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“What do you mean?”
That adorable pink flamed her cheeks again. “I mean my brain understands why you’re here and that kiss meant nothing. My body? My heart? They’re having a hard time catching up, I guess. Especially hearing you on the phone with your ex, talking about being sorry about the divorce. I’m being... It’s silly.” She glanced over. “I’m sorry.”
I was shocked into silence for several moments. Seriously, what the fuck had she heard? I was sorry about the divorce?
Oh.
Hold the phones.
“Olivia.”
She waved me off. “Don’t. I’m embarrassed enough as it is. It’s fine.”
“But it’s not fine.” I knew I was treading on thin ice here, mixing my professional and personal lives. Wires were getting crossed that had no business getting crossed. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I didn’t at least clear this up. “Pull over here.”
“What?”
We weren’t near her house yet, but we were at the exit for a rest stop near the national forest. “Pull. Over.”
She must’ve sensed the seriousness in my voice because she turned on her signal and moved over to the exit, making her way to the rest stop and parking in the farthest spot.
I unbuckled my seat belt and shoved out the door without a word. In a few long strides, I was around to her door, which I threw open and met her stare with one of my own. I flashed a look to the back seat to make sure Lizzie was still sleeping, then offered her my hand.
Silently, she took it and stepped out with me into the brisk fall breeze.
I closed her door quietly, then bracketed my arms on either side of her shoulders, boxing her in between the car and my body. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Her amber eyes widened at my gritty words, fear racing across her features before she relaxed as she got my meaning. “Okay.”
“But I probably will.”
Her face crumpled in confusion as her hands curled into the shirt at my waist, probably without her being aware of it. “I don’t understand.”
I sucked in a breath as her fingers inched just a bit under my t-shirt to brush against the bare skin of my flanks. “What I’m trying to say... what I’ve been trying to tell you, is that Tricia and I are done. She keeps calling because—surprise—she got cheated on and is getting another divorce, and she’s looking for...”
“What?”
I met her earnest eyes that held a thousand questions in them. What did Tricia want? What was I willing to give? What did I want? “It doesn’t matter,” I finally bit out. “She’s barking up the wrong tree.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.” I let myself brush a hand through her hair, the silky strands wrapping around my fingertips.
“So... what you’re saying is I misunderstood what I heard and made a big deal out of nothing just because you’d given me the best kiss of my life?”
I bit back a smirk. “Best kiss of your life, huh?”
“Eh. I could’ve been mistaken.” She grinned at me, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “There was this one time in ninth grade—” Her words were choked off with a giggling squeal when I tickled her ribs.
“Mistaken, my ass. Just admit it.” I tickled her harder.
She snorted and tried to squirm away, refusing to call uncle.
It hit me in that moment that I didn’t recognize myself. Who was this fun-loving man, playing and teasing and tickling this woman until she admitted he was the best kisser? It had certainly never been me before, and never on the job.
“Fine, fine,” she wheezed between laughing breaths. “I give up. You’re the best kisser in the whole universe!”
I was grinning triumphantly when I let her go. “Kissed that many men, have you?”
