His father’s face went deathly white. “È ingrato—”
“Basta.” Riccardo stepped between them. “I think the Malbec is magnificent. It is Gabe’s job to direct the wine operations of this company, and if he believes this is the direction we should follow, we will.”
Antonio gave his eldest son a scorchingly furious look. “I am the head of this family.”
“And I run De Campo,” Riccardo said evenly. “Try and ease gracefully into your silver years, Antonio. You’ve earned them.”
His father stood there, visibly shaking, then spun on his heel and left. Gabe’s heart thundered in his ears. He paced to the window and braced his hands on the sill. And felt the world right itself. Finally. In that moment, Riccardo had annihilated any distance there had been between them because of Antonio’s choice.
He turned to his elder brother. “Grazie,” he said quietly.
Riccardo nodded. “It was the right thing to do.”
Matty refilled his glass and tasted again. He had an innate sense of wine like Gabe did, his knowledge of the market exhaustive as De Campo’s head of international sales and marketing.
“Be honest,” Gabe said harshly. “You, I trust.”
Matty put the glass down and smiled his devil-may-care rake’s smile. “I may not have tasted a better wine in my life.”
* * *
Alex met Lilly at their favorite coffee shop on Broadway, both of them going for java even though it was hot enough to fry an egg on the pavement. Gabe’s meeting was hot on her mind, and she found herself flicking regular glances at her watch while trying to follow Lilly’s convoluted recap of a funny conversation she’d had with Marco last night.
Lilly finished, took a sip of her latte and gave Alex’s watch a pointed look. “That’s at least the fifth time you’ve checked it. Event stuff?”
She nodded. “Whatever happens in the De Campo meeting will have a big impact on our event.”
Lilly put down her coffee. “You’re sleeping with Gabe.’
She felt the color drain from her face. “Yes.”
Her sister sat back in her chair and folded her hands in front of her. “So what was last night all about, then? You two looked like you wanted to kill each other.”
“We’ve worked it out.”
“Does he know you’re in love with him?”
Alex recoiled. “I am not in love with Gabe De Campo.”
“Oh, come on,” Lilly muttered, making a face at her. “You may not wear your emotions on your sleeve like I do, Lex, more like a foot under, but any idiot could see it. You have this glow on your face and despite the scowl, there’s just something about you this morning.”
“I do not fall in love with men,” she reminded her sister. “Jordan was enough to sour me forever.”
“That was five years ago.” Lilly lifted her chin at a determined angle. “Honestly, Lex, I never thought I’d say this to you, but I know you’d say it to me, so I will. You need to stop using Jordan as an excuse. What he did to you was awful and damaging and I can see why you don’t trust easily. But Gabe is not Jordan.”
“No, he isn’t,” Alex agreed. “Gabe has dozens of women chomping at the bit to snare him. What would your choice be if you were him? One with issues or a society wife?”
“Aha.” Lilly pointed a finger at her. “You’re talking wife.”
“Oh, come on.” Alex took a sip of her bitter Kenyan brew. “You know I’m right.”
Lilly frowned. “Gabe doesn’t need doors opened for him. He’s a De Campo.”
“He doesn’t need a scandal, either. I dated Damon Harding, Lilly. I had a relationship with the head of a biker gang, then an affair with a married man. How is that De Campo material?”
“You didn’t know he was married. You were the victim there, Lex. But I’d really prefer you not be in victim mode right now.” Lilly crossed her arms over her chest. “Does Gabe know about Damon and Jordan?”
“He knows about Damon.”
“So tell him about Jordan. Get it over with. I think you’ll find Gabe is a reasonable man.”
Alex pushed her mug away. “Hell, Lilly, I’m not what he’s looking for. You know the type of woman Gabe’s looking for, and it’s not me.”
“I know he couldn’t take his eyes off you last night even though he was mad as hell,” her sister said softly. “I think you should ask him what he’s looking for.”
