Summer Kisses (285 page)

I was weak and a little affection-starved, so I went without protest. The back of his shirt was damp from his run, and he smelled like clean male sweat, a little cologne, and something that was just Quinn.

When he spoke, his voice sounded a little choked. “I would never deliberately hurt you in a million years.”

He pulled back and looked me in the eye. For once, he’d lost his casual air of amusement and flirtation. His intensity tightened around me, and I lost my breath.

“I... I really like you, Katherine,” he said, and my heart soared. It took flight and started hammering away like a hummingbird.

“The thing is...” he continued.

I was not interested in
the thing
. I was pretty happy with the statement as read, but I was unable to stop him from finishing.

“The thing is, as much as I hate it, John isn’t entirely wrong. It’s not a secret that I want to take you out. But I don’t think it would be wise right now.”

The hummingbird quit flapping and fell to the ground with a teeny-tiny thud.

I took a deep breath and blinked hard, refusing to let my emotions show. “I understand that.” In theory, if not in practice.

I placed my hands on his chest and pushed away. I couldn’t stand to be that close. He resisted for a moment then stepped aside, and I opened the car door and climbed inside, pulling my pride in after me.

“See you tomorrow,” he said.

I nodded. My heart and the hummingbird each pulled their tattered wings about themselves and cried.

Katherine’s back tires left marks on the pavement as she tore out of the parking lot.

Shit
.

I had an intense desire to hit something. Preferably John, although I was far more to blame than he, and I knew it. How could I make it up to her?

Or maybe I should let it go. We could go back to keeping our relationship professional only.

Everything in me rejected that option. Even though I knew dating her was a bad idea, I enjoyed my time with her too much to return to simply client and vendor.

When I got into the office the next morning, Katherine was well on her way to exactly that. Hard at work in her borrowed office, she kept an intense frown of concentration on her face. White earbuds connected her ears to her iPhone. Her blouse was buttoned up to her throat, her hair was pulled back, and she sent out get-the-hell-away-from-me signals even though she hadn’t yet acknowledged my presence.

“Hey,” I said, hopefully loud enough to be heard over her music.

She looked up and peeled her glasses off her face. Dark blue smudges underscored her eyes, and tension had etched two small vertical lines between her eyebrows. “Morning.” She left off the “good.”

“You need anything from me?”

She shook her head. “I’m almost finished going through the logs. I’ll have an answer for you this afternoon.” Her tone was calm professionalism. Her body language said, “You mean nothing to me.”

I would have bought it except for the haunted look in her eyes.

“I have a lunch meeting,” I shifted from one foot to another, hating myself for the pain in her expression and for not knowing how to fix it. “But can I talk you into dinner tonight?”

Katherine shook her head. “That’s not necessary.” She looked at her computer screen, obviously dismissing me.

I stepped into the room and sank into a chair across from her. I leaned forward. “I didn’t ask because it was necessary. I asked because I want your company. C’m on. How ‘bout it? Pizza? My treat.”

She hesitated for a long moment. “Isn’t that against the Quinn Mitchell method of dieting?”

Yeah! She hadn’t flat-out said no. “Not if we exercise reasonable portion control.”

She was tempted.

“Mmmmm. Pizza.” I drew out the last word and wiggled my eyebrows.

She looked at me, not answering.

Time to turn on the charm. I smiled, aware of the effect it had on her.

She blinked.

“You know you want it,” I said. “Just do it.”

She tucked her lower lip between her teeth, and I was pretty sure she was trying to suppress a smile. “If the whole fitness king thing doesn’t work out for you, you have a promising future as a drug pusher,” she said.

Score.
My success seemed assured.

“We’ll see,” Katherine said.

I didn’t see her again until the afternoon, when she called me in. She was still quiet and all-business.

“I’ve found the answer, and I think you’re going to like it.”

“Oh?”

“I’m pretty sure it wasn’t someone on your staff who gave up the information. I think your server got hacked.”

“And that’s good?”

“Well, it’s not
good.
But it beats having a traitor working for you.”

“I guess that’s true. Who did it?”

