Yahoo news. And there for her horrified eyes popped up a news video of the Santa Monica bridge, collapsed as if it had just happened, cars sticking out from beneath like from a horror flick.
She didn’t see her car. That was because, as she knew all too well, hers had slid off the cliff, catching on two large trees, leaving her hanging, literally.
A few gray spots swam in her vision.
“Katie?”
She swallowed hard and shut the browser on the screen. Marginally better. “Long story.”
“Cliff Notes version,” he said, eyes narrowed in on her face.
“Okay.” She’d done her best not to talk about it, never to talk about it, but clearly that wasn’t working for her. “I had an…accident. A bad one. I nearly died. Actually, I sort of defied the odds by
She saw the relief come in to his eyes. He’d probably been worried that she was going to do something horrifying, like cry. Ha! She was tougher than that. Way tougher.
Almost always.
“You do remember me from last night, right?” he said, playing along with her, letting her change the subject. He leaned that tightly muscled body against her desk, hooking his thumbs into his front pockets. “The most unhelpful man you’ve ever met?”
“Yeah.” Much as she was grateful that he’d let the panic attack go, she winced at the memory of him finding her in his bed. “But in my defense, I was a little…discombobulated last night.”
“Yeah.” He offered a little smile that fried more than a few brain cells. “Me too.”
“Really?” He’d seemed…exhausted, but definitely at ease, especially in his own skin.
“Hell yeah. I came home and found a beautiful woman in my bed that I didn’t put there.”
She stared up into his face. It didn’t say much about her love life that having him call her beautiful made her melt in spite of his extreme unhelpfulness.
Except now that she knew he’d been a professional athlete, she knew something else too. He probably had women throwing themselves at him all the time. Groupies and snow bunnies and the like. “I didn’t realize you were a celebrity.”
He looked puzzled until she gestured to the walls that were a shrine to him.
“Annie did all that.” He looked around and gave a visible wince. “I’ve taken it all down a hundred times. The last time, she threatened to cut off my food supply, and I take my food supply very seriously.”
“It’s just so surreal. You’re an Olympic champion. An X Games champion. You’re-”
“I’ve read my bio, thanks.”
He didn’t like to talk about it, which was hard for her because she wanted to talk about it. “Okay, well, we could pretend we’re meeting for the first time.”
“And that I didn’t find you in my bed?”
“Yes, that would be really great, actually.”
He gave a slow shake of his head, his gaze filled with a good amount of trouble. “I don’t think I can do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because every time I close my eyes, I see you there.” The glint in them turned positively wicked now. “Naked.”
She nearly choked on her shocked laugh as he effectively did what nothing else had been able to-make her forget. She looked at him and realized that he wasn’t just being crude for the fun of it, he really was trying to take her mind off whatever had gotten to her.
And it was that, that right there, which opened her heart to him just a little.
But only a little, because hot or not, he was still quite contrary.
And hot, and oh good Lord, there went her glasses again, completely fogging over. She ripped them from her face. “You know I wasn’t naked.”
“That part must have been my dream then.”
“You dreamed about me being naked?”
He shot her a crooked smile filled with both shameless admittance and a wry humor, and she had to laugh. “That’s a guy thing, right?”
“So I take it you didn’t dream about me naked.”
“No.” And yet she knew she would tonight. “But we irritate each other. Don’t we?”
“Yes, but see, irritation originates in the brain. That’s not the part of me that was dreaming about you.”
“I work for you.”
Some of his good humor left. “No, you work for Stone.”
That was quite a distinction, one that she wasn’t sure she understood. “Are you not a part of Wilder Adventures?”
“I am now. Apparently I’ll be planning expeditions and doing some of the leading.”
“And sign the paychecks?”
He stared at her for a moment, then let out a breath. “Maybe. Probably. Stone handles most of that, though; he loves paperwork. I think he has a screw loose somewhere.”
“I used to love paperwork.”
“Used to?”
“Not so much anymore.” She broke the disconcerting eye contact because it seemed like he could see inside her. “So. Month end.”
“Not my area of expertise.”
“What is?”
He merely smiled again, naughty to the bone. Her knees wobbled, and it had nothing at all to do with the big, bad, scary Sno-Cat. “Okay,” she said on a laugh. “Never mind. How about this. If you could just tell me what reports Stone wants to see…”
“I’ve been gone all year. I have no idea.” But instead of escaping, he leaned back, feet and arms casually crossed, still very much at ease. She had a feeling he was pretty much always at ease.
“You’ve been gone a year?”
“Give or take.” He picked up a file from her pile and opened it. “Interesting.”
“What?”
“It’s the application you filled out, and a copy of your driver’s license, and-Huh.”
“What?” She stood up, trying to see what he saw.
He tipped the file and revealed the picture on her license. It’d been taken last year, and showed her with her hair neatly up, glasses on.
The old her.
Cam eyed it, then swiveled his gaze to her.
“It’s not my best picture,” she said a little defensively. “But it does reveal that I’m responsible and-”
“Not an ax murderer?” She caught the quick flash of humor in his eyes as he took in her fuzzy sweater, wool trousers, and high-heeled boots. “I don’t think you have to worry, Goldilocks. I don’t think cute office managers from LA who wear high-heeled boots can be ax murderers. There’s a code or something.”
She stretched her legs so they slid beneath the desk, hiding her feet. “Okay, so I’m a little overdressed, but that’s just me wanting to make a good impression. It doesn’t necessarily say I’m from LA. I mean, maybe I just like high fashion.” Or Target sales…“You shouldn’t assume-”
“Your application says you’re from LA.”
“Oh, right.” Her curiosity won over her embarrassment. “What else are you learning about me?”
He lifted the paperwork out of her view, not hard since he was so tall. “That you went to college at USC for accounting but didn’t take your CPA because you weren’t sure you’d stick in accounting. You have a good head on your shoulders, though you’re a little uptight and cautious.”
She blinked. “My file says I’m uptight and cautious?”
