Luca kicked his briefcase out of the way to catch her. Her chin collided smartly with his chest.

“Ow!” She reached for her jaw with a grimace.

“Are you okay?” He’d be lying if he didn’t admit he liked the way her heart was pounding against his chest. His own heart rate accelerated in response.

“Everything but my pride,” she grumbled, trying to stand upright.

He found himself reluctant to let her go. He should be asking what it was she needed to tell him so urgently, but all he could think of was how warm and soft she felt and how good her perfume smelled. Something faint and flowery.

Lord help him, but he was attracted to this capricious maddening woman. Seriously attracted! His fingers tightened on her upper arms.

“You can let me go now.” Her voice sounded breathless and uncertain as she gripped his shoulders to regain her footing.

His own breathing became uneven as her slender fingers tightened on his suit fabric. He placed his hands on her waist to steady her and made the gigantic mistake of glancing down at her while doing so. One glimpse of her parted lips only inches from his own and her blue eyes regarding him with such dazed absorption and all rational thought escaped him.

He wasn’t sure who made the first move. All he knew is his mouth found hers and his brain nearly exploded from the pleasure of finally getting his first taste of her. She tasted exactly like he expected, both tantalizing and addicting but sweeter. Far sweeter.

Two weeks of pent up anger and frustration erupted inside him, but he found himself tamping down on it — hard. Her overly thin frame was too fragile, too delicate for mauling. He found himself cradling her against him, savoring every sip of her berry flavored lip gloss, warmth, and soft curves like a man dying of thirst.

Her response was earth-shattering. She kissed him back, twining her arms around his neck and clinging to him like a lifeline. It was insane what was happening between them. He hadn’t felt this out of control since high school. Make that junior high. Every touch, every small sound she made drove him closer to the brink of delirium.

He was supposed to be firing her. Instead, his crazed brain was protesting all the reasons he wanted to keep her in his life. He wanted to date her, wanted to get to know her better, wanted to be with her more than he’d ever wanted to be with another woman. He was a man accustomed to pursing and getting what he wanted; but with Jacey, he wasn’t sure of anything. Wasn’t sure what he wanted from her, had no earthly idea why she’d truly come to work for him, and had no real grasp of what she ultimately wanted from him. It was unsettling to be this unsure of where he stood with her.

Regardless, what was happening between them right now wasn’t supposed to be happening. Certainly not with her of all people. Why then did it feel so good to have her in his arms? So right?

“You drive me crazy,” he muttered against her lips. His hands stole up the small of her back, urging her closer. When the elevator stopped at his office, he blindly reached over and slapped the button to temporarily lock them in until he could reclaim his tenuous hold on his sanity.

“Me?” she gasped, pulling back a fraction and tipping her face up to stare at him in incredulity. “You’re the one who’s been acting like an insufferable beast all week!”

“While you’ve tried every second of every day to crawl under my skin,” he shot back, rotating with her until her shoulders were pressed against the wall of the elevator. “Admit it already.”

“Fine! But it’s only because you make me so angry.” This time he was very sure she made the first move. With a sound of frustration and a glare that would melt the paint off his Porsche, she tugged his head back down to hers.

Their next kiss was more intense, each of them demanding answers the other wasn’t yet prepared to give.

He abruptly broke off the kiss and pushed away from her, slapping a hand against the wall panel. The elevator doors slid open, revealing his empty office.

“Mr. Calcagni,” she whispered, sounding appalled. “I, er…”

He was equally appalled and unsettled about what had just happened between them, but her insistence on using his last name afterwards was utterly ludicrous. “Luca,” he corrected harshly. They were well beyond using titles at this point.

“Luca,” she choked.

“What now, Jacey?” He rounded on her, needing to look into her eyes, to try to make some sense out of what had transpired, and to beg her forgiveness for turning into such an animal around her. He’d never before behaved so unprofessionally with another employee.

“We should talk about this.”

Yes. They most certainly did. He reached out to cup her face and froze when hot tears rolled over his fingers and trailed down the back of his hand.

“Talk to me, chica!” Shocked, he tipped up her emotion-drenched face to his. “Did I hurt you in any way? Please assure me—”

“No! Your kisses were wonderful.” But the sob in her voice wasn’t at all reassuring. “I’m sorry.” She sounded like she was cracking from the inside out. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

He watched in agony as her face crumpled. Feeling helpless, he held her while she wept. Every tear she shed, every gasping breath she took weighed on his conscious. He’d spent the past couple of weeks trying to break her, but this? This is not what he wanted. Lord have mercy! It was the exact opposite of what he wanted.

