“I’m sorry you canceled on me, too,” he said, grinning to take the sting out of his words. “Any place in particular you want to go tonight?”
“You pick,” she told him. She didn’t care where they went as long as it was private and she could spend time talking to him. Heck, she didn’t mind if he did all the talking and she just got to stare at him. He was so gorgeous she didn’t even care.
“Well, this is Vegas,” he said. “There’s bound to be someplace open.” He was smiling at her, and her heart pitter-patted at the sight.
“Let’s go someplace quiet and low-key,” she told him. She knew Daphne’s crew was hitting the town and the last thing she wanted was to run into them at one of the better-known nightspots.
“All right. Do you like . . . seafood? I know a great place that has an amazing wine list.”
An “amazing wine list” sounded fancy. In jeans and flip-flops, she wasn’t prepared for that. “Think more casual.”
“Do you like . . .” He thought for a minute. “Fondue?”
“Never had it,” she told him.
“Then that’s what we’ll have. Fondue.”
“And what exactly is fondue?”
“Cheese and little pots?” He shrugged. “I don’t know. It was the first thing that came up in my list of the area’s restaurants . . . after the seafood place.”
She laughed. “You googled the area? Don’t you know Vegas?”
“Not as well as you’d think. My friend Reese knows it better than me. I’m afraid that I know more about the area hospitals and medical companies than the night life.”
“Sounds . . . exciting.”
“Oh, there’s nothing more exciting than talking about the materials of a particularly revolutionary colostomy bag, let me tell you.”
She giggled again. “You make yourself sound so boring.”
His smile was easy, gorgeous. “I am boring, Kylie. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I’m not exciting. I spend ninety percent of my time working. I don’t hit the town. I don’t date much. I don’t even know what fondue is.”
Her mouth was twitching with the need to burst into another round of laughter. “So you googled?”
“What else can I do? A guy needs to be prepared when he goes out on a date.”
“But . . . you’re a billionaire.” She giggled.
“So?”
That threw her for a loop. Billionaires didn’t do things that normal people did. “So I find it weird that you’re googling things for yourself. Don’t you have an assistant?”
“Yes, but I also have two hands and I’m perfectly capable of using the Internet on my own.” He wiggled his fingers at her. “Can’t I be a normal guy and do things without having to ask for assistance?”
“I guess so?” She thought of Daphne with her poor browbeaten personal assistant and her entourage. Hell, Kylie’s only job was to put makeup on Daphne before performances and press interviews. But to have money at Cade’s level was just inconceivable, so to see him acting like a normal guy . . . ?
It was nice. Surprising, maybe, but nice.
He pressed a button on the door of the limo and the partition glass separating them from the driver went down. “Fondue House,” Cade told the driver, then raised it again so he and Kylie were alone once more.
She studied him. “So what if we both eat fondue and we hate it?”
“Partners in intestinal fortitude once more?” he said with a wicked grin. “If we’re sharing a bowl, we’ll share any food poisoning as well. And like I said, I know every hospital in the area very well.”
“That’s a rather terrible way to view dinner.”
“Yes, but if it gets us in adjoining beds in a hospital room, I’ll take my chances,” he said, taking her hand in his and tracing the veins on it.
“You shouldn’t be thinking about hospitalizing a girl post-date,” Kylie said, amused. “It puts a pall on things.”
His fingers played against her skin, sending shivers through her body. “I thought about you all week, you know. It nearly drove me insane that you canceled on me and I couldn’t figure out the reason why.”
Well, now she felt guilty. “Don’t you read Celebrity! or any of those magazines?”
“Not if I can help it. I don’t have a very positive view of that sort of lifestyle.”
No, she supposed he wouldn’t if he was friends with Daphne. Kylie knew her own experiences with megastars had soured her on them as well. “It’s got an article about you and Daphne being together.”
“Might be publicity from her team,” he said, still tracing the veins on her hand. “It’ll probably quell some of the rumors about her actions if she seems like she’s in a stable relationship. Do you want me to get my people to issue a statement on the situation?”
It was hard for Kylie to concentrate with those featherlight touches on her arms. It took her a moment to process, and then she shook her head. Making a statement would just make things worse, she imagined. Daphne would get upset if Cade publicly declared they weren’t dating. It would draw more attention back to things, and somehow Kylie suspected that would be the last thing anyone wanted. “Nah.”
He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “Just . . . if you hear anything crazy come out of Daphne’s mouth, check with me first, okay? I will always be honest with you.”