The Bouquet List by Barbara Deleo

overseas, faced difficult times, then overcame them, I realized I had the power to live my own life.”
    He was nodding slowly. “The purple hair. Taking time off your studies. You’re trying something new.”
    He smiled as if he completely understood what she meant, and the positive tone to his voice made her heart skip.
    “Yes, and the nose stud, and a whole lot of other things that I’ve always been too careful to try. I’ve made a list of everything I’ve promised to do for myself, and you’re on there too.”
    …
    He put down his fork and tried to hide his shock at what she’d just said. “You mean working with me on the restaurant renovation? I thought you only decided to do it when your mother went back to Greece.”
    She took another drink, but a rose tint blossomed on her cheeks and it was all at once sexy and sweet. “No, I mean seducing you. That was on my list.”
    He stopped moving…and blinking. In fact, he had to remind himself to take another breath.
    Her dark brown eyes were fixed on him. “Oh.” He put his fork on the plate and then carefully lined it up with his knife. “That’s not what I was expecting.”
    “Because you don’t find me attractive?”
    “Well, no, I mean yes, it’s…” He cleared his throat. He couldn’t tell her how he’d felt that first time he saw her, or what it was like sitting here with her now with her fresh face and her aura of fun. “We haven’t seen each other in years, Yasmin. I only really remember you as a little kid, and now your dad’s… Your father has asked me to be his project manager for this. He told me to keep…”
    She spoke more forcefully. “Dad told you to keep what?”
    He picked up his napkin, wiped his hands, then put it down again. “Your dad called me from the airport and asked me to keep an eye on you while he and your mother weren’t here.”
    Yasmin sighed hard. “I guess looking after myself for the last five years, working halfway across the world, and being self-sufficient and successful all happened by accident.”
    He rested his arms on the table. “Should I be worried about this list? That you’re going to start doing a whole lot of things that are out of character?” The glow on her cheeks suggested that’s exactly what she would do.
    “The things I want to do now aren’t out of character for me, they’re simply not what people expect. If I hadn’t made the commitment to go after the things I really wanted in my life, then I wouldn’t have dreamed of saying these things. I wouldn’t have had the courage. But the fact is I don’t want to live that way anymore. I’m going to do what I want rather than what is expected of me, go after the things I didn’t have the confidence to ask for. That includes you.”
    Lane kept his eyes fixed on Yasmin’s face. Listening to her explain in well-thought-out and logical detail why he should let himself be seduced by her would have had any other guy in this room on the edge of his seat or halfway out the door with her hand in his. She was beautiful and intelligent, and had a laugh that made people turn around and smile. But he wasn’t a regular guy, and the sooner she understood that, the better.
    For one thing, he didn’t want a relationship with anyone right now. He was about to build a brand-new restaurant in one of the most prestigious hotel chains in the world, he kept antisocial hours, and he didn’t need any distractions.
    Not only that, when there had been no one else to turn to as a kid, when Lane had been traded back and forth between his parents like a bad debt, he’d come to understand that you made only a few real friends like Nick Katsalos in your life. To say that Nick had saved his sanity when they were growing up might sound like the script from a soap opera, but it was true. Lane would do anything for Nick and his family.
    Lane was the guy who’d been charged by Mano Katsalos to keep an eye on his daughter until he got back. Mano was his best