She drew a deep breath. “Filming starts next week. Can we spend some time together talking about the character?” She glanced up at him, feeling the tug of desire as she looked into his deep blue eyes. The beard covering his face was new but lent an air of increased sexiness to a man who already oozed plenty of raw masculinity.

They still stood by the shelf with the photos. He appeared tired from his run, and she could see the internal war he fought with himself as he thought about her request.

“Purely for the movie’s sake,” she assured him. “Maybe you could come into the city one night for an early dinner? We can walk around the area where we’ll be filming. Where Steele lives. It’ll help me get in character while we talk.” She wasn’t lying, either.

True, she’d love to spend time with him, just because. For no reason other than wanting to get him to open up to her again, see how he was doing. How his headaches were, if he still needed his glasses. But he didn’t want to give her that kind of privilege and she accepted it. She did, however, need his author’s insight.

“Sure,” he said at last. “I’ll come in Friday night. Does that work for you?”

Today was Thursday. She and Cassidy wanted to do some shopping, and she needed time alone to study her lines. The timing gave her all day tomorrow.

“Sure, that works great.” She pulled her phone out of the small purse hanging from her shoulder. “Umm, I got a new phone number. Not that I think you still have my old one or anything. I just had a problem with some rabid fan hacking my information.”

His gaze narrowed into angry slits. “Are you here with a bodyguard?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I only take them to major events. I’m with my assistant, Cassidy. She’s my best friend. And we play it smart. I’m fine.”

Still scowling, he took her cell and put his number into it then hit send. His phone rang in the bedroom, giving him her number, too. Neither one of them discussed further whether or not they’d deleted each other’s numbers after. She was coming to hate that word.

He handed her phone back.

“Thank you.” She tucked the cell into her bag. Since he wasn’t making conversation, she took that as her cue. “I should get going. It’s a long drive back to the city.”

He nodded and walked her to the door, the scent of his soap and hint of warm scented aftershave causing desire to do a slow glide through her veins.

He opened the front door for her, and at the sound, Bella came skidding across the floor and nudged her nose into Sasha’s leg as if to say, Were you really going to leave without saying goodbye?