Page 31 of 7 Days and 7 Nights

“No. I just hate to see you go through life undernourished.” He yawned and scratched at his midsection. “Mind if I turn on the TV?”

“Ugh. I cannot watch any more so-called news right now.” Olivia rolled her eyes. “The 24-hour news cycle drives me crazy, and frankly I prefer my afternoons with a little less pointless arguing.”

“I wasn’t going to put the news on.” He looked thoughtful. “There are a couple of shows I want to catch up on. I think I’m 5 episodes behind onThe Bachelorette.And there’s a whole season ofLove Island UKthat I haven’t even started yet.”

Olivia could feel the disbelief etched all over her face, but there was no way Matt Ransom watched reality TV dating shows.

Grabbing the remote, he turned on the TV.

“You watchThe Bachelorette?”

“Um-hmm.”

“The Bachelorette, as in ‘He’s not here for the right reasons? And fantasy suites?”

“Well, yeah, why?”

“When did this happen?”

Matt laughed. “It’s not a disease, Olivia, or a sign of mental deficiency. I started watchingThe Bachelorsince we... I was a teenager. ThenThe Bachelorette, and then I found some of the other shows just surfing around looking for stuff to watch. Livvy, I work until two in the morning, go to sleep about four, and get up around noon.” He shrugged. “When I wake up I want to relax and watch my guilty pleasure. What’s the big deal?”

He moved over to the sofa, once again sitting right in the middle of the area she’d designated for herself, and picked up the remote. “If you want to start something at the beginning, there’s thatLove Island UKseason I haven’t started yet and there’s a newer show calledLove is Blindthat I wanted to check out.” He turned to her as if asking nothing more surprising than how she took her coffee. “Which would you prefer?”

Matt propped his feet up on the cocktail table and settled back into the couch, patting the space beside him. “Come sit down. If you leave the remote to me, we can watch both of them.”

Olivia eyed Matt suspiciously. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No. Come on."

She knew he was going to spring something on her or find a way to make her look bad, because this just couldn’t be true. “You’re telling me that Atlanta’s ‘Hundred-Time Bachelor of the Year, Mr. Macho Guy Talk,’ is a closeted reality TV addict?”

“There’s nothing closeted about me, Olivia. I’m hooked. Have been since I watched the first episode back in 2002.

Olivia took a seat, though not quite so close as the one Matt had indicated. “You started watchingThe Bachelorwhen you were a teenager?”

“Pretty much.”

“Because?”

“Because my older sister didn’t get home from her part-time job until fifteen minutes after the show started, so she paid me five dollars to watch the beginning and fill her in on what she missed.”

“So you’ve been scheming since you were a kid.”

Matt threw back his head and laughed, and Olivia caught herself wanting to join in. It was all so wonderfully absurd.

“Why are you still watching?”

“Well, when I was in college, I discovered what a great pick-up tool it was. Just me and the girls discussing who was getting a rose this week and who was going home.” He looked incredibly pleased with himself.

“And you still need pick-up material?”

His smile was slow and sensual, the brown of his eyes turning as warm as a tumbler full of whiskey. Suddenly, it felt as if someone had sucked all the air out of the apartment. “Not usually. Now it’s just a great escape. After all those hours of talk, it feels good to be brain-dead for a while."

“I wasn’t aware you used your brain all that much in your work.”

Matt didn’t bite or react to the barb, but leaned in closer until she could feel the warmth of his breath tickling her cheek. “Don’t you ever want to shut that overworked brain of yours down, Olivia? You know, just turn it off and enjoy yourself?”

It must have been the power of suggestion. Or maybe it was how close he was and how husky his voice had gone—as if it were completely weighted down with sex—but Olivia felt her normally nimble thoughts slow to a crawl. Then her vision blurred around the edges and the air turned hot and thick with something she did not want to identify.

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