Rebound - Marie Johnston Page 0,2

hand slid into his. Every nano of skin he touched was like it had a nerve with a direct connection to her most female body parts.

Kane gave her hand a gentle squeeze and reluctantly let go, his heated gaze still on her. “A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.”

Olivia couldn’t help it, she quirked an eyebrow.

Kane barked out a laugh, “Too much, too soon?”

She smiled at his easy acceptance of her skepticism. “So, Kane.” There goes that damn blush again, just saying his name out loud. “What brings you out tonight? Other than Fleet Week.”

Kane blew out a breath and shook his head. “Wedding plans,” he said, and took a drink from his beer.

Both of Olivia’s eyebrows went up with that one. Well, hell.

“My brother’s,” Kane rushed on as soon as he swallowed.

Relief washed through Olivia so fast she was ashamed. David, who?

“When’s the wedding?”

“In seven months. Seven looong months for my brother.” There’s that grin again. Unfair!

“Younger or older? Your brother.” She really wanted to know, not just trying to think of small talk.

Olivia usually let nerves get to her when to talking to the opposite gender. At least when she was single, which she was now. Explains why she settled easily into a going nowhere unproductive relationship like she had with David.

Chalk it up to extreme anger, pent-up frustration, or Kane’s approach, but she was enjoying herself. A night she was sure would end with an empty wine bottle and box of Kleenex in bed, was looking up. It was looking up about six-foot-two inches of solid muscle.

They chatted easily for the next couple of hours. The brother question led to stories about how they each grew up, how many siblings they each had – her two to his one, and he asked what she did for a living.

“I came to New York to work as a story editor for a small magazine.” She gave Kane a little smirk. “How exciting is that?”

“Depends on what you’re reading I guess,” he answered her with a wicked grin, full of innuendo.

Heaven help her. He really was trying to get in her pants. Heaven help her. She might let him.

“What do you do?” she asked, before a resounding yes, please rang through her mind. “I can’t imagine my work compares to yours in the excitement arena.”

“I’m in the Navy, but I guess you figured that out already.” Kane waved at his uniform. “I’m an Intelligence Officer.”

“And that means what?” Great, he was hot and smart. Olivia might just run back to his hotel with him.

“Depends on what our mission is. If it’s during a float, a short-term stint at sea, like a month or so, then we help plan underway replenishments, brief the ship’s captain about whatever we’re tasked with. During a cruise, sorry, that’s what we call a deployment, it’s a lot of interpretation - radio transmissions, satellite data, flight planning for the birds.” At her confused look, he clarified, “Helicopters. So that’s what I’ll be doing next month when I head out for my next deployment.”

Crestfallen. That was a good word for the plummeting sensation she felt.

“But don’t Fleet Week-judge this Sailor yet,” he rushed on.

Olivia laughed nervously. “Oh? And what stereotypes would I be associating with Fleet Week Sailors?”

“Let’s see, during Fleet Week I’m often working on disorderly conduct, public intoxication, and sometimes public nudity bailouts.”

“For yourself?” Olivia asked facetiously.

Kane chuckled at her teasing. “Maybe my first Fleet Week ever, I racked up one of those charges. Now I’m in charge of young Sailors gone wild. But it’s not bad. Things have gotten a little tamer over the years.”

“Which one of those charges did you incur?” Olivia was absolutely curious.

“I plead the fifth.” Kane took a swig of his beer and looked around before a smile twitched his lips. “And I will never urinate in an alley again.”

Olivia laughed, enjoying the easy conversation with Kane. But it was getting late and she had to work the next morning. Sighing, she checked the time on her phone.

“Are you going to turn into a pumpkin?” he drawled, his voice deepening. “Or just lose your clothes and leave me with a shoe?”

How horribly inappropriate. Yet, she couldn’t help but giggle because from him the comment seemed witty and charming. Damn, she was in trouble.

“I’ll walk you to your car. If you drove, that is. I’m not sure what you city people do about transportation.”

“I’m not completely city and yes, I drove.” Olivia rolled her eyes. “Suspecting I would be stood up,