Risky Negotiations (8 page)

Laci smiled brilliantly over at Sal who was leaning against the fence. She noticed his smile immediately and knew he was impressed.

Then it was his turn. He strolled over to the bull, handed Laci his beer, then climbed onto the bull. Laci quickly moved off to the side and out of the way.

“
Let it rip, Hank.” And the bull swung into motion, flying and jerking every which way, trying to throw off it’s rider as if were a live animal hell bent on recovering its freedom. And the formal, ever so proper Salvatore Attracelli hung on effortlessly.

He even kept his hat on during the whole ride.

Laci’s mouth was pursed as the bull came to a stop. Sal had upped the ante and she wasn’t about to let him win this time.

He climbed off and sauntered over towards her. “So what did I win this time?”

“
Nothing. Hank, yank it up a notch,” she said, smiling sweetly and genuinely anticipating the thrill of another ride. Immediately people from the bar came over and started watching. Laci noticed a few people even exchanging money as if they were betting on the outcome of the bet.

Hank chuckled but turned on the machine again. Laci let out a whoop as the bull started up, a little more intensely this time and threw her around. It was more exciting than the initial ride and she was able to laugh at the end, hopping off to wink at him.

“”
What did
I
win this go around?”

Again, Sal just handed her his half empty bottle of beer and walked calmly over to the bull.

Laci’s mouth dropped as the bull whipped into action at the highest speed she’d ever seen. Sal immediately lost his hat but didn’t seem bothered by it. He just whipped around with the bull and allowed himself to sway or swish, depending on the whims of the machine.

Laci downed the rest of his beer as she watched him get off the bull. There was now a crowd watching them and several more people were cheering her on as she walked up to the bull.

“
Hold on, Laci,” Sal said as he grabbed her around the waist when she tried to walk past him to the bull. “You don’t need to prove anything to me. I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you have. Don’t hurt yourself just to win. I’ll concede your skill at bull riding.”

Laci laughed. “You’ll concede?” She moved closer, so she was less than an inch from his chest, and looked up at him. “But Sal, don’t you know that I’ll never accept defeat?”

She carefully stepped around him, avoiding his arm in case it tried to stop her again. Then climbed up on top of the bull, her heart beating wildly, as much from her momentary closeness with Sal as from anticipation for her ride.

For the third time, she wrapped the leather strap around her hand, then nodded to Hank who only laughed and put the bull into motion with a whoop of excitement.

Laci held on for almost the full forty-five seconds. She was about to claim victory but made the mistake of looking towards Sal. Laci saw red when she noticed a blond waitress who was practically poured into her jeans sidle up to Sal and smile.

Sal only shook his head as he politely smiled to the waitress. It was at that moment that Laci lost her grip and flew into the air. She landed with a heavy thud against the enormous padding surrounding the mechanical bull.

Sal was immediately by her side asking her if she was okay. She quickly sat up to assure everyone that she was fine, pushing her hair out of her face at the same time. Her face was flushed with embarrassment and she was furious with herself for being jealous of the blond waitress.

“
She’s not your type,” Laci said, and stood up starting to walk away.

“
Who isn’t my type?” he asked and put a hand around her waist to stop her, turning her so she was facing him.

“
The blond, bimbo waitress,” she said and pushed his hands away from her waist.

As she walked away, she heard him laughing behind her and gritted her teeth in frustration. Laci cursed under her breath for making that comment. Obviously Sal enjoyed her fit of jealousy.

Laci ignored him and headed over to Hank. Leaning up on her toes, she quickly gave Hank a kiss on the cheek and smiled up at his worried expression. “Thanks Hank. You sure give a wild ride,” she said, then turned and headed back to their table. She ignored the two men laughing behind her and, with as much dignity as possible after falling so hard on her bottom, she sat down on the wooden chair.

Sal was still laughing when he sat down across from her a moment later. “Are you hungry?” he asked.

“
Not really,” she said, looking out the window.

“
You’re not a sore loser, are you?”

“
I might be,” she said, not bothering to look at him.

She was spared having to say anything more because a waitress, thankfully not the blond one, delivered their steaks at that moment. She also delivered two cold beers, then quickly left.

Sal sighed at her weak efforts to ignore him. Without warning, he stood up and came around the table. Laci was startled by his action but still refused to look at him. Because of her stubbornness, she wasn’t expecting it when he grabbed her, pulled her out of her chair and kissed her soundly.

As soon as Sal’s lips touched hers, the restaurant, the cheering patrons and the delicious scents of the sizzling steaks ceased to exist. All she could think about was Sal’s magical lips caressing hers, his strong, muscular arms holding her against his tall body.

One would think a man as formal and polite as Sal wouldn’t know how to kiss so passionately. But he delivered sensuality through his lips, teasing and caressing at the same time while Laci shivered, begging for more. Her arms had immediately held onto his shoulders as soon as he grabbed her but they crept up higher as the kiss went on and on, her body arching into his, needing to feel more than just his lips as they caressed hers.

Just as suddenly as it started, Sal stopped and she was again sitting in her chair. She watched as he picked up his napkin and sat down across from her.

He cut a slice of meat and tasted his steak, then looked up and smiled at her stricken expression. “What was it like growing up with your sister?” he asked.

Laci’s eyes widened and he repeated his question. She had trouble following his conversation.

“
What was that for?” she asked, her hand moving to her still tingling lips.

