‘Stephanie?’ he prompted a little roughly, feeling the urge to spar harder with her. How far would he have to push to make her ditch that relentlessly smiling persona and snap at him?
He was not nice today.
‘No.’ She smiled. ‘Not at all.’
That overly determined answer both annoyed and amused him. He knew to his bones she wasn’t being honest. He’d irritated her, but she wasn’t going to bite back. Which made her better than him. Because he was close to snapping.
‘No?’ he asked, letting his disbelief show.
She continued to meet his gaze with a defiant little tilt to her chin. He fell silent, falling into the spell she seemed to cast wordlessly—all with those big blue-green eyes that made his skin burn.
For too long he looked at her. Desire sank deeper into his muscles, slicing through to the bone. What he’d do to make her mask slip—
But then his damn phone beeped, signalling a new text message. He didn’t read it, but the sound alone was enough to make reality race back.
He cleared his throat. ‘Where were you planning to take me?’ Time to pull back and be professional—focus on the far more important meeting he had in two days’ time. ‘Some new mall? A new consumer paradise?’
‘Not a mall, no.’
Thank God. But he faked a crestfallen look. ‘That’s a shame. I wanted to see you in action.’
‘I’m sorry?’ Her eyes widened.
He bit back a grin. It was obvious she’d heard inappropriate innuendo when he hadn’t meant it. Interesting.
‘I wanted to see how you come up with all your content,’ he clarified with an easy smile. ‘How you create all those lists and pictures…’
‘Oh…’ She nodded. ‘Well, there are a couple of out-of-the-way places I thought it would be nice for you to see. They’re upcoming features on the blog.’ She bestowed her wide ‘Steffi Leigh’ smile upon him. ‘So your wish will be granted.’
As if she was some fairy princess? Yeah. That was totally how she sold herself. A bright, bubbly bringer of beauty and joy.
‘What about your office?’ he asked. ‘Where you film your vlogs? I’d like to see that.’
He wanted to see what was on the other side of the camera—what it was that wasn’t shown on screen. Because his curiosity had been aroused—along with a few other things.
‘You want to see my room?’ She shifted, lifting a hand to adjust her seatbelt as if it were strapping her in too tightly.
For a split second she looked startled. In fact, he’d go so far as to say she looked scared. But then she released the belt and put that smile back on her face.
‘I’m sorry—not today.’
She wasn’t sorry, and now he really did want to see her space. What was all this icing hiding?
‘Actually, I was going to take you to the zoo,’ she suddenly spoke again, looking down at her lap.
‘The zoo?’
‘Perfect place for you,’ she murmured.
‘Pardon?’
‘Have you ever seen a baby echidna?’ She lifted her lashes, her eyes now limpid. ‘They’re very cute.’
‘Cute?’ He couldn’t decide if her eyes were more green than blue or more blue than green. All he really knew was that the colour was natural. He was close enough to know she wasn’t wearing contacts. ‘I don’t do cute.’
Whereas she did nothing but.
‘Do you even know what an echidna is?’ she asked.
‘A small, strange-looking thing that’s one of the very few mammals that lays eggs,’ he replied. He did travel guidebooks for a living—he knew random facts about animals in so many countries. ‘Is that why you’re wearing gloves? So you don’t get your hands dirty while you feed the cute little animals?’
For a moment she didn’t answer. But her gaze sharpened, held his ensnared. Was it him, or was it getting hotter? The temperature was searing.
Finally, pointedly, she lifted her eyebrows. ‘You think I’m afraid of getting dirty?’
Her reply sounded so innocuous. But that glimmer in her eyes… She’d turned some innuendo on him. Turned him on tighter…
He glanced up at the crystalline sky above, taking a breather from the intensity. They’d got barely two blocks from the hotel and he couldn’t be more on edge. Who’d have thought she’d pack such a punch?
‘Why else the gloves?’ He couldn’t resist glancing back at her.
She eyed him thoughtfully. ‘I’m wearing gloves to hide the state of my fingernails.’
‘You’re not happy with the colour of the polish? Does it clash with the car?’ he mocked.
‘Don’t tell anyone…’ She leaned a touch closer to him and spoke with a conspiratorial smile. ‘But they’re bitten down to the quick and I didn’t get the chance to put on fake ones.’
Honesty? It almost touched him—except she was all about covering up.
‘You’re wearing other fake things?’ He couldn’t help a glance to her chest. His bad. He owned it, but he figured she’d started it.
She pulled back to settle into the farthest corner of her seat. ‘A woman never gives up all her secrets.’
‘No? Only enough to engender interest?’ he taunted. ‘Is that one of the tips you dish out on your blog?’
She smiled a secretive, frankly seductive fairy princess smile. ‘My tips are very popular.’
That they were. And he could see why. She could write—her lists were entertaining. But it was the vlogs that had the greatest number of hits. It seemed people liked watching her prance about in her bedroom. His body winched tighter.
‘You’re interested in wildlife?’ And, yeah, he might have emphasised the ‘wild’ just a little.
‘Most people are.’ She continued to smile at him—so innocent and perky. Except for that heat in the back of her eyes. ‘And I thought you’d like to see some that’s unique to Australia. We have some amazing creatures. There’s a very big saltwater crocodile at the zoo. I think you’d like him. I’m sure he’d like you.’
He chuckled, appreciating the less than subtle implication. ‘I’m tougher than I look. Can’t be chewed up and spat out as easily as all that.’
‘Oh?’ She sounded disbelieving. ‘So you don’t want to go to the zoo? Where do you want to run away to?’
Anywhere. As long as it was with her.
He looked at her silently, trying to ride out the intense impulse sweeping over him. The car seemed to be shrinking. She was so near he saw her breath hitch, heard that faintest gasp. The urge to kiss her was overwhelming.
Sex. The body’s happy place. And for him the ultimate avoidance activity. He’d bury himself in her hot, tight body and screw their brains out. Until he could think of nothing else. Until he was exhausted and could sleep—not lie awake for hours and hours and hours, wondering and worrying and worrying and worrying…