Page 278 of Bad Prince
A beat.
“And extraordinary.”
My chest tightens. Not with longing. With something else. Something bigger.
I study him.
And I see it now.
Why my mom fell.
Hard.
Fast.
Completely.
And for the first time—I understand something I didn’t before. This man doesn’t complete me.
He expands me.
And that might be even more dangerous.
Before we can continue our conversation the SUV rolls to a stop.
This hotel is nothing like mine.
Quiet in a way that feels… curated. Like even the silence here has been selected, polished, approved.
His driver opens my door and Emmanuel gestures over to the restaurant patio past the lobby.
We sit across from each other at a small table near the window. The city stretches out below us, but neither of us is looking at it.
We’re looking at each other.
Still adjusting.
Still… measuring.
A bottle of sparkling water sits between us. Neither of us has touched it.
“So,” I say finally, resting my forearms on the table. “Spain.”
A corner of his mouth lifts slightly. “Spain.”
“You build hotels.”
“I build access,” he corrects.
That word again.
Access.
I file it away.
“And you left someone behind,” I say, not sharp, not soft. Just… true.
His jaw tightens.
