Kiss Me, Katie! & Hug Me, Holly!

5

FOR 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.

THE 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