"Shanice, you're mumbling."
"Huh? Oh. Sorry. Something about the numbers on the purchase order report I was looking at earlier just doesn't make sense." She looked up from her chicken salad. Her heart skipped at least a couple of beats when Massimo flashed a smile that totally reached his eyes. Shanice's concern about work leached right out of her bones and disappeared.
"Uh, I think I'll worry about it later," she said, staring at Massimo so long she almost forgot to chew.
"Damn straight. Besides, you have a bet to fulfil and a hungry man to feed."
Oooh, and there went another twinkle in his crystalline grey gaze. The man was so good at double entendre. If they hung out long enough perhaps... Whoa. Back the hell up, Shanice. Keep it together girl.
But Massimo was stroking the back of her hand, looking her dead in the eye with a hunger so blatant it set her pulse racing. Woo, just breathe, girl. Breathe.
"You have no shame, do you?" she asked him baldly, pulling her hand away. He wouldn't let go.
"None. Not an ounce. I told you yesterday that I intended to see you again. And again, and again."
"But why me? I mean, there are a ton of other women out there you could see, again and again." Just the thought made her sick but she squashed it down.
"If that was what I wanted, I'd be there. Now how about another bet?"
"Puh! I don't know. You made out like a bandit last time."
"I did, didn't I?" he chided. God, he was such a handsome man, built like a damn tank, yet so stylish he could grace the cover of the nearest billboard. In a word, he was a stunner. She still couldn't figure out what the hell he wanted with her. Self-esteem was not an issue for Shanice...except when it came to dating. Former lovers had really pulled a few on her that left her jaded and a bit on the frosty side. Yet, something about Massimo made her melt.
"So, since I made out like a bandit last time, you come up with the trivia question. I win, I get dinner and a chance to get to know you. Oh and endless kisses." He dipped his head and kissed her wrist. "You win, you get what you want."
"But I don't want anything." God, that sounded petulant. She rolled her eyes at herself. Massimo must have thought she was rolling them at him.
"I'm sure you can think of something. But leaving you alone isn't an option. Not unless I really repulse you, Shan."
Crap. Why'd he had to go and say that? Massimo didn't repulse her at all. In fact, the man intrigued her, attracted her. She'd just formed the thought in her head to say that if she won he'd find someone else to pester when he'd added that little caveat. Shanice always played by her own rules, and set her own stage, yet something compelled her to let Massimo define the pace of this game. Perhaps it was the fact that he'd just neatly plucked her only strategy right out of her hands.
"So what do you say, Shan?"
"Fine," she agreed, her brain hastily scrambling for the toughest movie trivia question she could think of. And just as hastily, she lost the bet. Again.
So why wasn't she more upset that she'd just, in essence, landed herself a boyfriend? One who was really looking forward to getting to know her.
In the biblical sense. "Oh shut up," she half-grinned, half-snarled to herself as the image of an off-balanced washing machine with her name plastered across the front of it popped into her mind. The man really did make her dizzy.
After lunch, Massimo insisted on returning her to the exact spot he'd picked her up— her office. They strolled into Expedex, Inc. corporate headquarters, through the huge stainless steel and glass lobby and to the bank of shiny, silver elevators. The second the doors snicked closed, Massimo hit the button for the eighteenth floor. And Shanice found herself backed against a mirrored wall, effectively caged between Massimo's thick, cashmere-clad arms.
"Now," he growled. God, she loved the growly thing he did when he held her close. "I believe you owe me a kiss or five, Shan."
