are you visiting from?”
“Chicago, right now.”
A roamer, she concluded. It didn’t surprise her. He looked like the kind to travel light. If she’d been looking for a keeper, that would have put her off, but she wasn’t so it didn’t bother her.
“What do you do?” she asked. “For a living.”
He shot her a smile that reminded her of a shark. “Whatever’s profitable,” he said, revealing nothing.
“Legal?” she pressed, because she had her limits.
“Clean as a whistle,” he said, but his silence made her think he didn’t teach kindergarten. He started the engine and backed out of the parking space.
“So, how’s it been working for Bellagio’s grande dame? She finally let you out of the cellar?” he said.
“Pushed me out,” Amelia muttered. “She’s not as bad as—” She broke off, remembering how Lillian had insisted she wanted to maintain her reputation. “She’s quite a woman.”
“Quite a woman,” Jack echoed. “She’s either won you over or you’re being politely vague.”
“Sort of like ‘whatever’s profitable,’” she shot back.
He glanced at her in surprise and looked back at the road, smiling. “So the sweet Georgia peach has been hiding a little kick.”
Amelia hadn’t really thought about having a kick. She’d pretty much relied on Will for most of the kicking. She adjusted her cap. “Who knew?”
“How long did you say you dated your ex?”
She winced, wondering how much she’d revealed during that night of too many hurricanes. “A long time,” she said vaguely.
“Wasn’t it twelve or thirteen years?”
“Nice of you to remind me.”
He shook his head. “I bet you’re just starting to find out who you are.”
His insight surprised her. “Maybe, but one of the things I’ve learned is that I don’t like to talk about myself.”
“Unless you’ve had a few hurricanes,” he said.
“A gentleman wouldn’t continue to bring that up.”
“I’m not that kind of a gentleman,” he told her cheerfully.
“You were the other night when I was—”
“Smashed,” he finished for her. “One-time thing. Everyone lives by their own set of rules. One of mine is to maximize whatever gets thrown at you. I’m a bastard.”
Amelia digested that. He was an odd mix. He seemed laid-back. And not. She couldn’t tell if he was a con man or a mooch. “Does that mean I shouldn’t count on you if I drink too many hurricanes again?”
“I would get you home, but we might take a side-trip first,” he said in a breezy voice with just a hint of sexy undertone.
Her stomach tightened at the warning. She looked at his large hands, one on the steering wheel, the other on the gear shift. The wind ruffled his dark hair and whipped at his shirt. His shoulders were broad and his pecs and biceps bulged from some kind of exercise. His abdomen was flat, his legs long. His thighs looked strong. Her gaze strayed higher and she looked away, embarrassed at the direction of her thoughts.
He was a hottie, so why had he approached her? She couldn’t squelch her curiosity.
“There were at least a half-dozen females at that tiki bar who looked available and very attractive,” she said. “I still don’t understand why you didn’t approach them.” She paused. “Or maybe you did, and I just didn’t notice.”
He laughed. “No. I told you before that I approached you because you were the most interesting looking woman in the room.”
Interesting looking. She narrowed her eyes. That could be a compliment. Or not. “Is that like ‘quite a woman’?”
“No. You didn’t look like the rest of the women there.”
“They were tanned, beautiful and very thin,” she said stiffly.
“You looked real and pretty. And I wondered what you were writing on that napkin.”
“Well, now you know. The list,” she said.
He nodded. “Have you added to it?”
“No,” she said, feeling guilty and wimpy.
“Maybe you need a jump-start.”
Amelia adjusted her sunglasses and felt another little leap of nerves in her belly. She suspected Jack wasn’t the kind of man to provide just a little jump-start. He seemed more like a walking detonator. “Maybe,” she said tentatively.
“I could make a lot of suggestions,” he said in a wry, sexy tone. “But this is more about what you want. So, what do you want, Magnolia?”
Magnolia? She paused for a long moment and sighed. “That’s part of the problem. I don’t know.”
“That’s okay. The list is about experimentation.”
“I don’t really like to experiment unless it’s connected with my job.”
“So you want to just keep doing what you’ve always done? You don’t need a list for that.”
The prospect of being stuck in her current position forever made her want to scream. “No. You’re right. I need to experiment. But I don’t know how to start.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to sky dive?”
Her stomach clenched. “That’s a little drastic, but parasailing looks interesting.”
“Put it on your list. What else?”
“I’ve always wanted to sit in the front row at a concert,” she admitted.
“Any group in particular?” he asked.
“I’m flexible.”
“Write it down. Want to climb a mountain?”
“No, that’s a guy thing. But I always wondered what it would be like to be someone totally different than me.”
“So you’d like to switch identities,” he said.
“Not forever.”
“For a day.” He grinned. “Write it down.”
“But how could I do that?”
“Make up a person you’d like to be. Dress like her, talk
