“Don’t your family have someone to cook for you?”
“We do. But I love ice cream, and you can’t say anything to change my mind.”
He shakes his head and walks to the fridge. He pulls out peppers, mushrooms, and tomatoes, and looks at me. “What is this, Valentina?”
“Vegetables?” I bite the inside of my mouth to hide a smirk.
His mouth parts, and a stunned laugh slips free. “And what do you do with them?”
“Cook them?” I gaze at him, feeling like a petulant child.
“Yes, we cook them. You could have cooked them and eaten proper food.”
My lips pull at the corners, and my body starts to shake with laughter. “I don’t cook, Gabriel. Well, I could, but you would need to have the fire department on speed dial.”
He shakes his head and laughs. “Well, I guess I will need to feed you, then. I can’t let you live on ice cream.” He smirks. “No matter how good it tastes.”
I smile. “I’m not going to help you. Not even by washing the vegetables.”
He chuckles. “I expected nothing less.”
I watch as he washes the veggies and precisely starts to chop. He stays in only his pants since I’m wearing his shirt. I watch his muscles move as he works the knife, focusing on the veggies before I do something that will leave me hungry, like hopping out of the chair, pinning him to the counter, and tracing my tongue all over his skin.
But I’m hungry, and he ate my ice cream. I need to focus on something else.
“Why are you early today? I thought you were all busy looking for Sabatini.”
His eyes meet mine. “Because you slipped your bodyguards, and I told you not to. “
“But…”
“There are no buts, Valentina. No matter how strong you think you are, the fact is, Isabella thought the same, and look at her. She barely made it through.” He places the knife down and, with worry in his eyes, he looks at me. “I barely made it here without causing an accident. When they called me to tell me you slipped out, the worst images came to my mind.”
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to get what I needed.”
Well, I’m not sorry for going to get my own stuff, but I am sorry for the way it made him worry about me.
“How are things?” I ask as he places the veggies in the pan.
His posture tenses. “Isabella is out of the hospital, and is back home. But things are not good. Salvatore is losing his mind, barking and giving orders, and throwing money into searches to find the son of a bitch. He’s avoiding Isabella because he can’t look at her without feeling guilty.”
“You know what I was thinking before you came?” I pick at the cuffs of his shirt. “How I was lucky that Mack found me, and how I will never let myself be in that position again. Every woman should know how to defend herself. Not just physically, but mentally.”
“How are you going to do that?” Gabriel asks and places a plate in front of me.
I look at him as he takes another plate and sits beside me. I turn to him. “Fighting. I want to train, and I want to train other women how to fight and show them how to bring their mental state into the right place if anything happens to them.”
He tilts his head. “What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said.” I place my hands on the counter in front of me and hold his gaze. “I want to find a gym where I can train and train other women. I know how to fight in the ring, but defense isn't the same. I want to learn and teach others.”
He nods. “I can arrange that in our gym.”
I shake my head. “No. I don’t want it to have to do with the Cosa Nostra. I want to give the opportunity to other women as well.”
He nods. “Let me ask around. I may know somewhere you can do that.”
“You would do that?”
