<h4>Chapter 350: Chapter 350 : Happily Ever After?</h4>


    *Olivia*


    The past few days had gone by in a daze of decorating my new space with Gio and spending time by the pool with Dahlia. Every so often I had the distinct urge to pinch myself because it just didn’t seem possible that this was my real life.


    Gio seemed too good to be true in every way. Not only was our physical rtionship as spicy as ever, but our emotional connection had grown so much as well. Knowing that I could have lost him so early on in our rtionship had given me an amazing sense of perspective.


    I didn’t have any doubts at all that he was the one I was meant to be with. He was perfect for me in every way... well, other than the fact that he seemed to think I was as breakable as a porcin doll.


    “Are you sure this is necessary?” I asked him for the thousandth time as weid in bed together and I rubbed his back. He was insisting that Dahlia and I needed bodyguards to attend the university safely. “I really just want to be a normal student, Gio. What if this puts a bigger target on us?”


    “Trust me, my guys are subtle. The other students won’t even notice them. Unless you want me to insist that you both do online sses, I need you to ept this.” He rolled toward me so that we were facing each other.


    I rolled my eyes and smacked him on the arm. He knew he couldn’t “insist” that Dahlia or I do anything, but I didn’t want him to spend his days worried that I was about to be murdered or kidnapped. I knew his concern came from a ce of deep love, and I didn’t want this to be a sore spot for us.


    “Okay, fine, we can have bodyguards,” I conceded. “But you have to promise they’re going to be inconspicuous. They should seem like other students.”


    “I promise, carino,” he said softly, then pulled me in close so he could kiss me.


    I could see the relief written all over his face, and I felt bad for being so stubborn about the bodyguard situation. I hadn’t realized how much it was stressing him out. The end of the summer had been so much more rxing than the beginning that it was easy for me to forget that he had very real concerns. There were some horrible people out there who had Gio at the top of their list of people they’d love to hurt, and they wouldn’t hesitate on using me to do it.


    I returned his kiss with enthusiasm, trying to make up for the stress I had put him under. He was so good at keeping me from having to bear the burden of the worst parts of his job, but I wanted him to know that he could talk to me.


    “You know you don’t have to hide your worries from me, right?” I asked him in between kisses.


    He rubbed his hand absently up and down my arm, looking thoughtful.


    “I know, but I want you to have a carefree life. You didn’t choose this business. I did. You should be able to live as normally as possible.”


    “Oh, Gio, I love you,” I told him. He was so sweet to be so worried about me.


    “Do you want to show me just how much you love me?” he asked softly, rubbing his hand against my breast suggestively.


    I giggled and writhed against him. “Hm, I think I would like that very much.”


    As we did most mornings and evenings, we devoured each other. I craved Gio’s touch like I craved a good cup of coffee. It just didn’t feel right to start my day without it. In no time, he had me gasping and moaning against him.


    “I love you, Gio,” I managed to say as I climaxed.


    “I love you too, carino,” he grunted as he met my climax with his own. Afterward, he said, “I am so lucky you decided to move here.”


    “I’m lucky too.”


    He wrapped his arms around me, and we stayed like that for a few moments before finally forcing ourselves to get out of bed.


    “Someday, I promise, I will take you away on a trip, and we will spend the whole time in bed,” he said as he pulled his clothes on.


    “I’ll hold you to it,” I giggled and stretched, enjoying the way his eyes roamed over my naked body.


    “You’re lucky I have a busy schedule today, baby, or I’d show you just what you get for tempting me with your body like that,” he growled.


    I blushed but stretched the other way. I wanted him to spend his whole day thinking about how much he wished he could get me back in bed. He leaned over and lightly smacked my ass.


    “I know what you’re doing, and it’s working,” he chuckled.


    I gazed up at him, making my eyes wide and innocent. “I’m not doing anything.”


    “Yeah, right,” he said, straightening his tie. “Either way, I’ll have time to deal with you tonight. Let’s go out to dinner, just the two of us.”


    I grinned and hopped out of bed; his promise of dinner giving me the energy to start my day. It was rare that he had time to take me out–normally we ate at thepound with everyone else–but when he did have time, he always took me to extravagant restaurants and made me feel like a princess. I really was the luckiest girl in the world.


    Before I knew it, a few more weeks had passed, and Dahlia and I had finally started college. Just like Gio had said, our bodyguards weren’t noticeable at all. I actually did find it veryforting to know they were watching over me.


