Page 25 of Seduced By the Enemy

It was Salvatore’s turn to stall, as he took a bite of his own burger then placed it onto the plate as he finished chewing. “I enjoy the feeling of success that comes from having achieved my aim. I like results; I like knowing I’m responsible.”

“So what exactly do you do, anyway?” she pushed, even when she knew it was getting close to breaking one of their rules. They weren’t really supposed to be getting to know each other on a personal level. By the same token, there was no harm in it, so long as they both kept their focus on what they were doing. She was more than capable of having conversations like this and still walking away in a month’s time.

“I’m in charge of group Business Development, and on the side, I run my own venture capital firm.”

Her brows raised. “So basically, you’ve got your hands more than full.”

“That’s what I was thinking an hour ago,” he teased, so her insides squelched with awareness and her heart thumped so hard it felt like a hammer throbbing against her ribs.

“I’m serious,” she said, even as a smile tugged at her lips. “You’re a busy boy.”

“Cara,I left boyhood behind a long time ago.”

She laughed. “You’re hardly an old man.”

He grinned.

“Which do you prefer?”

He frowned. “I don’t follow.”

“Working with your family, or your own business?”

“I don’t think anyone’s ever asked me that.”

“Do you generally make a habit of sticking around long enough to be asked?”

“Touché.”

“But true?”

He laughed. “Possibly.”

His laugh turned her fast-thumping heart into a tremble, and her pulse into a gushing tsunami.

“So?” she prompted, after he hadn’t answered. “Which one?”

“Both, for different reasons.”

“Such a diplomatic answer. What’s the matter? Are you afraid I’m going to sell whatever you say to the papers? Out you for being disloyal to your family if you say you like your own work better?”

“You and I crossed the line of disloyalty back in Moricosia. There’s nothing you could say about me that I couldn’t say back to you.” It wasn’t a threat, so much as a statement of fact, and yet the hint of a shiver ran the length of her spine. Because he’d soeasily invoked the visage of what was at stake for them—of how necessary it was for them to keep this secret.

“I’m not interested because I want to sell your secrets. I’m interested because I’m interested.”

“In me?” he asked, teasing again, in that tongue in cheek way, so it was easy to roll her eyes and act like it was all some big joke. When the truth was, she was genuinely interested in him. By him.

“Could you think of any more elaborate ways to dodge the question?”

He finished his burger and wiped his hands on one of the napkins. “I like working with my family. Contrary to what you’ve been brainwashed into believing?—,”

“Brainwashed?” she said, brows arched.

He continued, but with a dip of his head to acknowledge her interjection. “They’re some of the best people I’ve ever known, and we’re a good team. You might think it would be hard, to have so many decision makers in the room, but there’s something about having grown up together, and the fact we’re working towards a common goal, that just makes it work.”

“I can understand that. It’s the same with us. I mean, sometimes my brothers drive me absolutely crazy, but at the same time, we spark off each other organically. I know what they’re thinking and I know that they’re the two people on earth who would literally drop everything and come help me out, if I needed it.”

His eyes narrowed, though, in a way that made her suspect he was far less comfortable hearing about her family than she was his.

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