“Oh my god, yourface!” I laugh so hard I nearly snort. “I got you so good, Buchanan, I thought you were going to pee yourpants.”
“You’re joking,” he hisses, his grip tightening against my biceps. I watch the panic evaporate from his eyes, replaced by amused disbelief. “Christ. Damn near gave me a heart attack,woman.”
I shove playfully at his shoulders. “Serves you right for making fun of the way I eatpancakes!”
He scoffs. “I’ve seen dinosaurs take smaller bites on naturedocumentaries.”
I glare at him, offended. “You takethatback.”
He shrugs and remainssilent.
I poke him in the shoulder. “Take—” Another poke. “—it—” And athird. “—back!”
“Orwhat?”
“You’llregretit!”
He laughs —laughs!— like my threat is the most adorable thing he’s ever heard. Like he thinks it’s somehow a good idea to argue with a redhead when she’s in atemper.
My eyes narrow and before I can talk myself out of it, I reach out, dip my finger in the syrup on my plate, and smear a thick line of it down the bridge ofhisnose.
“Ha!” I yell in his face,grinning.
I’mvictorious.
I’mvindicated.
I’m a veritable badass, no one messeswithme!
My self-congratulations screech to a sudden halt when I see the way Luca’s eyes are suddenly glittering. I realize I have made a massivemiscalculation.
See… I forgot, for a second, that Luca isn’t like most men I spend time with. He won’t pull a pressed handkerchief from his pocket and wipe away the syrup with an indulgent shake of his head, like one of my corporate dreamboats would in thisscenario.
Oh, Lila, how childish. Now, as I was saying, my latestmerger…
Nope.
NotLuca.
He won’tindulgeme.
He’llstrikeback.
Reading the dangerous gleam of retaliation in his eyes, I quickly see the error of my ways. I begin to backpedal away from him, hands thrown out in frontofme.
“Sorry, that was— Ididn’tmean—”
My lips clamp together when I realize nothing I say willsaveme.
He stands totally still for a beat, as a single drop of syrup slowly dribbles down his nose, leaving a sticky trail in its wake. Frozen, we both watch as it falls to the floor in what seems like slow motion — a tiny amber-colored raindrop, splattering onto his hardwood. I suck in a breath of air as his eyes lift from the floor and lock on mine, feeling my heart start to pound as a dark, wolfish smile spreads across his face. In a move designed to strike fear into my heart, he slowly reaches out and takes hold of the plasticsyrupjug.
It’s the most terrifying thing I’ve seen all day — and I was injailtwo hours ago, so that’s sayingalot.
You just had to go and poke the bear, didn’tyou,Lila?
I don’t have time to answer my own question, because a secondlater…
Lucapounces.