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A urora was almost asleep when she heard Tony rustling around the room. “Why are you up?” she asked.

He slipped his T-shirt on and smiled back at her. “The guys want to come over to spar in the basement. I didn’t mean to wake you—go back to sleep,” he insisted. She looked over at the alarm clock that sat on his nightstand. “It’s one o’clock in the morning,” she said. “Isn’t that a little late to be fighting in the basement?”

“Sparring, and no. The guys and I get together at odd hours to spar all the time. It gives us a chance to practice without Jonesy shouting at us. He’s old and missing out on any of his precious sleep isn’t going to happen. Plus, the guys have been out drinking, so I’m pretty sure that they won’t last too long. I’ll win the matches and have them out of here in no time,” he said, bobbing his eyebrows at her. “Then, maybe you and I can spar a little bit more.” giggled, but she was still concerned that he wasn’t going to get enough sleep.

“How do you keep up with your boxing schedule and still manage to come into the bakery at dawn?” she asked.

Tony shrugged, “I never really was a good sleeper. I just don’t seem to need as much sleep as others. So, I’ve learned to live with less sleep and use my time wisely. Don’t worry, I’ll be up and ready to go to the bakery in a few hours,” he assured.

She yawned and he chuckled. “Go back to sleep and I’ll be up soon,” he promised. She laid back down and before she knew it, she was drifting off again, but that only lasted until she heard the doorbell. Rocco and Luca were loud, laughing and carrying on, and she knew that Tony was right—they had been drinking. With the amount of noise that they were making, there would be no way that she’d be able to fall asleep now. got out of bed and decided that a nice warm shower might help soothe her back to sleep. She rummaged through Tony’s room to find his T-shirts, and when she did, she pulled one out and headed to the bathroom. was sure that he wouldn’t mind her borrowing one of his shirts to sleep in. He did tell her to help herself to anything when he gave her the grand tour of the place after she got out of the hospital. She just hoped that the offer still stood.

Everything was so quiet downstairs when she got out of the shower that she worried that the three of them had left. Tony wouldn’t just leave her with no word as to where he was going, would he? knew that he owed her no explanations, but he’d at least leave a note, right? She decided to check things out for herself and headed down to the kitchen. The lights were all still on downstairs and when she heard one of the guys laughing from the basement, she knew that she had worried over nothing.

She snuck over to the top of the basement steps, thankful that they had left the door open. When it came to eavesdropping, she knew that she shouldn’t do it, but she just couldn’t seem to help herself. was a born snooper.

“So, you’re happy then?” Rocco asked. She wondered if he was asking Tony if he was happy. Why would he ask him a question like that? Was he asking if Tony was happy that she was living at his place or was he asking the question in general?

“Of course, I am. Why would you ask me something like that?” Tony said, as though reading her mind.

“Because you’ve basically given up your life to stay here and babysit ,” Rocco said. She covered her mouth to muffle her gasp. What a horrible thing to say, but what if that was the way that Tony felt? Had she trapped him to babysit her because her ex came after her? If that was the case, she would stick with her original play and leave town. It would break her heart, but she’d find a way to do it. The last thing she wanted to be was a burden to Tony.

“I’ve given up nothing,” Tony said. “You two are just acting like asses because I don’t go out with you anymore.”

“You don’t go out with us anymore because the old ball and chain keeps you tied up here at home. Don’t you want to go out with us like you used to and be free from having to hide away in your house twenty-four, seven?”

stepped back from the basement door as though it had somehow offended her. She didn’t want to hear Tony’s answer. didn’t want her heart broken by him, even if it was inevitable.

She snuck back upstairs and shut the bedroom door, crawling back into bed. knew that sleeping might be impossible, but one thing was for sure, she was going to give her best performance of being asleep when Tony came back up to bed.

She had tossed and turned most of the night, and Tony came back to bed in the wee hours of the morning. didn’t let on that she was still awake because he crawled into bed with her and fell to sleep immediately. Sure—he didn’t have to worry about if he was a burden to her, so sleeping was easy for him. Why she had to snoop and listen to a conversation that she had no right hearing, was beyond her, but she had learned her lesson the hard way.

wasn’t sure if she had made the right decision to let Tony take her home to protect her from Joe. She had been on her own for so long that letting someone else into her life felt strange to her. And hearing Rocco and Luca tease him about having to babysit her only drove home the point that she might be better off on her own. She was letting Tony destroy his boxing career by not going to the gym to train, and that wasn’t something she could live with. Jumping into bed with him wasn’t part of the plan, but it was the only thing that did feel right to her in her crazy life. Tony seemed to have a calming effect on her, and she needed that to combat the storm that raged inside of her from Joe finding her. The one thing she was certain of was that she was developing feelings for Tony and that both excited her and scared the hell out of her.

had woken before the sun, probably out of habit, and found Tony sleeping next to her. She didn’t want to wake him since he had been up most of the night with the guys, and there was no chance of her falling back to sleep once she was awake. So, she decided to go into the bakery early to make sure that everything was ready for their customers when they opened.

