She almost laughed, considering how hard she’d found it to concentrate at first. But, since that lack of ability had been directly related to him, she had no intention of telling him about it. “A sleepy leg is not exactly on a par with the plague, Spiros.”
“Nevertheless, it is obviously time for you to take a break.”
“Sounds good. You going to take me out to dinner?” she asked with a grin.
He was back to looking positively forbidding. “You have not eaten yet?”
She rolled her eyes. “No. I’ve never quite gotten the hang of eating on American hours. I still prefer my last meal of the day to be closer to eight.”
“It is almost nine.”
“Have you eaten?” she asked, disappointed in advance. Since he was making such a big deal of it, she was pretty sure he already had.
“Actually, no.”
“Then you can take me out to eat.”
“You are spoiled.”
“And whose fault is that? You are the one who takes me for a meal every time you come to visit. Can I be blamed for having certain expectations?”
“You are a minx.”
She laughed. “That’s me. Phoebe Leonides…otherwise known as the shy one…a minx.”
“You are never shy with me.”
“You’re my friend. I’m not shy with my family either.”
“You are shy around Dimitri.”
She frowned. “Don’t bring up your brother. You’ll ruin my good mood.”
Oh, now he looked truly offended. “There is nothing wrong with my brother.”
“Except that us marrying each other is the dumbest idea my father and your grandfather have ever had. And I bought into it,” she said, with a healthy dose of exasperation directed at herself.
“You do not want to marry my brother?”
“Please, Spiros, you know me better than anyone else. Don’t tell me you are surprised.”
“But I am shocked, byba. You made a promise.”
She loved it when he called her baby girl. “So did he. But where is he now? Not here.”
“I am here, seeing to his interests.”
“He has no interest in me.”
“That is not true.”
“And you are here because you are my friend.” She twisted in his arms and tickled vulnerable ribs. “Admit it.”
He laughed out loud and almost dropped her. “Watch it, byba. You are going to end up with a sore bottom rather than a sleeping leg.”
“You’d never spank me.” And she would never tell him about the zing of erotic pleasure that went through her at the thought of being bottom-up in his lap.
“Someone should have spanked you when you were younger.”