“Why do you think so?” She shook her head. She didn't understand people when they said things like this to her. The fantasy and the romance, they were something she lived for, something she craved. Real life had plenty of sad endings and ambiguous situations-in a romance, everyone finally lived happily ever after. For once.

James touched her cheek, brushing a stray hair away and tucking it behind her ear. “Because, you beautiful girl… there is a great deal of depth in you-that even you have yet to touch.” His eyes were following his fingers, down the soft skin of her cheek, over the line of her jaw. “A depth that most people in your life don't even see.”

Maya felt like she couldn't breathe. “You see that?”

“I do.” The hand still holding hers squeezed gently.

She opened her palm to him, like she had in his office. “You've touched it.”

“Have I?” He smiled at her, and for a moment, he was her teacher again with that same sarcastic little smile. “I've seen it perhaps, but touched it? No.” He shook his head.

Maya bit her lip, looking over at him, and asked, “Do you want to?”

His eyes flew up to hers, searching, that electric charge passing between them like a pulse. “Is that an offer?”

“Yes, it's most definitely an invitation…” Her palm pushed up against his, feeling faint at the tension of his hand pressing hers back down to the table top.

He nodded slowly. “Yes. Yes, I very much want that.”

“Then, let's go.”

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Chapter Three

She waited in his car while he went to check them in, feeling a little nervous, but also like she was on some sort of exciting adventure. It was a beautiful day, and James-James! She was still having a hard time thinking of him as James-owned a little British roadster convertible, so they drove all the way with the top down. Every time he reached down to shift gears, his hand brushed her leg and it thrilled her. Maya had freed her hair, letting it whip in the wind, and now she tried to tame it again while she was waiting. It was a tangled mess.