Kiss Me Katie! & Hug Me Holly! (5 page)

On the floor, with his legs still draped over the back of the seat and that soft weight draped over the top of him, Bryan shook his head and evaluated.

Hot flesh and overly scented skin?
“Holly! What the hell—”

That was the last word he managed before she straddled him, leaned in and whispered, “Take it like a man, would you? I need to use you for a second.”

“What—”

“Hush! He's coming. I want him to see!” And she took his mouth with hers.

Behind them the airplane door opened abruptly
and Katie's voice called into the dark depths. “Bryan?”

Both he and Holly swore.

“Matt's there, too!” Holly hissed. “Damn that man, he's so slow!”

“Bryan?” called Katie. “I need an invoice….”

Oh, perfect.

Bryan tried to jerk free, but Holly was quicker, and prepared. She pressed down on him, both with her knee in his windpipe and her mouth on his.

Worrying about Katie seeing the kiss became secondary to actually breathing. And still he heard Katie come closer.

Inanely, Bryan wondered if she would believe he'd passed out and Holly was performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Certainly she'd never believe the truth, that he'd been attacked!

Hell,
he
hardly believed it.

“Bryan—” Katie's voice stopped short on an audible gasp as she caught sight of him—big, bad Bryan Morgan, being held to the floor by Holly's lips.

Dammit! Struggling to sit up, he shoved Holly off his thighs.

Katie was already halfway across the hangar floor.

Surging to his feet, he leaped for the door. “Katie!” he bellowed.

She turned, just as Bryan took a quick step, too quick, and promptly fell out of the plane, flat on his face.

When the stars and pain faded, he rolled onto his back on the cold concrete floor of the hangar and blinked Holly into view.

“Save your breath,” she said with a sigh. “She's gone. For such a well-curved little thing, she sure can move. And apparently Matt wasn't with her.”

Bryan spared her one quick glance as he surged to his unsteady feet. “You.
Stay.
When I get back you have some explaining to do.”

“Oh, Ricky,”
she whined in a perfect mimic of Lucy Ricardo.

Instead of strangling her, Bryan shook his head and went after Katie, but Holly happened to be right on one score—Katie
could
really move.

By the time he figured out which way to go, she'd crossed the entire length of the tarmac, her low, economical heels clicking loudly, her long skirt flowing wildly in the breeze.

“Katie!”

Naturally she kept walking, even faster now, and he jogged up to her, passing her, running back
wards in order to stay right in front of her, but she wouldn't even look at him. “Katie, I—”

“I'm busy,” she huffed.

“You're also upset.”

“Why? I don't care who you kiss.”

Ouch, though it was a good point. She didn't care, he didn't care…so what was the big deal?

He wished he knew.

His face hurt from taking a dive on the hangar floor. His head hurt, too, and though he was in excellent shape, he could hardly keep up with her. “Can you stop for a moment? Or at least slow down?”

“Nope.”

He glanced behind him to make sure he wasn't going to fall,
again,
and kept running backward. “About what just happened—”

“Forget it.”

He'd like to. “I can't. You know, it wasn't really what you thought.”

“Really?” Finally, she stopped, put a hand on her hip and lifted an eyebrow. “What did I think?”

“Um…” He was feeling a little slow on the uptake.

“That you're slime? That you're sick? That you're— You're bleeding!”

Why that softened her, he hadn't a clue.

“Your lip,” she said and lifted a hand before she stopped herself. “You should tell your little girlfriend not to bite so hard.”

“She's not—” Hell! How did this stuff happen to him?

They were on the far side of the tarmac now, the wind blowing fiercely, whipping Katie's hair into both of their faces. Her skirt rioted, too, tangling up in his legs as well as hers. They were close to the lobby door, close to the first hangar, but neither of them moved. “I suppose you won't believe the truth,” he said.

Her gaze narrowed and now she did touch his mouth and stared at her finger. Then she stabbed it into his chest, hard. “That's not blood, it's bright red lipstick! Gee, I wonder how
that
happened? Oh, wait, I know.” She let out a tight smile. “You're a closet cross-dresser.”

“She jumped me,” he said inanely, going with the truth instead of the resuscitation excuse, thinking he should get points for honesty. “Really. I heard this noise and went to investigate.”

“In your parked plane.”

“Yes.”

“I imagine you thought it was a mouse or something.”

“Or something, yes,” he agreed, ignoring her
huff of disbelief. “Then suddenly there she was, kissing me.”

“She plowed you to the ground, naturally,” Katie said agreeably. “Straddled you. Forced your arms around her, then attacked your mouth.”

Pleased by her compassion and understanding, he smiled. “Yes! Exactly!”

Katie's eyes went cold. “Someone ought to put out a bulletin. You men need a new story.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That's exactly the same story my fiancé gave me, when I found him in the same position with Holly. Only it was under my Christmas tree, three years ago.”

F
OR THE FIRST TIME
in Katie's life, her nice, logical world of accounting failed her. She had her computer up and running, a spreadsheet opened in front of her and yet all she saw were numbers leaping and jumping around, making her dizzy.

