Page 49 of Unbuttoning Her Brooding Boss

‘Welcome, Mr Wolfe.’ Themaitre d’opened the door for them. ‘We’re thrilled to have you here today.’

Jack chuckled when he saw Stephanie almost grinding her teeth as the man ever so obsequiously led them to the private table he’d booked.

‘You don’t like it?’ he asked her, as soon as the man was out of earshot.

‘They all know who you are. They’re all expecting you. They’re all bowing and scraping and bending over backwards to do anything you want...’ She trailed off as she looked across the table at him.

And suddenly she blushed furiously.

She was thinking about bending over backwards.

He laughed and reached out to take her hand.

‘You make your money by selling tips to the independent traveller. The kind who is unafraid to doss down in a roach-infested hostel. Butyouonly stay in hotels and luxury retreats. Five stars or more. And you dine at fine French restaurants.’ She’d recovered enough to try to tease him. ‘You’re a fraud.’

‘I thought I was keeping you in the manner to which you are accustomed?’ He shrugged. ‘Only the best for Steffi Leigh. The most refined... “Blogalicious” and all that.’ But he suspected shewasn’taccustomed. And now his curiosity about her was like a white-hot iron brand, burning its mark deeper into his skin. Because the whole Steffi Leigh scenario didn’t quite add up.

Her enthusiasm for everything was genuine, but it was almost a naïveté—as if she couldn’t believe her luck at being here. Maybe he’d got a little jaded with all the travel, and hadn’t seen it with fresh eyes in a while, but it was as if she’d been locked away and was breathing clear air for the first time in months.

And then there were those moments when she looked wary, catching her lip. As if she was afraid she was about to say something she shouldn’t. He’d known that look all his life—when someone was keeping something back from him.

His parents had never, ever discussed his birth father. They’d told him they knew very little. That his birth mother had never wanted to talk about it. That they didn’t even know his name.

But he knew that wasn’t all they knew. They knew more—they just didn’t want to tell him.

Stephanie didn’t answer him now either, choosing to bury her nose in the menu instead. He gave her a few minutes and then asked which dishes she was mentally debating over.

‘All of them...’ she sighed.

‘Really?’ He waved and called the waitress over. ‘We’re going to do a banquet, if you don’t mind. One of everything.’

‘Jack—’ Stephanie interrupted, sounding scandalised. ‘We can’t do that.’

‘Sure you can.’ The waitress smiled at Jack, her eyes glued to him. ‘Sampler sizes of everything?’

‘That would be perfect.’ He smiled back and shot Stephanie a triumphant glance.

‘She’d bend over backwards too...’ Stephanie muttered beneath her breath as the woman walked away.

‘You think?’ He laughed. ‘Too bad. I only wantyou.Backwards. Frontwards. Sideways. Any way. Every way.’

He looked at her and realised it was the truest thing.

He got as much pleasure out of watching her enjoy the meal as he did in tasting it himself. A few bites of each delicious dish. He laughed at her scolding him for such wastage.

‘You’re someone who can do anything,’ she mused eventually, sitting back in her chair and gazing at a beautiful painting that hung on the wall near them. ‘Is this what it’s like for you all the time?’

‘Hmm?’

‘You just travel about, looking at the most amazing things, eating the most amazing things... having the best time ever.’

His heart warmed—she was having the best time ever. So was he.

‘It’s never like this,’ he said honestly. ‘Not usually as relaxed...it’s busier. If I’m travelling it’s usually to meet up with a few of the writers. Check out the places we’ve been investing in bricks and mortar. There are meetings. I like to do some spot fact-checking... It’s busy. I don’t get to relax all that much. There’s always something to think about. Some email to answer or a person to see.’

‘But you’re relaxed now?’

He nodded.

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