A Moment on the Lips - By Kate Hardy Page 0,26

enjoyed every second of what we just did.’ He moved closer. ‘Feel what you did to me.’

She could. And breathing was a problem again. ‘Uh.’

‘And I love it when I can silence you like that.’ He stole a kiss. ‘Come on.’

She dressed swiftly; he unlocked his office door, then locked it again behind them before letting them into his flat and leading her into his kitchen.

‘Close your eyes, Princess,’ he said.

‘Why?’

‘Because I’m asking you to.’ He gave her a lazy smile. ‘This is going to be fun. I promise. Trust me.’

Did she trust him? Well—yes. Otherwise that encounter in his office just now wouldn’t have happened. She knew he wasn’t going to gossip about her or make her feel bad. When she was with him, she didn’t have to worry about anything.

She closed her eyes; a moment later, she could feel something brushing against her lower lip.

‘Keep your eyes closed,’ he whispered. ‘Open your mouth.’

She couldn’t help doing what he asked.

‘Now bite.’

Her mouth was flooded with the taste of gianduja, the rich mixture of ground hazelnuts and cocoa butter that she’d loved since childhood.

‘Good?’ he asked, his voice husky.

‘Very.’

‘Better than sex, you said.’

She opened her eyes and looked at him.

‘I think I’m going to enjoy making you take that back.’ This time, his smile was positively wolfish.

It took him less than ten minutes to have her babbling that yes—oh, God, yes—sex with him was better than chocolate. And then he made her admit it all over again.

‘Good. Just so we’re clear on that,’ he said, when her third climax of the evening had died away.

He disappeared, then returned with two mugs of coffee. ‘Right. Time to tackle the SWOT analysis.’

‘Uh.’ She swallowed hard. ‘How the hell do you expect me to concentrate on business, when you just wiped every single thought out of my head?’

‘That’s what the coffee’s for, Princess.’

She blew out a breath. ‘You amaze me.’

He kissed her swiftly. ‘I’ll take that as a compliment. Even though I think it was a backhanded one. Now, focus. I want to see those notes.’

As before, Dante took Carenza home on the bike and refused to come in for coffee, saying that he had things to sort out.

But, the next day, she was gratified to discover an email from him in her inbox.

How about a mentoring session on Wednesdays as well?

He didn’t mean just mentoring, she knew that. Not after what had happened between them last night. And the fact that he wanted to see her, too … Dante had made his position clear enough, the previous night. I still can’t offer you a relationship. But Carenza had a feeling that he was definitely protesting too much. His head might be able to come up with a dozen or more reasons why he shouldn’t have a relationship with her, but his body told her another story. And maybe she could teach him that you didn’t always have to listen to your head. That there was nothing wrong with letting yourself get close to someone—that it was OK to be attracted to someone and to act on that attraction. And it was OK to lose control. Twice, now, she’d stripped for him while he’d been fully clothed and in full control throughout. It was time she evened up the balance.

Maybe, she thought, she could mentor him. Teach him to let go and have some fun.

Maybe.

CHAPTER SEVEN

BY WEDNESDAY, Carenza wasn’t any further forward with the sales figures. ‘I can’t get them to work,’ she told Dante over a pizza that evening. ‘Though I’m not stupid.’

He rolled his eyes. ‘Of course you’re not.’

‘I really can’t understand why they’re down. All I can tell you is that they’re slowing, year on year. Signor Mancuso says it’s because we’re in a recession.’

‘Right. And the definition of profit is?’

‘Sales minus costs.’

‘Exactly. So if you can’t increase your sales to increase your profits, then you need to cut your costs,’ he said.

‘Are you suggesting I should get rid of some of the staff?’ She sucked in a breath. ‘I can’t do that, Dante. How are they going to pay their bills if they don’t have their job any more?’

‘Staff aren’t your only costs,’ he pointed out. ‘And remember that your staff are assets, too. You need to look at your variable costs.’

‘The ones that change with the volume of sales,’ she said.

He smiled. ‘You’ve been paying attention. Good. So what can you tell me about your raw materials?’

‘We’ve been making ice cream in Naples for more than a hundred