“But-”
“Let me do my job,” she insisted. “Gentlemen!” When they didn’t appear to hear her, she reached over the counter for the envelopes, which were being waved by two greedy fists, high over the men’s heads as they danced up and down trying to outmaneuver each other.
“Katie, I could just-”
“No,” she said to Bryan over her shoulder. “Believe it or not, I can take care of this on my own.”
“I realize that, but if you’d just-”
“Please.” Envisioning two heart attacks, or even a stroke or two, Katie reached out farther, but the counter hampered her. Teddy and Rocky weren’t just grabbing for their bills now, but actually starting to wrestle, and picturing the calamity when one of them clobbered the other, she became all the more alarmed. “Come on now, let’s settle this reasonably-”
That’s when Teddy slid in low and punched. Rocky evaded, and in a comical twist that rivaled any raunchy television wrestling show, Teddy swiveled with the follow-through that ended up going nowhere. He fell on his butt on the lobby floor. With an enraged bellow, he went for Rocky’s feet, wrapping his pudgy arms around them just as Katie leaned all the way over the counter and grabbed both envelopes. Her toes left the floor, making her gasp at the loss of balance. She felt Bryan grab her legs, heard his worried voice calling her name.
But naturally, as this day was not one of her best, she overcompensated for her leap up. And as the laws of physics state, what goes up, must come down.
So it was only a matter of a second or so after Rocky tumbled to the floor in a heap over Teddy that Katie lost the battle for balance.
She would have toppled headfirst over the side of the counter, except that Bryan held her legs.
So actually, the only thing that fell was her skirt.
Right around her ears.
As she hung there, held by Bryan, his arms around her thighs, his face only an inch from her proffered tush, her plain white serviceable underwear flashing him, she was fairly certain that nothing else could possible go wrong for the rest of the day.
Naturally, she was wrong about that, too.
Because that was the exact moment that Holly and Matt made their reappearance. No one seemed to notice that Holly’s lips were pleasantly swollen, or that Matt had untucked his shirt to cover the front of his pants.
Why should they, when the upside down, dress-flapping-in-the-breeze Katie easily stole the show?
11
BRYAN SHOULD HAVE followed his heart’s desire. He should have taken a bite out of Katie’s tight, curvy and oh-so-temptingly close rear end.
But he hadn’t, he’d actually followed society’s unspoken rule-do not bite a lady’s bottom unless invited to do so.
And now he was alone on Christmas morning.
Christmas mornings were typically pretty darn good for him. They had been all his life. For one thing, he was the baby of a very large family who believed in lots of love and laughter.
And lots of presents.
Because he wasn’t the most organized of men, he sat on his bed and wrapped the things he’d purchased for everyone. Better late than never, he figured with a smile as he unrolled some festive paper and dug in.
He wasn’t getting together with his family until dinner, which was good. He wanted to see Katie first.
The nerves surprised him, but as soon as he finished wrapping, he showered, dressed and got into his car.
Getting to her place took no time at all, but he wasted another moment in rare angst, staring at the dark windows and wondering what the hell he thought he was doing. She’d made it clear over and over again he wasn’t what she wanted in a man. Not that it mattered; he didn’t want to be any one woman’s man anyway.
He really didn’t.
So why was he here, sitting in his car staring at her house like a fool?
Because he was a fool.
Was she even there?
Last night he’d been hoping they’d leave work together, maybe have dinner, and indeed spend Christmas Eve together, just the two of them, but those hopes had gone up in flames at Katie’s vanishing act.
She hadn’t answered her phone, and he wondered now if she’d skipped town. He knew so little about her, really, and yet he felt her knew her so well.
How could that be?
And even more startling was how much he wanted to spend time with her. Wanted to talk, wanted to share stuff, wanted to hear her share stuff. He wanted to laugh with her, wanted to make her laugh. Wanted to just…be with her.
And yet she was doing her damnedest to make sure it didn’t happen.
Drawing a deep breath, he got out of his car and knocked on her door. From inside came an unmistakable meow, and he relaxed, knowing Katie wouldn’t leave town with her cats alone in the house.
A few seconds later he could tell she was looking out her peephole. “Hello,” he said to the still-closed front door. “Merry Christmas, Katie.”
The door remained firmly shut, and he set his palms on the wood as if he could feel her right through it. “Katie? Let me in. It’s-it’s cold out here,” he improvised quickly, setting his forehead against the wood now, needing to be close to her. “You wouldn’t let a man stand out here and freeze to death, would you?”
“Go home, Bryan.”
An apology, he decided brilliantly, staring at the door. Women liked apologies. “Katie? I’m really sorry.”
A rueful laugh escaped her at his soulful tone. “What are you apologizing for?”
“Um…being a man?”
“I’m not mad at you,” she said through the door. “I’m just-” he heard a clunk and knew she’d set her head against the wood “-just feeling stupid here.”
He had to press his ear up to the wood to hear her. “Why?”
“See! This is just what I mean! It’ll seem really silly to a man who’s never doubted himself for a single second.”
“I’ve doubted myself plenty.”
“Uh-huh. Over what?”
“You,” he said bluntly. “Over you.”
“I’m just one of too many women.”
“That’s pretty much my point.”
Another short laugh. “Was that supposed to make me feel better?”
“What I mean is, this has never happened before.”
“What hasn’t?”
“I can’t walk away. I can’t stop thinking about you. I dream about you, ache for you. I need you, Katie.”
“You…need me?”
“Open the door and let me show you.” At her silence, he sighed. “Please? I have a present.” Another trick learned from his sisters, all of whom could be bribed. There wasn’t a woman alive who could resist a present.
Except this woman, apparently.
“You said no presents,” she said accusingly.
“Open the door, Katie.”
She cracked it. “Why?” she asked warily, one cautious eye greeting him.
“Could you maybe open it just a bit more?”
“Well…okay. Just for a- Hey!” she cried when he used his superior strength to let himself in.
“Sorry,” he said, anything but as he gazed down at her. She was rumpled, her hair wildly rioting about her sleep-flushed face. She wore a pale-rose bathrobe that swallowed her up. Two bare feet poked out beneath the full hem.
He loved bare feet.
“This is crazy,” he said, wanting to devour her sleepy, mussed self on the spot. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
“You mean besides everything?”
“Well…yes.”
She looked heavenward, then studied her feet.
“Katie?”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s about yesterday.”
“I figured out that much.”
“You’re going to make me say it specifically?”
“Well, since I’m clueless, yes. You’ll have to say it. Specifically.”
“Okay. You saw…my panties.”
He stared at her, wanting to laugh, needing to laugh, but at the glare on her precious face he didn’t quite dare. “Well, since I’ve been wanting to see your panties for some time, preferably on the floor, on the door handle, on the ceiling fan, anywhere but on you, I can’t apologize.”