Page 33 of Kiss Kiss Bang
“Great.”
“After your two o’clock meeting, Tom’ll take you back home and ICS will be there shortly thereafter, then you have a Skype interview tonight for the evening news. You should be all set up, so you can do that from home. The questions are in your inbox. I’ve sent you a dozen email responses. If they’re good, send them.”
“Who answered them?” She didn’t like that other people were answering her emails, but the truth was, she was receiving hundreds of correspondences and she just didn’t have the time to check every single one herself. She did, however, want to review everything that was sent with her name on it.
“One of the interns.”
She groaned because she would have to review them carefully, which meant she’d have to work late into the evening . . . again.
Olivia ate her lunch at her desk and was nonstop all day. As soon as the meeting was over at three, Olivia had Tom take her home, where Winnie was already waiting with Sophie like every afternoon.
“Soph, change out of your school uniform,” Oliva instructed when she saw Sophie in the backyard with a net, running after a butterfly. A few minutes later, a black Suburban pulled up to her driveway.
All she’d had time for was to untuck her shirt from her skirt, unbutton the top button of her blouse, and slip out of her heels.
“Hello,” she said, breathlessly, as she opened the door. “Come on in.”
“Olivia,” Joey said as a hello. “This is Ben and Rollins. They work with me at ICS. We’re just going to walk around and check things out. Where’s Tom?”
She looked over her shoulder. Where was Tom?
“I’m sure he’s around. Maybe in the backyard smoking.”
Joey rolled his eyes as he stepped inside.
“Make yourself at home. I have a few things to do.”
Ben and Rollins walked off to the kitchen, but Joey lingered, his eyes roaming her body. He wasn’t even trying to hide it, and she suddenly felt naked and flushed. “Hi,” he said, in that deep sexy voice.
“Hi.”
“I think I need a kiss.”
“Yes. I think you do.” She took a step closer to him. “My daughter’s here somewhere.”
“’Kay.” He took the remaining step and then one hand was wrapped flush against her waist and she was firmly pressed against him, her palm on his chest. He smelled good. Manly, like he’d been out in the sun. He leaned in and pressed his lips against her. The way he held her promised more than a chaste kiss, but that’s all he gave her and it left her wanting more, her knees wobbling in its wake.
“Dinner later?” he asked.
But it took her too long to reply because he’d turned her normally sane and rational mind into jelly. “Uh . . . no. Soph—”
“I know. You have a daughter, Livie. We’ve been through this already. I’m not scared of her. We’ve met. We bonded over Cheerios this morning, remember?”
“Joey, I just—”
“I’m not going to maul you while she’s around. It’s just dinner, darlin’.”
“I don’t think—”
He kissed the top of her head sweetly, and then stepped away. “That’s your problem right there. You think too much. Stop thinking.”
He winked and then stepped away, leaving her discombobulated.
* * *
Joey couldn’t be around Olivia one more moment without being able to touch her. He liked her too much. From the moment he’d met her he’d been attracted to her. And then every time after that his hands twitched to kiss her, hold her, touch her. And those goddamn skirts she wore that clung to every bit of curve, accentuating her small frame and toned legs that went on for miles, were making him insane. Even with the skirt going past her knees, her legs still looked miles long.
Deciding it was a good time as any to get the lay of the land, unable to be this close to her and not touch her the way he wanted to, he went outside to walk the exterior of the house, checking for safety concerns since he hadn’t had sufficient time to do so this morning.
