I leaned forward, pinning her with my gaze, letting her know in no uncertain terms that I was going to get my way and she could either get on board or I’d carry her out on my shoulder. Hell, that sounded fun just because. “Have you forgotten this morning already?” I asked in a silky tone.
And then I sensed the tension in the room climbing and I found her assistant, Como, staring daggers at me. Before Alessandra could calm him down, he shut off his computer and left us behind.
I rose to find Alessandra giving me a dark look. “What?”
“That wasn’t necessary,” she said, shouldering her purse and moving around her desk. “You had no right to bring up our personal business in my place of work. Now I have to smooth his feathers or he’ll be unbearable tomorrow.”
But I grabbed her hand and pulled her to me. “Let me guess...he has a crush on you.”
Her breath hitched but a smile threatened as our lips closed the distance. “A little,” she answered before I sealed my mouth to hers, my tongue taking hers. Her little moan did terrible things to my cock. Within seconds, I was ready to put that desk of hers to good use.
I broke the kiss with a grin. “Can’t say I blame the guy. If I had to work day in and day out with you across the room, I’d never be able to get any work done. Does he take a lot of bathroom breaks?” I teased.
She laughed and shook her head. “Como and I are friends, nothing more.”
“Poor guy,” I said, reaching around to squeeze her plump behind. “He doesn’t know the joys of pounding this sweet ass.”
She blushed and slid her hand down my front, finding my rock-hard erection. “I didn’t say that, now, did I?” she returned coyly, and I was shocked. Alessandra chuckled and stepped away. “Just out of curiosity...where were you thinking of taking me tonight?”
I was still stuck on the image of that gangly man pounding away at Alessandra’s luscious body, and I didn’t like it. I tried to shake it off but there it was, a growing sense of jealousy that was both foreign and inappropriate. “Sleeping with your employees, huh?” I asked, squeezing her ass and tilting her hips to grind her against my cock. “Isn’t that frowned upon?”
“Generally speaking,” she agreed breathlessly. “Which is why I put a stop to it.”
“But now he’s got a crush on you and that’s bad for business.”
Alessandra bristled even as she angled her hot core against me. “That’s not your concern, now, is it?”
“No, I guess it’s not,” I agreed, kissing her hard again before saying, “Cancel your plans. You’re with me tonight.”
I released her and she returned with a fair amount of sass, “What makes you think I want to spend another evening with you? Maybe I’ve had my fill and now I’m bored.”
I laughed at the pure nonsense. “You want me. I could stick my finger inside you right now and find you dripping wet. You might succeed at bluffing other people but not me, sweetheart. Now let’s get moving. We’re going to be late.”
“Late?” Intrigued, she followed me. “Late for what?”
I grinned as I answered, “A cooking class.”
The key to gentling a woman was to always keep her guessing.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Alessandra
ADMITTEDLY, MY PLANS with Sophia were something we threw together casually in light of neither of us having anything to do that night, but I felt I ought to turn Dante down simply because he was getting too cocky.
Yet I couldn’t bring myself to say the words. I liked his confidence, even though it bordered on arrogance—he wore it well. A shiver danced down my spine as I followed him to his car, not at all surprised at the luxury sedan waiting for him.
“Perhaps I’d like to drive,” I said.
“You don’t know where we’re going,” he said as he slid into the driver’s seat.
I chuckled and took the passenger side. “Well, only because it’s been a long day...you can drive.”
“Thank you, Your Highness,” he said drily, and we started down the long, winding driveway to the road. Dante found my hand, clasped it between his and kissed the back as he said, “You do know how close you were to being defiled on your desk, don’t you?”
I thrilled at the imagery and wished he’d made good on his claim but instead, I smiled with wry amusement, if only to take him down a peg. “You have quite the imagination. What makes you think I would’ve been okay with that? I’m a businesswoman, not a call girl.”
“All work and no play makes Alessandra a dull girl,” he said.
I laughed. “Do you find me dull?”
This time it was his turn to blush. “God, no. You’re the most intriguing woman I’ve ever met.”
His genuine response surprised us both, but I needed to reclaim the power in this relationship. “Don’t make a habit of showing up unannounced. You disrupted my workday.”
“The workday was finished. You were probably just playing solitaire at that point.”
“I don’t play solitaire.”
“No? I do. It’s my favorite card game.”
I smiled, shaking my head. “Tell me about this cooking class that I haven’t agreed to attend.”
“Ah, well, seeing as I missed taking you out, I thought, let’s make dinner together, get our hands dirty and then feed each other. Sounded like fun—and maybe if you’re lucky, we could hole up in a pantry somewhere and really get creative.” He paused to glance at me. “You’re Italian...you can cook, right?”
“That’s offensive,” I said, laughing. “But yes, of course I can cook.”
“Good, because I’m not exactly Gordon Ramsay in the kitchen,” he admitted. “You might have to do the heavy lifting. I can definitely open jars, though, if that’s something that’s needed.”
“Then why are you taking me to a cooking class?” I asked.
“Because it seemed interesting,
and for what I have planned after dinner...you’re going to need your strength.”
My breath caught as my heart rate sped up. It was too easy to remember all the delicious things he’d done to my body last night...and this morning. It was tempting to say, “screw the class, take me directly to your hotel room,” but I held my tongue. A woman never gave up too much or else the power was gone. I was a master at controlling the men in my sphere but Dante was giving me a run.
“I am hungry,” I said with a small smile as I pulled my phone from my purse and quickly dialed Sophia. I glanced at Dante as I said when she picked up, “Hey, sorry to do this last minute but I have to cancel.”
“Cancel? Is everything all right?”
“Oh yes, everything is fine. I’ll call you tomorrow, yes?”
Sophia’s sudden sucked-in gasp revealed she was onto me. “You little she-devil, you’re seeing him again, aren’t you?” I’d told her more about Dante over lunch, and she’d slowly shifted from being concerned he was a threat—I’d convinced her I was well in control of the situation—to being excited for me. Before I could answer, she followed with an immediate, “I want details first thing tomorrow!”
I laughed and said, “Okay, tomorrow. Bye, love,” and clicked off. “I just canceled on my absolute best friend in the entire world, so this night better be amazing.”
“I can’t make any promises on the food, but I can say that by the end of the night you’ll wonder how you managed to go through your entire adult life without me in it.”
Oh, his confidence was astounding and so cheeky, but I liked it. “We’ll see,” I said. His head was already too big for his shoulders. It was a small wonder he fit inside the sedan.
We arrived at the place and went in. There was a modest group of tourists, no one local whom I could recognize, and Dante found us a kitchenette that we could call our station. I smothered a laugh that I was in an actual cooking class. It was such a touristy thing to do that I would never have imagined doing it, but I had to admit that Dante looked pretty good as he wound the apron around his waist, ready to get his chef credentials for the night.