Kiss Me Katie! & Hug Me Holly! Read Free

and he thought she, plain-Jane Katie, looked lovely. Right.
    â€œThank you,” she said politely, pointedly turning away from him back to Matt. Darn it, she wanted to talk about their kiss.
    â€œAnd the decorations,” Bryan said, a small smile in his voice. “So tastefully done.”
    Great. He liked the decorations. Now could he just go away? She had a kiss to discuss!
    â€œEspecially all that strategically placed mistletoe,” Bryan added, and Katie finally went still, giving him her one-hundred-percent undivided attention.
    â€œWhat?” she whispered, her heart all but stopping.
    Bryan just looked at her, his brilliant blue eyes innocent. And hot. Now she realized that was a complete contradiction, but it happened to be true. Something deep down within her unfurled, hesitated. “What did you just say?” she asked again.
    He merely smiled. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

2
    B RYAN M ORGAN threw his plane into a spin, acknowledging he had about ten seconds to pull himself out if he wanted to live.
    Nine…eight…
    The image of last night’s party floated through the haze in his mind. There’d been plenty of loud talking and even louder music, reminding him of his huge family. Growing up with six older sisters, there hadn’t been a lot of quiet, or alone time. So he had a fine appreciation of both. Because of that, he liked his parties a lot more intimate and personal…but there had been one redeeming factor last night. A surprising one.
    A woman. Now, Bryan loved women, he really did. All shapes and sizes. But in his mind, he already had a permanent force of at least seven in his life, if he counted his mother as well as his sisters. All of whom had bossed, charmed, coaxed and threatened their way for each of his thirty-two years. And since they showed signs of living another half a century at least, it wasn’t often Bryan allowed another woman to play a serious role in his existence.
    In fact, it was downright rare. Oh, he dated. Often. But things were always on a walk-away basis.
    Always.
    And yet last night he’d held Katie and his heart had sort of fumbled. Warm, vital, sweet, funny Katie, with her soft, wavy, whiskey-colored hair that matched her whiskey-colored eyes, eyes in the past that had always looked at him so aloofly.
    Seven…six…
    She’d looked amazing in that shimmery red dress. Who would have thought? He’d even dreamed of it, the way it had fallen over her curvy little body and trim thighs. So different from her usual prim-and-proper business attire, which suited her accounting position, but not the heat and passion he knew lurked just beneath her surface.
    Well, to be fair, he didn’t know for certain she had heat and passion beneath her surface, he’d known her all year and hadn’t been able to tell…until last night.
    In spite of the force of gravity pulling his face into a grimace, he managed a grin. Because now he knew, oh yeah, he definitely knew.
    Five…four… But what he didn’t know was whyshe seemed so wary of him. Over the years he’d caused a lot of feelings in women, most of them pretty good, some of them not so good, but never once had he caused wariness.
    Three …and the plane continued to spin. So did his head, bringing his thoughts back to the task at hand.
    Now was not the time to be daydreaming about things that would drain the rest of the blood from his head to parts south.
    He needed his wits.
    He was good at flying, really good, and it wasn’t cockiness that told him that, but fact. Yes, he was confident, but then again, a good pilot had to be, and Bryan was nothing if not a good pilot.
    Two… He hoped they were getting the shot they needed below, that the cameras hadn’t failed as they had earlier because he really didn’t think he could pull off this particular stunt any better than he just had.
    It was the perfect ride, glorious blue skies, not a