She shrugged. “I’m not a security expert, I’m afraid. I’ve got our IT department tracking down the IP addresses for the time I suspect the data was compromised. I should have an answer in a couple of days.”

“Sounds good. So are we working out tonight?” I asked. “Or straight to dinner?”

“My bag’s in the car.” She sighed as she packed her laptop into her briefcase. “But I think I’m going home.”

“No, you’re not. We’re working out then going for pizza.”

Before she could argue, I scooped up her briefcase and helped her down to her car. I waited while she got her gym bag.

“You don’t trust me not to come back in?”

I leaned against the side of her car and found myself grinning. “Not particularly, no.”

She pulled her duffel from the tiny compartment that passed as a trunk before cramming her briefcase in and flipping the lid down.

Taking her bag from her, I ushered her back into the club, happy to have her where I wanted her.

When Katherine came out of the locker room, she attacked her workout like she had something to prove. She upped her speed to three-point-four miles per hour and went a full forty minutes. Her face turned red, but she kept her breathing deep and steady. When she was done, she had the same look on her face that I was pretty sure I’d had on mine after I finished my first marathon.

Triumph.

I quit my run a few minutes early. “You’re doing great.”

She shrugged but a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Have to work off that pizza before I eat it,” she said as if what she’d accomplished wasn’t that big a deal.

I’d trained enough people who gave up after a couple of sessions at the gym because it was too hard that I knew she was full of it and said as much.

We stopped outside the locker-room doors. “Do me a favor.”

She looked wary. “What’s that?”

“Bring me your car keys.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Why? Think I’m going to leave without you?” Her face went a little redder, and she looked up and left. Wow, she was a lousy liar. That’s
exactly
what she’d planned.

“Yes.” I leaned against the doorframe and pointed to the ladies’ locker-room door. “Go on. I’ll wait.”

She sighed. “Where is the trust?”

I tapped my foot but didn’t answer.

She sighed loudly and gritted her teeth. “Fine. I promise. I’ll wait for you.”

“Okay,” I said slowly. “Don’t disappoint me.”

I beat a hasty retreat to the men’s locker room and showered in record time. Then I raced out, moved my car next to hers, and waited for her less than six minutes later.

Time for me to admit something to myself. I really,
really
liked this woman. Despite the fact she wasn’t my “type.” Despite all of John’s comments.

Katherine emerged a full twenty minutes after that, her still-damp hair down, her face scrubbed clear of makeup, and clad in the pants and blouse she’d worn earlier. Carrying her jacket over her arm, her blouse was unbuttoned enough that she’d stopped looking like a librarian.

This was only the second time I’d seen her hair all the way down, and I liked it. I wanted to run my fingers through the silky-looking waves and smell it to see if she’d used the gym’s shampoo or her own.

As the wind caught one mostly-dry lock and blew it toward her face, my palms itched. I didn’t reach for her though. Despite her more casual appearance, she wasn’t giving off any “come and get me” signals.

I opened the door of my Jeep. “Pizza time.”

She hesitated only for a second, but long enough for me to have a full barrage of arguments lined up and waiting. I had never in my life worked so hard to take a woman to dinner.

I didn’t like it.

Finally, she flipped her bag into the car, grabbed her purse, then finally got in.

Mama DiSalvo’s had some of the best pizza in the city. It also has great ambiance. The tables featured red-checkered tablecloths and were lit with candles stuffed in old Chianti bottles, red wax dripping down onto their straw coverings. The sound system piped in the classics: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, and the like. They had a full menu of non-pizza items as well as a buffet that boasted several types of pizza, salad, and pasta.

The hostess greeted Katherine by name. She, in turn, introduced me. “This is Antonia DiSalvo. She’s Rosa and Tony DiSalvo’s youngest granddaughter.” Katherine’s smile for Antonia was a lot warmer than any she’d given me in the past twenty-four hours. She explained that the DiSalvos were currently Will’s number-one client. “This is Quinn Mitchell. We’re doing work for his fitness centers as well.”

Antonia gave me a smile that expressed definite interest. A couple of months ago, I would have kept the conversation going. Standing there with Katherine, however, I only wanted to be seated so I could continue trying to smooth things over.

