Real Italian Charm: A BWWM Billionaire Romance

by Lacey Legend

  Chapter4

  “I’m not sure that I’ll ever be wanting to get married and have a family,” Fed finally said after a long moment or two of hesitation. “My company is my life, and with as much time as I need to devote to it….” Not seeming inclined to finish his thought, he began spearing a few slices of beef, glancing up at me with a smile. “I can definitely say that I like being part of a couple. And I’m more than willing to devote time to a romantic relationship.”

  Deciding that this all sounded okay to me, for the time being anyway, I smiled in return. “Oh, yeah? Do you have anyone in particular in mind that you might want to have a romantic relationship with? Like maybe someone from the office?”

  With a hank of his thick, dark hair falling over his forehead, Fed grinned. “Well, with the way they both acted today, definitely not Genevieve. Definitely not Ted. I was actually thinking of someone from the office who seems to be much more principled…and sweet. Not to mention absolutely beautiful. Do you know anyone like that?”

  Rolling my eyes a little, I fought a smile. “Oh, I don’t know. Let’s see how ‘sweet’ you still think I am when I’m humiliating you during our run in the park tomorrow morning.”

  While we ate our baklava sundaes, Fed asked me if I thought I might decide to stay on at the office, and I said I still wasn’t sure.

  “Maybe I’ll stay on one more week, just to see if Ted and Genevieve treat Sheila any differently.”

  “Oh, I think they’ll treat her differently…after I have a little talk with them both. I’m also going to have a little talk with human resources, to investigate what you said about Ted sexually harassing women in the office. If I find that he’s made a habit of it, he’s going to have some problems.”

  “Oh, he’s made a habit of it, all right.”

  “Well, then, he soon might be finding himself out of a job. I don’t tolerate that kind of behavior at my company.”

  Spooning a little baklava and ice cream from my dish, thinking that apparently, I wasn’t the only ‘principled’ person at the company.

  After finishing our meal, Fed said that unfortunately, he had to get back to the office, and I said that I was going to take the rest of the day off.

  “I’ll walk back with you, though, because I have to get my car anyway. Even if I didn’t, though…I might still walk back with you. Just because you’re kind of a nice lunch date.”

  With his sensuous, full lips curving in the hint of a smile, Fed got out of the booth and extended a hand to help me up. ‘You know, Jasmine, you’re kind of a nice lunch date, too. In fact, I wouldn’t even say ‘kind of,’ and I would say far beyond ‘nice.’”

  Our walk back to the Testera building was far beyond nice. We talked, joked, and laughed the entire time, and just a short distance from the building, Fed kind of casually took my hand. His own hand was deliciously firm and warm, and while we made our way around to my car in the parking lot behind the building, I thought how it was the kind of hand I could really get used to holding.

  When we came to a stop next to my car, I thanked Fed for lunch, and he said the pleasure had been all his. “I look forward to our running date tomorrow.”

  I fought a smile. “Oh, it’s an official date?”

  He smiled in return. “Yes. It’s an official date.”

  As if to underscore his romantic interest in me, he picked up my hand and pressed a somewhat lingering kiss to the back of it before letting it go. I’d never had a man do this before, and I found it wonderfully charming, old-fashioned, and sensual, all at the same time. I was starting to think that I was really going to like going on a few dates with a European man. Or maybe even more than a few, I thought, wondering exactly how often Fed made trips to Detroit.

  This particular day was the first that I’d ever seen him in the office, although I knew from Sheila that he’d made a few visits during the past year when I’d just happened to be out running errands for Ted. Before my promotion, he’d had me picking up his dry cleaning every other day, picking up lunch for everyone in the office at least a few times a week, and taking his car in for maintenance or repairs every few months.

  Once, he’d even made me chaperone an afternoon field trip that his teenage daughter’s high school history took to a museum. Ted had promised to chaperone it himself but had come into the office that morning saying he was a little hungover and just couldn’t do it.

