the elevator.
‘You really were out of range?’ He glanced at her bag as he pushed the buttons.
‘I really was.’ To her relief, he didn’t ask for any more detail.
She was hugely relieved at the prospect of a car taking her straight home too. All she had to do then was unlock Juno’s apartment. She was so tired she might fall into bed fully dressed.
She exited the lift ahead of him, increasingly desperate to escape his company. He was too tall, too intense, too magnetic and she was too aware of his every movement.
A sleek black sports car was parked right outside the building. The kind of low-slung roadster, capable of lethal speed, that her father and her protection officers would never let her near. To her horror, Alvaro walked around to the driver’s door and got in. When she didn’t move, the passenger window glided down.
‘Come on.’
‘I thought you said you called a car,’ she said stupidly.
‘I did. My car. The building valet brought it to the front for me.’
She’d thought he’d meant a taxi.
‘You’re driving me home?’ Her audible breathlessness made her wince. If only she could instantly shrivel to ant size. The thought of having to spend more time with him ought to be terrifying, but her suddenly sprinting pulse was actually due to excitement. So awkward. And that restless ache inside was so wrong. She stared at the car and then back at him and tried not to melt in the warm amber of his eyes.
There was a long pause.
‘You know you’re not at risk from me,’ he finally muttered. ‘I’m not in the habit of harassing my employees.’
And now she was beyond mortified. ‘I didn’t think that you were.’
‘So take this as all that it is, an apology and a small service to show my appreciation for your extra effort today. But if you would prefer I get a driver—’
‘No, please don’t,’ she said hurriedly. ‘I was just surprised. You’ve had a long day too.’ She climbed into the car and fastened the belt and resolutely stared ahead.
‘If you say the address the navigation will pick it up,’ he said blandly.
Relieved, Jade parroted the address she’d memorised and sat back as the automated instruction began. The car silently glided along and she realised it had an electric engine. As she relaxed into the comfortable seat, tiredness swept over her. She could hardly keep her eyes open, only then—
‘Is that your stomach rumbling?’ Alvaro laughingly glanced at her as the mortifying gurgle continued.
The tension broke and she giggled too.
‘You haven’t eaten all day,’ he said reprovingly. ‘You barely left your desk.’
He’d noticed that? And now he intercepted the amazed look she shot him and countered it with a smile.
‘Of course not, you might’ve locked me out if I left the building,’ she answered. ‘And you were in your office all day too.’ She struggled not to react too obviously to his distracting charm—how could he have gone from infuriating to fascinating like this?
‘You were watching me?’ His eyebrow quirked.
‘I was prudently keeping an eye on a threat, yes.’
‘A threat?’ he teased with mock outrage. ‘Little old me?’
Oh, the man totally knew the impact he had on people—most especially women.
‘You were all for throwing me out of the building,’ she said. ‘And I need my job.’
‘You’ve saved your job.’ His expression turned serious again. ‘But I had my lunch delivered, whereas you need food now.’
‘And I’ll get it. Shortly.’ Though she had no idea if Juno had any in her apartment. Or whether there was a store nearby. Not that she had any cash to buy anything with.
‘Push that button.’
‘Pardon?’
Alvaro leaned across, reaching past her to touch a discreet button. The glove compartment slid open with controlled smoothness and a light automatically illuminated the interior.
‘Oh. Wow.’ She stared at the incredibly ordered contents in the surprisingly large space.
‘Help yourself,’ he invited.
‘You get hungry?’
‘What kind of a question is that to ask a man my height?’
She resisted the urge to feast her eyes on his physique yet again. She was already far too aware of his height and muscularity and doubtless he did need a tonne of food to keep his...energy up. And she needed an immediate distraction from her shockingly inappropriate thoughts.
‘What’s this one?’ She pulled out one bright rectangular package.
‘Protein bar. They’re pretty much all protein bars.’
‘Do you carry them on you too?’
‘Sure. I go too long without fuel, I get ugly.’
Laughter bubbled out of her before she could stop it. The concepts of ‘Alvaro’ and ‘ugly’