Antonia finally led us to a booth off to the back. Katherine took the seat facing the restaurant, and I faced her and the kitchen. My view was great.

The waitress, another flirty granddaughter working her way through college, greeted Katherine, batted her eyelashes at me, then took our order for pizza and wine then quietly slipped away.

I needed to find a way to break Katherine out of her reserve.

“Are we going to be able to get past the part where you think I’m a complete ass and hate me?”

She toyed with her napkin. “I don’t hate you.”

“You don’t really like me at the moment either.”

She shrugged. “I’m sure I’ll get over it about the third time you flash your dimples.”

Her words should have given me hope, but her tone was still
I’m completely pissed off at you.

I reached out a hand to capture hers, and of course at that moment, the pizza arrived.

She drew back as the waitress plopped the pizza on a stand, served each of us a piece, and then scooted away, fortunately without any more flirting.

As we began eating, I noticed Katherine’s attention kept veering off over my left shoulder. “So, what’s more entertaining than the food and company in front of you?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry. There’s a slender blonde who’s going back for her
third
trip to the buffet. I’m trying to figure out where she’s putting all that food.”

I peeked over my shoulder and felt the blood drain out of my face. I swiveled back around and cursed.

“What is it?”

I hesitated for a long moment. “Did she see me?” That would be exactly what I needed, a major confrontation with Amanda Shoemaker, the queen of public confrontation. Although, now that we were on to her, I would love to ask where she’d gotten her information and see the reaction on her face.

Katherine’s eyes narrowed on me, and she gave a little huff. “Don’t worry. I doubt anyone in this room thinks we’re dating. I’ll be happy to stand up and tell everyone we’re only colleagues.”

She grabbed her purse and started to slide out.

I put my foot up on the seat to block her path.

“Stop. I’m not embarrassed about being with you. That’s my not-so-favorite reporter. I don’t want to have any contact with her no matter who I’m with because I can’t promise I won’t lose my temper.”

Katherine set her purse down, her shoulders deflating a little. “Oh.” Her face turned pink. “Sorry. I guess I overreacted.”

“Don’t worry about it. It could happen to anyone.”

After a long pause, she spoke again. “So… you used to date… her? Figures. She’s your type.”

I was pretty sure I didn’t want to know why Katherine thought Amanda was my type.

“So how does she stay so thin? Lots of time on a treadmill?”

“I’m not telling you anything specifically, but feel free to check out the knuckles of her right hand.”

Katherine looked over. “They’re all scraped up. What’s up with that?”

“Let’s say it’s not hard to keep small if you don’t keep anything down.”

“Eww.” She thought about it a second more.”
Ewwwww
.” Then shook her head. “Yeah, I think throwing up is about as traumatic as it gets. Even when I’m terribly sick, I’ll put it off as long as I can. I can’t imagine doing it deliberately.” She shuddered. “I’d rather be fat.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “You’re not fat.”

“Plump then.”

I growled and gave her a dark look that threatened a wealth of things I’d never follow through on. Death, dismemberment, full-scale seduction.

Well, the last one I might.

She giggled, not knowing how much that last thought stopped me dead in my tracks.

“Be nice to yourself, or I’ll be forced to start punishing you.”

Her face filled with pink, and I realized a moment too late how differently that could be taken than what I’d intended.
Note to self: This girl has a dirty mind.
I liked it.

“Is that something like, ‘The beatings will continue until morale improves’?”

“Something like that,” I replied, knowing I was already in way too far over my head.

After much hounding and cajoling, Quinn convinced me to accept his invitation to go scuba diving the following Saturday. I woke trying to keep myself from dreading the whole affair. He’d seen my legs before. I wear shorts to work out, and some of my skirts are as short as knee length. Besides, I’d be in a wetsuit most of the time.

I pulled myself out of bed, downed a cup of coffee, and headed for the bathroom to get ready. Feeling like a glutton for punishment, I stepped on the scale before I got into the shower. Surprisingly, I’d lost seven pounds.
Seven.
Usually it took me months to drop seven pounds. Seven pounds wasn’t water weight. Seven pounds was actual fat. Gone. From. My. Body.