Page 113 of Valentino

But he said yes, so I take it.

"Okay," I say.

I don't move my hand from his chest. It feels like it might be all that's holding me up right now.

"I want to tell you something."

"Tell me."

"I thought I'd feel guilty."

His eyes sharpen. "For what?"

"For this. For the bounty. For Chicago. For all of it. I thought I'd get to the door and feel like I did this to you."

"You didn't do anything."

"I know."

I look up at him.

"That's what I'm telling you. I know. Because if it had been a stranger in that room, Valentino. If it had been a girl you had never seen before. You still would have gone through that door."

He doesn't answer.

"You would have."

"Yes.”

"You tried to save Chiara before you even knew how. You saved me. You would have done the same for Nadia, or for a girl whose name you never learned. That's not me. That's who you are."

His eyes darken.

"Bella."

"I'm not done."

I put my other hand on his chest. His heart still pounds under my palms.

"I thought I'd hate that part of you. I thought I was supposed to. The part that moves before it calculates the cost. The part with two-million on it right now because it couldn't stand by and do nothing." My fingers curl against his shirt. "But I love it."

His breath catches.

"And I'm not going to feel guilty for being the girl you saved. You would have done it anyway. I just happened to be the one in the room."

He rests his forehead against mine.

For a long moment, neither of us says anything.

"You're wrong about one thing," he says.

"What?"

"You didn't just happen to be there."

"Valentino."

"I knew who was in that room before I opened the door. I heard your voice through the wall, bella. I heard the sound you made, and something in me broke loose." His hand comes up to my face, but he doesn't touch me yet. "I would have gone in for someone else. But I knew it was you."