  After he’d kissed the back of my hand, Fed asked me where we should meet the next morning, and I told him he could come up to my apartment if he wanted. Immediately realizing that maybe that could be taken in a bit of a suggestive sort of way, I cleared my throat.

  “I mean…to pick me up for our run, like at my apartment door. I didn’t mean, like….”

  Giving my throat another little clear, I didn’t finish the thought, and Fed’s eyes danced with amusement.

  “I understood what you meant. I’m glad you clarified, though, because when you did, your cheeks became the most exquisite rosy peach color. You look absolutely gorgeous when you blush, Jasmine. Although the same could be said about you even when you’re not blushing.”

  Now blushing furiously, I was sure, I fought a smile. “All right. If you don’t stop making me blush even worse right now, my face is going to burst into actual flames, and then I probably won’t be much good for running tomorrow.”

  His beautiful eyes twinkled in the bright sunlight.

  “Well, I wouldn’t want that. So, before I go, we’d better exchange phone numbers now so that you can text me your address later.”

  After we’d exchanged numbers, he picked up my hand again and pressed another kiss to the back of it before walking away with a smile, leaving me to study his broad back, narrow waist, and tight rear while he did so. During our walk, he’d taken off his suit jacket and now had it slung over one shoulder, giving me a better look at his body.

  That evening, I texted him my address, adding that I was looking forward to seeing him at nine the next morning. He responded quickly, saying that he was, too.

  That night, despite being exhausted by the morning’s dramatic events in the office, I found that I couldn’t get to sleep right away. Instead, I just tossed and turned, thinking of Fed and his handsome face and his long, lean body. I wondered if he might be good in bed.

  The truth was that it had been far too long since I’d shared a bed with a man. In fact, it had been over a year. That was when my longtime boyfriend, Malcolm and I had broken up, pretty much just because I’d started to have thoughts of marriage and family around this time, and he claimed he just wasn’t there yet. “I still have so much to do and see before I settle down, Jasmine,” he’d said over and over.

  “Fine,” I’d ultimately said. “Go see the world. But just know that when you’re done seeing it, I won’t be here waiting for you. I’ll have long since moved on.”

  I missed him. I missed his humor, his smile, and his body. I missed the way he always said my name when we made love. However, I’d meant what I’d told him. If and when he ever came crawling back to me, I wasn’t going to take him back. Not that I thought it was really likely that he’d do this, anyway. Last I’d heard, he’d moved out to Los Angeles and had started his own photography business there, quickly building a large celebrity clientele made up of actors, musicians, and athletes who hired him to photograph all their private parties and events.

  I’d even heard that he’d been hired to photograph one of the biggest rappers in the country for some spread in a music magazine. It all sounded a lot more glamorous than the photography business he’d had in Detroit, which had specialized in senior pictures, weddings, and Bat and Bar Mitzvahs.

  Malcolm was in the past, and even though I hadn’t dated anyone seriously since him, I had moved on in my life. In fact, currently, while I tossed and turned, I couldn’t stop thinking about possibly moving on with Fed. As much as I really liked him already, the only problem I could see was the fact that he seemed pretty sure about never want
ing to get married. That’s something to deal with way, way in the future, though, I told myself. If you even get that far with him. Maybe he just wants a brief fling while he’s here in town. I hoped this wasn’t the case, and I didn’t really think it was, being that he’d mentioned that he liked being part of a couple.

  However, if it did turn out that he had thoughts about being a “couple” just for the weekend or something, I wasn’t entirely sure that I’d be opposed to that. This kind of surprised me, since I’d never had a one-night-stand before, or even anything close. Although I really enjoyed sex, I tended to wait until a relationship was pretty well established before getting into that territory. I at least always waited until I’d been dating someone for a few weeks, which some of my friends considered horribly old-fashioned.

