“Isn’t that all the answer you need?”
“I guess six months ago I would have said a definitive yes. But now?”
He waited as she tried to corral her thoughts. “I see things more clearly. Habits of his I used to tolerate would drive me crazy now. I was young when we started dating. I guess I’ve grown up since then. We both have. Maybe he was right to end it; perhaps he just saw what I wasn’t brave enough to admit.”
“Or perhaps he’s just stupido.”
“Stupid, yes,” she smiled then shifted her gaze past him as the waiter returned with her drink and a couple of menus.
“Wait a moment,” Luca said, holding a hand up, scanning the menu. “Is there anything you don’t eat?”
“Meat.”
He turned to face her. “Meat?”
“I’m a vegetarian.”
“I didn’t know that about you.”
“Why would you? It’s not like we’ve spent a lot of time together before this.”
He frowned. That was true, and yet he felt that he did know Bronte in many ways. He knew that she liked black coffee and drank out of a mug with a picture of The Little Mermaid on it. He knew that she wore a scarf at her desk all through Autumn and Winter and that she had a photo above her computer of a beach in Australia. He knew she whistled while she typed, that she went out of her way to make conversation with the security guard on their floor – an elderly man whose wife had died a few years earlier – and that she always worked well beyond the hours that were expected.
“True,” he said, shrugging his shoulders as if to rid himself of the direction of his thoughts. “What do you feel like?”
“Nothing, I’m not hungry.”
He scanned the menu. “The pumpkin risotto and a burger. Thanks.”
He passed the menu back and returned his focus to Bronte, who was regarding him with a quizzical look.
“What?”
“You’re –,”
He waited.
She shook her head, though, apparently thinking better of whatever she’d been about to say.
“Go on.”
She scrunched up her nose. “You’re bossy.” Then, her hand lifted, clasping over her mouth, her eyes looking at him apologetically. “I didn’t mean that.”
He laughed. “Yeah, you did.”
“Okay, I did,” she dropped her hand, grimacing a little. “But I still shouldn’t have said it.”
“Why not? What you say is bossy, I say is authoritative. I’m okay with that.”
She nodded slowly.
“It suits you.” Another look of surprise. “I think I’ve had too much to drink.” In contradiction of that, she lifted the straw between her lips, taking another sip. He stared at her mouth, the perfect ‘o’ formed by the movement, his cock shifting against the seam of his pants.
Cazzo!
What the hell was happening? This was his assistant. Not just his assistant. She worked for him, his brothers, his cousins. She was an invaluable employee and he was sitting an inch away from her, staring at her beautiful mouth and fantasising about – things he couldn’t fantasise about.
He shifted away a little, subtly moving his body towards the edge of the booth, disguising the action by taking a drink of water.