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And her brain short-circuited.
Sleeping arrangements.There was only one bed. Of course there was. They were supposed to be engaged! How had she not considered this? She blinked, staring at the stacks of pillows and luxe bedding, and her mind spun out in a squeal of burned rubber and shredded tires. Her suitcase was placed next to Leo’s, like they belonged together at the foot of the bed.
“I’ll sleep on the couch,” Leo said, clearly not suffering the same crash-and-burn thought process as Amelia, then slumped down into the piece of furniture he’d named. He scrubbed his face, and when he pulled his hands away, he looked worn out.
Tentatively, Amelia dropped into one of the armchairs. It was upholstered in soft brown leather, and the cushions sank down just the right amount as she leaned back. “What time do we have to be at dinner again?”
Leo checked his watch. “We have an hour and a half.”
“You think they’ll find her ring?”
“I hope so. It’s worth twelve million dollars.”
A strange, strangled noise fell from Amelia’s lips. “Twelve—” She sucked in a breath. “Excuse me? Did you say twelve million dollars?”
Leo snorted, slumping on the couch. He kicked his foot up onto the coffee table and pushed his hair off his forehead, looking disheveled, undone, and delicious.
Amelia tore her gaze away. She had to get a grip on herself. Casting for something else to talk about, she asked, “What’s the dress code for dinner?”
“Cocktail,” Leo answered. He turned to glance at her, his face uncharacteristically serious. “Thanks for doing this, Amelia.”
She shrugged. “You’re helping me out too.”
His gaze remained on her, so Amelia stood and wandered to the window to try to get away from it. She opened the window, leaning against the frame to take a breath of cool evening air. It smelled sweet and fresh, and it tempered some of the heat rising from her skin. A stone wall jutted out to the left of the window where the building sprawled, but the rest of the view was uninterrupted forest.
“What’s the next topic in your spreadsheet?” Leo asked behind her.
Amelia hummed noncommittally as his question reminded her of their kiss. She’d have to be careful; last night had shaken her. It would be so easy to confuse Leo’s advice for something more. She couldn’t get attached to him when he so clearly was not attached to her. “I’d like to go over general advice for a first date. I don’t know how to act when I’m out with a guy.”
“You just have to be yourself, Amelia.”
She turned to glare at him. “That hasn’t worked so far.”
“What if it’s the truth?”
“If that were the truth, I would have been asked on a second date at some point over the past six years. Being myself isn’t working.”
“I don’t know about that,” Leo mumbled so low that Amelia thought she misheard him.
She arched a brow. “What?”
“Nothing. What usually happens when you go on a first date? Why do you think you never get a second one?” He stalked toward her, leaning on the other side of the window frame. Late-evening light carved his features and pulled out the green in his eyes.
Amelia blinked and looked out the window. He was too handsome for his own good—or Amelia’s. “There’s no ‘usually’ about it. I haven’t been on a date in over a year,” she admitted. “When I started my business, I stopped dating. I was too busy, and I was sick of feeling unattractive.”
“Okay,” Leo said, voice neutral. “Tell me about the last date you went on.”
Pinching her lips, Amelia let out an unladylike grunt. She didn’t like talking about this stuff, but wasn’t Leo the exact person who could help her? “The last date I went on was a guy I met on an app. When we exchanged messages, he said all the right things. Told me he liked ambitious women, said intelligence was a turn-on. Complimented my pictures, made decent jokes. We met up at a bar and it was all going great until he asked me what I did for work. I told him I’d just quit my job to start my own business, so I was really busy trying to get that off the ground. I probably rambled on for too long, but it was exciting. I’d just landed my first client, and I remember telling my date about that. It was like a switch flipped in him. Whatever it was I said was a complete turn-off. We’d ordered appetizers to have with our drinks, and he left before they even came out of the kitchen.”
Leo shifted, leaning his forearm on the window frame to look out at the greenery beyond. A frown tugged his brows.
“Look,” Amelia continued when he said nothing, “I’m not crippled by insecurity. I like my body. I like my brains. I think I’m a good person. But I just… I don’t know! It’s like guys don’t see me and think,I want to have sex with her. There’s no attraction.” She stumbled on her words when Leo gave her a strange look, then soldiered on. “And the last few times I’ve made it to the kissing or heavy petting stages with a guy, I always end up overthinking it and messing up. I don’t need you to tell me I’m pretty or pump me up with empty compliments. I need you to show me how to be attractive in a way that guys respond to. I needhelp.”
A snort sounded, and Leo shook his head. “I’m not going to tell you to dumb yourself down just to attract some idiot who can’t recognize your worth.”
“Well, what am I supposed to do? If Ben texts me and asks me out—”
“When,” Leo corrected.