She set her mouth in an obstinate gesture. Sure, Gabe had said he cared about her last night. That what he felt was more than wanting. But how far could that go? How far could she let this go without getting her heart broken? And should she ask the question to get a level set?
Did she dare?
“So?” Lilly waved a hand at her. “You going to?”
“I’m thinking about it.”
“You should tell him about Jordan, Lex. Darya Theriault walked out on Gabe to marry a senior partner at her law firm she was having an affair with. He needs to hear it from you.”
A strange, buzzing sound filled her ears. “That’s why he and Darya broke up?”
Lilly nodded. “Apparently Darya had second thoughts a couple of years ago and called Gabe up, but he didn’t want any part of her.”
Her blood ran cold, a chilled decisiveness stealing over her. Gabe’s ex-lover had cheated on him and she was supposed to tell him about Jordan? Not happening. Never happening.
Lilly leaned over and squeezed her arm. “If you have a guy like Gabe De Campo in the palm of your hand, Lex, you don’t wonder why. You don’t question yourself and you don’t act like Miss I Can Do It All Myself. You grab hold of him and secure him before someone else does.”
Okay, maybe that part she agreed with.
* * *
A brutally long fourteen-hour workday later, Alex sat on the leather sofa in Gabe’s very beautiful, very masculine living room in his very expensive penthouse trying to work up the nerve to ask that question Lilly had inserted in her head. She was also trying to ignore the lure of his steam shower long enough to get the question out. She’d forced a laugh when Gabe had showed it to her, intent gleaming in his eyes. “We have to work,” she’d said, poking him in the chest. “Later.”
They’d spent the next three hours revamping the event plan to include the Angel’s Share, written some messaging for it and consumed an entire pepperoni pizza. “So what are you going to say when the press asks you how much Antonio had to do with the Angel’s Share?” she tested him, setting down her clipboard.
“His presence is felt everywhere and we are a great blend of the old and the new.” Gabe scowled at the politically correct answer. “We are done now, sì?” he asked, pulling her into his lap. “I would like it to be later.”
She smiled, maybe less brightly than she normally would have. “We are. That was perfect. You know I’m only doing this for your own good.”
“And I am listening,” he murmured, setting his lips to her temple. “See? I can learn.”
She reached for her glass of wine with a jerky movement. He lifted a brow. “You never talk about your mother,” she said. “Where was she when Antonio was acting the overbearing patriarch?”
“Conspicuously absent.” He started unbuttoning her shirt and Alex’s body hummed to life. “My parents’ marriage was a business merger of two influential families. My mother did her part and bore us, three boys, exactly what my father wanted, then left us most of the time to do her charity work, which is the legacy of the Lombardi women.”
“So neither of us had great examples of marriages to work with.”
He undid the last button of her shirt. “Some would say my parents are very happy. They’re both doing their own thing.”
“What do you think?”
He slid his fingers under her jaw. “I’m wondering where this conversation is going.”
Her stomach twisted. Was that a warning not to get serious on him? She lifted her shoulders. “I’m curious, that’s all.”
He drew his brows together. “I don’t know. I think relationships are complex.”
“Are you still in love with Darya?”
His gaze narrowed. “No, I am not still in love with Darya. I haven’t been since she walked out on me. But I like that you are jealous.”
“She’s still in love with you,” she murmured. “I saw her face at the party.”
“Her problem.” He brushed his thumb over her lace-covered nipple, sending liquid heat to her core. “What do you really want to ask me, Lex?”
She swallowed hard. “I am not Darya Theriault, Gabe. And I am definitely not Samantha Parker. I’m a dirt-poor girl from Iowa who managed to make something of herself.”
“Who I have a great deal of respect for.”
That wasn’t enough. “I saw the look on your face that night in the restaurant, Gabe. You say I caught you off guard, but you have to admit, you have never, ever considered me long-term material. You avoided me because of it.”
His eyes flickered with an emotion she couldn’t identify. “That’s because I didn’t know you.”