Haze

"I know that you did."

"Will you promise me one thing?"

If he'd look at me the way he is now for every day of the rest of my life, I'd promise him anything. "What is it?"

"Promise me that you'll let me take you to the symphony tomorrow night as planned." His lips graze my cheek. "Let me see you experience that."

"There's no one else in the world I'd rather go with than you."

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Gabriel

"Why are you smiling? You never fucking smile." Caleb gestures over the small table in the crowded café at me. "You're nailing someone, aren't you?"

This time the vile word actually brings an even wider smile to my lips. "Don't be crude, Caleb. I'm seeing someone."

"Seeing, nailing, screwing, call it whatever the fuck you want."

"Seeing. I'm dating a remarkable woman." I take another bite of the sandwich I'd ordered before he arrived. I'd suggested lunch in the office, this hole in the wall was his idea.

He looks past me to the expansive menu scrawled across a chalkboard hanging over the open kitchen. "I'm starving. Give me half of your sandwich."

"Order your own," I say mid chew. "You should get in line now if you're going to make it back to the office before our meeting."

"We need to discuss dad." He drops his gaze from the menu to my face. "He's jumping into this marriage thing without a life boat."

"A life boat?" I swallow a mouthful of water. "It's another euphemism for sex, isn't it? If it is, I don't want to talk about it."

He pulls a half-eaten candy bar from the inner pocket of his suit jacket. He takes a large bite. "There's no prenup. He's marrying her without anything in place."

Even my father wouldn't be foolish enough to do that. "You're mistaken. Roman is smarter than that."

"Roman is pussy whipped right now."

I drop my sandwich on the paper plate in front of me. "I told you never to talk about that. I don't want to know who he's sleeping with."

He reaches across the table to pull my sandwich into his hand. He folds open the bread, pulling out a soggy tomato. "He's marrying her, Gabriel. Don't tell me you think she's hopping on that train for his mad skills in the sack. He's giving it to her alright but it's all about the money."

"How do you know there's no prenup?" I finish the last mouthful of water from the plastic bottle I'd ordered with the sandwich. "Who told you that?"

"Dear old dad did." He chews heartily. "He called me up this morning to share that tidbit of information with me."

"You told him he's lost his mind right?"

"I told him she was screwing his brains out for what's in his wallet, or more accurately, what's in our collective wallets since dad still owns a share in the company."

"Is he getting a lawyer?" I scroll my fingers over the screen of my smartphone. "I can call one right now to handle this."

"He's dead set against it. According to pops, she's the love of his life."

I push my hands against the edge of the table and stand. "Bring that with you. We're going back to the office. It's time we had a discussion with Caterina Omari."

"You're going to cut her a check too, aren't you?" He drops the remainder of the sandwich back on the paper plate. "That's how you're going to make her disappear."

"You can't put a price on love, Caleb." I button my suit jacket. "If she takes the bait, we've saved Roman from that shark. He'll thank us…eventually."

***

"I need you to get Caterina Omari on the phone." I gaze down at Sophia, who is just finishing her own lunch which, judging from the crumbs and crust, was a slice of pizza. "Where did you get that pizza?"

"Why?" She tosses the paper cup filled with soda that was just in her hand in the trashcan. "I'm allowed to eat lunch at my desk, sir, aren't I?"

"It smells delicious." I tilt my head to the left. "You'll order that for us both tomorrow."

A small smile pulls at the corners of her mouth. "I can do that, sir."

"Who died?" Caleb walks back out of my office to stand in the open doorway. He'd walked right past Sophia without a second glance when we stepped off the elevator. Much of that had to do with the fact that he was absorbed in a phone conversation with his wife.

"Someone died?" Sophia's hand jumps to her chest. "Shall I send flowers, sir?"

Caleb knocks on the doorframe. "It looks like someone already did. You're the one who accepts deliveries for Gabe, aren't you?"

"Gabriel." I toss him a look. "What are you talking about?"

"There's a bouquet of dead flowers on your desk. Either someone died or you pissed someone off. Either way, I need to run. Rowan is on her way to my office."