“Unlike some people’s personalities,” Knox shot back.
“Excuse me?”
Gabriel groaned and buried his face in the pillow.
Tessa stirred. “What time is it?”
“Too early for their nonsense.”
“Are they fighting?”
“Apparently. I think Knox came down early and Lucy was making coffee.”
She laughed, sleepy and warm, and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “Welcome to the Hamptons.”
“Welcome to my life.”
“I’ll take it.”
Three words that meant everything.I’ll take it.She was taking his life, all of it, the complicated parts and the messy parts and the parts he had spent years trying to hide. And she was still here.
His phone lit up on the nightstand.
He saw the name before he could look away. Camille. He turned it face-down without reading it. Beside him, Tessa’s eyes were still closed.
She hadn’t noticed.
He kept his arm around her and said nothing.
He’d been promising himself the same thing for weeks.Soon.He needed soon to mean today.
Gabriel pulled her closer and held on. Downstairs, Knox and Lucy continued their war over coffee preparation. Ronan was probably mediating. Devney was likely filming it for later blackmail.
He kissed the top of her head and made himself a promise that had nothing to do with an oath and everything to do with her.
Tomorrow. He’d tell her tomorrow.
Chapter 14
TESSA
It was Sunday afternoon,and Tessa didn’t want to leave.
The thought surprised her. She was a city person. She loved the noise and the concrete and the constant hum of energy that made Manhattan feel alive. The Hamptons was supposed to be a pleasant escape, not somewhere she’d want to stay.
But there she was, sitting on the porch with Lucy while the boys cleaned up from brunch, watching the ocean. Her shoulders had dropped for the first time in weeks, and she couldn’t remember when she’d last sat still without a spreadsheet in front of her.
The weekend had been a revelation, and not Gabriel only, though Gabriel was a significant part of it. The easy rhythm of meals together. The way Devney pulled her into conversations like an old friend. The sight of Gabriel laughing unguarded as she’d never seen him do in the city.
This was who he was outside the office, at least the version he showed her. When he wasn’t the polished private equity partner or the controlled businessman, only Gabriel, in bare feet and a faded T-shirt, arguing about the proper technique for scrambling eggs.
She had fallen for teenage Gabriel years ago. She was falling even harder for the man he’d become.
“You’re glowing,” Lucy said.
“I’m sunburned.”
“You’re glowing. There’s a difference.” Lucy stretched her legs out, bare feet crossed at the ankle. “This is the happiest I’ve seen you since we met.”