    After being in thepound for so long and only asionally leaving, I had forgotten what it felt like to be in a crowd of people. The first few days had been overwhelming as I struggled to find my sses as masses of students streamed past me. Thankfully, once I figured out my schedule and where I needed to be, I was able to settle into aforting routine. Most days, Dahlia and I met up for lunch. I was so lucky to have my best friend to lean on.


    “Anyway, you’ve got to meet him, Olive. He’s so cute.” She was talking about hertest boy toy. Since we’d started school, she’d had a string of romantic flings, but this guy had actually managed to hold her interest for more than a week.


    “If you like him, I’m sure I’ll like him. Well... as long as he’s not Russian. I think we need a break from Russian men,” I teased.


    Sheughed. “Oh, no, he’s all Italian! And it really shows in the bedroom, if you know what I mean. Well, of course, you know what I mean.”


    “Dahlia!” I pretended to be scandalized by her bedroom talk, but if I was being honest, I knew exactly what she meant. Gio was amazing in the bedroom. Not that I had anything topare him to.


    She justughed before looking at her phone to check the time.


    “Oh, I’ve got to go. I’ll see youter!” She got up and walked off to ss. It made my heart happy to see how easily she moved now that her injuries had finally healed.


    I gathered up my trash and started on my way to my next ss. The gorgeous weather had put me in a contemtive mood, and I started reflecting on all the amazing changes in my lifetely. My mother had always told me that the hardest part of a rtionship was moving in together, but that hadn’t been my experience with Giovani at all. Living with him felt so natural, especially after spending so much time being forced to sneak around. Falling asleep in his arms every night and waking up to his kisses every morning was giving me the best sleep of my life.


    I had expected starting sses to add some new stress to my life, but I had been happily surprised to discover that I loved going to this university. My sses challenged me in ways that I hadn’t expected, and I was already starting to consider changing my major to environmental science thanks to my biology professor, Professor Mancini. He was a sweet older man who made even the most boring of topics interesting. I always looked forward to his lectures and found myself bursting to tell Gio everything that I had learned.


    I arrived at Biology 101 with a few minutes to spare. I loved the time right before ss started when everyone was bustling in and getting settled. I especially loved how Dr. Mancini always yed Italian rock music before ss started. I pulled out my notebook and favorite pen and settled in.


    It was an amazing ss as usual. We had learned about the evolution of arthropods, something that I had never before thought I would care about, but Dr. Mancini had managed to make it one of the most intriguing topics we had learned about yet. During ss, Dr. Mancini mentioned that his research team had made several important discoveries about arthropod evolution. I decided that I wanted to do whatever it took to get on that research team.


    After ss, I approached Dr. Mancini. “Professor, do you ever ept freshmen on your research team?”


    “I’m afraid not, signorina,” he said. “You need at least thirty credit hours before you can be epted.”


    I couldn’t help but dete a bit to find out that I would have to wait at least another year before I could be on his team.


    He must have noticed how sad I looked, because he went on to say, “But don’t worry. If you keep doing as well as you’re doing in this ss, I am certain that you’ll be epted easily. We will be lucky to have you.”


    I smiled. “Thank you, Professor. I’ll be sure to apply next year.”


    He patted me on the shoulder and turned to gather up his briefcase. I went back to my desk and wrote a reminder in my nner to pursue the research team next year, then started to gather up my things. As I closed my notebook, a little folded-up paper fell out and fluttered to the ground. I reached down to grab it, wondering what it could be. Sometimes Gio left love notes for me to find in my backpack.


    I picked up the piece of paper and was confused to see that it wasn’t handwritten but had something typed on it. When I unfolded it and saw what it said, I wished that I could go back to the moments before when I had been so happy and content. I immediately looked around for my bodyguard and found him at the back of the lecture hall. He seemed to note my panic and made his way toward me. I felt like I was going to faint.


    “What is it, Olivia? What’s wrong?” my bodyguard asked urgently.


    I wordlessly handed him the note, unable to find the ability to speak. He unfolded the paper and raised his eyebrows at what it said.


    “I’m going to have to call the boss right away.”


    He turned away from me so he could make his phone call, still holding the note up. I could just barely make out the words over his shoulder, but I didn’t need to reread it to know what it said. The words had been bouncing wildly around my head from the second I had read them.


    “TELL GIOVANI: WE’RE WATCHING YOU.”