Read Online Making over the Billionaire (an Italian Connection Novel) (Entangled Brazen) by Joan Kilby - Free Book Online

do you time yourself in bed?”
    His nostrils flared. Was she mocking him?
    She traced her fingertip from his ear, where the blood was rushing, past the ticking muscle in his jaw, to the dimple in his chin. “You are so cute when you’re tense. But I bet you’re a whole lot hotter when you’re relaxed. I’ll let you keep the watch for now, but the moment you look at it again it’s going in my purse for the rest of the day. Capisce ?”
    “I go for hours at a time without looking at my watch.” He transferred his cell and wallet from his suit trouser pocket to his jeans. Then he reached for the phone to let Anna know he was going out and without thinking, checked his watch.
    “I saw that,” Layla said in a singsong voice.
    Damn. She was right. He was compulsive about the time. But he had to be. Every minute of his day was accounted for, either with meetings or lunch appointments or work that needed approvals, documents requiring his signature. The sweep second hand moving around the gold face ticked away the seconds of his life. His life? It wasn’t his own. It belonged to the Borlenghi Group of Corporations. He loved his work but sometimes he felt as if he was going to snap.
    But he wasn’t taking orders from Layla. He locked gazes with her. “I never go anywhere without this watch. Do you capisce ?”
    Her will battled his for a couple of long, surprisingly enjoyable seconds. Lunch wasn’t going to be nearly enough time to explore what else Layla and he could find to spar about. But he was still smarting from her comments about his lack of spontaneity. It would serve her right if he turned the tables on her.
    And why not? A plan began to form in his mind. At her villa, she’d have the advantage. That wouldn’t do. His first rule in love and business was never to relinquish the upper hand. He simply had to take control of the situation—as he always did.
    His fizz of enjoyment bubbled higher. What if he gave her what she thought she wanted? Oh, not the nooner at her place but something much bigger. And farther afield.
    She blinked first in their staring contest. “We’re wasting time.”
    “Ah, now that is something I never do.” Rubbing his hands together, he buzzed Anna on the intercom and told her he was going out for a couple of hours. Then he placed a call to his helicopter pilot, on standby to fly anywhere in Europe at a moment’s notice. Luckily Layla didn’t speak Italian so she wouldn’t be forewarned.
    “Let’s get out of here.” He smiled to himself as he reached for her hand and pulled her toward the exit into his private stairwell. He couldn’t wait to see her face when she found out what he had in store for her.
    Bypassing the elevator, he opened the door to the roof and stepped onto a concrete platform high above the city.
    Layla’s hair blew around her face from the breeze of the helicopter rotors. She planted her feet, resisting his tug. “Hey, what’s going on? Why the whirlybird?”
    “I’m taking you to lunch—on my yacht in Naples.” His blood raced with the unexpected bid for freedom and the added unpredictability of this woman. He felt a surge of triumph at surprising her for once. “You said you wanted to go.”
    Eyes wide, she pushed her flying hair back. “I-I can’t.”
    “Give me one good reason,” he yelled over the thwap, thwap of the rotors.
    “I-I ordered food,” she yelled back. “The caterer is probably on my doorstep right now.”
    “You can text them from the helicopter and cancel. I’ll cover any costs.” He towed her toward the helicopter.
    She stumbled along after him, ducking beneath the whirling blades, trying to keep her skirt from flying up. “I’ve got an appointment.”
    “Won’t wash. You already told me you had nothing scheduled this afternoon.”
    “What about your conference call?” There was a note of desperation in her voice now.
    “No problem. I have an office aboard the yacht.”
    ”Well, then…I’m not dressed for a