Kasimir stared at her for a long moment.
“Here.” He reached for the heavy backpack on her shoulder. “Let me take that.”
“You don’t need to—”
“You’re swaying on your feet,” he said softly. “You look as if you haven’t slept in days. No wonder. Flying to Seattle and back…”
Without her bag weighing her down, she felt so light she almost felt dizzy. “I told you I went to Seattle?”
He froze, then relaxed as he looked back at her. “Of course you did,” he said smoothly. “How else would I know?”
Yes, indeed, how would he? After almost no sleep for two days, she was starting to get confused. Rubbing her cheek with her shoulder, she confessed, “I am a little tired. And thirsty.”
“Come with me. I’ll get you a drink.”
“Why are you being nice to me?” she blurted out, not moving.
He frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be nice to you?”
“It always seems that the more handsome a man is, the more of a jerk he is. And you are very, very…”
Their eyes locked, and her throat cut off. Her cheeks burned as she muttered, “Never mind.”
He gave her a crooked grin. “Whatever your sister might have told you about me, I’m not the devil. But I am being remiss in my manners. Let’s get you that drink.”
Carrying her backpack over his shoulder, he turned down the hallway. Josie watched him go, her eyes tracing the muscular shape of his back beneath his jacket and chiseled rear end.
Then she shook her head, irritated with herself. Why did she have to blurt out every single thought in her head? Why couldn’t she just show discipline and quiet restraint, like Bree? Why did she have to be such a goofball all the time, the kind of girl who’d start conversations with random strangers on any topic from orchids to cookie recipes, then give them her bus money?
This time wasn’t my fault, she thought mutinously, following him down the hall. He was far too handsome. No woman could possibly manage sensible thinking beneath the laser-like focus of those blue eyes!
Kasimir led her to a high-ceilinged room lined with leather-bound books on one side, and floor-to-ceiling windows with a view of the city on the other. Tossing her backpack on a long table of polished inlaid wood, he walked over to the wet bar on the other side of the library. “What will you have?”
“Tap water, please,” she said faintly.
He frowned back at her. “I have sparkling mineral water. Or I could order coffee…”
“Just water. With ice, if you want to be fancy.”
He returned with a glass.
“Thanks,” she said. She glugged down the icy, delicious water.
He watched her. “You’re an unusual girl, Josie Dalton.”
Unusual didn’t sound good. She wiped her mouth. “I am?” she echoed uncertainly, lowering the glass.
“It’s refreshing to be with a woman who makes absolutely no effort to impress me.”
She snorted. “Trying to impress you would be a waste of time. I know a man like you would never be interested in a girl like me—not genuinely interested,” she mumbled.
He looked down at her, his blue eyes breathtaking.
“You’re selling yourself short,” he said softly, and Josie felt it again—that strange flash of heat.
She swallowed. “You’re being nice, but I know there’s no point in pretending to be something I’m not.” She sighed. “Even if I sometimes wish I could.”
“Unusual. And honest.” Turning, he went to the wet bar and poured himself a short glass of amber-colored liquid. He returned, then took a slow, thoughtful sip.