She found herself mixing her debits with her credits. Confusing her assets with liabilities. Twisting her expenses.

All because of a man. And not the man she'd so carefully picked out for herself either, but one who had the ability to turn her life upside down in a very unsettling way.

How was she supposed to face the fact that the kiss that haunted her dreams with its heat and intensity, the one that had awakened needs and yearnings she hadn't even been aware of, might have come from a man she could never let herself care about?

Never.

Bryan was everything she didn't want. Unpredictable. Wild. Uncontrollable.

Not to mention a woman magnet.

Anyway, it didn't matter, she'd kissed Matt.

She really had.

Oh, Lord. Her head hit the desk with a loud thunk.

Not Bryan, please don't let it be true.

She was happy with her life just the way it was. Mostly. Okay, she was working on the happy part. But what she wanted for the rest of it was quite simple—the exact opposite of what Bryan made her feel. Her three little
S
's.

Security, safety, stability.

All three of those in one, Matt poked his head in her office door and smiled.

She lifted her head and smiled back, stupidly,
yearning
for his next words.

I'm sorry I've been teasing you, of course I remember our kiss.

Or better yet,
How about we try that bone-melting kiss again because for the life of me I can't stop thinking about it.

Actually, if he could just haul her out of her chair, press his body to hers and plant one on her…Yeah, now
that
would be the best thing to lay to rest all these crazy doubts.

With that in mind, she waited earnestly.

“We need the general ledger,” he said, shattering her hopes with quiet ease. “Do you by any chance have it ready?”

Maybe he was just shy. She could understand that, really she could. But right now she was desperately afraid she knew why he wasn't responding to her, darn one Bryan Morgan!

She had to know, without a shadow of a doubt, who she'd kissed.

“It's almost ready,” she lied, purposely not looking down at her desk, where the thing lay out right in the open, finished. “Why don't you come in for a second while I get it?”

“Okay.”

“Oh, and maybe you could shut the door?”

He did, and then leaned against her file cabinet, tall and lean. Handsome. Reliable. Dependable.

A mental image of a car salesman flashed in her mind and she shoved it out.

Matt was Mr. Perfect, and she was going to prove it to herself if it killed her.

As she walked toward him, some of her intent and purpose must have gleamed in her gaze because he straightened, his brow crinkled in question.

She kept walking, afraid she'd lose her nerve.

Matt abandoned his perch and backed up, until her extra chair hit the back of his knees, forcing him to sit. He gripped the arms and sent her a wary look. “Um…how about I come back later when—”

When she was in her right mind?

Not likely to happen.

“No need,” she said, putting her hands over his as she bent, lowering her face, puckering her lips, not quite daring to close her eyes because she was nervous and deathly afraid she'd miss her target.

“Katie!” Matt scooted back as far as he could in the chair, but she had him surrounded. The chair made an alarming squeak, then started to tip with his efforts as she tried to soothe him.

“Just one more time, Matt.”

“One more time?
What are you taking about?
”

Her palms grew damp with nerves, making them slip on the armrests. She fell across his lap full weight.

“Oomph,” he said, and though she tried to smile a come-hither smile, he didn't put his hands on her as she imagined, instead arched even farther away from her as she fumbled. “Katie—”

That was the last word he managed before their combined weight proved too much for the chair. They toppled backward to the floor.

 

T
HE HOSPITAL
waiting room had been painted a soft green, and decorated with warm paintings and drawings.

Probably to calm people.

It wasn't working, a half hysterical Katie was certain of that much. Nope, in fact that green was making her feel seasick.

Of course it could have been that she'd nearly killed the vice president of Wells Aviation.

“A concussion,” Bryan said from his chair, watching her pace. “How do you suppose
that
happened?”

She cringed and kept pacing.

“He's a careful man,” Bryan said thoughtfully. “I can't imagine him just…falling out of his chair.”

“Um, yeah. About that…” Katie managed a little smile. “He didn't exactly fall on his own.”

“I see.” Though his mouth remained still, his eyes twinkled with what she was pretty certain was humor. “You mean something tipped him over?”

“Sort of.” Katie closed her eyes in mortification. “You remember that Christmas party thing?”

Now one corner of his mouth quirked. “I think I do, yes.”

“And that stupid kiss.”

Bryan paused so long Katie opened her eyes.

“That stupid kiss,” he repeated.

“It should have been so simple!” She forced a laugh. “It's really the funniest thing.”

“Try me.”

“Well, I got to thinking about what you said, you know, about it not being Matt.”

Bryan just looked at her.

“Right. Anyway, I got to wondering—”

“If I was telling the truth? I thought we already established that much. If I wasn't, how would I even know about the kiss?”

“Well, I didn't say I was rational.” She managed another smile. “I needed to know for certain if it was really Matt, even though of course it was. You were just somehow teasing me. All I had to do was prove it, so I just…”

“You just…what?”

“Tried to kiss Matt again.” She rubbed her eyes. “And that was that.”

“Not quite it wasn't. You left out the part where you nearly killed him.”

