Page 64 of Christmas with the Elkin Billionaires

“Only if you want me to.”

It was a risk, and his heart thudded with a kind of painful anticipation. Anna might not want him to. After all, they’d slept together. It was just that this would be more intimate. Like relationship intimate.

“I do,” she said softly.

Sweet relief. “There’s only one thing I need to do first.”

He went back to the table in the entryway where he’d put the silver bag from the shop and lifted out a jewelry box. He’d meant to wait until Christmas, but everything in him said togive it to her now.Gabe hesitated. She was in the tub, hands already wet, so he took the gift from the box and held it in his palm. The watch was thin and delicate, with diamonds and sapphires, and it wouldn’t weigh anything on her wrist. The moment he saw it, he’d known he wanted it for Anna.

Back in the bathroom, he perched on the edge of the wide tub. Anna leaned her head back against the rim, lips slightly parted, but when she sensed him there, she opened her dark eyes and smiled at him. Another arrow of desire shot through him. He was beginning to think that with Anna, it would never stop.

And now Gabe felt slightly shy in a way he never did at his office, and never had in all his meetings with her. The professional wall between them had come down over the last few days.

Her eyes searched his. “What is it?”

“I wanted to give you something.” He opened his palm, the jewels winking in the low bathroom lights. “It’s a thank you for everything you’ve done. And everything you’re still doing.”

She sat up with a slosh of water against the side, her eyes wide. “Gabe, that’s—that’s too much.” Anna blinked as if she wasn’t sure the watch would still be there when she opened her eyes. She lifted her fingertips and brushed them gently over the watch face. “I can’t...”

“You can,” he said, but that sounded almost too harsh, too demanding. “I want you to have it. Please.”

Her eyes met his again, and a tentative smile played over her lips. “You’re very sneaky. You know that?”

“I do.” He laughed, and he saw the echo of that laughter in her grin. “I mean it, though. All this would have been impossible without you.”

The tiniest frown crossed her expression. “I’m a little worried that might go down the drain.”

Gabe bent down and kissed her. “I’ll put it back in its box for when we get out.” He started to shed his clothes, enjoying Anna’s eyes on him as they followed his every move. He slid into the hot water, letting the heat relax his muscles. Their legs fit neatly together, and Gabe closed his eyes, savoring the sensation of the slip and slide of her skin against his.

The water moved against his chest, and then her hands met his pecs. Anna worked her way onto his lap and put her head on his shoulder.

Gabe wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He felt the rise and fall of her chest as she took each breath and could feel the damp heat of her skin. He’d never seen Anna hide from anything—not a meeting or client or tough project—but she seemed like she needed a refuge in the silence of the moment.

Something he would give her.

Anna had loved the watch—that much was evident from the light in her eyes. But something wasn’t right.

He opened his mouth to ask her about it, then closed it again. There would be time to talk about it later. For now, there was only the gentle weight of her in his arms and the startling intimacy of breathing together. Breath after breath in the warm water as the bubbles rose to cover them in a blanket of relaxation.

11

GABE

Gabe could have stayed in the jacuzzi forever. Unfortunately, their fingers and toes eventually wrinkled, and Anna lifted herself out of his lap and climbed out of the tub. He dressed, feeling calm and loose with only the slightest worry prickling at the back of his mind. Was the watch too much?

Anna came out of the bathroom, just as he was pulling on his shoes. “Heading out?”

“I need to talk to Jonas. And the best place is probably his office.” But then again, maybe he should stay andnothave a conversation with his brother. Although sitting at the dinner table each night and hearing reports from his brothers on how his grandmother was doing wasn’t the best option. Especially since they coated everything in polite language. He had to know the truth.

Anna came over to him and bent down to brush a kiss against his lips. “Wait a minute before you leave.” She left the room and returned seconds later with the jewelry box, lifting the watch from the velvet lining. “Before you go, could you help me put this on?”

They’d been naked in the tub minutes ago, but somehow it seemed just as intimate to touch the delicate bones of her wrist and to close the intricate clasp of the watch bracelet.

Anna admired it in the light, turning it this way and that, and walked him to the door. “I’ll be around,” she said, her smile verging on the shy side. “Obviously.”

He laughed. “I’ll find you in a bit.” It felt strange, walking away without telling her something—but he couldn’t sayI love you.That would be way over the top. And not strictly true. Or maybe it was strictly true, and he’d fallen for her. That would explain the tug in his chest when he left her in the suite instead of holding her hand as the two of them went to Jonas’s office. Like a couple.

Get it together.Gabe couldn’t lose himself in his feelings now. Not during this conversation.

---