Page 21 of Billionaire Bodyguard Summer

“I think I want to be alone with her,” I say.

He nods, thumbing away the last of my tears from my cheeks. “I’ll be walking on this loop over there around the willow tree, by the pond. Take all the time you need, Daphne.”

“Thanks,” I sniff. He squeezes me hard, and then he sets off on his walk.

I sit down on the grass and rest my chin on the granite, enjoying its solid cold on my skin.

“Hey lady,” I say. “We got him. That bastard won’t hurt anybody ever again. I guess there’s always a chance his lawyers will weasel him out of the sentence he deserves. But I’m hopeful.”

I picture her the last time I saw her, sixteen years old. Sunshiny smile. My big sister.

“I know this may come as a shock to you, if you haven’t been keeping up with me, but I’ve met somebody.

“Yeah, I didn’t see it coming, either.

“It happened in the worst way, too. He thought I was a sex worker. I know. Not a great start.”

I run my fingers over the engraved letters, tracing her name.

“But we’ve gotten to know each other now, all over again. For real this time. He’s a good guy. I wish you could meet him. I guess you just did.”

I let a few teardrops fall on her grave, and it reminds me of all the times I cried here as a child.

“He used to be a sheriff. Since I quit the Bureau, we’ve been talking about going into business together, maybe creating a private investigation service to track down runaway kids, like you, before anything bad happens to them.”

A bright yellow bird flies in and perches in the yew.

“I miss you like all hell, Nicole. I need you to haunt me now more than ever, to help me get through this dang wedding. Maybe we’ll elope. I think you would approve of that.”

The bird trills a few high-pitched chirps at me.

“Noted. Elopement it is.”

I take a deep breath. A breeze kicks up and ruffles my hair, and it smooths a jagged edge inside my mind.

“Thanks, lady.” I give her stone a pat. I watch the bird until it flies away.

I get up to go join Armin on his walk. He’s standing just over the next hill. “You didn’t get far,” I call.

“Thought I would wait for you,” he says.

I catch up to him, take his face in my hands and smooth his mustache with both my thumbs, the way I used to when I was pretending to be somebody else. It still feels good. I kiss him on the lips, hard.

“Does this mean she approved of me?” He asks, when I let him breathe again.

“She approved,” I say.

He takes my hand in his and brings it to his lips to kiss my knuckles. “Hot damn.”

A note from Maite…

Mea culpa, mea culpa, meamaximaculpa!

When I started writing this story, as part of a series collaboration along with other very talented writers, I intended nothing more than to stick to the guidelines:

A standalone story, I promised.With a guaranteed HEA, I promised.

No problem!I thought. I was naive.