Page 274 of Reign

His fingers find the space beneath the hem of my shirt and settle against my skin.

“Is this about whether you can trust me?”

“No.”

“Good.”

“That was easy.”

“You said no.”

I turn my head enough to look at him.

No interrogation.

No demand that I unpack every humiliating thought hiding inside my head.

He asked.

I answered.

Luciano accepted it.

Something soft moves through me.

“I wanted to know because I want to trust there won’t be anyone else,” I admit. “Now that there’s an us.”

“There has been no one else since I met you. There won’t be anyone else now that you’re mine.”

“I’m not property.”

“No, you’re so much more.”

My throat tightens unexpectedly. The way his eyes settle on me makes me feel exposed.

I look back at the sketchbook before he can see what that does to me.

His mouth brushes my temple.

“Ask me when you want to know something, princesa. I’ll answer.”

“Even about the cartel rivalry?”

“Eventually.”

“That is irritatingly vague.”

“It’s the answer you’re getting this morning.”

I finish the line I was drawing, but my concentration has disappeared completely.

Luciano notices that too.

He closes the sketchbook.

“I wasn’t finished.”

“You aren’t drawing.”