Gabriel rolled onto his side. “I don’t want you here for your help. I’m not interested in you being my employee, I want you to be my girlfriend.”
Her eyes grew wide as he spoke, her teeth drawing in her bottom lip while she considered his offer. Not exactly the enthusiastic response he was hoping for.
“You don’t want to stay,” he noted.
Serafia sat up, pulling her hand away from his to wrap her arms around her knees. “I do and I don’t. I have a life in Barcelona, Gabriel. A quiet, easy life that I love. Giving that up to come here and be with you is a big decision. Being the king’s girlfriend is no quiet, easy life. I don’t know if I’m ready.”
Gabriel sat up beside her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. He knew he was asking a lot of her, but he couldn’t bear the idea of living in Alma without her. “You don’t have to decide right now. Just think on it.”
She looked at him with relief in her eyes. “Okay, I will.”
* * *
After a day at sea, they’d returned to the house and taken naps. They decided to dine al fresco on the patio outside his bedroom. It was just sunset as they reconvened with glasses of wine to watch the sun sink into the sea. The sky was an amazing mix of purples, oranges and reds, all overtaken by inky blackness as the night finally fell upon Alma.
It was beautifully peaceful, but Serafia felt anything but. Despite the surroundings, the wine and the company, she couldn’t get Gabriel’s offer out of her mind. To stay in Alma, to be his girlfriend publically...that would change her entire life. She wasn’t sure she was ready for that, even though her feelings for him grew every day.
The king didn’t have a girlfriend. At least not for long. Unless something went wrong pretty quickly, being his girlfriend would mean soon being his fiancée, and then his queen. That meant she would never return home to her quiet life in Barcelona.
But was that life becoming too quiet? Had she been hiding there instead of living?
The questions still plagued her as they finished the last of the roasted chicken Marta had made for dinner. She felt pleasantly full as she eased back in her chair, a sensation she wasn’t used to. She might be comfortable hiding from the world in her hacienda, but she wasn’t living her life and she wasn’t really getting better. She was managing her disease, controlling it almost to the point that she’d once let it control her. But in Alma, with Gabriel, the dark thoughts hadn’t once crept into her mind. He was good for her. And she was good for him.
Maybe coming here was the right choice. Her heart certainly wanted to stay.
She didn’t have to decide now, she reflected, and the thought soothed her nerves. To distract herself, she decided now was the right time to give Gabriel his gift. “I got you something.”
Gabriel looked at her in surprise and set down his glass of wine. “Really? You didn’t have to do that.”
“I know. But I did it, anyway.” Serafia got up and went to her room, returning a moment later with a small black box.
Gabriel accepted it and flipped open the hinged lid. She watched his face light up as he saw what was inside. “Wow!” He scooped the gift out of the box, setting it aside so he could admire his gift with both hands. “A pocket watch! That’s great. Thank you.”
Gabriel leaned in to give her a thank-you kiss before returning to admiring his gift. The pocket watch was a Patek Philippe, crafted with eighteen-karat yellow gold. It cost more than a nice BMW, but Serafia didn’t care. She wanted to buy him something nice that she knew he didn’t have. “I told you in Miami that I would find a way to get around your watch issue.”
“And you’ve done a splendid job. It’s beautiful.”
“It comes with a chain so you can attach it inside your suit coat.”
He nodded, running his fingertip along the shiny curve of the glass. Closing the box, he put it on the table and stood up. He approached her slowly, wrapping his arms around her waist and tugging her tight against him. “Thank you. That was an amazingly thoughtful gift.”
Serafia smiled, pleased that he liked it. When she bought it, she wasn’t sure if he would see it as a further criticism of his time-management issues or if he would feel it was too old-fashioned for him. She’d known it was perfect the moment she saw it, and she was pleased to finally know that he agreed.
“I feel like I need to get you something now,” he said.
“Not at all,” she insisted. “After our discussions about watches earlier and realizing why you disliked them so much, I knew this was something I wanted to do for you. There’s no need to reciprocate.”