Back in the Land Rover after dinner, Elena buckled her seat belt for the short drive to where they were staying. The day had been more fun than work, even though she’d signed on for an interview with Chiara Campagna. As it turned out, Astrid and Chiara were not only smart, creative women with tons of knowledge about fashion, they were also a blast to be around. The evening had gone better than Elena could have hoped.

The only moments that had given her pause involved Gage making his renewed interest in her known. Because although she’d felt the sparks fly between them from the moment he’d filched her phone at the party the other night, she had thought he was firmly opposed to reigniting the flame. Now, she knew otherwise, and she wasn’t sure what to do about that.

She’d been floored when he’d offered to repay his father for the bribe he’d offered her. It made her regret that she’d never come clean about that. In the past, she’d told herself that it wouldn’t matter to Gage that she hadn’t accepted the money because Gage had been so quick to believe the worst of her anyway. But this week had forced her to rethink that perspective—a viewpoint she’d formed in the heat of anger and hurt. In truth, she’d been quick to believe the worst of him, too, and the realization was more than a little uncomfortable.

“Did you get everything you needed from Chiara tonight?” Gage asked as he pulled the SUV out onto the main road. Keeping one hand on the wheel, he changed the screen on his dashboard map for directions to the casino. “Or will the two of you be getting together again?”

Elena peered across the dark interior of the vehicle. With shadows playing across his face, his bone structure was all the more defined, the shadow of bristle along his jaw sending her into a tantalizing daydream about kissing him there.

Clearly, her body was rebelling against her for all the times she’d put up barriers between them. She tried to remember his question.

“While I definitely have enough to run a series of spotlights on her and her work, she asked me if we could get together again this week,” she answered finally. After two years of focusing on the social media for her ex-husband’s cooking show, Elena had been floundering to get her own voice back for her own brand. But tonight had reminded her how much she had enjoyed what she did. How much she had to offer her followers.

“It seemed like you two hit it off.” Gage nodded, sounding satisfied. “Good for you.”