Page 60 of His Cruel Billionaire Scorecard

“You seem to have something on your mind.”

The color stained her cheeks and clouded over.

Olivia, deciding she was just in her head, decided then and there that Scarlett didn’t matter. Not to this man who watched her with such earnestness.

She licked her lips and smiled, baring sweet fangs at Roman, who was sipping wine.

He chuckled at the sudden change in expression and cleared his throat, adjusting his tie. He’d never gotten so hot so quickly in his life.

Hell, when she had put her lips on the wine glass, his blood had gone south so fast that he got a little light-headed.

Two can play that game; he wasn’t going to back down now; he played better than her.

She opened the menu, feigning indifference, but the whiteness from gripping the page from her hands as she studied the menu on the tab and the way her hands shook in slight tremor told him she was affected.

Then, after some seconds, she dropped it down and lifted her head with a smile on her lips.

“Shall we order dessert? I’m really hungry for some chocolate cake.”

Roman was hungry, too. Hungrier than he’d ever been in a long time, and he was not thinking about food.

But he nodded and picked up his tab.

“Sounds good to me.”

He allowed the conversation to drift to harmless small talk.

He decided to spice things up a little by adding how much he loved her dress and how good she would look without it in his bed.

It became awkward very fast for Olivia, and it was fun trying to see her struggle with the conversation like he didn’t just say something completely lewd.

The craving for her was like a red stop sign, and as much as he knew he shouldn’t, he’d drive through it and risk the crash.

He found out as a young man that patience was more than a virtue—It was a pleasure.

It got you what you wanted but allowed you to savor it first. But not tonight.

He had a feeling that with her smart mouth, sexy body, and her prim sense of humor, she would be worth savoring.

The dessert was exquisite.

Olivia appeared to be starving more than she let on because by the time the delicate slice of chocolate cake was placed in front of her, she had barely managed to swallow it.

Olivia began to talk, and she couldn’t seem to stop babbling all of a sudden. Maybe it was the intense way she absorbed everything he said or all the questions he asked.

It was marketing 101: learning how to talk to people and leaning towards their interests with them, and they’ll see you as someone they can relate to, and before the end of the conversation, any deal you wanted to strike was more than likely to be successful with this kind of approach.

He knew that well enough; he’d been through more than a normal share of life lessons, sweat, and violence.

He’d also lived in New York for several years in his teens before moving away for business school. So did she, but for a major in sports.

Olivia had been in New York for high school but returned to practice here. For the rest of the meal, they chatted about his hometown.

It should have been a relaxing, innocuous conversation, but every time she caught his eyes flicking down to her lips, every time she noticed the way his mouth curved when she said something sharp or funny, her words became slowed, like she was being distracted and didn’t want any part of it.

Roman could not deny the bulge in his pants, but he focused on the woman in front of him.

Time for test two. He reached out and scooped his dessert, placing the rich chocolate dessert onto his tongue.

---