Bryan completed his landing without incident, tied the plane down on his own even though there was a staff of linemen waiting to assist as there always was, and also a film crew who’d paid to use the tarmac for the morning. He tipped his head to stare at the sky.
“Already yearning to be back up there?”
He recognized the female voice and braced himself.
“We have a great staff, you know.” Holly, who’d come up behind him, managed to casually brush her long, lithe, very toned body against his. “Why do you always insist on doing everything yourself?”
Seemed silly to tell her the truth, when she didn’t care about the truth. What she cared about, what she’d cared about for the entire two weeks since she’d come to this place as the new office manager, was getting action.
Man action.
Apparently he was the man.
“Do you do all your own handling because you like to sweat?” Holly wondered, circling him until she was in front of him, smiling with all the innocence of a shark. “Or because you like the way all us silly females melt over you when you do?”
“Oh, definitely, it’s because I like to sweat.”
She laughed softly. “So big and tough.”
“You should see me after I wash the plane.”
His light sarcasm was a wasted effort. She merely smiled. “You’re so exciting, Bryan. How did you manage to keep all those tipsy women off you last night? It wouldn’t have anything to do with the…Santa costume?”
“I thought my being Santa was a secret.”
Holly arched a brow and let out a mysterious smile. “Whoever told you that?”
“You know who. You. I got your note that Matt would be late and couldn’t do it, so you needed me to do it, and to keep it quiet about it.”
“Oh, that note.” She purred and lowered her lashes. “I suppose I owe you now.”
Oh, boy. “No. Consider that a freebie.” Besides, he’d gotten his reward.
“A freebie?” Holly pursed her lips. “You wouldn’t, by any chance, have gotten…lucky with that costume last night, would you? Maybe lucky with a certain accountant who thought you were…oh, I don’t know, a certain vice president?”
Ah, now it made sense. He’d been set up. “You were responsible for that?”
“You’re giving me far too much credit,” she said serenely, studying her manicure. “And besides, everyone knows, Matt was supposed to be Santa.”
“Yes,” he said patiently. “But Matt wasn’t Santa. I was.”
“Right. So if a mistake was made-” she lifted her shoulders and sent him a guileless smile “-then…oops.”
“You told her Matt was in the costume, didn’t you?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then what, exactly?”
“Are you telling me you didn’t enjoy that kiss?”
“Okay, let’s do this another way. Does she or does she not now know the truth?”
“Not.” Holly grinned. “Are you kidding? Prim-and-proper accounting Katie kissing the wild, reckless, rowdy, untamable Bryan Morgan? She’d have a coronary. She definitely doesn’t like guys like you.”
“She’s not all that prim and proper.”
Holly bent at the waist and burst out laughing. “Do tell.”
Bryan gave up and started walking toward the first of three hangars that made up Wells, knowing he had exactly one hour to take care of his paperwork before chartering a flight that would keep him out of the airport for the rest of the day.
Without a doubt, he was going to have to put that kiss right out of his head. Yes, the little accountant kissed nice, so what? She didn’t like guys like him, so what? He didn’t care, not when there were plenty of other women in the sea.
That he hadn’t been looking was another matter entirely, he told himself. Between work and his loving but demanding family, he’d been busy, and hadn’t needed the additional complication. And he knew all too well, women were definitely a complication, no matter how sweet yet sexy their light, expressive whiskey eyes were.
With that in mind, he made it to the hallway outside the postage-stamp-size office he rented from Wells, when he heard a very familiar voice.
“Matt? Matt, I know you’re in there.”
Katie.
Katie back in her dull business suit with the too long skirt and the too full blazer so he couldn’t so much as catch a glimpse of that lush body he now knew she had, knocking on the closed door of Matt Osborne’s office.
She should look unappealing, but she didn’t, not at all. Instead, she looked…huggable.
Damn, what was that about?
He attributed it to knowing that she kissed like heaven, and smelled like it, too.
Then Matt opened his office door and smiled absently at her. “Yes?”
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.”