Page 69 of 7 Days and 7 Nights

Olivia did more than come out swinging; she came out kicking butt. If Matt had thought Olivia would shy away from him or the audience after he’d saved her glorious rear end, he was dead wrong. And if he thought she was upset by his attitude about their night together, well, he had that wrong, too.

He’d actually been relieved when she pronounced their encounter a one-time thing. As a master of disengagement, he’d been quick to use the opportunity to piss her off and push her away. Somehow the woman had gotten too close and become much too important. Again.

He could have told her it wasn’t the sex that made him back off. It was the totally unfamiliar and completely unacceptable urge he kept feeling to protect her that was screwing everything up. And of course, she wasn’t behaving even remotely like he’d anticipated. He’d expected some sort of reaction—tears, recriminations, something. Instead, she’d been prancing around the living room all night, flaunting herself in front of him and the Internet audience as if she had nothing on her mind but winning rating points and votes.

At nine forty-five they both put headphones on to talk with his producer about her coming stint as host ofGuy Talk.

She was coolly professional, not at all like the naked woman who’d come apart in his arms the night before. Focused and competent, Olivia appeared ready for four hours of live radio with potentially hostile callers, while he sat on the couch fantasizing about her like some teenage boy with a thing for the teacher.

“Hello, everyone. Welcome toGuy Talk. I’m Dr. Olivia Moore, and I’m here to field your calls and take your pledges. The number is 1-555-GUY-TALK. Call me."

She punched up Matt’s theme song, and once it was established, she lowered the volume until only the tune remained audible. “Okay, guys. You can put away the baseball scores and forget about your automobiles. I’m here to help, and I’m ready to talk to anyone who’s prepared to share their feelings.”

Matt held back a laugh. Like his listeners had any interest in baring their innermost thoughts to a total stranger. Sheesh. He settled in, certain they would either refuse to call in or, better yet, call and make mincemeat out of her. Each option held its own special appeal.

“Ah, good,” he heard Olivia say. “I see we’ve got callers lined up waiting to go on the air.”

Okay, so he’d go with the mincemeat. He bit back another grin as she took on her first caller.

“Hi, Marvin,” Olivia said. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”

“Well, it’s my wife.”

“Yes?”

“She wants me to give up golf and I can’t do that, not even for her. I won’t.”

Matt thought Marvin sounded a bit hysterical, and no wonder, the poor slob had married a woman intent on sucking the last kernel of enjoyment out of him.

“Has she asked you to give it up?”

“Well, not yet, but I know it’s coming. She says it takes up too much of my time.”

“How much time do you spend playing golf?”

“Not so much.”

“How much, Marvin? Once a week, twice?”

“Well, let’s see. I have a regular foursome on Saturdays. I usually play another nine Sunday. On Tuesdays, I may go out and hit on the driving range after work. And, well, of course on Wednesdays I take off from work to play, but everybody does that.”

“And this doesn’t seem excessive to you?”

“No, why?”

“Okay. Let’s look at this in another way. Do you ever ask your wife to join you on any of these occasions?”

“Well, she used to play on Sundays with me, and sometimes we’d go to the driving range together on Tuesdays, but she’s kind of lost interest.”

“Because?”

“Because we have one-year-old triplets?”

Matt saw Olivia’s eyes narrow and began to suspect it wasn’t Dr. O who was going to get minced.

“You have three one-year-old babies in your home?”

“Yeah. Two boys and a girl. Very cute. My wife’s doing a wonderful job with them.”

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