Rebound - Marie Johnston Page 0,1

further his relationship. Olivia had overlooked it at first. He was a hardworking professional; she was proud of him. Then she got irritated, but she was in love. A couple of years went by…then she got angry, laid out an ultimatum. Now she was eye-twitchingly enraged.

SORRY BABE. NEW ACCT MTNG. COULD BE BIG!

Babe. What an asshole.

“So, what’s your story?”

The deep voice rumbled over Olivia’s nerve endings with a pleasing effect. Like if she could roll around in sound waves and purr, this would be the voice to do it in.

Olivia looked up. If the voice was good, the vessel it came out of was even better. Tall with short-trimmed, sandy-brown hair and startling blue eyes, a square jaw and broad shoulders, he held a beer by the neck in long, bronzed fingers. Standing relaxed, his eyes zeroed in on her, interest evident in his expression. He had quite the commanding presence in his sharp, white Navy uniform.

Oh, yeah…Fleet Week. Various members of the Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard would be roaming the city for a few days. Olivia vaguely remembered some coworkers talking about catching an air show.

“My story?” Olivia attempted to recover and pretend like she wasn’t staring. “Can’t a woman have dinner alone out on the town?”

“She sure can,” he said, a smile lighting his eyes. “But the pissed off look on your face tells me there’s a story there.”

The Sailor slid his large, delectable frame into the booth across from her without waiting to be invited. She couldn’t entice the man in her life to join her, and here was one she didn’t know how to get rid of. But did she want to?

“There’s a story,” she said simply, taking a sip of her wine. It was her first drink of the night. She didn’t want to go through the night as an angry drunk, leaving slurring messages on David’s voicemail and spelling her, “I’m breaking up with you. I mean it!” text incorrectly. That one, she made sure she spelled accurately.

He waited with a raised eyebrow.

All right then.

“I told my workaholic boyfriend that if he didn’t meet me tonight that we were through.” Olivia met the man’s eyes and forced herself to hold the connection. Heat seared through her and she felt a flush creep up her neck. The man was gorgeous. David was good-looking enough, but he didn’t exude the virility this man did.

“What an idiot,” the man said, his fingers wrapped around his beer bottle, not moving. His entire awareness was focused on her, and Olivia wasn’t used to that. With David, she always felt like she had half his attention. Even in bed, after their lovemaking, he’d go back to checking that damn phone of his.

If David’s fingers worked half the magic on her that they did on his phone, she wouldn’t be sitting here squirming under this man’s attention. What kind of magic could this man’s fingers work on her?

Whoa.

Trying to think of unstimulating thoughts, before the creeping blush worked its way past her collar, she forced her mind back to the anger she felt toward her new ex.

“I would choose a stronger name, but idiot will do.”

The man smiled and holy shit. Just…wow. Blue eyes twinkled and his dimple only enhanced his masculinity.

Her breathing quickened and she felt herself warming up where she had no business getting hot right now. She just broke up with her boyfriend of two years. Her first serious adult relationship. A man she had hoped to marry. Well, at least for the first couple of months. Then she was okay with the serious relationship status. But who was she kidding? She’d seen the writing on the wall and knew a marriage with David would be a one-sided endeavor ending with her heartbreak.

It was just that the prospect of dating in the Big Apple was daunting. So she stayed with David, knowing it wasn’t crazy to expect her partner to put her before his job. Now she knew it was the definition of insanity – expecting different results when David would never change.

Her eyes followed the mystery man’s hand as he held it out to her.

“I’m Kane.”

Did he expect her to touch him? She could barely look at him smile, it was like looking directly into the sun. Only the sun didn’t make her want to strip her clothes off and sit on its lap.

Steeling her resolve to be cool, she went to shake his outstretched hand.

“Olivia.” Swallowing hard, she watched hunger fill his gaze as her