He needed to promote her. Even if she was only here for the year, the woman’s intelligence and insight deserved more responsibility and more money. “So what do you suggest?”
Gianna shrugged. “Get the East Coast trainer out to the West Coast and train the trainers more effectively,” she replied as if that were the most obvious answer.
Which it was and he’d already made a note to do that. For the next hour, he snapped out questions for her and she answered them without hesitation and with statistics or data to back up her suggestions. She’d been hired to work in the financial department under Brant’s chief financial officer, but the information she provided him was even better than what his CFO, Ken, had provided just yesterday. That man only presented the raw numbers, never the analysis behind those numbers. Ken was good, but Gianna was better. Ken’s analysis wasn’t as thorough, nor could he spout the data off the top of his head as Gianna could.
Todd, his assistant, knocked on the door, interrupting their conversation that was both enlightening and fascinating.
“What is it?” Brant snapped, ignoring the way Todd cringed slightly.
“I apologize for interrupting, sir, but your first meeting of the morning has convened.
Brant glanced at the computer monitor. Sure enough, there was a flashing message indicating that he was late for his first meeting. Unfortunately, his lack of focus was normal whenever Gianna was around. He knew that he should get back on schedule.
Even so, he focused his attention on the woman sitting in front of him. Her brown eyes flashed defiance as her dark curls danced around her head, her whole body vibrating with energy. What was it about Gianna that made him so…!
The word ‘crazy’ popped into his mind, but as he studied her dark eyes that dared him to tell her she’d gotten anything wrong during their hour-plus conversation. And damn it, he really wanted to! He wanted to tell her to get the hell out of his office and his company. He wanted to order her back to Italy where her sense of vibrancy and beauty belonged.
Gianna was a complication in his life that he didn’t need or want. He absolutely refused to give her enough power over him by admitting that she made him crazy. So what if he looked forward to seeing her every damn morning? And there was no way he’d admit to anyone else that he enjoyed just looking at her, talking with her. Listening to her.
Seeing her smile.
It made absolutely no sense. He didn’t trust her, he didn’t like her and he definitely didn’t think she was beautiful. Even though she was. Stunningly beautiful! And damn, he hated the way her full lips softened, as if she might be thinking about kissing him as often as he thought about kissing her.
Kissing?
Wait. Huh?! What the hell? He never thought about kissing the damn woman! He wanted her gone! Out of his life!
And yet, his eyes dropped to those soft lips again, wondering if she would vibrate with the same kind of energy if he made love to her.
“Sir?”
Brant looked at his assistant, irritated that his concentration on Gianna’s lips had been interrupted. “What?”
“Your meeting,” The feisty brunette admonished. That’s when Gianna stood up and Brant braced himself for the impact of her enticing figure on his body. Gianna was lush in the most lushest of ways. And he blamed Gianna for his lack of mental acuity because she shifted to the left, bending ever so slightly and Brant just sat there watching her, his body tensing for a brief glimpse of her cleavage.
Yeah, he’d been reduced to this, he thought. Brant considered admonishing himself for looking, but Gianna’s full, incredibly full, round breasts were…beautiful. And lush. There really was no other way to describe her. Tiny waist, full hips and breasts that would be more than a handful.
She was too short, he told himself. At several inches over six feet, Brant preferred the women in his life to be tall and sultry, with more subtle curves. He liked athletic women, he reminded himself. Looking at Gianna’s full breasts, he wondered if she ever played any kind of sports. She had the kind of body men drool over, watch and stare at longingly.
Exactly as he was doing now.
Damn, she was also smart and brilliant and funny. He needed to treat her with respect.