Page 28 of One Bossy Date
“Are you absolutely sure?”
“Positive.”
11
ZOE
Jesus Christ.He was so perfectly bossy. Decisive. Confident. Protective.
Deep breath. Deep breath.
“Okay, well, I guess you’re right. We’ll keep it simple. That way we won’t mess up.” I thought for a moment, tapping my fingers against my mouth. “You walked into my boutique by accident on a stormy day, asked for coffee, and I gave you one out of the goodness of my heart.” Meeting his gaze again for confirmation, he replied with a nod. He looked so breathtakingly sexy at that moment. “Great. Then we’ll just say you asked me out, the rest is history.”
“All right, Miss Jones.” He smirked. Not quite a smile, but that smirk wassex-zy(as Jim had put it).
“We just started dating and are still getting to know each other. Nobody will be able to call us out if we don’t know anything about each other yet. It’s perfect.”
“Itisperfect,” Anders rumbled. “There’s only one thing left to clarify.”
He stood and placed himself right in front of me, tauntingly close. My pulse raced. His cologne hit my nose. His unexpected nearness caused me to lose my breath. When his fingers caressed my cheek, so tortuously and softly, I gasped. “Anders?” With a soft brush of his fingers, he tucked a few strands of my wild, loose hair behind my ear.
Then his gaze moved to my lips. “When did we have our first kiss?” he murmured, tilting his head.
“Eh…” Swallowing, I stared into his beautiful eyes as they connected with mine. They were deep and sparkly and full of mystery. I truly hoped I was hiding how nervous he made me by clasping my hands together. “Eh…” I’d lost all ability to form a coherent sentence.
He leaned in further, and his lips brushed my cheek softly, then moved closer to my mouth, not touching, stopping only a mere breath away from my lips.
My heart was beating out of my chest.
My brain shut off.
Myeverythingshut off.
The electricity between us was so delici—
The dogs jumped out from under the table and headed toward the hallway. At the same time, a high-pitched female voice came from the entryway. “Yoo-hoo!”
I startled.
“Yoo-hoo!” It sounded again, only louder.
“Who’s that?” I asked just above a whisper.
Anders stepped away from me and turned toward the door.
“Mom, good to see you.” He sounded perfectly normal, and I didn’t know whether to admire or loathe his apparent calmness (or cold-bloodedness).
“Oh, hello, darling!”
A tall, slim, and absolutely stunning woman emerged with Ares and Hades at her side and walked toward us, immediately making me feel underdressed. She wore a long flowing dress, cinched at the waist, in a bright, bright coral orange shade.
Her eyes were glued to my face, an expression of pleasant surprise coloring her features. “Anders, you didn’t mention you had agirlfriend?” She ignored him and walked right up to me, taking my hand gently into hers. “Honey, I am so very sorry if I interrupted something here.”
“No, no, you didn’t. Atall.” I tried to sound friendly and confident, and not as if only a few seconds ago a handsome billionaire had almost kissed me.
I took in her flawless skin, perfectly applied coral lipstick, and then the charming wink she sent me.
“It’swonderfulto meet you,” she said brightly and squeezed my hands.