"Whoa! Steady there Tanya." His smile was half hidden in the semi- darkness of his office. "What's gotten into you?"

She looked up. "I'm sorry. Guess I am a little distracted."

"Because of this case study?" He raised an eyebrow.

She nodded absently as she felt him usher her out as always, with one hand on the small of her back and her bag dangling from his arm.

She barely registered when she climbed in the car. Ilario had occasionally dropped her home in the last one month. Tanya started taking notice of her surroundings as instead of taking the exit for her apartment, Ilario drove the powerful car straight, mingling into the main traffic.

"Where are we going?"

He smiled at her from across the driver's seat. The smile hit her full, as always. Ilario was a very handsome man, it was all she could do to stop her hands from reaching out and run her fingers from tracing that maddeningly sexy dimple.

He is engaged to another woman.

"I seemed to have bummed you. So, I feel it is my duty to lift your spirits too." Ilario swerved at the next exit and stopped in a quiet neighbourhood. Loud music filtered out from the building in front her.

He exited the car and went around to open the door for her. Extending his arm, he grinned at her, "Shall we?"

Tanya was stunned. Never in a million years, would she have envisaged Ilario De Russo, her grumpy boss would take her to a nightclub. In Milan!

Suddenly, she panicked. "Hayo rabba!" She exclaimed, "But I am not dressed to party."

"Don't worry." He assured her. Tired of waiting for her, he tugged on her hand so she had no choice but to leave the vehicle. "You will do fine."

"But..."

"No buts." There was something strange in his dark gaze which made Tanya shiver, as his eyes swept from the top of her mussed hair to her modestly styled office casual clothes and flats.

"In fact," He murmured, "You will do just fine."

Heat suffused her fair complexion as he closed warm fingers around hers suddenly shaky ones and walked towards the door.

Clearly, Ilario was a frequent in this place as he nodded at the couple of bouncers standing outside the club.

Once she got inside though, it was nothing like outside. The place was jam packed with wall to wall crowd swaying to the music under the glittering lights. The club was enormous which hadn't been very obvious from the outside.

Ilario maintained a firm hold on her arm as he guided her through the milieu to a relatively less crowded corner.

They sat themselves down at a counter with deep red leather sofa, wide enough to seat at least eight people. Tanya wondered why Ilario chose such a setting. Was he expecting company tonight?

"How do you like this place?" Ilario asked her. It was noisy but he was sitting quite close to her so she had no trouble hearing him.

Maybe he is sitting too close?

Tanya scooched back a little to put distance between her and this utterly attractive male who was her boss. She tried to do it inconspicuously so he wouldn't notice. But, she wasn't very successful.

His expression turned cool. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"Umm, no, no." Tanya stammered as she looked up and accidentally clashed with those dark brooding eyes.

He has really beautiful eyes. Mesmerising!

She caught herself before she could think of some more inappropriate things about her boss, her cheeks turning pink involuntarily. She chanced a glance at him from behind her eyelashes.

He had a curiously amused look on his face, the corner of his lips upturned a little.

Ilario sat lean and lithe in the seat beside her, still a little too close for her mind to stop from conjuring up errant thoughts. There wasn't an extra ounce of flesh on him anywhere, healthy skin glowing even in the semi darkness under the flashy lights.

He exuded a daunting power, and it wasn't just courtesy of the muscled firmness of his body stretching that formal white shirt across his torso.

A long flute of something sparkly was set down in front of them. He offered her one and she sipped at it gratefully. The drink was cool and refreshing.

When did he even order?

"What is it?" she enquired.

"It's just a spritzer." He smiled, his dimples showing once again. "Youwant to dance?"