“Unless you snore, in which case I’m banishing you to your car.”
“No snoring, just endless sleep talking,” I shoot back with a grin.
Spending the night with her in this room gives me hope that I can break down her walls, get her to open up to the possibility of us. Yes, she’s shot me down. But this night together could be the thing that changes that.
Amusement flickers when she lifts her eyes to mine. “Are you likely to give away state secrets?” she asks.
“You’ll have to wait and see.”
I swallow hard, because the image that conjures isdangerous.
I have no idea how I’m going to close my eyes tonight with her lying inches away from me behind nothing but a wall of pillows. Close enough to hear her breathing. Close enough to remember exactly what it felt like to almost kiss her.
Her phone rings, cutting through the moment. She glances at it, then back at me. “It's my nona.”
“Take it. I’ll get your suitcase. And no protests this time, okay?”
Her lips lift into a smile before she answers her phone. “Nona, how are you?”
I close the door behind me, hearing the lightness in her voice as she speaks to her beloved grandmother.
Tonight, we’re sharing a room, abed. Even if she builds a wall of pillows made of stone, neither of us will come out of this experience unchanged. If I weren’t already halfway gone for her before, there’s no turning back for me now.
I’m falling for her, and there’s not a dang thing I can do about it.
Chapter 19
Valentina
Of all the places my career as a journalist has taken me, never in a million years did I expect to be stuck for the night in a small room with only one bed in a town the size of a peanut with the man I've made it my job to ridicule publicly for years.
The universe sure has a sick sense of humor.
The thought of being here with him makes both my heart and my body sing in a way that is waytoo dangerous for me.
Yet here we are, trapped by felled trees to the north and an overflowing river to the south.
And to make things worse, my nona’s ankle isn’t even broken.
This whole crazy scramble to Villadorata has been a giant storm in a teacup.
Max continues to show me how much he cares for others, how he will go out of his way to help a person. I never intended to be someone who needed help, let alone some kind of cliché damsel in distress. But that’s what I was today. I needed help and he was the one who gave it to me. Willingly.
Not only that, he's shown genuine concern for my grandmother, checking in with me about her, making sure I'm okay. That’s… nice. More than nice. It’s considerate and thoughtful and…Argh!
He's not playing fair.
He should be this horrible, arrogant, self-absorbed prince with zero emotional intelligence. He should be treating me the way he did on my first day at the palace in Villadorata, doing his best to dodge me, and only responding to my questions with the bare minimum of language possible beyond a guttural grunt.
ThatMax I can deal with.
This one? The compassionate, thoughtful, sexy, easy to talk to version that I genuinely like?
That version is freaking terrifying.
Max is at the window, looking out at the storm, all casually attractive and relaxed, like this whole situation is nothing but a minor inconvenience to him. “That rain isn’t letting up anytime soon. The street is like a river.”
I unzip my case and pull out my wash bag. “We just need to make the most of it, I suppose.”
