love most in this world.

Raf’s hand closes around mine as he leads me to the center of the dancefloor. His lips brush my own as he whispers, “I love you,principessa. Always and forever, I am yours. I will guard your heart just as fiercely as your body for as long as I draw breath. That’s my vow to you, my queen.”

EPILOGUE

Serena

Plopping down on the couch beside Matteo, I let out a dramatic sigh and take a long pull from my brimming champagne flute. “Drink with me, Matty. If I’m forced to watch their nauseating cuteness for a minute longer, I’m going to vomit.” I clink my glass to my cousin’s empty tumbler and lift my gaze to Isabella and Raffaele slowly swaying on the dancefloor. The Frank Sinatra wannabe is back on stage, and the fun party music has long since died out.

Matty follows my line of sight, and his lips screw into a pout. “Jealousy isn’t a good look on you, Serena.”

I roll my eyes back so hard I’m worried they’ll freeze that way, like myPapàused to warn me as a child. “I’m half-way to a hangover and jetlagged. Be gentle, asshole.”

He barks out a laugh, shards of emerald lighting up across his bejeweled irises.

“And anyway, I am happy for Bella, thrilled, super enthusiastic, over the moon, even. She’s not only my cousin, she’s my best friend. You know that.”

“Oh, I do. I don’t think you begrudge her boyfriend; I think you’re scared of losing your best friend.”

“Psshaw.” I wave a dismissive hand between sips of champagne and ignore the unexpected pang in my chest. “Sure, Raf’s hot as hell, but it’s been Bella and me forever. No dick could ever come between that kind of love.”

Matty’s gaze turns pensive as he watches them on the dancefloor. “I don’t think he’s just any dick, Sere. Have you seen how he looks at her? I saw glimpses of it before they left, but now? That guy is whipped… He’s not ever letting our little Bells go.”

“We’ll see about that. I’ve never met a man who sticks around after the fun stops.”

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