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Which was why he’d ruin her…
If she let him.
“Where did you go after he died? Your grandmother?”
For some reason, him bringing up a woman she’d never met took away the looming tears. If she focused on her, on people who weren’t her beloved father, maybe she could pull herself together. “She’s been dead as long as I can remember, so definitely not.”
“Then where—?”
She shook her head and pulled free of his touch. “It doesn’t matter, does it? I went somewhere, and then I went somewhere else, and then to another place, and another. Then that place, all those places, led me to here. With you. Right now. And that’s all you need to know.”
“Alicia—” He stared down at her, as if trying to read all her thoughts, and all her dirty little secrets, but the thing was…they weren’t his to discover. Not if she didn’t want him to. He must’ve seen something in her eyes that told him as much, because he broke off and turned to his guard. “Please leave us, and don’t come back in until I call for you.”
She recognized one as the man who’d ridden in the car with her the day she’d been abducted. He saluted and said, “Very well, Your Highness.”
The man motioned for his fellow guards to follow him out. The second the door closed behind them, Leo relaxed visibly. He still stood ramrod straight, but it was a difference in the way he held his face, and his hands.
Less as if he were a statue that would crack if he moved.
When he spun back on her and opened his mouth, she cut him off before he could speak. “I dare you to take off your suit jacket.”
He frowned and glanced down at the item in question, looking adorably perplexed at her dare. “I don’t have a proper dress shirt on underneath. If someone saw me—”
“What are you wearing underneath?” she asked, reaching out and tugging on the stiff lapel. “A Hello Kitty shirt? Disney Princesses? Transformers? An American flag?”
He frowned. “Alicia.”
“Take it off.” She crossed her arms. “I dare you.”
“I—” Slowly, he gripped the first button, glancing over his shoulder at the door where the men had exited. When he turned back to her, there was a devilish light burning in is eyes. “You really want to see what I’m wearing under this?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “I really, really do.”
She was really hoping for a Princess Jasmine shirt.
Anything else would be a disappointment.
“Fine.” He undid the first button then stopped. “But what are you going to take off, in return?”
A small laugh escaped her, and she covered her mouth. “Seriously?”
“Well, I think it’s only fair.” He gave her a long, lingering once-over. One that left her tingling in places she had no right tingling. Not for him. “Gender equality and all that. From what I hear, you’re big on being treated fairly.”
She huffed. “Do you blame me?”
“Not at all,” he said quickly, grinning lopsidedly. “It’s something I’m working on in my office every day. Trying to get Randovia up to speed with America.”
Taken aback, she blinked because she had no clue he cared about that at all. Between that sexy grin, and his admission, he just got, like, a million times hotter. Which put him on par with the sun, basically. “You are?”
“Yes.” He smirked. “So what’s it going be? What’s coming off?”
“My shoes?” she asked hopefully.
He rolled his eyes and let out a snort. “No dice. The coat stays on.”
She laughed nervously, her heart racing with…with…excitement. This version of Leo, the rebellious and playful one, never failed to remind her of the boy he’d once been, who was a lot more fun than the stiff, pretentious man she’d thought he’d been when he snatched her off the streets. A lot more dangerous, too. “Fine. I’ll take mine off, too.”
That cocky brow of his shot up, and he stared at her loose shirt. “All right.”
