“Thanks,” she said to Leo as they walked back to his car. “That was fun.”
“I’m glad you thought so. Best of all, you’ve earned a drink.”
They headed back downtown, followed by Jürgen who’d been discreetly tailing them all day. “Doesn’t he mind?” Skye asked, turning around to watch as Jürgen’s Range Rover crossed two lanes to slide in behind Leo’s Porsche.
“Mind? No. It’s his job. He’s a friend, yes, but he’s responsible for my safety. Normally, he’d be in the car with me. Today though....”
“I guess I … should be flattered. He obviously doesn’t … think that I’m out to kill you.”
Leo shot her a quick grin. “When we first came back to the States, that remained an open question.”
“Rightfully so,” she said with a teasing grin.
“But not anymore?”
“No,” she said, meeting his eyes. “Not anymore.” They shared a smile before the light changed, and he inched forward in the downtown traffic. “I’m very glad to hear it.”
She stayed silent as he left the car with the valet at the Driskill. They walked the short distance from the hotel to The Fix, with Jürgen pacing them from about half a block behind.
“You know,” she said, trying to sound casual, “that really was fun. You should take Talia to the zoo. Just don’t make her read the plaques, and it could be a fabulous date.”
He paused on the sidewalk in front of The Fix, turning to face her directly. “Have you ever gone there with Bart?”
She shook her head. He nodded, then held the door open for her. They walked in silence until they were settled at a two top near the stage where a local band was playing country music. Fortunately, they weren’t too loud, and it was easy to talk. “I owe you an apology,” Leo said as soon as he’d ordered Loaded Coronas for both of them.
“You do? What for?”
His shoulders rose and fell as he sighed. Then he laid his hand on top of hers. “For letting you have the wrong impression. Talia’s part of my publicity team.”
“Oh.” She pulled her hand away, suddenly all too aware of the brush of skin against skin. She put her hands in her lap and twisted her fingers together. “Well, you should be careful.” She looked everywhere but directly at him. “Sleeping with someone on your team is the kind of thing that will draw bad press.”
He nodded slowly. “True, but I should have been more clear. I’m not sleeping with her. She was wearing my shirt because she spilled coffee all over her blouse. I lent it to her so that we could have it washed while she went back to her apartment. She’s not staying at the Driskill. She actually has family in town.”
“Oh. Then why did you—?”
“I let you think that we were together because...”
She frowned as he trailed off. “Because why?”
He drew a noisy breath. “Because I knew it would add distance between us.”
“Oh.” She stiffened. “You want distance.”
“No.” He leaned forward. “No, I really don’t. But I also didn’t want to hurt you again, and that was before I knew you were engaged.”
“Right. Of course.” She cleared her throat. “Well, that’s really sweet of you to protect me.” She kept her hands tightly into her lap, realizing after a minute, that she was squeezing them so tightly that she was at risk of cutting off circulation to her fingers.
“Later, it didn’t seem important to tell you. After all, you’re with Bart, so what did it matter? He seems like a nice guy, by the way. I’m happy for you.”
“Yeah. He’s one of the good ones.” She flashed a bright smile, as if she was in the best relationship ever. But she couldn’t sustain it.
“Skye?”
She sighed. “Look, he is nice. He’s a great guy. But he’s not mine.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I guess we think alike,” she said. “He’s a friend from law school. And he’s my roommate while his place is being remodeled. But there’s nothing between us. There never has been.”
“Well.” Leo sat back, his head slightly cocked. “Isn’t that interesting information?”
“Is it?”
He met her eyes, and she saw the depths of heat and longing there.
“Yes, Skye. I think it is.”
Chapter Fourteen
“A daiquiri?” Skye asked an hour later when she returned from the ladies’ room. “What about another loaded Corona?”
Leo shook his head. “We’ve moved from drinking for pleasure to drinking as part of your instruction. Not that watching you suck on a straw won’t be pleasurable for me...”
Skye rolled her eyes. “You want me to do oral motor exercises?”
“I can think of a lot of things I’d like you to do that are oral.”
Skye had just drawn a sip of daiquiri through the straw, immediately started to laugh, then almost ended up choking. She put her hand up to stop Leo from coming to her side of the table, then shot him a narrow-eyed glance. “Are you flirting, Your Highness?”
“I might be. Now that we’ve cleared the air about girlfriends and fiancés.” He grimaced. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t flirt.”
She bit her lower lip, knowing she should stay silent. But instead she said, “It’s okay. I kind of like it.”
“Kind of?”
“I like it,” she said definitively. “And I know—I know it’s not going … anywhere. I … see the whole big picture. I may not sound like it, but I’m … actually pretty smart.”
“Don’t do that.” His voice had gone hard, and she didn’t have to ask what he meant. But he was wrong. She’d been judged her entire life on how she sounded to people. Most of the time she minded, but in her more lucid moments, she told herself that it gave her an advantage. After all, opposing counsel usually didn’t see her coming.
Not that she had that many judgey encounters in the first place. For the most part, she’d locked herself in an ivory tower, one her father was now trying to drag her from.
For the first time in a long time, she felt a niggle of regret for the choices she’d made. Because every once in a while, she did want to be out there, talking and educating. And while she knew that the kids at the zoo weren’t a good representation of what other attorneys and clients could be like, the experience had been a positive one.
Both the parents and the kids had appreciated what she’d done, and seeing the fascination on the children’s faces as she told them the fun facts reflected on the various plaques around the zoo had been worth whatever discomfort she’d felt talking aloud.
She looked at Leo, only to find him studying her as well. Their eyes met and held, and she felt a familiar shiver cut through her. He’d always affected her that way, from the first moment she’d seen him in this very bar two years ago. It was like they were the quantum particles he studied, with an undeniable attraction between them.
Without breaking his gaze, she wrapped her lips around the straw and drew in a long sip of the daiquiri. The muscle in his jaw tightened, and he pressed his lips together, his knuckles turning white as he clutched the edge of the table.