“There might be a few who think you a prankster, but that is not the same.”
He shrugged. “A great many of them find me shallow and irreverent. Or distant. I don’t discourage it. There are times when I reinforce it. That way they know what to expect. They might whisper and grind their teeth at my reluctance to toe the line, but no one gets frustrated.”
She pondered those words. He made it sound as if it was better that no one expected anything of him. She suspected the truth was the opposite. He found it easier to expect nothing good of others—because he would not be disappointed. Again.
It made her heart ache. Rolling over onto his chest, she kissed him. He returned the kiss, sweetly, quietly.
Pulling back, she trailed a finger across his cheek. “I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I know you are a good, kind and generous man.”
He gave her a wicked grin—and a naughtier tweak of her bottom. “How do you know?”
“Because I knowyou, Gabriel.”
He raised his head and kissed one of her eyelids, then the other. “Do you see me with your incredible blue eyes and your unique vision, Charlotte?”
“I do. I see the man you won’t show the world.”
“I don’t know why you bothered to look,” he whispered. “But I’m glad you did.”
She gave him a twist of a grin. “Just another part of the job.”
“Is that what this is? Part of the job?” He swept a hand to indicate their nudity, the state of the mussed bed and the clothes strewn across the room.
She waggled her brows at him. “Good heavens, I hope so.”
