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Leo revised his previous thoughts. He didn’t want to fling her phone into an active volcano; he wanted to flingBeninto it. “The guy has the personality of a clump of dryer lint.”
“You’ve never even spoken to him. How could you possibly know that?”
“I know his type.”
“And what’s that?”
This conversation was starting to annoy Leo. He crossed his arms and stared at the coffee table. “The type who stalks a woman’s online photos for days and can’t even think of a single interesting thing to say. What time did he send you that message?”
“What does that matter?”
“What time, Amelia?”
She gave him a sideways glance. “Three o’clock in the morning.”
Leo spread his hands. “I rest my case.”
“You haven’tmadea case.”
“This guy isn’t worth your time, Amelia. If he was, he’d have thought of something to say that was more than one word when he was lying in bed creeping on your photos.”
“Unless you’ve forgotten to engage your brain this morning, Leo, I’ll remind you that I don’t exactly have men beating down my door. This message is more than I’ve gotten in over a year.”
A hot, achy feeling was climbing up Leo’s throat. “That doesn’t mean you don’t deserve more. What’s so special about this guy?”
“Nothing!” The word exploded out of her, and Leo was shocked to see something like anger on her face. “Nothing is special about him, just like nothing is special about me. Not everyone can be a super-sexy, super-confident hunk, all right? For us mere mortals, sometimes this is as good as it gets.” She shook her phone for emphasis.
Leo hadn’t known it was possible to want to kiss someone and shake them all at once. Nothing was special about her? Was she serious? “You’re special, Amelia. Everything about you is special.”
“Oh, spare me.” She stood up, her jaw set. “Let’s go get breakfast and find this stupid thief so we can get this retreat over with.”
FIFTEEN
Amelia marchedinto the dining room and went straight for the apple Danishes. She recognized Camilla’s baked goods anywhere (and she’d seen the box they came in), so she knew they’d be delicious.
She needed something delicious to ease the burn at the back of her throat. Ben’s message was lame. She knew that. But Leo had seemed…angry? And his anger madeherangry, and then she’d stormed out of the room without meeting his gaze.
But now that the flash of emotion had faded, Amelia felt silly. She was only mad because her feelings for Leo were growing with every minute they spent together, and she knew that would blow up in her face. Leo didn’t deserve her ire; she should figure her shit out herself. She resolved to apologize to Leo as soon as she could swallow her pride, which would likely happen after her second or third pastry of the morning.
“Good choice,” Percival said, breaking down one of the white bakery boxes behind the table where the Danishes were displayed.
Amelia grinned. “Camilla’s one of my best friends. I usually get these when they’re a day old and unsellable, but Iknowthis one is going to be incredible.”
The man inclined his head, then cast an eye across the table. As soon as he saw that the scrambled eggs were quickly running low, he nodded to Amelia and took his leave. The man was observant andverygood at his job. Amelia thought that if anyone found out who had stolen the ring, it would be Percival. Unless she and Leo did it first.
The thought made her square her shoulders. She couldn’t get distracted by lame one-word messages from a guy she no longer had a crush on. Ben could wait; the ring thief couldn’t.
While she was loading up her plate with an altogether unhealthy breakfast, Amelia sidled up beside Cora. If there was one thing Amelia had learned in her stint working in an office, it was that the administrators were all-seeing and all-knowing. They had the power to make your life a dream—or a living hell.
She suspected that Cora, having worked at Goodhew since its inception decades ago, was no different.
“Morning,” she greeted the older woman brightly.
“Hello, dear,” Cora said with a smile, brown eyes crinkling. She had half a grapefruit on her plate and was waiting for toast to brown in the toaster.
“How did you sleep?”
“Like a baby. You? Did that man keep you up all night?” Cora angled her head toward Leo, who was watching them from across the room.
