I gazed into her beautiful blue eyes, my very own oasis lying in those depths. “What is it?”
“After this weekend, I think we should take a break.”
CHAPTER 46
Ti Amo
Gabriela
The sentence tore out of me like a bullet, ricocheting loudly in the stillness of the room.
I wouldn’t take it back, though. I meant it and I had a good reason too.
At first, Hunter appeared confused. Dazed even. As though he was running the words back in his mind and couldn’t make sense of them.
Then his eyes flared in understanding, his hands fell from my face, and he staggered back a step like I daggered him straight into the chest.
“What did you just say?” Heartbreak exploded over his face and the agony in his voice drove into me like a wrecking ball. “Gabriela?”
“Listen to me, please.” I reached to grab his hands—to feel his warmth because without him, I was nothing but a cold shell. He let me braid our fingers together, but it did little to dissipate the pure shock on his features. “If the culprit isn’t caught by this weekend, I…I think we should take a break until the situation is resolved.”
A tremble rushed through his body. “I don’t understand. Why would you suggest this?”
“Hunter,” I pleaded. There was a frantic quality in his eyes as they searched mine for answers. “That knife was aimed atme.You’re hurt because ofme. Your life is being upended because ofme.” I shook my head. “I can’t risk you. If you’re not in my vicinity, then you’re safe.”
His chest bowed with his uneven breathing. “And your solution is to break up so I’m not in the crossfire?”
“No!” I said quickly, horrified. But he let go of my hands and stepped back. “Not break up. Just…lie low and wait for the situation to blow over.”
He chuckled humourlessly. “Absolutely not. I won’t be parted from you.”
He was half illuminated by the night lights seeping through the floor-to-ceiling windows and half shadowed by the darkness of the room. Even so, he looked larger than life. My god of the sky. A figure worth idolatry. The epitome of all my love and desire. I watched him in rapture and yearning. His corded neck worked with a difficult swallow when he raised his hand to shove his fingers into his black hair, pushing it back from his face and allowing me to see the full-fledged pain my words had caused him. And when I noticed the way his thick muscles strained against the white fabric of his dress shirt, namely the bloody stain on his bicep…I knew deep in my heart this was the right decision.
He was the most precious thing to me. I needed to ensure his safety above all else. Above mine too.
“Hunter, I could have lost you tonight,” I said in a vain attempt to get him to understand my side. “Do you understand the magnitude of that? It would havekilledme.”
He crowded me in two steps, clutching my face with despair. “And don’t you understand that I would gladly take a hundred knife slashes if it meant you’re alive and well?”
My eyes stung with new tears and I got choked up, grabbing his hands on my face with my own.
The air around us simmered with emotions and the things we left unsaid. I had planned an entire romantic evening for us and though this wasn’t how I envisioned things going, I couldn’t hold back anymore from telling him my truth.
“Hunter, I’m in love with you.” A newfound sensation of peace settled into my chest after the confession left my mouth. “I wish I could pinpoint the exact moment it occurred, but I realized now that I’d slowly been falling for you from the start. No one has ever treated me the way you have—no one has even made me feel like I was worthy of the kind of love you’ve given me. Hell, I didn’t even know this kind of love could exist until you. From the minute we met again on that moonlit terrace, you’ve raised all my standards until you became the living embodiment of them.” A lone tear trickled down my cheek as I stared up at him with all the humility and love residing within me. “I love you so much that I always want your face to be the last thing I see before bed, just so I can dream of you for the few hours that I’m not awake. I love you so much that I don’t think I could go on a minute if you weren’t here. And I love you so much that I would jump in front of a grenade if it meant saving you, Hunter.”
Even on my deathbed, I would never forget the look on his face.
Pure awe mixed with disbelief.
“Don’t,” Hunter began vehemently, blue eyes shining with a sheen of moisture. “Don’t talk like that. I don’t want to exist in a world where you’re not there, Gabriela.”
“It’s the truth. If something happens to you, I wouldn’t make it to nightfall. That’s why I need you to take a step back from me and heal if the culprit isn’t caught soon. Tonight was a close call and it scared me more than I can ever convey in words,amore mio.”
Hunter backed me against the window and laid his forehead to mine. “How can you say all of that and still think I’d be okay with taking a break—even a short one? Haven’t I made it clear that it’ll take an army to pry me off of you?” His lips hovered over mine, painting the words against my skin. “Haven’t I made it clear through my actions that I’m so fucking in love with you that I’m never leaving your side, baby?”
More tears gathered in my eyes. “You love me?”
These past few weeks, I felt it. In his body language. In his words. In his touch.
