“Man…” Luca sighs. “I have a feeling this will be a long day. How did I go from torturing Russians to standing beside you in a hospital, carrying flowers for kids I don’t even give a shit about?”

“Who knows?” I smile a lopsided grin at him and march to one of the booths with flowers. There are about thirty kids in the pediatric ward I just visited and each of them will get flowers from me today.

There’s no one in the booth. I plant my hands on my waist and peer around for a sign of someone. “Hello? Anyone here?”

Dead silence follows my question for a few seconds, then a soft voice answers from behind me.

“I’m right here.”

I whirl around. My heart thumps when I see it’s her, the silver-haired lady from the conference room. She’s smiling at me and her eyes are twinkling.

My cock twitches again. It takes effort to keep it in check. I think I need to get laid. I haven’t visited the club in a while so perhaps it’s time.

“Sei bello.”

Her brows knit and her smile vanishes as if they were never there. “What?”

“You’re beautiful.”

She scoffs, then walks past me to the booth. “Are you here to buy flowers or dish out compliments? I can tell you I’m not interested in the latter.”

My gaze follows her. “I didn’t ask for you to be interested. It’s a harmless compliment.”

She only glares at me, as if she’s coming up with the quickest way to get rid of me. I’ve had women fall at my feet from the moment I knew I could do more than pee with my cock, but a woman looking at me with such disdain? Now that’s something new.

Something unusual and interesting.

“Do you go around complimenting every woman you meet?” she finally asks, her brows lifting. “If you do, then I consider your compliment an insult.”

A smile plays on my lips. “Is that jealousy I hear?”

“More like ‘take your compliment and shove it up your ass.’” I inhale the scent of her perfume when she leans forward. She smells like a garden of flowers, soft and sensual. “Along with your inability to read the room, I think you have a problem interpreting messages.”

“Is that so? How about you help me?”

“I just did.” She looks at Luca who’s pacing around like he’s looking for the nearest escape from this place. “Your friend doesn’t look like he’s enjoying being here, why don’t you do both him and I a favor, and leave?” A half-smile plays on her lips.

“Sorry, I can’t do you that favor.” I return her smile and shove my hands the pockets of my denims. “Why don’t you do me a favor instead and tell me what flowers you like?”

She groans and takes her attention to a basket of roses inside the booth. She’s aggressive as she trims them to a heart-shaped bouquet.

“I’m guessing that’s a ‘no’?” I ask. I should be irritated by this rude woman. Usually, I would be. I prefer them docile and sweet, but she’s something else. Her smart mouth and sassy attitude calls to me like a moth to a flame.

It’s strange. Really strange.

She pretends not to hear me and begins to take her anger out on of the hand-made basket she’s shoving roses into.

I watch her, amused by the sheer amount of effort she’s putting into ignoring me. I try to imagine what my brothers would do in a situation like this. Punish her? Before they’d married the smart-mouthed women they now can’t live without, they might have.

“Are you still standing there?” she asks after a moment. “You’re insufferable. Really.”

“And you’re beautiful.” I smile when she tsks. She doesn’t seem to like it when I compliment her and I’m even more inclined to do it more. “I really need those flowers.”

“To gift the nurses? No way. These are for the patients.”

“They’re for the kids in the cancer ward.”

Her eyes widen. “They are?”