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Borrowing a ht with hi else

Brenna Marcelli considered herself to be above average in intelligence With her future on the line, there was absolutely no way she would be anything but perfectly pleasant during her conversation with Nicholas Giovanni She would be confident, persuasive, even char, or think about sex Especially not sex No reat, she thought as she paced the length of the waiting area in the executive offices of Wild Sea Vineyards Better than good One tiht on the news there’d been a report of an unexpectedly high tide Brenna had alondered if she and Nic were somehow to blame

"History," she htly to her chest "Ancient history This is a new decade--a new century even I am empowered I a"

She turned and glared at the closed door leading to Nic’s private office When his assistant had asked her to wait and proe would be with her shortly, Brenna had believed her Now, nearly ten minutes later, the assistant had disappeared and there was still no sign of Nic

"Just a power play," she told herself, then took a cal to buy into it He can keepas he wants"

Except her storets about that fifth cup of coffee, and she had a bad feeling that if she stopped , she would find that her knees were shaking Not exactly the picture of professional confidence she wanted to portray She really needed to--

The office door opened and the devil hi Nic the devil was a bit strong, but he was dark, dangerous, and at this point she would sell hiet what she wanted A rose by any other name and all that

"Brenna" Nic spoke her naular basis "Good to see you"

If only, she thought She hadn’t set foot on Giovanni land in ten years And with good reason

"Hi, Nic"

He motioned toward his office and she stepped into the inner sanctued a whole lot since she’d last seen it Still hteenth century The corandfather had occupied the space From here he’d run all of Wild Sea Vineyards Now the old e and going places, she thought as she crossed to the map on the wall opposite the opulent desk She studied the shaded area that detailed the Giovanni holdings, noting how much expansion there’d been in the past seven years Nic had alanted to be the biggest and best He’d achieved that in spades

Of course, focusing on the map allowed her not to think about that da to have to turn around and stare at it sometime It wouldn’t be so bad if she and Nic hadn’t, well, done it on that desk

It had been about three AM on a Saturday ht had been still, cool, and incredibly romantic Of course, when she’d been seventeen and in love, watching paint dry had been romantic

"You’re welcome to sit down," he said, a trace of aht as she squared her shoulders and turned to face her past Nic worked here every day He’d probably forgotten what had happened on that carved slab of wood But not her

She made her way to an oversize chair and sank onto the smooth leather surface Nic walked around his desk and sat facing her

"I was surprised to hear you’d made an appointht with your family"

"They’re fine Great, really Francesca’s engaged" More than engaged, but that conversation was for another tirandfather happy"

She nodded and found her gaze settling on his face Strong features, she thought, re the boy as she stared at theeyes, a straight nose, a determined, maybe even stubborn chin, and a mouth that had once been able to kiss her into another tiust te-sleeved black shirt, dark slacks Not exactly the jeans and T-shirts she was used to seeing

"You’re dressed for success," she said

"In honor of our "

He smiled, a slow, sexy smile that made her remember other smiles Like the one he’d used to convince her it was really okay to ht in the vineyard It had been their first tiinity to the sound of crickets and--

Let’s stop this right now, she told herself Trips down et her into trouble She was here on ato do with sexy s to life low in her belly

She forced herself to relax in the leather chair She carefully crossed one leg over the other and tried for a faintly amused, possibly bored expression Who knew if it really worked

"All that trouble for ht I have a n distributors later this afternoon I figured jeans would put theht before she could stop herself

"So you’re expanding again," she said instead

"Always Be the biggest and the best"

"You’re certainly going to win on volume"

"Don’t they say size matters?"

"Only those who don’t kno to use what they have" She rehteen seconds too late