The Billionaire's Secretive Enchantress (The Berutelli Escape) (20 page)

“Le Montrechet makes and excellent wine,” he replied.  “Tell me about your studies.”

She wrestled with her temper once again.  He hadn’t asked.  Once again, he simply commanded.  She shrugged and tried to avoid answering him.  “There isn’t much to tell.  Psychology isn’t really an interesting subject.”

“It must have some sort of allure for you to have studied it for so long.  What interested you in the discipline initially?”

Sydney was relieved when the waiter arrived, prepared to take their order.  She barely heard any of the specials he discussed, but opened her menu one more time.  There weren’t any prices on the menu options which meant that all of them were extremely expensive.  She couldn’t even guess at how much a dinner in this restaurant might cost so she selected a salad, assuming it would be the cheapest thing on the menu.

“I’ll have the chef’s salad,” she said when the waiter looked in her direction.  The waiter didn’t blink an eye but simply turned to Dominic, waiting for his selection.

Dominic’s eyebrows drew together with irritation.  “She’ll start with the zuppa Toscana, then the Sicilian style tuna steaks.  I’ll have the brood di pesce and the seafood risotto.  We’ll have the dessert menu when we’re finished.”

The waiter immediately crossed off her salad choice and wrote down whatever His Highness had ordered for her.  She clasped her hands together under the table to keep herself from throwing her napkin at him. 

“So I’m not allowed to have a salad?” she inquired with false politeness.

“No.”  He didn’t explain any further.  “You were going to tell me why you chose psychology.”

She leaned back in the tapestry covered chair and looked across at him.  “No.  I wasn’t.”

He was so surprised he had to laugh at her belligerent expression.  “Why not?” he asked when his amusement had abated. 

“Because you are…” she debated which adjectives to use and toned down her initial choices.  “Commanding.  And it just creates a stubbornness within me that I have been trying to suppress all week, but since you’ve taken my lunch break away from me, ridiculed my sandwich, ignored my new choice for lunch, it just irritates me.  So no, I’m not going to tell you anything else about myself simply because you ordered me to instead of asking me with kindness and interest.”

He smiled throughout her whole tirade, enjoying the sparkle in her fiery blue eyes.  Oh how he wanted to kiss her and see if he could shift that anger to passion.  He suspected that they could light the sheets on fire between the two of them. 

“Fair enough.”  He leaned forward, his eyes holding hers with an intensity that caused that tightening in her belly once again.  And a tightening lower, in a more embarrassing place. 

With what she could only describe as a charming smile, he said, “Sydney, I’m fascinated by you and was wondering if you would mind telling me a bit about your study choices.  I would be interested to hear why you chose psychology out of all the possible degree choices.”

Sydney could not believe he’d just said that to her.  She took a huge sip of wine and place it down on the table.  When it didn’t have the cooling effect she needed, she picked up her glass of ice water and drank
nearly half the glass before setting it down as well.  When she looked back up at him, he was still waiting patiently, a look of polite interest on his suddenly handsome features but a fire in his eyes that she didn’t completely understand. 

“Um…” well when he put it that way, she couldn’t really refuse him!  Irritating man!  “I chose psychology because I’m fascinated by human behaviors.  I enjoy trying to find out the underlying reasons why people act in a certain way and try to help them behave in a more positive, life-affirming manner.”

Up went his supercilious eyebrows again.  “You don’t think people should just work through problems, push their feelings aside and get the job done?”

And…he was back!  This time though, she couldn’t ignore his cynicism.  “That kind of a response comes from a very cold, very cynical and unfeeling human being.”  She didn’t tell him that he was that way, just that it was a typical response from someone like that. 

He got the message. “Are you implying that I’m cold and unfeeling?” he suggested. 

Diplomacy, she admonished herself mentally.  She had to be diplomatic about her response.  She could not tell him that she thought he was a patronizing, contemptuous jerk.  “I’m saying that you have a very harsh way of dealing with the world that might not be appropriate for every person.”

That comment segued into other social issues and Sydney refused to give in to his rough opinion about the world and how it should run.  They argued back and forth about many problems in the world and she sat up in her chair, eager to take him on.  She preferred to think that there were people in the world that were kind and generous.  He believed that everyone should fight for whatever they wanted or needed and if someone got hurt in the process, they should just pick themselves up and dust off the dirt before moving forward.  

She wasn’t aware of the food arriving, but she knew that it was excellent.  She didn’t notice when he continued to refill her wine glass or even that they’d been arguing back and forth in the restaurant for more than two hours. 

She was feeling relaxed and powerful when she glanced at her watch.  “No!” she gasped.

“What’s wrong?” Dominic demanded, his eyes sharpening on her lovely features. 

“You have an important meeting in ten minutes.”

“Cancel it,” he replied back as if the meeting weren’t all that important.  In his mind, nothing was more important that figuring out how to get this woman into his bed so he could make love to her for the rest of the afternoon.  He was so turned on simply by arguing with her that he didn’t care what the meeting was about, as long as he could get her into his bed and explore her body just as he’d been exploring her mind.  The more he argued with her, the more fascinating she became in his mind. 

“You can’t!” she admonished, placing her napkin beside her plate on the table and looking around for the waiter.  “The man you’re supposed to meet with this afternoon called yesterday and again this morning to make sure that he still had time with you this afternoon.  He’s been trying to get in to see you for months.  You can’t push him off again.”

Dominic signaled to the waiter who immediately appeared by his elbow but he was amused by her forcefulness.  “I can’t?”