The Audi purred through the city like it owned the night. Inside, the engine’s steady thrum felt almost intimate, a private soundtrack to two people who’d already rearranged each other’s lives once.
Paul kept one hand on the wheel, the other resting on the console. He was calm, measured, the kind of man whose presence rearranged the air in the car. Mariella felt it the way you feel thunder before the first drop of rain, impossible to ignore.
He glanced at her, a slow, teasing half-smile. “You seem… eager tonight.”
She gave him a look. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’ve been checking your watch since I picked you up,” he said, amused. “Counting the minutes like someone on jury duty waiting to summon the witness.”
Her indignation was paper-thin. “Oh please. Don’t act like you d
