Into my silence, he said, "WhatIsee is the girl who's been keeping me up at night."
What?I turned to look. Our gazes locked, and his lips parted.Mine, too.I felt my tongue brush against my teeth as I studied his face. He looked nearly enthralled, and I was suddenly finding it hard to breathe.
I'dbeen keeping him up at night?Seriously?
After a hard swallow, I asked, "Why?"
His gaze flicked briefly to the nearby image. "You've gotta ask?"
"Oh, please," I said with an embarrassed laugh. "You can find photos a lot more suggestive than this."
"I know," he said. "But they wouldn't be of you."
Again, I swallowed. "Me?"
"I wasn't lying," he said. "Youarea trouble-maker, you know." His voice was smooth and silky in the quiet car. "Of the highest order."
Woah.
He couldn’t mean it, or at least not the way he made it soundnow. Probably I was imagining things.
I tried to smile. "Yeah. But I'm trying to do better." Forcing a laugh, I added, "I mean, no more fighting with fans, I promise."
"Don't."
I blinked. "Don't what?"
"Don't pretend you don't know what I mean."
"I wasn't pretending," I said. "I just don't want to read too much into this." I looked again to the photo. "Like, you're probably just being nice or something."
He lowered the phone, setting it face-down between us. "If you think I'm being nice, you've got the wrong guy."
Once again, I turned to face him. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, if I were being nice, I'd keep my thoughts to myself."
I considered the hours we'd spent together so far. Most of the time, he'd been reclusive, distant, and impossible to figure out. I heard myself say, "You're good at that, you know."
"With you?" he said with a scoff. "Not as good as I should be."
"Why do you say that?" I asked.
"I'm supposed to be looking out for you, not taking advantage."
Taking advantage?It was such an old-fashioned concept. This shouldn't have been a surprise, considering that his books dealt with things long-forgotten – chivalry, justice, honor, and so much more.
I leaned closer to him and asked in a breathless whisper, "How do you know it's notmetaking advantage of you?"
He gave me a wry smile. "Trust me. I know."
"But I'm serious," I said. "Look at you. You're rich and famous. Everyone wants you."
His eyed filled with mischief. "Everyone, huh?"
I drank in the sight of him.Oh, yeah.Somehow, I managed to say, "You know what I mean."
"I don't want 'everyone,'" he said. "You want the truth?"
