Page 94 of Broken Crown

Instead, I deflected like the coward I was. “After all that I have done to show you how I feel, can you really ask that of me?”

I kissed her again before she could press for more. Before she could see the truth I wasn’t ready to name.

Hell was too good for me. But maybe the real punishment was already here—the growing certainty that when this house of cards collapsed, I wouldn’t just lose the game.

I’d lose her.

CHAPTER 26

SABRINA

The sky darkened to a bruised purple as we left Chieti behind, heavy clouds swallowing the last vestiges of daylight.

Winter flexed its might over the Italian countryside.

I stared out the window, watching raindrops chase each other across the glass, distorting the landscape beyond. The wipers slashed back and forth in a hypnotic rhythm, clearing the windshield only for the rain to immediately assault it again.

Sebastian drove with an easy confidence that made everything seem under control, despite nature's chaos around us.

His hands gripped the wheel firmly. Those same hands that had claimed my body so thoroughly just hours ago.

I couldn't help but stare at them, at the way his veins stood out prominently beneath his skin, at the strength in his fingers, at the way his gold signet ring with its black diamond caught what little light remained.

The expensive Audemars Piguet on his wrist gleamed as he shifted gears, the watch probably worth more than most people's cars.

"Stop staring at my hands, Sabrina," he said without taking his eyes off the treacherous road. "You're making me hard."

Heat flooded my cheeks and I quickly looked away. "I wasn't⁠—"

"You were." A small smile played at the corners of his mouth. "And you know what it does to me."

I did know. I knew exactly what power I had over him. Physically, at least.

In that arena, we were equals.

It was everything else where the scales tipped drastically in his favor.

The car rounded a sharp curve, and Sebastian's hand moved from the gearshift to my thigh, squeezing gently then settling there with casual possession. His palm was warm through the thin fabric of my leggings, his fingers splayed wide, claiming territory.

"Cold?" he asked, noticing my slight shiver.

The concern on his face seemed genuine, and I found myself wondering yet again which version of Sebastian was real—the calculating businessman, the dominant lover, or this attentive man.

"A little," I admitted.

He adjusted the heat, then returned his hand to my thigh, a bit higher this time. His touch wasn't overtly sexual, but it still sent tendrils of warmth spiraling through me that had nothing to do with the car's heating system.

Outside, the storm intensified.

Lightning split the sky, briefly illuminating the countryside in stark relief. Olive groves and cypress trees bent under the weight of wind and rain.

Inside the car, however, it was warm. Safe.

The leather seats cradled us, the soft glow of the dashboard created an intimate cocoon, and Sebastian's thumb traced idle circles on my thigh.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

I could barely hear him over the rumble of thunder and the steady percussion of rain.