Kiss Me, Katie! & Hug Me, Holly!

She bit her lower lip, clearly expecting a different reaction. “I wanted…to talk about last night.”

“The party?” Matt seemed surprised.

The nitwit had no idea what he’d missed. Bryan supposed there should be some guilt associated with that, but there wasn’t.

“I thought it went really well,” Matt said, then stole a quick glance at his watch. “Oh, look at that. I’m sorry, I’ve gotta go. I have a report to finish.”

With an apologetic smile, he turned away to shut the door.

“But-” Katie’s smile seemed forced, even to Bryan who was still a good way down the hall from them. “It’s just that…the mistletoe…”

“Mistletoe?” Matt shrugged. “I noticed plenty of the stuff scattered all around. The decorations were superbly done. Nicely and strategically placed.”

“Yes,” Katie agreed. “Strategic.”

“It’s got to come down though, or we’ll have people taking advantage of it during office hours.” His brow wrinkled. “Hmm…maybe I’d better write a memo.”

“A memo,” Katie repeated. “Remove the mistletoe to avoid mass orgies during work hours.”

Matt nodded distractedly, and after a quick goodbye, closed the door in her face.

Clueless jerk, Bryan decided, even as he was oddly grateful for clueless jerks.

Katie just stood there. “Well wasn’t I ever so memorable,” she muttered.

More than memorable, babe. “Morning,” Bryan said.

Katie nearly leaped right out of her skin and whipped around to stare at him. “What?”

“I said, ‘Morning.”’

Her face was pale now. “Say it again.”

Bryan wondered if his voice was confusing her. After all, he had spoken last night. But people heard what they wanted to hear, and she’d definitely wanted to hear Matt’s voice.

She blinked.

“Morning,” he said again, obliging her.

She shook her head. “I should have had some coffee.”

And he should tell her the truth. Should being the key word here. “You were asking about the mistletoe,” he said. “Is there something I can help you with?” Like maybe kiss you again?

She didn’t answer, just narrowed her eyes.

“Is anything wrong?”

“Your voice…it sounds…”

“Familiar?” He grinned, he couldn’t help it. “Well, it should. We work together.”

“Right.”

Poor baby looked so confused. His conscience, never the most righteous of creatures, reared its head for a moment.

A very short moment.

Because he knew if he came clean right then, she would either deny that the kiss had knocked her socks off, or she’d run like hell.

Neither appealed.

Not when his goal for the day had suddenly become to get another. “About that mistletoe,” he said casually. “I bet it’s still in the hangar. We could just walk on over there and-”

“No,” she said quickly, backing away. “I’m…busy. Very busy.”

He obviously made her nervous. He tested this theory by taking a step toward her.

Sure enough, she retreated…right into a file cabinet, which she hit with a loud thunk. The two flowerpots above teetered wildly, then fell. She caught one, then the other, and quickly set them down on the ground, whirling back to him with her hands behind her back as if she didn’t trust herself.

She had a streak of dirt across one cheek. She looked unsettled. And adorable. He had no idea why that appealed, he’d certainly never been attracted to adorable before. Long-legged, full bottom-lipped sexpots, yes. Adorable, no.

“I’m fine,” she said quickly when he came toward her. “I’m just fi-” The word ended in a gasp when he took her arms in his hands to steady her.

They were now in exactly the same position they’d been in last night, nose to nose, thigh to thigh.

“You-you have blue eyes,” she said inanely. “When did that happen?”

“At birth, actually.” He grinned. “Let me guess, you hate blue eyes.”

“No, I-” Her gaze dropped to his mouth, and in a totally innocent gesture, she licked her dry lips.

Bryan nearly groaned, but managed to hold it together because he had a huge advantage- she might not know how good they’d be together, but he did. Dammit, what a dilemma, because despite himself, he never, ever took advantage of women.

Well, almost never.

“About that mistletoe…” he murmured.

“No! No, it was a bad idea! A stupid idea. A really idiotic-”

“I get the picture.” He tipped his head to one side because her hands had come up between them to grip his shirt, whether to push him away or to keep him close, he had no idea. “You don’t strike me as much of a risk taker.”

“Absolutely not,” she said quickly. Too quickly.

He smiled, because last night, for whatever reason, she’d done exactly that, she’d dropped her reserve and had made the first move on a man. On him.

“In fact, risk is a bad word in my book,” she continued. “A really bad word, as bad as-as-”

“As…?”

“As…oh never mind!”

Above them, the intercom buzzed, then Mrs. Giddeon paged Katie to the front desk.

With a cry of what could only be relief, Katie broke free, brushing against him as she ran off down the hall.

Good, Bryan decided. He shouldn’t have teased her. He had absolutely no idea what had come over him. He could really care less that she wanted Matt, that she wasn’t his type. It wasn’t his problem.

Five minutes later he walked into his office and faced his two other pilots, both of whom looked at him and laughed. He looked down.

And saw two perfect handprints-made from dirt-on his white shirt. “Very funny,” he said, but he wasn’t annoyed, just strangely unsettled.

Katie might be a novice where men were concerned, but she’d accomplished something no woman other than his sisters and mother ever had.

She’d left her mark on him.

3

“LORDIE, would you look at that?” Julie murmured beneath her breath to Katie.

At the voice of her friend and co-worker, Katie looked up from her notes for the upcoming staff meeting, but she saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Cassandra and Eloise filed into the conference room, followed by Dale, Jack, Evan and Mrs. Giddeon. Everyone looked perfectly normal, even Holly, as she sauntered in.

Then she caught the newest arrival.

Bryan.

That her belly gave a little quiver really got to her. “Him?” she asked Julie, who was practically drooling.

“Him,” Julie answered breathlessly. “Wow.”