Page 12 of A Match Made in Montana

There was a knock on the door. “Annie? Coffee?” It was Vivian.

Craig exhaled slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. “Damn Annie, you’re killing me…” His voice was a mere whisper.

Delicious chills ran down her spine. Nobody had ever looked at her like that. She’d always thought only heroes in romance novels used that line, not real life heroes as well.

“Annie?” Vivian called again. “Everybody decent?”

The door opened just as Craig quickly picked up the laptop and placed it back on his lap—but not before Annie caught a glimpse of the clear indication of his desire.

Their eyes met. His eyes dropped to her chest, the one corner of his mouth lifting slightly.

Crossing her arms in the hope of concealing her freaking beading breasts, Annie turned to smile as Vivian put the tray down on the coffee table in front of them. “Thanks, sis. Craig…” She had to clear her throat before she could continue. “Has some good ideas.”

Vivian kept her face straight, but her eyes were sparkling. “I never doubted that for a moment. Thank you, Craig. Annie certainly does need… help.”

Annie glared at Vivian, but her sister ignored her scowl. “We’re going up to our room—see you tomorrow!” she sang as she left.

The door closed behind Vivian.

*

Annie jumped upand began pacing again, sending him furtive glances at every turn.

Rubbing his face, he swallowed a groan. Thank goodness for Vivian’s interruption. It had supposed to have been a quick kiss. He had to taste her… And now that he had, all he could think about was kissing her again.

Finally, Annie stopped and leaned against the desk. “That cannot happen again.”

He nodded. “I agree.” He picked up the pad and pen. “I suggest you sit behind your desk…”

She stepped forward and took the items from him. Their fingers met, desire reared its head again. This time he couldn’t stop the groan. “You’ll be the death of me, woman. Go sit over there where I can’t touch you or smell you or…”

Annie’s eyes darkened and his eyes dropped to the clear outline of her nipples pushing against the top of her dress as they did when she was turned on—by now, he knew the signs.

She quickly turned away and took a seat behind the desk.

Inhaling deeply, he opened the laptop again.Focus O’Sullivan, focus. You’re here to help. She’s a client like any other client.“As I’ve said, you, Annie, are the brand you need to sell to prospective visitors. And we can do that by first of all improving your SEO ratings…”

“Okay, what is that?”

He steadily kept his eyes on the computer. If he didn’t look at her, maybe the temptation to get up and go and kiss her again might just fade. “It stands for search engine optimization. It’s the process of taking steps to help a website or piece of content rank higher on a search engine, for example, Google.”

Groaning, she dropped her head in hands. “I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He smiled. Annie always had that effect on him. “If someone is looking for a B and B or guesthouse in and around Marietta, you want Annie’s to be right at the top of the list that would be generated when someone searches for guesthouses or a B and B online. The two core elements of SEO are the on-page SEO and the off-page SEO. The on-page SEO is about building content to improve your ranking. This comes down to incorporating…”

It was going quite well, but then he made the mistake of looking up at Annie. His eyes seemed to have a will of their own. She wasn’t making any notes, she was staring at him.

“Annie…”

She started scribbling furiously. “Okay, SEO, got it. What else?”

“You haven’t heard a word I’ve said.”

Still scribbling, she didn’t look up. “Of course, I’ve heard.”

“What have I said?”

“Uh… something about branding?”

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