  Eventually, I fell asleep with sexy thoughts about Fed dancing around in my mind, telling myself that maybe it wouldn’t be so wrong if I accelerated things sexually just this once. After all, I’d been starved of sex for a year, I told myself. And, depending on how my running date with Fed went the following morning, I could envision myself eagerly wanting to change that.

  Chapter5

  With his long legs and powerful physique, Fed easily outran me during our first running race, and seemingly without much effort, too. When we reached a granite boulder at the west end of the park, which was our agreed-upon “finish line,” he wasn’t even breathing that hard. I was. Taking in great lungfuls of air, I leaned against the boulder, not even able to speak.

  After several moments, Fed glanced over at me, eyes twinkling, while stretching his hamstrings with his hands braced against the opposite side of the boulder. “You doing okay?”

  Still practically gasping for breath, I rolled my eyes a little, although fighting a smile at the same time. “I’m just fine. Just a little….” I paused to take in a bit more air. “Winded.”

  “Well, we can rest here for a while if you want…and we don’t even have to run anymore if you don’t want to.”

  “Oh, no…we’re definitely going to run more. I want a rematch. Best out of three races. That’s who wins today. That’s who wins and has to treat the other to dinner.”

  With his eyes still twinkling, Fed asked me if I was sure that I was up for a “rematch.”

  Still breathing hard, I nodded. “Yes. See, I’m the kind of runner who just has to warm up a bit first before I get going. I’ve always been this way. Even in junior high and high school, when I did cross country, I’d always start out a race lagging way behind. But then maybe halfway through…that’s when I’d really hit my stride. So, let’s just run two more races. Let’s just see if you can keep up with me when I kick it into high gear.”

  It turned out that Fed could keep up with me just fine. During our second race, when I did run noticeably faster, he still didn’t seem to have to try that hard to keep a few paces ahead of me. And when we reached a boulder on the opposite side of the park, he touched it several seconds before me, still not even breathing that hard.

  “I think that was it, Jasmine. You said, ‘best out of three,’ and that was the second race I won.”

  I conceded that he’d won. “I still want to run the third race, though…this one just for pride…and just because I still think I can beat you.”

  Casually leaning against the boulder with his well-muscled arms folded loosely across his chest, he cracked a little smile. “You’ve got a little competitive streak in you, don’t you?”

  Still trying to catch my breath, I smiled a little. “Yes…when it comes to running, anyway. I’ve always been pretty good at it, so I just don’t like to be beat.”

  “Well, would you like me to give myself a little ‘handicap’ the next race? I could start twenty paces behind or something if you wanted. This would ‘level the playing field’ since I’m so much taller than you.”

  Leaning against the boulder because my muscles were just crying out for rest, I gave my head a little shake. “No thank you. I want to beat you fair and square. I don’t want any kind of an advantage.”

  “But, me starting twenty paces behind wouldn’t really be giving you an ‘advantage.’ Like I said, it will just give us more of an equal start to begin with.”

  I gave my head another little shake. “Doesn’t matter. That’s just not how a race should be run. I want to win, but I want to win the right way, with us starting at the same point and finishing at the same point. After all, that’s how it’s done at all ‘real’ races, whether they be high school ones or the Olympics.”

  “All right. Fair enough. You catch your breath and we’ll go for race number three, with both of us starting from the exact same point.”

  It took at least five minutes before I fully caught my breath. By the time I finally told Fed that I was ready for our third race, I was starting to think that I needed to up my fitness level and start training harder when I ran in the park by myself. Truthfully, most of what I usually did in the park was probably much closer to “leisurely jogging” than actual running, and currently, it was showing. I definitely wasn’t in as great of shape as I was during high school and college, while Fed, however, was in such great shape that he probably could have been a fitness model.

  With his looks, he probably could have been any kind of model, really. Even just dressed in some plain white t-shirt and gray sweatpants like he was, he was still turning heads in the park. Already, he’d caught the attention of a group of women who were doing yoga on mats on the edge of a large, grassy clearing. When we’d run by them, I’d glanced over just long enough to see many of the women with their faces turned toward Fed, clearly watching him, despite the fact that their yoga instructor seemed to be explaining something.

