“What?This? This, my Roman friend, is called a masterpiece.”
Scoffing, I answered, “That’s what I call indigestion.”
“Who sounds old now?” he asked, wagging his eyebrows, making me laugh loudly.
“When you add all that stuff, you can’t really taste anything. It’s just too much,” I argued, taking another bite.
“That’s what Americans are known for. More options. If a little is good, a lot is better,” he said with a shrug, taking his first bite, which was somewhat comical.
“You may have to unhinge your jaw first.”
Miles laughed and choked at the same time. Swallowing quickly, he scolded, “Don’t do that when I’ve got a mouthful, woman. You know you’ve got a wicked sense of humor, Ms. Lazzara. I don’t think I’ve laughed this much in years.”
“Same for me. I’ve had so much fun hanging out with you,” I said, suddenly feeling shy as I remembered our almost kiss. Miles hadn’t mentioned it, and I wasn’t sure what that meant. Nothing felt weird between us, but I wanted to ask him about it.
Maybe I’d misunderstood his actions, and he wasn’t really going to kiss me. How embarrassing would that be? I inwardly groaned at the possibility.
“Vicky?” he asked, his head tilted, a quizzical look on his face.
“Huh? Oh sorry. Drifted off there for a moment.” I’d given up worrying about how often he made me blush.
I looked down, and most of his pizza was gone. How long had my mind wandered?
“How in…did you justinhaleall that?” I asked incredulously.
He shrugged again. “I was hungry. Stay here. I’ll go pay and we can head back. Unfortunately, I’ve got a call in half an hour. Want anything else?”
Shaking my head, I thanked him and said no, hurrying to finish the last few bites of my slice. I waved to Gio through the open door as we walked away, not missing that Miles was gently pushing me forward and away from the restaurant, his strong hand on the small of my back.
A few minutes later, when we were a few buildings from my office, he stopped, making me pause mid-step. As we walked, Miles had taken the spot closest to the street, a move I’d only read about in my favorite romance novel Aria had written. It reflected the kind of man he was. When he stopped to face me and he had a strange expression on his face—a mix of cocky and amused.
“What’s going on?” I asked, his gaze making me nervous as always.
“When you drifted off just now. Were you thinking about Saturday night?” he asked, coming a step closer to me, making me back up a step.
“What?” I asked, my voice going higher. “W-what do you mean?”
He moved one step closer, causing my back to gently bump into the building. He was so close I had to look up to see his face. He still wore that smug look of confidence, as if he were hiding a secret.
“At my house. Before MJ interrupted us,” he said huskily.
Oh dear Lord in heaven. Was this man about to kiss me in the street? This was no tech-nerd move. This was full-on Henry Cavill kind of confidence.
“Ah. Yes. I remember,” I breathed out.
As if I could ever forget.
He laid his hand right at my line of sight, leaning toward me.
What. Was. Happening?
All I could picture was him doing this in a hoodie and a backwards ball cap. My knees started to wobble at the thought.
“Just in case you were wondering back there,” he said, gesturing with his head toward the restaurant, “yes, I almost kissed you the other night.Also, this? Right here? It’s called…leaning. It shows you that a man is interested. How do you feel about that?”
Now the man was a mind reader. Stop thinking about hoodies and baseball caps!
Scanning his eyes for clues about howhefelt, I stammered, “I, I don’t know, honestly.”
