And then the harder it would be to let go. And she didn’t want this to be a sympathy invitation either. Or just another of his games. Because she knew he liked to win and she wasn’t sure she was up to fighting him. ‘Are you asking me out on a date? Because I don’t think so.’
‘No. Not a date. It’s a getting-to-know-you...meeting.’ He grinned. ‘And as you’re newish to Auckland I thought I’d take you sightseeing.’
‘And what about our commitment issues?’
His eyes widened in surprise. ‘Whoa. Straight talking as always, Nurse Radley. It’s a dinner invitation, not a marriage proposal. The issues still stand. But I thought you might consider overlooking them, at least for tonight.’ He stuck out his hand; it was warm and firm as she fitted hers into it. ‘Gabby, please do me the honour of accompanying me for the evening. If we have fun, we may consider repeating it again tomorrow. Much more than that, I don’t know.’
‘Well, I’ve never been asked out on a nondate with a guy who can’t plan past tomorrow before. This could be interesting.’ Everything about his words and what she knew about him should have sounded alarm bells. But how could she turn down a plant-bearing sex god who just wanted to clear the air? ‘I’ll get my shoes.’
She dropped his hand and dashed inside the house, aware of his eyes on her the whole time. Question was, could she get in and out of her bedroom without him actually glimpsing her space?
‘Or we could just skip the dinner thing.’ He leaned lazily on the doorjamb, the heat in his eyes stoking the charge in her stomach. ‘After all, one thing I can do is give you a good time. But you know that already. This your room?’
‘No! Don’t come in here.’ No. No. Her heart thumped loudly as she shook her head. She couldn’t have him in her room. Not until she was certain everything had been unpacked into its correct place. Until there was no way he’d see her things and think she was more crazy than she actually was.
He kicked the door open gently with his toe. Then frowned at the neat and tidy space. ‘What’s wrong, are you hiding a dead body or something?’
‘No. It’s just personal.’ Ask no questions, I’ll tell you no lies.
‘Hey, it was a joke.’
‘Oh. Sorry.’ Seemed she’d overreacted. But how could she explain the things she kept in there without breaking her heart all over again? She had to get him out and do some air-clearing herself. ‘So, let’s go. Where are we headed?’
The questions in his eyes faded a little as his smile found its place again. ‘First stop, the Sky Tower... You did say you were okay with heights?’
‘This was not what I thought you meant.’ Gabby’s heart jumped and skittered as she stood dressed in a deeply unflattering blue and yellow jumpsuit and clutching a large metal clip attached to a harness. The windchill at one hundred and ninety-two metres was surprising, and it whipped her voice away a little. Either that or she truly was scared out of her wits.
Okay, yes. She was petrified. She had to shout to make herself heard, but knew Max wasn’t listening anyway. He had that determined look on his face that told her the man wasn’t for moving. ‘I thought we were having dinner here in that fancy revolving restaurant I’ve heard so much about. I prefer being inside. I prefer eating. Can we go back in? Please?’
Smiling, he adjusted her harness. ‘Come on, fearless Gabby isn’t scared? Surely not. Time to live life on the edge. Didn’t you say you hadn’t had a lot of that?’
‘Is being up the top of this building not enough? Now you want me to jump off it, too?’
‘It’s not dangerous. You’re held on by a wire. Not like real base jumping. This is tame.’ He brushed back a wayward curl that had blown into her face by the sky-scraping hurricane. ‘I will if you will.’
‘It’s still a long way down at eighty-five kilometres an hour.’ Yes, she’d listened to the instructions, read the notices, memorised the safety routine. If she was going to jump to her death then she would be well informed doing it. She curled into the heat of his palm, hoping he’d cup her cheek and kiss her. Then she’d find the strength to do this. ‘I’ll only do it if I can push you off first. You deserve nothing