Page 10 of Falling for the Knockout

“We’re married—again,” he said.

“I see,” she breathed, “well then, I’m going to need a ring—preferably a huge diamond one.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said. The idea of Aurora wearing his ring did strange things to him. For a guy who never really wanted to settle down, he was sure thinking about it a lot around Aurora.

She laid back and closed her eyes, and Tony wondered if he should ask what was on her mind or just let her rest. The details that he had given to the police weren’t very helpful. He only sawa shadow of a man when he showed up at the bakery. He was early and thank God for that. If he had come in at his regular time, there would be no telling what he’d walk in to find.

Tony must have spooked the guy with his headlights because as soon as he pulled into the alley, the guy took off. He couldn’t tell the cops anything but the guy’s build and height because the bakery didn’t have many lights on. It looked to him as though Aurora had just gotten into work since nothing was being prepped, and the ovens weren’t even on. But none of that information was going to be very helpful to the officers who were looking for Aurora’s attacker.

“I can feel you looking at me,” she grumbled. “How am I supposed to sleep while you watch me?”

“Sorry,” he said, “my brain just won’t shut off. If you need me to go, I can.”

“No, I like knowing that you’re here,” she admitted. “I feel safe.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you at the bakery. I feel like I’m responsible,” he admitted. Tony had thought of improving the safety measures around the bakery, but his Nonno always told him that would be a ridiculous waste of money.

“No, it wasn’t your fault at all,” she insisted. She tried to sit up in bed and moaned, grabbing her forehead.

“Don’t try to sit up,” he insisted. Aurora laid back down and huffed out her breath.

“I feel so helpless,” she whispered. “I should have known that Joe would find me sooner or later.”

“You know the person who attacked you?” Tony asked.

“I do,” she breathed. “I dated him a few times, back at home. When I realized that he was becoming too clingy, I told him that we couldn’t see each other anymore.”

“I take it that he didn’t like the fact that you broke up with him,” Tony filled in. Some guys couldn’t seem to take no for an answer, and those were the guys that he wanted to pummel. But fighting outside of the ring would have gotten him in hot water with Jonesy. He’d have Tony’s balls and that was the last thing that he needed.

“No, he didn’t. In fact, he started showing up at places where I’d be, claiming at first that it was pure coincidence, but after a while, I could tell that he was stalking me. I was scared to even leave my apartment, and when I realized that I went down to the police station and filed a restraining order against Joe.”

“How did that go over?” Tony asked.

“About as well as you’d think,” Aurora said. “When I realized that he wasn’t going to ever stop, I packed my things and I left town, looking for a new start. That’s when I came here and started working at the bakery. Elio was so nice to me, and you were—um, you.” Tony started to protest, and she held up her hand. “Yes, I know that you don’t hate me now, but at the time, I thought that you did, and it was very lonely for me. I really don’t know many people around town—except for the regulars who come in every morning. I was planning on leaving, and maybe I should have because now that Joe is here, he won’t leave me alone. He told me that he’s been stalking me for weeks now, waiting for his chance to get to me. He planned on taking me with him, but when I fought back, he did this to me.” Aurora pointed to her bruised, swollen face and he wanted to go out and personally take care of this Joe asshole for her.

“So, now you’re planning on leaving town to get away from Joe. And when he finds you again, then what?” Tony asked. The last thing that he wanted was to give her ex another chance to get to her, but if she stayed in town, Joe would get his chance. The thought of that asshole taking her with him scared the hell out of Tony, but that was something that he’d have to overthink later. Right now, he was going to have to convince Aurora that she needed to let him keep her safe. He had a friend who worked for the local police department who would help him find her ex, but until that happened, he wanted to keep her by his side. The question was, would she allow that or was she going to give him a fight? If she did, he could always call in the big guns—his grandfather. Elio would be able to convince her to accept help, even if she was stubborn as a mule.

“Leaving town is the only way to keep you and Elio safe,” she insisted. “If Joe has been watching me, and I have no reason to believe that he was lying about that, then he knows that you and Elio are important to me.” Hearing Aurora admit that he was important to her made his heart do a little flip-flop in his chest. She had always made him a little nervous. Hell, he even told her that she made him tongue-tied, but he left off the part about her giving him butterflies every time she so much as smiled at him.

“He’ll come after you both to try to hurt me for not cooperating with him today. Joe will want revenge, and I don’t want to give him that satisfaction, so as soon as I’m discharged from here, I’m packing up and heading out of town.”

“What about your job?” Tony asked, hoping that the bakery would be enough incentive for her to stay.

“Please tell Elio how much I appreciate him giving me the job. I love that place, but I’ve already told you that I can’t stick around and let Joe hurt you. He’ll follow me and you will both be safe.”There was no way that he was going to let her leave town and have to deal with her ex all alone. What if he caught up to her again, and this time, he wouldn’t be there to stop him?

“What about Elio? He will need you to be here so that we can convince him to fight this cancer. If you leave town, he’ll think that you’ve given up on him,” Tony insisted.

“I’ll call him and explain everything to him. I’ll have to just make him understand that it’s for the best,” she insisted. She seemed to have all the answers to every question that he threw her way, but he was hoping that this one really tripped her up.

“What about me?” Tony asked. “I thought that you liked me. Are you willing to just take off and not find out if there’s something between us?”

“That’s not fair,” she insisted. “All this time, you’ve practically ignored me, and now that it’s not safe for me to stay here, you tell me that I should stick around to see if there’s anything between us?” Yeah, he wasn’t playing fair, but he also knew that playing dirty was sometimes the way to win the game.

He shrugged, “If that’s what it takes to keep you here, I’ll play dirty, honey,” he said, bobbing his eyebrows at her. She smiled at him, but he could tell that she was still on the fence about staying. “Listen, the cops want to question you about what happened, but the doctor won’t let them in here until you’re out of the woods.”

“Well, I should know something tonight,” she insisted. She was determined to give him a hard time. It was kind of cute and a whole lot frustrating, but he knew that she’d eventually do the right thing.

“Come home with me,” he breathed, not giving her time to think of another excuse to tell him. “Let me help you heal, and then, you can give the cops their statement. If you still want to leave after all that, I won’t try to stop you. I just don’t want you to go on the road in your condition. Please, Aurora. I can keep you safe while you get better, let me take care of you.”

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