Page 79 of She's My Queen

I swallow past the lump in my throat. “And how is that going for you?”

“Not sure yet. How am I doing?”

“Not sure my answer matters.” The wild cat is on a chase, pursuing me, and I need to be careful. Severio’s claws are sharp, and if I’m not smart, he’ll tear out the heart I barely mended with all the ice cream I consumed.

“Yours is the only one that matters.”

I press the heel of my hand against my forehead. Severio’s energy is intense on an average day, but now he’s focused all that intensity on me, and I’m starting to sweat. I think he might be flirting. I almost feel bad because he’s not the flirty type. He’s as subtle and playful as a slap in the face.

He purses his lips. “You quit your job.”

“Yeah.” I drop my hand. With Gio and my wedding not going as planned, then eating myself out of sadness after Severio took the hotel from me and wouldn’t give me the house, and now losing my “husband,” I didn’t want the staff to suffer without a chef when they already had a promising new chef asking for a permanent position. “The new chef is a better choice for the staff and customers. Besides, he seemed thrilled when I offered him the position.”

“You could’ve stayed.”

“The new chef is excellent. I’m sure he won’t poison you.”

“Stop being so cute. It’s annoying.”

Heisflirting. “Is that why you broke up with me?” I tease. “I was too cute, and you got annoyed?” I spent days working through my misery after Severio left. I cried and ate until I forgave both myself and him for our messy hookups that resulted in shredded hearts. With that said, I find it difficult to forgive Severio for keeping the hotel and the house.

I forgive him for breaking my heart.

Moving forward, having fooled around with someone like him will serve me well. It’ll make me wiser. God knows, in my late twenties, I needed the lesson about casual sex that most girls learn in their teenage years.

“I didn’t break up with you. You weren’t my girlfriend.”

“The alternative word was fuck toy, and I’m not fond of that, so I’m sticking with girlfriend.”

Severio shakes his head. “We went over this. You’re neither.”

“We weren’t exactly friends.”

Severio tucks his hands into his pockets, leans back on his heels, and looks around, away from me. “I’m sorry about how things played out before I left,” he says, eyes on the gravediggers.

“Me too.”

Severio’s swallowing a lot. Heisuncomfortable. Oh boy, I like this…this groveling Severio. I don’t think he understands the basic definition of groveling, but I appreciate the effort.

Blue eyes return to me, and Severio doesn’t blink when he states, “You’re mine.”

I can’t look away. I’m standing there, pinned by his intense gaze.

“Did you hear what I said?” he asks, getting aggressive. He is very, very uncomfortable, borderline begging, I think.

I like it too much not to push him further. “If you’re going to grovel, it should be on your knees.”

“Funny you should say that.” Severio pulls out a little gold box from his pocket and drops to one knee.

29

YOU WANT A PONY?

CRISTINA

Severio down on one knee, holding out a box. Wha… What’s he doing? Either my brain is sluggish, or I’m in disbelief. I’m wrapping my head around what’s going on here while Severio doesn’t speak or move or do anything besides stare up at me.

My shaky hands fly to my mouth. “Severio, oh my God.” My words are muffled behind my hands, so I drop them to my sides, tightening them into fists so I don’t accidentally reach for the Trivo jewelry box. “We’re in the cemetery,” I whisper and side-eye the pair of gravediggers, who have stopped working and are leaning on their shovels, witnessing our situation.

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