“Oh, yeah.” She sank to an empty chair and dropped both her bravado and head into her hands.

“The headlines should be interesting,” Bryan told her sympathetically. “‘Accountant Launches
Herself at Single Executive, Hoping for a Kiss and Knocks Him Out Cold.' You know, in some states you could probably get arrested.”

That thought hadn't even occurred to her, but it did now and Katie went weak. If it had been the other way around, and Matt had been the woman, and
she
the
he…
“Oh, God, I sexually harassed him!”

Bryan grinned. “Shame on you. Can you do it to me, too?”

“I'm going to be sick,” she said faintly.

“Well, this is the place to do it.” But he ran his hand over her bowed head in a soothing gesture.

The craziest thought went through her mind at his oddly welcome touch. She was resisting him because…well, he wasn't grown-up enough, didn't know anything but fun. And yet here he was, being the mature one in the face of her own stupidity. She might have warmed to him then. Might have, except for his next words.

“Look, it's not that bad,” he said. “At least now you know the truth.”

“No,” she said miserably. “I never actually kissed him before we fell.”

Bryan stared at her, then laughed. “You poor baby.”

 

“A
RE YOU WAITING
for Matt Osborne?”

Katie straightened in her chair and looked at the nurse in surprise. “Me?”

“He's been released. You're driving him home?”

Katie looked around, but there was no one else the woman could possibly be speaking to. Bryan had vanished a half hour ago. “Um…okay.” Guess she wasn't fired.

Yet.

She followed the nurse down the hallway past the emergency room cubicles. Not all the curtains were closed so she got an eyeful of moaning, groaning, screaming, yelling people.

Not a happy place.

Finally they stopped before a cubicle that
did
have a closed curtain. The nurse whipped it open, and when Katie hesitated, the woman gently pushed her inside and slid the curtain closed again.

Matt sat on the cot, holding his head in his hands. When he saw her, he straightened, his eyes widening a little.

Terrific.
Now he was afraid of her. She forced a smile. “Matt? They said you're free to go now.”

“Yes.” He looked at the closed curtain behind
her as if it were a bolted steel door and he was locked on the wrong side of it.

The awkwardness didn't fade when she found her feet and moved closer to him. With a barely perceptible movement, he shifted back, away from her.

She dropped to the cot next to him and sighed.

Any second now he'd fire her. She'd take it like a man.

Probably.

“Katie?” He sounded wary but concerned, which made her sigh again.

Mr. Perfect was a gentleman, right to the end. Except that he was watching her as one would a poisonous spider. She supposed she couldn't really blame him; in his eyes she'd been acting pretty strange since the party.

“Why are you here?” he asked.

“I'm driving you home.” She attempted a friendly, don't-worry-I'm-sane smile. “I'll have you there in five minutes tops.”

He looked as if five minutes were a lifetime. Or maybe he was just worried she'd knock him down again and
really
injure him this time.

Well, that was her own fault, she supposed. And
she still wasn't any closer to the truth. He was so handsome, and so darn right for her!

Why couldn't this be simple?

Slowly she lifted a hand toward him, hoping he'd take it. He didn't, instead stared down at her fingers as if he expected them to separate from her body and yell
Boo!
“We really need to go,” she said.

“Just checking…” He gingerly took her fingers, studying them intently. Then he slowly craned his neck and stared at the ceiling, and then the walls around him. “For mistletoe.” He shot her an apologetic smile. “I'm sorry, it's just that you seem so obsessed….”

She tightened her grip on his hand and gently tugged him up because she
was
obsessed. And she wasn't finished; she had to know. She had to put the wild, unpredictable and far too sexy Bryan out of her head. “I have to try this one last time,” she whispered, more to herself than him. “I won't hurt you, I promise.” Going up on her tiptoes, she lightly pressed her mouth to his.

He stiffened at the connection, and she thought,
Yes!
because she'd felt the same reaction from him, at the party. But that night his hands had tightened on her, he'd made a rough sound of helpless
arousal, and had immediately taken over the kiss until she couldn't so much as remember her name.

Not this time.

No fireworks, no heat barreling through her veins, nothing except the short, dry, chaste kiss.

Matt immediately pulled back and frowned at her. “What was
that
for?”

“Yes, Katie. Do tell.”

Katie jerked around.
Bryan!
What? Was her good karma on vacation?

Bryan lifted a mocking eyebrow, darn him, and sent her a knowing smile.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded.

“Me?”

“Yes, you!”

“Matt asked me to drive him home.” Bryan's eyes sparkled, his mouth quivered suspiciously. “Unless of course,
you're
going to do it.”

“No!” Matt said quickly, too quickly, then sent Katie an apologetic but terrified glance.

Katie could only sigh. Bryan's eyes were still on her, she could feel them, but she'd streak naked through the hospital before she'd look at him again.

“Hope I didn't interrupt anything,” he said lightly, turning her, forcing her to face him.

Oh, yes, given that smug expression, he knew
exactly
what he'd interrupted, and she'd never live it down.

His cocky, wicked grin only reinforced the knowledge.