Page 75 of Bodyguard Baby Daddy

My daughter gaggles and giggles and clumsily makes her way over the grass to me. She’s all smiles and pudgy faced and warm. Her cheeks are red from teething, and she goes immediately to grab at my chest pocket, where she knows I keep her binky.

“Uh uh, a kiss first?”

She blows a raspberry and wiggles to be freed. I place her back down on the lawn, and she crawls off for herAbuela.

I take the two beers off the tray for Sebastian and Luca and head over. They accept them gratefully, and Seb hugs me. He kisses me on the head.

“Sebastian has told me about the book,” Luca says. “You haven’t stopped.”

I go slightly red. “Thank you,” I say. “I guess I needed an outlet while staying at home.”

“It’s magnificent.” Luca beams. “Sophie also told me about the book. She enjoyed it. Mafia romance…”

I snort a laugh and look mischievously at her, but she’s on the lawn playing. “Yes, I guess for us it’s probably right at home.”

“Now, I’ve often heard that authors create characters from people they actually know.” Luca elbows Sebastian playfully. “Is Alessandro me or Sebastian?”

Sebastian snorts loudly and spits a bit of his beer on the barbeque. We all laugh and I don’t respond. All I do is wink and walk off.

I know who Alessandro really is, and The King of Miami is neither of them.

I head back inside to the kitchen and get the salads out of the fridge. I place them on the table and get the plates from the cupboards as well, and just as I close the glass fronted cabinet, the King of Miami smiles at me.

I turn and look at Carlos’s portrait on the wall. He’s smiling and happy. A picture taken just before mom’s accident, just before he left us, just before he came back…

The night is still heavy on my mind, and I think that's partially why I began writing as well. The last year and a half has been hectic, with the death of Carlos and the birth of our daughter. It was a busy pregnancy and a busy birth. We moved in with my mother out of closeness for the family, but also because I couldn’t imagine being away from her after everything. After everything she’d done for me, I could only think of repaying her by taking full care of her.

Sebastian completely agreed.

He set about fully restoring the house and repairing any damages. If he couldn’t fix it, he replaced it. He looked after not only me and the baby, but also my mother. He did it all without complaint or tiring either. I think in the same way I escaped with writing, he escaped with fixing. We both had to.

But we also escaped into one another.

We had a wedding that was completely for us, and I gladly took his name after.

And we gladly gave Carlos’ name to our daughter too.

He was avenged, and the bratva was captured. Luca and his cousin Leandro finished everything up, and cornered Alexei so well that he was forced to flee America. We haven’t had a problem since.

My brother finally has peace.

Sebastian comes into the kitchen and sees me with the portrait. “You okay?”

I nod and hang the photo back up. “Just thinking.”

“Think away,” he says, kissing me on the head and then taking the salads and plates all in a mess of arms. “You join us when you’re ready.”

“It’s okay, I just got stopped.” I take some of the plates from his loaded arms and place them back on the table. “But I wanted to ask you something. I’ve been meaning to for a while.”

“Oh sure.” Sebastian puts the salads down and rubs my shoulder.

“Can we have another?”

The question bounces right off his forehead, and he stares at me. The situation I’ve been overthinking for the last two weeks doesn’t go either of the ways I’ve been imagining.

“Another what?”

“Another child.”

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