Page 74 of The Price of Power

“But why?” he demanded.

I couldn’t hold back the smile that spread across my face. “Because you’re a good man.”

“No, I’m not.” There was no give in his voice. Not a single ounce of softness.

“Yes, you are—just in your own way,” I said. “You’re the only person who has ever stood up for me. The only one who’s ever listened to what I say. You respect my ideas and opinions. You’ve never pushed me away. You’ve never told me I wasn’t good enough. All you’ve ever done is treat me like an equal.”

He shook his head.

“You’re not my equal,” he said. “You’re a thousand times better than me in every way. And the fact that you can care about a criminal like me proves it.”

A rush of blood flooded my cheeks, causing them to heat up along with the rest of me.

“You’re not a monster, Gabriel. Not to me anyway.”

Apparently, that was the right thing to say because he pulled me in closer and kissed me hard and long.

So long that when I finally pulled back to take a breath, my hair had pulled loose its tie, and my lips were swollen.

“We’re going to miss our dinner reservation,” I told him as he pulled me out of my seat and onto his lap.

“That’s fine,” he said, already hitting the button that reclined the driver’s seat all the way back. “The only thing I’m interested in eating is right here.”

“Gabriel!”

“What?” he asked, pushing the hem of my dress above my waist.

“We’re in the car.”

“I know.”

“On a public street.”

“It’s an alley,” he corrected me as he wrapped his hands around my thighs, sliding my knees up the leather seat and closer to his waiting mouth. “An empty one.”

“But anyone could walk by and see.”

“Not through these tinted windows, they can’t.”

“But—Oh! Oh!”

There was no more argument after that.

There was only the magic that always seemed to follow when we were alone together.

Chapter Twenty-Four

GABRIEL

“What’s going on?” Letizia asked a minute after I sat down in my usual spot for breakfast. Her gray eyes narrowed, little crinkles feathering out from the corners as she looked me up and down. “You seem…different.”

I shook my head, trying to fight back the smile that threatened to lift my lips. I brought my cappuccino up to my mouth to cover it. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do.” She cocked her head to the side as her scrutiny intensified. “I haven’t seen you this way in years. Not since you were much younger.”

I shrugged and pulled my phone out of my pocket. I poked at the screen as I picked at my breakfast, half hoping that Letizia would lose interest and turn away.

I should have known better.