Page 40 of Entangled

At first, he said nothing.

His hands—God, she missed his hands—drifted over her cheeks with the softest touch, and then he was pulling her close. For a moment, a blissful few seconds, all of Cara’s stress and fear and worries drifted away. His dark eyes lingered over her features, his thumbs stroked her skin, and Cara remembered how to smile again.

“I missed your face,” Gian murmured.

Cara let out a low laugh. “That’s all you have to say?”

“No, not all. I’m sorry. I love you. There’s a few more, but those stand out the most.”

Before she could think better of it, Cara closed the distance between them. The kiss started out innocent and sweet enough, but took no time at all to burn deep with something far more sinful and desperate. She loved the way his fingers tangled into her hair as his tongue warred against hers. She nearly forgot about the people outside of the car, but she still didn’t care.

Not when her heart was suddenly thrumming a familiar tune.

Gian, Gian, Gian.

That’s what the song sounded like.

That, and love, love, love.

Cara knew it was bad and wrong. She had no business being involved with this man after everything, never mind hoping for a future with him that could never be anything. Yet she did.

She hoped and wished, and she thought the risk of crashing and burning might be okay, if she could just love him while it happened. Maybe.

“I heard you pulled some strings,” Cara said when Gian kissed a soft path over her cheekbone. “Aren’t they worried you might run off?”

Gian chuckled, and kissed her mouth again. “Not in the slightest.”

“How much did you bribe them?”

“A lot.”

Cara let Gian pull her closer, and soaked in the wonderful sensations of his fingers sifting through her curls. It was the intimate, comforting action that he usually only did in private with her, but it was her very favorite thing.

“I don’t have too long,” Gian said. “A few minutes, that’s all.”

Cara nodded. “Okay.”

“I’ll get Chris to bring you in for a visit sometime over the next few months, if possible. I need the news programs and the fucking media to just … lay off for a bit. I don’t want you mixed up in any of this nonsense, Cara, not if I can help it.”

Cara’s heart stopped for a split second.

“A few months?”

Gian let out a hard breath. “Seven months, five with time already served. It’ll be done and over with before we know it, no worries.”

That was easy for him to say.

That was easy for him to think.

“You’ve gone stiff on me,” Gian said. “Why?”

Cara tried to let the words form, she tried to explain her reaction away, but nothing came out. She was still hearing five months in the back of her mind.

“Cara,” Gian said gently.

She looked up at him, and the words were right there on the tip of her tongue. Say it, and tell him, she thought. He needed to know about the pregnancy, especially now.

A light knock on the window interrupted her from saying anything at all. Chris stood just outside the door, and then gestured back toward the police cruiser. Gian sighed, but nodded once in response.