Page 72 of At the Heart of It
She laughed and fastened an earring on her left lobe. “Guilty as charged.” Slipping the other earring into place, she sat down on the edge of the bed again. “Actually, that’s not true at all. You want the other two?”
“Absolutely.”
“Loyalty,” she said. “And your sense of humor.”
“Why those?”
Kate pulled off her towel turban and began to rub her hair dry. “Well, sense of humor because it’s hands down the sexiest trait a guy can have,” she said. “And because you’ve been making me laugh from the first day we met. Since before we met, actually. Your parts in On the Other Hand were hilarious. There were so many things in that book that made me want to cry the first time I read it, but then I’d flip to one of your sidebars and suddenly I’d be smiling again.”
Jonah reached up to catch her hand in his. He planted a kiss over the top of her knuckles before releasing it. “Why loyalty?”
“Because you’re always looking out for other people,” she said. “You came to my aid last night at the swingers club. You made sure Viv was really okay with you being part of the show before you agreed to do it. And you look out for others—the animals at your sister’s shelter, your sister herself.”
Something flashed in his eyes. A darkness Kate couldn’t quite place. Then it was gone, and she wondered if she’d imagined it.
“I think you’d like my sister,” he said.
The words startled her a little, the implication that she might actually meet his family. She knew that would never be possible, but?—
“Speaking of my sister, Viv brought up a pretty decent idea yesterday.”
Kate went back to toweling her hair, ignoring the twinge in her gut. So what if he brought up his ex-wife while they both sat on the same bed they’d made love in the night before? Modern relationships were complicated, and this wasn’t even a relationship. It was only sex, wasn’t it?
Jonah must have seen something in her expression, because he reached up and touched the side of her face. “Hey. I know this is weird. Dating’s hard for anyone post-divorce, but when you throw in the high-profile nature of my previous marriage?—”
“And the fact that your ex-wife is my longtime idol?”
“Yeah.” He smiled. “It makes things a little more raw.”
“It’s fine,” she said. “Like you said, nothing’s ever a mistake. Sometimes it just feels weird, that’s all.” Kate tucked a damp strand of hair behind her ear. “What were you saying about your sister?”
“Oh, right. You know how the network folks have been after me to shoot a bunch of footage with my shirt off?”
Kate grimaced. “For the record, that wasn’t my idea.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m actually okay with it, and I thought maybe we could tie it to Clearwater Animal Shelter. You know, explain why I do the whole shirtless dog-walking thing, maybe shoot a little promotional footage that draws attention to the shelter.”
“That’s kinda brilliant.” Kate beamed. “We can build a whole promotional campaign around it, really get people excited for the show before the pilot even airs.”
“I’m glad you like the idea.” He sat up and stretched, then glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand. “I should probably get going. I fed Marilyn in the evening, but she probably wants breakfast.”
“Not to mention we’re all shooting today.”
“Right.” Jonah gave her a lopsided smile. “Hopefully it won’t be too weird.”
“Oh, it will be.” Kate smiled and stood up again. “But I’m a professional. I deal with weird all the time.”
“Perhaps not this precise brand of it.”
“True. I don’t usually sleep with the stars of the shows I work on.” She turned to face the mirror, resting one hand on the headboard as she smoothed down the front of her skirt. “Just the camera crew. And the lighting guy. And the makeup artists. And the?—”
She shrieked as Jonah grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back down on the bed. He tickled her until she was breathless from giggling and her cheeks flushed with laughter. Her blouse came untucked and her skirt hiked up and she gave serious thought to just crawling back in bed with him and calling in sick for the day.
Then he stopped tickling and planted a soft kiss on the tip of her nose, followed by one more on the lips. “Enough,” he said, taking his hands off her. “I suppose we both have to go to work.”
“Right.” Kate sat up reluctantly and heaved herself off the bed. She groaned as she glanced at the bedside clock. “Damn. I was hoping to be on set in fifteen minutes.”
“You’d better get ready, then.”
