Million Dollar Christmas Proposal

The breathy little sound went straight to his sex. “Do you think I am insecure man, Audrey?”

CHAPTER FOUR

“UM, NO.” HER gaze strayed up to his and then back down to his lips, as if she couldn’t help herself.

Would it be so bad to include a kiss as part of the initial interview? This position was hardly typical, or covered under usual human resources procedures.

It was only the fact that the interview had already gone so far awry from his prepared agenda that kept him from giving in to further modification to the plan. He was still in control of this meeting. And himself.

“Do I seem intimidated?” he asked, driving the point home.

Audrey licked her lips and gave a small laugh. “Definitely not.”

“Then it appears this interview is not over.” He gently but firmly grasped her shoulders and guided her back to her seat. “I will tell you when we are finished, s??”

“Yes. Okay. That would be good.”

Forcing himself to release her, he stepped back. “S?.”

“You were born here in the U.S., weren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“So why do you say s? sometimes?”

“I’m not sure. I grew up visiting Sicily every summer and we did not speak English at home.”

“Is your mother of Italian descent as well?”

“No. And our family is Sicilian.”

“Isn’t that the same?”

“Not to a Sicilian.”

She grinned. “I see.”

“Bene.” He used the Sicilian for good just to make her smile again.

It worked and he was inexplicably pleased.

“So, your mother learned Sicilian?”

“Not well, but then my parents were rarely home.”

“Your grandparents raised you?”

“The answer to that question is complicated.”

“Do I get to use that reply?”

“No.”

She looked at him patiently but with clear purpose.

“You are stubborn, I think.”

“Maybe.”

There was no maybe about it. “My grandmother was from the Old Country. By the time I was born she spent most of the year visiting our family in Palermo. My grandfather ran the bank.”

“So, you’re saying no one really raised you at all?”

He shrugged. “It was better for Pinu.”