Page 425 of Reign

My hand leaves her hair to cup her jaw. My thumb trails along her jaw. “I don’t want you carrying a weapon.”

“Luciano.”

“I already told you how I feel about you being involved in this life.”

“And I already told you I don’t want to join your cartel.”

“Good.”

“I don’t want meetings. I don’t want jobs. I don’t want to know where you hide bodies or why somebody suddenly disappears.”

“Even better.”

Her lips twitch. “But I do want a gun.”

“Elena.”

“And retraining.”

“No.”

“Retraining could be fun.”

My thumb stops beneath her chin.

She wets her lips. Slow and entirely too deliberately.

I hold back a smirk. “Princesa.”

“What?”

“You’re flirting with me while asking me for a gun.”

“I am.”

A laugh nearly leaves me.

“Elena, what you’re asking me to do goes against everything I believe.”

Her expression softens, but she keeps her eyes on mine.

“You believe women shouldn’t have to be part of this life.”

“They shouldn’t.”

“You believe I shouldn’t have had to see what I saw yesterday.”

“Yes.”

“But I did.” She leans the slightest bit into my hand. “And I liked what I saw, Luciano. You know that.”

My jaw tightens.

“I want that side of you as much as I want this one.”

Fuck.

“You taught me this was supposed to be about choice,” she says. “So I’m making one.”