“Not anymore. I ate so much of it that I couldn’t hardly stand the smell of fish for a long time. And kisses. I craved kisses every night at about nine-thirty.”
His gaze lowered to her mouth. “From who?”
She felt her stomach go a little squishy. A very dangerous feeling. “Chocolate kisses.”
“Raw fish and chocolate, hmm.” He stared at her mouth for a few more seconds, then looked back at the picture. “How much did Lexie weigh when she was born?”
“Nine pounds three ounces.”
His eyes widened, and he smiled as if he were very proud of himself. “Holy shit!”
“That’s what Mae said when they weighed Lexie.” She grabbed for the picture again and this time snatched it from his grasp.
He turned to her and held out his hand. “I wasn’t finished looking at that.”
Georgeanne hid it behind her back. “Yes, you were.”
He dropped his hand to his side. “Don’t make me body-check you.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Oh, yes I would,” he said, his voice low, silky. “It’s my job and I’m a professional.”
It had been a long time since Georgeanne had flirted and teased. She didn’t do that sort of thing anymore. She retreated a few steps backward. “I don’t know what body-check means. Is it like being frisked?”
“No.” He tilted his head back and looked at her from beneath lowered lids. “But I might be willing to change the rules for you.”
The edge of the desk stopped Georgeanne. The room felt as if it had suddenly gotten a whole lot smaller, and the look in his eyes made her heart flutter like a debutante’s fake lashes.
“Come on now, give it up.”
Before she knew exactly how it happened, seven years of self-improvement flew out the window. She opened her mouth and words poured out like warm butter. “I haven’t heard such sweet talk since high school,” she drawled.
John grinned. “Did it work?”
She smiled and shook her head.
“Are you going to make me get rough with you?”
“That didn’t work, either.”
His deep, rich laugher filled her office and lit his eyes. The man standing before her was intriguing and magnetic. This was the John who’d charmed her out of her clothes seven years, ago then dumped her faster than toxic waste. “Aren’t the people from GQ waiting for you?”
Without taking his eyes from her, he raised his arm and pushed back his cuff. He turned his wrist pulse side up and quickly glanced at his gold watch. “Are you kicking me out?”
“Absolutely.”
>
He tugged his cuff down and reached for his tuxedo jacket. “Think about Oregon.”
“I don’t need to think about it.” She wasn’t going. Period.
The door swung opened and Charles entered, putting an end to any further discussion and bringing with him a change in the air. With his brows raised, Charles looked from Georgeanne to John, then back again. “Hello,” he said.
Georgeanne straightened. “I thought we weren’t meeting until noon.” She set the picture on the desk.
“I finished with my meeting early, and I thought I’d come by and pick you up.” He looked back at John and something passed between the two men. Some primal and intrinsic male thing. A nonverbal encoded language that she didn’t understand. Georgeanne broke the silence and introduce the two of them.