Page 8 of Yours, For Now

I nodded. "Sure. Let me grab my bag."

Fearing that my uncle would ask too many questions if left alone with Gabe, I rushed to the office, took my bag, and left with the young Sotomayor. We got in a sleek car, and he asked his driver to take us to a nice restaurant nearby.

The restaurant's light was warm and dim, the modern furniture was solid wood in dark colors, and the waiters wore elegant waistcoats as they moved silently and efficiently. I hadn't been there before, but I guessed Gabe had, because the maître d' greeted him by name.

"Do you mind if we order Chilean wine? They have a really good one here."

"I don't mind. Your family is Chilean, right?"

"Yeah. It feels like a betrayal to my ancestors to order anything else."

I chuckled as he took charge of that, and we ordered our meal.

"I'd like to start by thanking you." I crossed my legs and prepared for the conversation. "I'm not sure how you knew I didn't want my uncle hearing anything yet, but I appreciate it."

He lifted a shoulder, his eyes roaming over my face. I resisted the urge to do the same with him, and stared at his eyes instead.

"I don't know. I know he's your uncle but…" He didn't finish his sentence, and sipped from his water instead. "Well, you said the other day he doesn't know yet about your proposal to us. I wasn't sure if that had changed. And a restaurant seemed like a great excuse to find neutral territory."

I squinted at him. Whatever he'd chosen not to say about my uncle teased my curiosity, but this wasn't the time. Hearing Gabe's opinion on Tío Miguel wasn't my priority.

"No, he doesn't know about any of that yet. Like I said, I'm hoping that having you backing up my proposal would help."

Gabe nodded, a glint in his eye. "I see what you did there. Nice. Subtle."

My smile was unapologetic. "What do you think I did?"

"You're both putting pressure on us to accept, telling me why we should at a personal level, and asking me where we're at."

My grin stretched wide. "And?"

He chuckled but didn't respond right away. The sommelier brought the wine, and Gabe tasted it, eyes closing as he savored it. He approved it, and after making sure I liked it too, we settled to wait for our food.

He sipped more of his wine. "I won't play around. My dad and I reviewed everything you shared with us and talked. We looked at the numbers, did our own projections." He leaned back on his chair, a relaxed curve to his torso. A couple walked past us and he watched them go by, and I resisted the urge to rush him. He cast his eyes back at me, and the brown clarity of them stilled my heart beat for a second. "It's solid, Lina. The numbers, the organization, the division of labor and admin… It makes me wish I'd made more of an effort to get to know you earlier."

When my heart returned to action, it did so like it was trying to make up for lost time.

I managed to speak around its fast beating. "I put a lot of work into the proposal. I'm glad it shows."

"It shows. My dad and I had a meeting with Jake, our COO, and my sister and mom, of course. We'd love to be a part of this."

If we weren't in such an elegant place, I would have broken down and pumped the air with my fist. As it was, I let out a small but assertive, "yes!" escape my lips.

I must have shown my reaction in my body, too, somehow. He smiled. He licked his lower lip; I tore my eyes away from it and focused on the hand he lifted for me to high five. If he could high-five in this place, so could I. I gave his hand a symbolic slap with mine, letting him see just how happy the news made me but not so forceful people would stare at us.

"I'm excited about this," he said. "I don't know how your dad and uncle could say no."

"They can't. Not if they truly listen to what we have to say. I just need to plan; meet with your representatives to practice. Do you know who will come do the presentation to my family with me?"

"I will. I want to head this project."

We stopped our conversation while the servers brought our food and topped up our wine glasses.

A frown threatened to appear on my brow, but I smoothed it. I hadn't expected to work closely with Gabe for this. There were potential pros and cons to having him be an integral part of this plan, and the idea that his power and reputation could help sway my family's decision twinkled with promise. I could always resist the temptation to admire his looks; I had experience hiding how my body responded to him.

"To be honest, I'm excited to hear that." I grabbed my fork in preparation to taste the wonderful meal in front of me, its smell already teasing me: a creamy pasta dish with sea urchin and spices. "I thought you would assign the project to someone else, but your involvement can really strengthen the presentation."

Gabe had chosen a duck and greens dish that looked as divine as mine. He took a bite, studying me as he tasted the food. "No. This project is major, and could turn out to be great for me personally, too. I'm looking forward to it, Lina."