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So now she really wanted to leave. Except she had almost run him over, and, instead of her making it up to him, he’d driven her to a nice cafe, bought her coffee and encouraged her to relax. So she couldn’t skip out on him. She had to stay—just to be polite, right? Her internal debate was pointless anyway—he still had her car keys.
She looked at him and fell apart inside again. The gleam in his eyes was even brighter now and he definitely gave her the complete once-over, and did he linger on her lips? Kelsi fought against her immediate instinct to run her tongue over them—she was not going to be so obvious.
Not, not, not.
Especially because he was so gorgeous. Without doubt he was used to having some kind of mesmerising effect on females because that confident, cheeky smile was spreading over his face.
Instead of licking her lips she took another sip of coffee. The warmth braced her and sent the last of the cold, sick feeling from the accident packing. As she swallowed, her brain clicked back to fully functioning—finally.
She figured if she didn’t look him in the eye she could maybe keep her brain working. But looking at his body wasn’t that much better. Mentally she tried to box him up so she could put him away—but he needed one that she didn’t have in the ‘overwhelming male’ compartment of her brain. He was a bit too big and fit and breath-taking...
She inhaled deeply, determined to make a polite, hopefully sane, effort. She totally owed him that. He flashed the ultra-charm smile again but she was smart and looked at her coffee cup instead. Only another mouthful and it’d be finished. Then she could go.
‘So, what were you late for?’ he asked as she lifted the cup.
She lowered it, feeling the heat rising in her cheeks. ‘Nothing.’
His brows lifted. ‘Not nothing. Tell me.’
Okay, so now he was going to think she was a total sad ditz. ‘A spa treatment.’
‘A what?’ he asked, sounding a little too confused.
Kelsi was sure he’d heard but he was just making her say it again because she was so flushed. Pointlessly, she tried to smooth her hair behind her ear.
‘A spa,’ she said, determined to speak clearly. ‘You know, a day treatment at a beauty parlour.’ Not just any parlour, the most exclusive salon in town. They obviously thought she really needed it—this guy probably did, too.
‘And what were you having done?’
‘Facial, massage, hair.’ She shrugged and lifted the cup to her mouth.
‘Cut or wax?’
She nearly choked on the coffee. ‘Cut.’ She tried to lie like a pro but she knew her colour had risen higher. The nerve of him.
He was grinning wildly now. Openly laughing at her plans for the day and stupidly she felt the need to justify it—even when it hadn’t been her idea. ‘I haven’t had a day off in four months. My boss said I needed to recharge my batteries.’
‘A beauty salon wouldn’t be my pick of a place to do that.’
No. She’d have picked an art gallery. Preferably one in Paris. One day she’d get to do the travel thing—once she had her career established.
‘What about some fresh air? A walk somewhere nice? Wouldn’t that be more of a boost?’
Of course he would be the outdoor sports guy—the sport-Billy, with a practically-kill-yourself-climbing-a-mountain-to-feel-good approach to life. She couldn’t think of anything worse. She just wanted to relax—and rest. ‘Fresh air isn’t good for my skin,’ she said with a helpless gesture.
‘No?’
Was the man blind? She was practically albino. Well, not really—the hundreds of freckles proved her pigment worked all right. She felt her flush deepen. ‘I burn really easily.’
‘You could wear a hat,’ he drawled.
She opened her eyes ingenue wide and batted her lashes as she drawled right back at him, ‘And ruin my hair?’
His gaze rested on the tangle and then sliced into hers again. A split second of solemnity froze them both.
And then they laughed—simultaneously, genuinely. She shook her head at her pitiful little joke. But the amusement warmed her veins better than the energising coffee she’d just swallowed.
‘Tell you what, Ms Spa Treatment, seeing you’ve lost your day at the salon, let me take you out instead. We’ll see how much better you feel after some fresh air.’