He’d been too hard on her. Pushed her in ways he’d never pushed another employee before and for what? To vent his own anger and assuage his own grief and guilt? She was his brother’s widow, which meant she was grieving, too. She deserved better, so much better than the way he’d treated her. He’d spend the rest of his days if that’s what it took to make it up to her. The problem was he had no idea what to do to mend the long stretch of broken fence between them, where to even start.

He stroked his fingers through her hair and massaged the back of her head. “I’ll do anything, princesa,” he murmured against his temple. “Anything you ask to make this right. Just tell me what you want.”

At the moment, he realized there was nothing in the world he wouldn’t do to bring back the sassy, vibrant version of her. No effort or expense would be too much.

“If you don’t want to work for me any more, I’ll transfer you to another department.” His fingers tightened in her hair. “I promise to give you a glowing recommendation for any job at Genesis you want.”

She raised her head at last, and her puffy, tear-streaked cheeks ripped his heart open all over again. “That’s been your go-to solution for everything lately, hasn’t it? To get rid of me.”

Maybe, but that’s not what I said, and it’s most definitely not what I meant. “No, I—” he protested.

She gripped two handfuls of his much-wrinkled shirt. “You’re a lot of things, Luca Calcagni, and not all of them are nice, but I never pegged you for a quitter. And I sure as heck am not one. Surely, you’ve figured that out by now.”

“Okay, then.” Her swing in emotions was starting to give him whiplash. He lowered his arms to give her space but kept her hands clasped tightly in his. “Tell me, princesa. What do you want from me?”

Say you want to be with me. There would be the devil to pay with his family for jumping fence like this, but he was willing to pay the price. Whatever price it took to keep Jacey in his life. She was his now. Yes, it was way too soon after his brother’s death. Yes, he needed to give her more time to grieve properly, but someday soon she would be his.

“Nothing has changed,” Jacey said firmly, letting go of his shirt and stepping away from him.

Nothing? “What!” He was astounded. She’d responded to his kisses and kissed him back. He was sure of it. Of course, things had changed! Everything in his world had changed!

She moved to stand behind her desk, not quite meeting his gaze. “You offered me an apprenticeship, and I accepted. That’s what I want from you. To continue being your apprentice. No more, no less.”

“Too late,” he growled. “You’re a lot more than my apprentice now. If you didn’t want to be, you should have considered that a little more carefully before you kissed me.”

The minx actually shrugged at him. Shrugged! “Listen, Mr. Calcagni.” The gaze she raised to his was still red-rimmed, but her expression was unreadable.

No way! They were back to surnames now? After what they’d just shared? Anger seared through his internal organs.

“I’m sorry that I haven’t been myself lately. I’ve been ill and grieving, exhausted and overly emotional. Not to mention worked to death by an impossible-to-please, slave-driving—“

“I hear you,” he said with deadly calm, snatching up his briefcase. “Loud and clear.” He wanted to go crawl in a hole somewhere like an injured dog to lick his wounds. He needed time to process her rejection. It made little sense. She’d enjoyed his kisses as much as he’d enjoyed hers, and she’d melted all over him when she cried, letting him hold her and comfort her like a real boyfriend. Lord help him, but he would give her everything, the whole world if she’d let him!

They glared at each other in heated silence for several long moments. She smoothed her hair and skirts and drew a deep breath, eyeing him defiantly.

She apparently meant what she said. He shook his head in disbelief. You’re a heartless tease, Jacey Maddox! His heart felt cold, and he was back to wanting to strangle her.

“You promised me no coddling,” she reminded softly. “And I’m holding you to it.” She tilted her head at him. “It’s just my opinion, something I know you’ve never welcomed, but you might want to change before your next meeting. You look all wrinkly and…” She let her words dwindle.

“Not another word,” he snarled and headed for the restroom. He knew how he looked, like he’d been cutting the fool with his personal assistant. Lucky for him, he kept a spare suit in his locker, because he didn’t have time to drive home and change before his next meeting.

Five minutes later, he exited the restroom in a fresh shirt, suit, and tie. Without looking her way, he made a straight line for the elevator and disappeared.