“What’s happening? Is everyone safe? Mia—”
“She’s safe. Everyone is fine. It’s over. It’s all over. No more El Diablo, no more Thiago, no more problems.”
“Really?” No more problems sounds like a slice of heaven to me.
“Yeah, really.”
“My father. Is he okay, too?”
“Your father is fine. I had to send him home to get some sleep.”
“He’s here in Brazil?”
“Yes, and he’s okay.” He gives me a reassuring nod.
“How long have I been out of it, Alejandro?”
“Nearly three weeks, Bonita.”
My eyes snap wide. There I was thinking it was days.
“I can’t believe that.”
“You had to have surgery to remove the bullet. Being shot took a toll on you, but so did the surgery.” Grief washes over his handsome face, and his eyes well with guilt. “It was close, Lucia, really close.”
I felt it. I think I did die, and he brought me back.
“Thank you, for bringing me back.”
“That’s not something to thank me for. I hate myself for putting you in that kind of danger. It can’t happen again. I will make sure it won’t,” he vows. “Thank you for what you did for me. Thank you, but please let it be my job to protect you from now on. Please let me be the one to protect you every day for the rest of your life. Can we agree on that?”
“Yes,” I choke out as I take in what he’s saying to me. I want nothing more than the promise within those words. “That sounds like you plan to see me every day for the rest of my life.”
“I want nothing more than that,” he replies. I smile up at him, searching his warm brown eyes. It’s funny; they don’t seem so dark today.
“Do you?”
“I do.” He gives my hand a gentle squeeze. “So, I have a different job for you. Something to replace the old one.”
“You never officially fired me.” I must be more lucid than I thought if I can joke.
“No, because this job is better.”
“What is it?”
“Be mine,” he says with conviction. “Be mine and stay with Mia and me. Don’t leave. Just stay.”
My heart sings with delight, and the warm glow of joy and true happiness flows through me, cocooning me in love.
“Yes, I would love nothing more. I was always yours.”
He leans forward and kisses me.
“I was always yours, too.”