“
A simple lesson in time management,” he explained, leaning back in his chair and taking a long sip of beer. His eyes showed his satisfaction with her bewilderment. He liked knowing his kiss disturbed her the same way she disturbed him.

“
Excuse me?” she asked, wondering if she should be offended.

“
I wanted to kiss you. You looked incredibly lovely with your eyes sparkling in your frustration, so I decided to kiss you. Besides, you were being too stubborn. ”

She was speechless for a long moment. She wasn’t sure what to say after that admission. After another long silence, Laci looked down at the table, her mind unable to form a complete thought.

Fortunately, he helped her by starting another discussion. Within a few minutes, he had her laughing at the stories about growing up in an Italian household with six kids. Laci countered his stories with the mischief she got into when her older sister refused to play with her and about their fights throughout high school.

The meal was long over when she finally looked at her watch. She was shocked to realize that four hours had passed since they’d arrived at the restaurant. It was almost midnight!

“
I think I’d better head home,” Laci said tentatively, amazed that they had so much to talk about that they’d spent four hours in each other’s company without a single argument. In fact, she couldn’t remember a more pleasant evening.

Sal didn’t say a word but threw down some large bills to cover the check, then stood up, putting a hand in the small of Laci’s back as they made their way out of the still crowded restaurant.

Laci had never had someone as strong yet gentle touch her in such a protective way. She was stunned to realize how nice it felt. It was almost as if he were branding her in some way as his, yet still cherishing her presence. Normally, she didn’t like possessiveness in a man. But the idea of belonging to Sal wasn’t as unpalatable as she wished it would be.

They spoke of general subjects on the ride from the restaurant to her apartment but Laci could feel the tension and wished she could banish it. She didn’t want to feel this way for Sal. He was too handsome, too wealthy, too charming, too stimulating in every aspect of his personality. He had too many women. She also had to admit that she liked his kisses too much.

Besides, he was the opposition. She had to keep reminding herself about that on the ride up the elevator. She told him she didn’t need him to walk her to the door, but he simply smiled and got out of the elevator, following her down the hallway.

At the door, Laci’s hands were shaking so much that she dropped her key and, before she could pick it up, Sal had picked it up off the floor and had it in his hand and stuck it into the lock. But he didn’t turn the key. He looked directly at her.

As soon as their eyes met, Laci knew what was going to happen. It seemed inevitable and her breath caught in her throat, butterflies flittering through her stomach.

Sal took her into his arms and kissed her, this time with all the pent up desire that he had held at bay earlier. Laci thrilled to it, met each kiss with the same intensity. Her arms immediately wound around his neck, her fingers gently touching the hair at the nape of his neck, twining into the softness.

Sal’s lips were not gentle this time. They were demanding. And they demanded that she open her mouth. As soon as she complied, his tongue invaded, enticing her to a higher level of passion. And she was more than ready to meet him there.

He picked her up, Laci’s back pushed against the wall of the hallway. She wrapped her legs around his waist and arched into him, feeling his need and knowing she had the same need. With her back and head confined by the wall, and the front of her confined by an equally hard body, Laci was lost in the continuous kiss as his lips moved from her mouth, to her neck, nibbling and making Laci cry out as he found a sensitive spot she never knew existed at the base of her throat.

She pulled his head back to hers, kissing him back and moving her hips, eager to feel more of him, hungry for his touch. Lace felt his hands slip under her sweater and she moaned, her skin on fire where his palm was touching her bare skin.

In the distance, she heard an annoying buzzing sound but didn’t want Sal to stop, so she ignored it. Unfortunately, the persistent noise wouldn’t go away. The buzzing sound woke up her sixty year old neighbor who looked out of her door, complete with curlers and flowered, muumuu robe. “Laci Anderson!” Ms. Crenshaw exclaimed as she took in her lawyer neighbor with her legs wrapped around a tall, strange man’s waist, kissing as if there were no tomorrow.

It took another moment for Laci to realize that someone else had spoken. As soon as she noticed the huge flowered woman looking at them askance, Laci’s face filled with color. She dropped her legs and pushed Sal away. Pushing at her hair, which was now completely disorderly since Sal’s hands had been running through it, she turned around, unlocked her apartment door and sent a small waive to Ms. Crenshaw before slamming the door in Sal’s frustrated face.

Sal put one hand on either side of the now closed door and let his head drop, forcing the sexual frustration to go away. Once he was a little more in control, he pushed away from the doorway and looked around, trying to identify the abrasive voice that had interrupted what could have been a long night of very satisfying passion but was now going to be a night of hell as he thought about what might have been.

He glanced at the woman who was still standing with her arms propped on her hips and a fierce expression on her face. “Have a good night, Ms. Crenshaw,” Sal said and left the door as politely as possible under the circumstances.

Chapter 5

Laci listened for his footsteps on the other side of her door, wishing she could control her erratic breathing. She was shaking and couldn’t move beyond her doorway.

After a few minutes, she heard Sal’s deep voice speak to Ms. Crenshaw then his footsteps as he walked away from her door. Not until the footsteps faded away could she breathe a sigh of relief.

Going through the motions of getting ready for bed seemed to help settle her nerves, but as soon as she turned out the lights, she knew she’d never be able to sleep. She stared up at the ceiling, wondering what it would be like to make love to Sal. Would it be as magical as she thought?