It wasn’t a question, but she could feel him waiting for her response all the same.
“Fishing?” she asked, trying to determine if she was offended that he’d had her checked out on the premise he mentioned. She supposed that a man with his wealth had to be careful, but it still felt strange in a not so nice way.
“Maybe. You are too beautiful not to have frequent dates.”
Definitely fishing. “You don’t sound like you trust your investigator’s report.”
“Maybe I am simply curious about you.” There was a level of sincerity in his tone that struck a similar chord in her.
“Most men who ask a model out are looking for adornment. That role leaves me cold.”
“You have decided I did not request your company with such shallow motives?” He sounded pleased by the prospect.
“Fairly confident, but the truth is…I didn’t even think about it this time.” There was such a thing as being too honest.
So, why did she feel compelled to open her mouth and spit out potentially embarrassing truths with this man? All of her usual reactions were off with Miguel. He drew too much from her. Too much honesty. Too much physical response. Too much everything.
“You feel it as well.” He didn’t sound happy, so much as confused. Perhaps his reaction to her was just as out of the ordinary for him.
It was a comforting scenario, so she decided to stick with it. “What exactly do you think I’m feeling?” she probed.
“This thing between us.” One hand came off the steering wheel to gesture between them.
“The attraction.” She wasn’t sure what else to label it.
“I would call it super attraction.” He shook his head. “I have not reacted to a woman like this since I was a young man. Do not think I make it habit of using company resources to run instant background checks on women. I am not usually so impatient.”
“I know what you mean.” Relief flooded her that her comfort scenario was more reality than fantasy. He felt how big the thing was between them just like she did. “It’s more than attraction.”
“Yes.”
Another good answer.
“So, what do we do about it?”
“You have to ask?”
“I’m not one for falling into bed on a first date.” Or any date, but that wasn’t something she needed to mention right now.
He cast her a sidelong glance from his gray eyes. “Let us enjoy one another’s company and see where it goes.”
“I’ve never been very good at taking things as they come.”
“It is always good to try new things.”
“My agent says the same thing…usually when he’s trying to talk me into doing a spread I’m going to hate.”
It came again, that laughter that made her insides melt. “I assure you, I am not luring you into something you will hate. Quite the opposite.”
She had a feeling he did not know how right he was. She very much feared Miguel Menendez was a man she could love.
Miguel turned off the car in the valet circle for Amber’s hotel. “I do not want to leave you.”
The beautiful woman beside him jolted as if he’d shocked her.
Hell, he’d shocked himself. He sounded like a needy adolescent, but he only had a few weeks before he flew out for Prague. He hoped to convince Amber to spend as much of that time with him as possible. He had already confirmed with her agent that after the shoot for his company was done, she planned to spend a week in Spain on holiday.
He had every intention of taking advantage of that fact, but each moment in Amber’s company had reiterated to him how important her career was. No way would she take a sabbatical to go with him to Prague. And why he was even considering such a possibility, he could not fathom. Women were not permanent fixtures in his life. No woman had even made the status of semi-long-term.