Page 36 of At the Heart of It
“Do you ever end up adopting the cats you have here?” Kate asked.
“I never have. Yet.” He thought about what his sister had said the other day about Viv being the reason behind his pet-free life. Did Jossy have a point?
“I think this cat is trying to tell you something,” Kate said.
Jonah studied Marilyn, mostly because he couldn’t bear to look at Kate with her flushed cheeks and kiss-stung lips.
“Marilyn,” he said again. “Would you like to come home with me?”
The cat narrowed her eyes, unimpressed by the offer. Then she head-butted him again, the queen of mixed messages.
“Typical woman,” he muttered, tearing his eyes off the cat to meet Kate’s gaze again. “Not you; the cat. Though I guess if I’m doing the Average Joe thing again, here’s where I call you a cock-tease and suggest you get your sweet ass home unless you want me to grab it again.”
Her eyes widened. She licked her lips, and he got the sense she didn’t find his piggish behavior nearly as offensive as he did.
“Is it wrong to admit I kinda want that?” she asked.
“Go on,” he said. “You should get out of here.”
“I suppose so.”
She seemed to hesitate, and he watched her open her mouth like she wanted to say something else. Instead, she closed it.
“And we probably shouldn’t do that again,” he said.
“The kissing?”
“Yeah. Not a good idea, under the circumstances.”
“Okay.” Kate pressed her lips together. “Thank you, Jonah.”
“For the pizza you hardly touched?”
“For saying yes to the show. I promise you won’t regret it.”
He looked at her, fighting the urge to tell her that a small part of him already regretted it. That he’d been fueled by regret for most of his adult life.
“Don’t mention it,” he said, then bent down to pick up his cat.
Chapter 6
With her heels clicking on the black maple floor, Kate strode across the front of the hotel conference room handing out printed packets. She kept her eyes averted from Jonah’s, remembering Amy’s words about the chemistry between them.
It wasn’t true, obviously.
Even so, she couldn’t afford for it to look obvious to any of the studio reps and network execs who’d shown up for today’s pre-production meeting.
“What’s this?” Jonah asked as Kate handed him his packet, and she fought the urge to strangle him. Clearly he didn’t share her intent to avoid direct conversation between them.
Kate let her gaze skim the room, skipping eye contact with Jonah in favor of directing her response to the dozen other people in the room. “These packets contain basic information about the pilot episode,” she said. “Shot lists, intro and outro materials, that sort of thing.”
“Are the patients in there, too?” On the opposite side of the conference table, Viv accepted her packet from Amy and began flipping through it. Her dark hair was held back by a polished ebony clip, and her flowy peasant blouse made her look effortlessly chic. “I’d like to get started learning about who we’ll be helping.”
“Profiles of the proposed subjects are at the back of the packet,” Kate said. She ran a hand down the front of her slim black skirt and wished she’d taken a few extra minutes that morning to wear contacts instead of her glasses.
Then she cursed herself for giving a damn what she looked like. This was a business meeting, not a dating show.
“We’ve identified five couples with strong potential to be featured in the pilot episode,” Kate continued as she scooted past Amy to make her way to the other end of the table. “You’ll see all the details spelled out there about the struggles they’re facing and what we think is going to resonate best with our viewers.”
