Kissed Blind (Hot Pursuit #2)(58)

. . .



I awoke to the sound of running water. It was light out, but the sun was still rising. I found Oliver in the kitchen drinking from a glass. His shirt was wrinkled, and his hair was ruffled.

“Good morning,” I said, trying to fix my hair.

He set his glass down and leaned against the steel edge of the sink. “Morning.”

“How’d you sleep?”

“Pretty well. I liked waking up and finding you across from me. You were curled up like a cat. It was pretty cute.” His finger tenderly grazed the injured part of his lip.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve slept in a chair. I can say I’ve had better rests than last night’s. How’re you feeling?”

“Stomach is good and the rest isn’t bad.” His eyes raked over me from head to toe.

“Good,” I said, suddenly lightheaded and rested my backside on the table. “Oh, I’m not sure if I mentioned it last night or not, but Vance called Camille and told her you were safe here with me.”

He lifted his brows. “I bet she loved that.” When my face fell, he chuckled. “I’m only kidding. I’m sure it’s fine.”

“Oh, okay, good.”

“But, is everything else all right? I heard a little of your conversation last night when I came down from the shower. I was going to ask you after you finished cleaning up dinner but I fell asleep.” He came a few steps closer. “Will you both be in hot water for what you did?”

“I’m not sure.” I grimaced. “We might have a few questions to answer later. What we did was… unorthodox.”

He furrowed his brow. “I heard you say something about money?”

I looked down at my hands and chose my words wisely. “Right… the men who’d taken you were trying to extort money from Camille to get you back.”

He grunted his acknowledgement and closed the distance between us, placing his hands on my shoulders. “I’ll make sure nothing happens to your jobs. Don’t worry about it, okay?”

“I have to worry about it.” My eyes rose to meet his, and his gaze raked lazily from my neck to my shoulders. I took a deep breath when his eyes landed on my chest.

“After everything you did for me yesterday, I’ll see to it that you have a job at the end of the day. I guarantee it.” He took my hands in his, and a surge of energy shot up my arms. “Diana?”

“Hmm?”

“I know this is going to sound like a line, but I dreamt about you last night. I’m completely enamored with you.”

I flushed, and my pulse skittered. This had to be a dream. It had to be some crazy manifestation in my brain. I needed coffee or something. One thing was for certain though, I had to move. “Maybe we should put some ice on your eye.” I stepped out of his hold and toward the fridge, but he caught my shoulder. He stepped in front of me, and I backed up against the counter.

“There’s no sense in doing that now. It’s too late.” His voice was a low growl, and the heat of his body radiated through me.

“Won’t they be mad when you get on set?” My voice was shakier than I would have liked, and I struggled to speak louder than a hushed whisper.

“Less for makeup to do.” His lips softened and parted as his tongue roved between his teeth. He stroked the skin under my eye, his touch foreign but alluring. “Now your eyes, however, hold a unique beauty that no makeup could improve.”

“Oliver?” He answered me with a glance from his one perfect, exquisitely radiant eye. I studied his face. A man who’d kissed Hollywood’s top leading ladies and faked it with all of them wasn’t faking it with me. He wanted me, really wanted me, but it couldn’t happen. “You want to watch some TV?”

The corners of his mouth tipped into a smile. “No.”

I had to move before something happened that couldn’t be undone. I wiggled free from his hold, ignoring his answer, and walked toward the other room. “I know it’s not the Hilton, but this place has cable at least.” I’d almost made it to the couch before he grabbed my hand, knocking me off balance. I sat on the upholstered arm, and he stepped between my knees.

He rested both hands on my shoulders. “Other women pale in comparison to you. They’re all nipped and tucked, pumped full of silicone and Botox, willing to do the unthinkable to claw their way to the top. But that’s not you. You do the unimaginable and throw yourself in the face of danger to save someone. Who does that?” He leaned in, and his breath teased my lips. “You are a complete mystery to me.”

I closed my eyes and nearly lost myself. I bent my head down, halting what almost was, and put my hands to his chest. “I can’t do this.”

His surprise was unmistakable in the tilt of his head and in the slight twitch in his eye. What woman would have the strength tell him no? Not many, maybe not even me. As I searched his face, his body, his anything for something that could turn me off, I came up empty. I still wondered what it would be like to kiss the man most women only dreamed about. I’d watched him make love to other women and had seen how his body moved in the throes of passion, acting or not, I’d seen it. He’d shown me nearly every inch of himself. He’d made me think. He’d made me feel. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t fantasized about him—I definitely had—and here he was with an offer almost too good to refuse.