Free His Rules: Ludlow Nights - Book1 (A Ludlow Nights Romance) by CC MacKenzie Page A

Danni happy and Nico happy."
    The rest of the meal passed without incident and she noticed that her friends appeared to have paired off with the footballers.
    Danni and Chris were chatting quietly. Chris, nudging six foot, wasn't as tall as his friends, he was fair skinned with dirty blonde hair and shy big brown eyes. And he appeared a nice and genuine guy. Anastacia frowned when she saw Danni pick up her cell to check a message, go pale, and then switch off her phone. And what was up with that? Danni never, ever, switched off her phone.
    Meanwhile, T.C. and Fabio were looking at each other with googly eyes. And Anastacia wondered how that relationship might pan out since T.C. was not over fond of men who were too smooth and too charming. Two characteristics that it appeared Fabio had in spades.
    "Still hungry?" Olivier murmured in her ear. His deep voice made her whole system go on a state of high alert. And all thoughts of her friends faded away.
    She looked down at her empty plate and had the grace to blush right to the roots of her curly hair. And she noticed that he noticed the heat in her cheeks, too. He was studying her as if he was both intensely fascinated by her and fiercely attracted. Both of which set alarm bells ringing nice and loud in her brain.
    This was so not good.
    She'd had a taste of working with a man who'd found her fascinating and attractive before. The love affair had not ended well. And she'd no intention of repeating the experience. It was important to nip this thing, or whatever it was between them, in the bud once and for all. She also wanted to nip in the bud the jumpy nerves she had dancing in her belly every time she was around this man. So she pinned her very best smile on her face as she peered up into his, patted his hand and told herself to keep it all nice and friendly.
    "Look, Olivier. You're a nice guy. I get that. But I'm pretty sure I made myself clear last night. Please believe I'm not stringing you along or trying to be cute or playing hard to get. I do not want or need a relationship with you while we're working together. It's nothing personal."
    His dark eyes went watchful as they studied hers.
    He nodded when he saw that she was deadly serious and his eyes never left hers.
    " Si , but that does not mean that we cannot be friends?"
    His hand covered hers and his thumb rubbed around and around in a soothing motion.
    Unfortunately his touch did anything but soothe.
    She slid her hand from his to reach for her wine and all the while his eyes held hers.
    "What do you mean by friends? Friends might cover many things I'm not prepared to give, like friends with benefits."
    That wide grin flashed and so did the dimple.
    God, he was absolutely gorgeous.
    "You do not trust me, Ana?"
    Did she?
    Since the answer to the question wasn't forthcoming, she deflected.
    "I don't know you well enough to trust you, Oli ," she said, using his nickname in retaliation for him using hers. Only people very close to her got away with calling her Ana. In her professional life she was known as Anastacia Morgan, and she made sure anyone who tried to use her moniker, in an attempt to intimidate or provoke, were shot down without mercy. "And that's Anastacia to you. Make sure you use it, especially when we're working."
    He took the hit right on the chin.
    His smile flashed, dimple, too.
    "More rules, Anastacia?"
    "You betcha. We're keeping this on a strictly professional footing, Olivier. Better get used to it."
    He nodded, but all the while his gaze studied her hot face, the way her foot tap, tap, tapped under the table.
    "I seem to remember telling you that I only play by my rules," he said now in something like an Italian purr that made her teeth ache.
    Why wasn't she surprised he was challenging her?
    And that was even before they'd begun working together.
    The sudden energy dip told her that she was tired and it was past time for her to leave.
    She refused to get into a debate of his idea of his rules ,