Page 100 of Love on the Byline

“Jesus,” Rory said. “You’re a quiet one. I dinna hear yecomin.’“

She stared up at him. “Holy accent, Batman.”

Rory rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, it gets a bit thickerwhen people scare the shit out of me.”

She smiled. “Too freaking adorable.”

A kernel of jealousy formed in Ollie’s chest at theaffection in her voice. “I bet that’s the first time you’ve been called that.”

The guy’s face flushed a deep red. “Aye. I’m gonna go keepan eye out for Bran.”

Clearly amused, she watched him retreat and then turned toOllie, her eyes brighter than they’d been when they left the party.

“Are you making pesto?”

“Is that alright? It’s late, but you need real food.”

Her smile was soft. “It’s totally unnecessary but Iappreciate it.”

“I think it’s very necessary.”

She bit her lip but didn’t argue. “Can I help, at least?”

“Rinse and dry the basil?”

“Sure.”

Blake washed her hands, and then the leaves, busying herselfwith the task.

The urge to reach out and touch her was almost impossible toquell. Despite his best efforts, his gaze kept sliding back to her. Damn, hewas in so much trouble.

When she caught him watching her, he turned back to thecounter and cleared his throat.

“Were you...uh...able to get anything useful out of theparty tonight? I know you wanted to observe Bran in his world.”

“A little,” she replied, drying the leaves with a clean dishtowel from the stack he kept by the sink. “He definitely knows how to turn iton and off, the movie star bit. I think he’s a bit of an enigma.”

“He’s really not.” He added the pine nuts to the bowl. “Onceyou get to know him, anyway.” Then again, he thought, Bran didn’t let peopleget that close.

He chopped some garlic, along with the basil, and blendedthe mixture with the pine nuts. As he poured in the olive oil, Blake inchedcloser. She took in a deep breath and then let it out with a sigh.

“That smells so good,” she murmured. “How are you stillsingle?”

He looked up. She was inches away, and he could feel theheat radiating from her body. His heart raced, the pulse thrumming hard andfast beneath his skin.

Shrugging, Ollie focused on the pesto. “It’s not easy toform a connection when you keep a schedule like mine.”

“I can understand that, but…”

“But?”

Blake bit her lip. “Bran doesn’t seem to have problemsfinding…companionship.”

Ollie snorted. “No, he does not.” He stirred and tossed in astrong pinch of sea salt. “To be honest, I’ve never understood the whole casualsex thing.”

“Really?” Her brows rose. “Same.”

“Yeah?”

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