Page 29 of Incognito

“Lead the way,” she said, and as she tucked her hand into his proffered elbow, he wished it didn’t feel so damn right.

16

“I’ll take the lot.” Dante swept his arms wide, encompassing every toy around them.

Natasha rolled her eyes. Dante looked like a little boy in a toy shop. An apt analogy, considering he was a big boy in a toy shop, and not just any toy shop. The king of toy shops, in Melbourne’s largest department store, a place she never had reason to visit but couldn’t blame him for liking. She’d been smitten too from the moment she set foot inside the massive fake doors guarded by six foot toy soldiers.

“You can’t buy everything,” she said, belatedly realising he could. If he wanted, he could probably afford to buy the entire department store. “I think you should choose between the toddler train set, the building blocks, the farm house, or the tunnel and tent combination.”

He stared at the toys, his brow furrowed, as if she’d asked him to make a choice between which heads of government received access to trade talks with Calida.

“The decision is a difficult one. I cannot choose.”

She loved how he alternated between casual and formal speech patterns. Who said ‘cannot’ rather than can’t these days? But for an accomplished prince, he’d been behaving like a littleboy since they’d set foot in the toy department, and she’d use reverse psychology on him as she would with any kid.

Shrugging her shoulders, she said, “Fine. If you want Paolo to be a spoiled rich kid, take the lot. It’ll be good for him to know that when he breaks one toy, he’ll have an endless supply of others from his uncle to choose from.”

Dante’s frown deepened. “I don’t want him to be a spoiled brat.”

He hesitated for a second before pointing to the train set, a colourful conglomeration of multiple trains made from big stacking blocks perfect for little hands, wide wooden tracks, and enough extra blocks for the odd station on two to keep Paolo occupied for the next few months.

“I’ll take the train set.”

“Good choice,” she said, hiding her triumphant grin behind a smothered cough when he glanced her way. “And if that offer for coffee still stands, I vote we grab one ASAP. I’m all shopped out.”

And drained more than anticipated. She’d had a fun evening, but having fun with Dante exhausted her. Trying not to preen under his appreciative stare, trying not to melt in a heap at his feet every time he shot her one of his trademark sexy smiles, resisting his flirtatious glances, was hard work.

It wasn’t fair. The guy shouldn’t have so much natural sex appeal.

As for the loaded moment back at the jumping castle, she wished it had never happened. Being held in his arms, having him stare at her like he desired her, had almost been too much to bear.

She’d barely stopped herself from swaying forward and kissing him. It had been touch and go. He’d touched her, she hadn’t wanted to go, but the longer he’d stared at her and the longer she’d enjoyed it, the more frightened she’d become.

Having fun with Dante was one thing, falling for him another, and she had no intention of going down a one way street to heartache again.

“Thanks for your help tonight. I could not have done any of this without you.” He gave her arm a gentle squeeze, a friendly, impersonal touch that meant nothing, yet her skin tingled, her pulse raced, and she knew that having fun stuff with a man like Dante could be dangerous. Very dangerous.

“No problem.”

She wished.

From where she stood, Dante Andretti was one big problem. To her overactive imagination and underachieve hormones, that is.

“I’ll pay for the purchase, organise delivery, and we’ll have that long awaited coffee. Does that suit?”

She nodded, hating the way her heart lurched at his fancy words uttered in that deliciously deep voice.

Spending an entire evening with Dante had played havoc with her long dormant hormones. Once he left the country, maybe it was time to try a casual date with one of Ella’s fix-ups?

If this was how she reacted to a guy simply talking to her, she really needed to get out more. Putting business first had left her gauche and awkward around men, overthinking her reactions to Dante. Though she didn’t begrudge making Telford Towers flourish. It had been her main priority for as long as she could remember and she loved her job.

But what if she lost it?

What if the one thing that had kept her focussed through losing her mother, discovering Clay’s scam, and coping with the aftermath of both, was taken from her? And from her dad?

It would devastate them and she’d be responsible.

Again.

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