“And I start to say that I’m not lying now, but I am, so that would be a lie.”

“I elbow him. “You’re such a pig.”He grins. “I’m not a pig, I’m a guy—which, now that I think about it, is pretty much the same thing. Point taken.”

“She gets to the bottom of the stairs, and I lift her off the ground and kiss her. As I lower her back to her feet she says, ‘Mmm, nice. That’s gonna score you some points with the parents.’ I look into the stands and see her parents standing there, slack-jawed, Dad with a camera perched, forgotten, in his hand. And Grandpa is laughing. ‘So what’s the plan?’ ‘I’m working on it. But I’m pretty sure it doesn’t include molesting me in front of them.”

“We could work on our English outline," I say and almost can't contain the chuckle."Really? That's your idea of a hot date?""I'm sorry, I wasn't aware we were on a 'hot date'" And this time I can't contain the chuckle when she cringes. "So, how hot would you like it? I'm capable of all levels of hotness, from Luc-warm to - and I'm being literal here - hotter than Hell.”

“You speak Italian," she says, unconvinced."Si.""Say something." "Sii la mia schiava d'amore," I purr.Her expression is guarded. "What did you say?" An amuse smile pulls at my lips. "I'll never tell." Somehow I don't think she'd agree to be my love slave anyway.”

“Whoa! I knew you were hot, but Jesus!’ she says, and I wonder why she things He has anything to do with it.”

“What is it?”“Well, how it works is you take the box out of my hand and open it,” I say with a grin.”