  During our third race, I ran the hardest I had yet, completely catching up to Fed maybe halfway across the mile-long stretch between the two boulders. However, we didn’t run shoulder-to-shoulder very long. Fed soon accelerated, leaving me to eat his dust while he sped ahead. I didn’t slow, though, determined to keep up as much as I could so that if he won yet again, it wasn’t going to be by much.

  He ended up reaching the boulder maybe half a minute before I did, and once again, I found him just casually standing against it, not even breathing very hard. I, however, was just about completely spent from exertion, leaning against the boulder with my lungs heaving. Several moments went by before I was even able to say two words to Fed.

  “Thank you.”

  Wearing a slightly amused expression, he looked at me quizzically. “’Thank you’ for what? For beating you again?”

  “No. For not just letting me win. I’ve had some boyfriends in the past that let me win, not even really bothering to hide what they were doing, and I always found it pretty insulting. Thank you for not doing that.”

  With his mouth slowly curving in a faint smile, he scooted a little closer to me, mirroring my pose of leaning against the boulder. “Of course. Something just told me that you might not take too kindly to someone just letting you win, so I didn’t even think about it. I am thinking about something else now, though.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Well, I’m thinking about what you just said a second ago. You said, ‘I’ve had some boyfriends in the past that let me win,’ and then you thanked me for not doing that. So, this has me wondering if you’re starting to see me in a ‘boyfriend’ sort of way.”

  Still trying to catch my breath, I fought a smile. “Maybe. I’m starting to see you as ‘definite possible boyfriend,’ anyway. Why are you curious, though? Are you hoping that I’m starting to see you in a ‘boyfriend’ sort of way?”

  He snorted, smiling little. “I think I started hoping that the first second I set eyes on you.”

  “So…you’re definitely looking for a relationship, then, right? And not just something brief while you’re in town for the weekend?”

  I was still wondering about this.

  Fed said that he was indeed definitely looking for a relationship. “I’ve never
really been into ‘brief weekend things.’”

  “Me, neither.”

  “Well, I’m glad we have this in common. As far as how long I’m going to be in town during this particular trip, it’s going to be for longer than just the weekend. I’ll be staying until Wednesday afternoon, actually, when I finish up a few days of meetings with local investors. After that, I’ll be heading to Paris for more investor meetings, but…maybe it won’t be too long before I find myself back in Detroit again.”

  I gave him a little smile. “I hope it isn’t. After all, locals say you haven’t really experienced the city until you’ve been to at least ten Coney Islands.”

  Fed gave me a little smile in return. “Well, then, I’ll probably have to make pretty frequent trips back here.”

  I told him that I really liked the sound of that.

  We soon left the park and strolled the couple of blocks back to my apartment, which was in a nice, fairly high-rent neighborhood that I could barely afford. Even still, when he’d come up to my apartment door to pick me up, I was pretty sure that Fed probably didn’t find the eight-story building that impressive. It wasn’t a building that billionaires lived in; that was for sure. Instead, it was the type of building where professional people just starting out in their careers lived. Nonetheless, if he wasn’t used to being in such “humble” places, Fed hadn’t shown it, instead just greeting me with a big smile the moment I’d opened the door.

  We enjoyed our stroll back to my place in the sunshine, and when we reached the building, Fed said he’d walk me up to my apartment if I wanted.

  I thanked him and said I’d like that. “Would you like to stay for breakfast, too? I make a pretty mean Spanish omelet. We could be eating in about ten minutes.”

  Walking through the building’s foyer by the side, Fed winced, stifling a groan. “I’d love to have breakfast with you…I’m afraid I can’t, though. I’m supposed to be meeting one of my biggest investors for a round of golf and then lunch in West Bloomfield in about an hour. And by the time I get showered and dressed….”