She got out of bed, careful not to disturb Tony, pulled on her leggings, and found a clean T-shirt in the bag of stuff that Tony had his friends grab from her apartment. went into the bathroom and quickly brushed her teeth and pulled back her hair. She found her purse and keys out in the mudroom where she had left them and was thankful that Luca and Rocco had brought her car over to Tony’s place. At the last minute, she decided to leave Tony a note letting him know where she was going, so he wouldn’t worry about her, and she left for the bakery. Hopefully, some work and time to think would help her put everything into perspective.

stood at the counter, kneading dough for the donuts. She loved that part of the job. Kneading dough helped to get all her aggressions out. She liked to joke with Elio that she didn’t need a gym membership because she got her work out every morning by baking all the goodies for the daily customers. She even liked to show him her non-existent muscles, and he’d squeeze her arm and they’d both laugh. She just couldn’t believe that they might never have any of that again. If Elio gave up on treatment, he might never come back into the bakery, and that broke her heart.

swiped at her hot tears with her sleeve as they fell down her cheeks. The last thing she needed was to start the donuts all over again. She heard the back door slam shut and for a second, she worried that she had invited trouble into her life again. Tony had warned her not to go out without him, but she felt like such a burden, and now, she might have to deal with Joe again. She wasn’t ready to face him. Hell, she wasn’t even healed from their last encounter just weeks ago. Sure, she was feeling stronger, but she wasn’t as strong as she’d need to be to fight off Joe again.

“Hello,” she called when no one walked into the kitchen.

“What the fuck do you think you are doing?” Tony asked as he rounded the corner. “I thought that we agreed that you wouldn’t leave the house without me,” he reminded.

“I know,” she whispered, “but I hate that you have to babysit me. Your boxing career is suffering, and I don’t want to be a burden to you anymore.”

“Have I ever made you feel that way?” he asked.

“Of course not,” she said. “Not even when you had to help me get around the house and make my meals. You’ve been very sweet,” she admitted.

“Then why would you think that you’re a burden?” Tony asked.

“I don’t know,” she said, “I guess I overheard Rocco and Luca joking around that the old ball and chain was keeping you from being able to go out with them to have some fun.”

“You mean last night when they were over?” he asked. She nodded and he pulled her into his arms.

“My hands are doughy,” she mumbled into his shirt.

“I don’t give a shit,” he insisted. “If you would have heard the other part of that conversation, I told them that you aren’t a ball and chain and that even if I could leave the house, I would rather be at home with you any night over hanging out with those two idiots. Then, I reminded them that I was prepping for my next fight, and I couldn’t have the type of fun that they were talking about anyway.”

“Oh,” she breathed into his neck. “You would really rather be home with me than out with your friends?”

“One hundred percent,” he admitted.

“You don’t have to say that, Tony,” she said, “and I’m sorry that I worried you. I promise to follow the rules from here on out.”

“I’m not saying it to make you comply with the rules, honey. I’m saying it because it’s the truth.” He tucked his finger under her chin and lifted her face to his. Tony sealed his lips over hers and she sighed into his mouth. Every time he kissed her felt like it was the first time, and wondered if that would ever change.

“If you decide that you don’t want to be stuck at home with me, you’ll let me know, right?” whispered.

“That’s never going to happen,” he insisted.

She covered his lips with her hand, “But if it does, you’ll tell me, right?” she asked again.

He pulled her hand from his mouth and nodded, “I promise honey,” he agreed. “But it’s not going to happen. I know that you might not be ready to hear this from me yet, but I care about you, .” She more than cared about Tony. She was falling in love with him, but there was no way that she’d tell him that now. No, she was going to keep that secret to herself.

“I care about you too,” she breathed, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He gently kissed her again, and she knew that if he ever tired of her, it would break her heart, but she loved Tony enough to let him go if it came to that.