Page 35 of At the Heart of It
No. Don’t think that way. You already know what a mess it is to do this sort of work with a woman you’re sleeping with.
That was the wrong thought to have. The idea of sleeping with Kate, touching her and holding her and sliding into her?—
Jesus Christ, knock it off.
Kate’s gaze locked with his, and Jonah wondered if she’d blinked at all in the last few seconds. She was standing close enough for him to feel her breath against his skin. For him to reach out and slide an arm around her waist if he wanted to, which he did want, but he couldn’t, and he really ought to stop thinking about?—
Suddenly, she was kissing him. Or he was kissing her. No, she was definitely kissing him, but he was kissing back, and they were all tangled up with fingers and tongues and breath and little sighs of pleasure that Jonah wasn’t sure were coming from him or her or one of the cats.
He slid his hand up into the curve of her waist and felt her lean into him like she craved his touch as much as he craved this—all of this. He heard a soft purr behind him, or maybe it was coming from Kate. She felt soft all over and tasted like something spicy and warm.
“Jonah,” she murmured as he broke the kiss to place a trail of kisses down her throat and across one collarbone. Her hands cupped his ass and he could feel her nails digging in. Is this what it would be like to have her? So much dizziness and passion and forbidden heat?
Forbidden.
The word stuck in his brain. Jonah froze. He drew back slowly, his body screaming at him to keep going while his brain screamed at him to knock it the hell off.
He looked Kate in the eye and swallowed. “We can’t do this. Not if we’re going to be working together.”
Kate blinked. “We’re going to be working together?”
“I—”
“Did you just say yes?”
He hadn’t meant to. Or hell, maybe he had. He was a little mind whacked with Kate still pressed up against him like this. Jonah took a breath.
“Yeah,” he said. “I guess I did.”
Kate broke into a grin. She gave a delighted little bounce and let go of his ass to place her hands on his shoulders.
“Oh my God, Jonah! I’m so excited.”
“Yeah,” he muttered, already slipping back into Average Joe mode as he thought about his raging erection. “You and me both.”
Lucky for him, Kate seemed to miss the crude joke. Or maybe she was too polite to say anything, which was probably just as well. He’d meant what he said. There was no place for screwing around if they were going to be working together, along with his ex-wife.
Like magic, Jonah felt his hard-on go down.
But Kate was still bouncing like a giddy kid, so he had to feel at least a trace of her enthusiasm.
“This is going to be great,” she said. “You’ll see. I promise to do my best to portray you as a multifaceted guy with dignity and wisdom.”
“Owl.”
Jonah tore his eyes off Kate to see Marilyn eyeing him from the windowsill with a look of silent distaste.
Well, not so silent. “Owl,” the cat insisted, standing up and stretching. She hopped down off the sill and padded over to him. She sat down at his feet and looked up at him for a moment, then butted her head against his shin.
“I think she likes you,” Kate said.
“Yeah, I could tell from the head-butting.” Of course, he knew enough about cat psychology to recognize it was probably true. Cats bumped heads against anyone or anything they saw as their own. As a member of their tribe or a possession to be claimed.
Something warm spread through Jonah’s chest as he looked down at that weird little whiskered face and those judgmental brows.
“Marilyn,” he said, testing it out. He liked the way it sounded.
Apparently, so did the cat. A low rumble sounded in her chest, and she rubbed her face on the leg of his jeans as she continued to purr.
