"How old are you?" Spin said gazing up at in with incredulity. "It's like you're from another century."
Chapter Twelve
The duke’s manspread invaded Spin’s space inside the confines of the luxury car. Spin turned her body away from him and toward the window, gazing out at her first sights of Cordoba. From the opposite side of the luxury car, Lark and Omar, another nobleman of the country, filled the silence. It would appear that the Marquis of Navarre was also in the entertainment industry.
Beside her, the Duke of Mondego stared at his phone. Spin’s gaze fixed on how he caressed the slim device in the palm of his large hands. His thumb carefully slid back and forth over the face. A bump in the road loosed the phone from his grip, and it spilled into Spin’s lap.
She reached down and picked it up preparing to hand the phone back to him. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Parker's smiling photo grinning back at her. It was her Instagram profile.
Spin’s gaze cut to Zhi’s. “Were you about to DM her just now?"
“Yes.” His hand was outstretched, patiently waiting to take his property back. “What’s wrong with that?"
He made a motion for his phone. When she still gripped it tightly in her palm, he reached over and tried to take his phone back. Spin yanked it from him and toward the window so that he’d have to cross her body in order to retrieve it. Finally, he gave up and raised his brows at her with a questioning glance that told her he had no clue as to the colossal mistake he almost made.
"You just left her,” Spin accused.
His brows quirked, one up, one down in that adorable way he’d done earlier. “I thought girls liked guys being direct, going after what they wanted, and not taking days to do it.”
Spin wouldn’t know? She’d never had a guy show that kind of interest in her.
"As your translator," she said, "you're not going to message her five minutes after leaving her presence. That translates to desperate and creepy."
Zhi sighed, the sound impatient. His knees bumped hers as he turned to face her. "She's not here for long. I don't want to miss my opportunity. When can I contact her?"
"Give it at least twelve hours."
"So, dinner time?” He looked at his watch. He tapped a few dials.
Spin could see that he was setting a reminder. She shook her head and turned to his friend, the marquis. "Is he always like this?"
"I don't know?" Omar’s gaze was filled with amusement. “I’ve never actually seen him chase after a girl. They usually fall into his lap, sometimes while he’s still standing up.”
"I'm not chasing," Zhi protested.
The other three sets of eyes in the car looked at him as though they begged to differ.
"I find her interesting,” Zhi said.
"I think it's romantic," said Lark. “It could be love at first sight.”
Spin snorted. Parker was very attractive. And Zhi, well, he had his charms. He may have been staring at Parker, but she’d hardly given him a second glance. Was that the game? Was Zhi only interested in Parker because she didn’t fall immediately into his lap?
“What do you like about Parker?” Lark pressed.
Zhi thought for a minute. A full minute. And then for a couple of seconds more. “She's intelligent. A self-starter. She clearly has a great head for business."
"Sounds great," said Omar. "If you were interviewing her for a job."
Spin agreed. Something was off about this whole affair. But she couldn't put a finger on it.
Initially, after meeting Omar, she had wondered if it were a bet between these two noblemen. The whole can the hot guy seduce the nerdy girl plot. But Omar was just as perplexed about the attraction as she was.
"When I get to know her a little bit better, then I'll know more." Zhi shrugged. "Isn't that what dating is all about?"
No one answered. Spin got the inkling that it might have been because none of the others in the car had truly dated. She knew that she and Lark
had never had a serious relationship. Omar didn’t look the type to wine and dine a woman. He looked like the kind of man who would conquer a woman and then leave her begging for more as he moved on. Swarthy, that was the best word to describe the dark man.