Page 87 of Mafia Billionaire's Surprise Baby

In my arms, Gia rotates. She studies me. “You really thought that I was going to die today.”

“You want to bring that up again? Now?”

She rolls her eyes. “Yeah well. We didn’t really talk about it earlier.”

“We processed.”

“I think you processed. I… I worked through something else entirely,” she grins.

I can’t help it.

I smile back.

“Yes, Gia. It scared me to death when he had the barrel of the gun pressed against your chest.”

“I was worried you were going to screw everything up.”

I sit up on one elbow and look down at her. “What do you mean?”

“That you were going to do some macho bullshit and start fighting Gabriel.”

I wrinkle my nose at her. “If you think I can’t take down one Frenchman in a fight, you seriously think very poorly of me.”

“He’s tough! I’ve seen him take out a guy’s eyes with a grapefruit spoon!”

Jesus Christ. “So that’s why you keep bringing up the spoon thing?”

Gia giggles. “It was so fucking gross. He might be French, but don’t underestimate Gabriel Durand. He’s fucking nuts.”

I bury my face in the pillow. “And you walked up to him and told him to shoot you?”

“You gotta fight fire with fire, baby. Fight crazy with crazy.”

Mary, mother of God. This woman is going to be the death of me.

“Sal,” she says, her voice serious. I look up at her, and all the laughter is gone from her face. “I’m serious. I thought you were going to get us killed.”

“You thought I was going to?”

She nods. “Yeah. Gabriel might be crazy, but I can work him. I’ve always been able to work men to get what I want. But it requires me to… be myself. To flirt and be nimble. I need you to just roll with it when it happens, even if it pisses you off.”

“And you think I didn’t do that today? Gia, every time he called you amour…”

“You were back there radiating thunder like a summer storm. I could practically feel you being upset about it, Sal. And so could he.”

The thought is sobering. “He didn’t show it.”

She shakes her head. “No. He didn’t. But someone will. Someone will notice that you… react to me,” she says quietly.

React.

That’s one way to put it.

It’s more than just a reaction. It’s an overwhelming force of nature. Gia is the moon, and I’m a tide. She’s a star, and I orbit her. There is never a world where I’m not going to be drawn to her.

I have to make her mine. Pretending anything else is an option is foolish.

So, if this is the only way I can have her…