“No, that’s okay,” Kinsley said. “I’ll just walk down the hall and stick my head in his office.”
* * *
Christopher swiveled his office chair so that it faced the window. He leaned back, stretching his legs out in front of him and resting his hands on his middle.
The more he thought about what had happened at lunch, the more he was sure Deke had sent Toby to do his bidding. It made him so angry he wanted to wrap his putter around the trunk of the magnolia tree out in front of the building.
It could’ve been a good visit with his brother. A chance to get to know his new sister-in-law a little better. But Deke had to insert himself, even if it was virtually, and mess things up.
His father was so good at messing things up.
But then Christopher had to wonder if his brother would’ve come to Red Rock if it hadn’t been to prod him to go home. Well, it hadn’t done any good. If anything it had given him more incentive to stay away. The Joneses couldn’t stand anything that varied from their idea of normal. But Christopher had news for them all—this was his new normal.
He looked up at the sound of a knock on his door. He straightened up in his chair and turned back to his desk, moving the mouse to wake up his computer screen.
“Come in,” he said.
He was delighted when he saw Kinsley standing in the threshold. Suddenly the afternoon was looking a lot brighter.
“Do you have a moment?” she asked.
“For you, I would clear my schedule.”
She rolled her eyes. Not exactly the response he was hoping for, but he would’ve been surprised if he’d gotten a more enthused reaction.
“I’m just kidding,” he said. Actually, he wasn’t. “Come in. I’m not the big bad wolf. How was your lunch?”
She shut the door and walked over to stand in front of his desk. “It was fine.”
“I saw you at Red,” he said. “I was going to come over and say hello, but by the time we ordered you were gone.”
“I only had an hour for lunch. I had to get back.”
Since he’d seen her at the restaurant she’d pulled her hair back away from her face. And what a face it was; she had a perfect complexion that didn’t require much makeup. In fact, he wasn’t even sure if she was wearing any makeup. His mind wandered for a moment, imagining the curves that hid beneath the conservative clothes she wore. He smiled at the thought. But then he realized she wasn’t smiling at him.
God, if he didn’t know better, he might be afraid she’d read his mind.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
“Since you asked,” she said, “actually, yes, there is something wrong.”
She held out a piece of paper. He reached across the desk and took it from her.
“What’s this?”
She was standing there with her arms crossed—defensive body language. Her sensible blue blouse was buttoned all the way up to the top and was tucked into a plain lighter blue skirt that didn’t show nearly enough leg. Legs, he thought, that would look killer in a pair of shiny black stilettos, ones like the hostess at Red had worn, rather than those low-heeled church lady shoes that looked like something out of his mama’s closet.
“It’s a message from a woman who has been trying to get a hold of you to make a donation to the Foundation,” she said.
Christopher read the name and number scrawled on the paper. Judy Davis? He didn’t know a Judy Davis.
“Who is she and when did she call?”
Kinsley crossed one ankle over the other, keeping her arms firmly across her middle. Good grief. If she twisted herself any tighter she was going to turn herself inside out.
“After she emailed you three times, unsuccessfully, she called Mr. Jamison to voice her displeasure. He called me while you were at lunch, none too pleased.”
What the hell?
Christopher lifted up the paper with the message and saw a photocopy of what looked like a list of emails. Someone had taken a highlighter to it.
“Did Emmett do this?” he asked, gesturing at her with the paper.
Her cheeks flushed the slightest hue of pink, which made her look even prettier, if that was possible.
She cleared her throat. “No, I did. Christopher, you haven’t checked the community relations email account in two days. She emailed us three times—”
“Three times over the course of what, 48 hours?” he asked looking at the paper to check the time the emails came through.
“Actually, it’s closer to 36 hours,” she said. “I know she was a little impatient, but she wants to give us money and nobody contacted her in a reasonable amount of time. I can understand why she was a little upset.”
Christopher watched Kinsley as she stood there, obviously irritated with him. The funny thing was, usually when people nagged him it made him mad, but he found her completely disarming. His gaze dropped to her full bottom lip.
He’d be willing to wager that those lips would taste better than that expensive champagne that Marcos had given them at lunch, and he was getting a little hot and bothered at the realization that he hadn’t yet had a taste of Kinsley’s lips.
He smiled as he added that task to his mental to-do list.
“I’ll be happy to call her now,” Christopher said, offering his best smile.
“That’s a good idea. The sooner the better. I don’t mean to tell you what to do, but you really should check that email account several times a day.”
“I checked it three days in a row and there was absolutely no email,” he said. “I’ve been busy. I know this is your brainchild, but people aren’t exactly lining up to leave us messages.”
Her brows knit. “Christopher, do you see that piece of paper I gave you? There are ten unanswered messages on there. Well, seven if you don’t count the three from Judy Davis.”
Her face was so expressive. Those lips were so full. It was mesmerizing to watch her mouth as she talked. He realized he was sitting there grinning stupidly as she reprimanded him. Still, he wanted to laugh. Not at her, but at the situation—at the way the woman had somehow gotten under his skin, but in a good way. A sexy way. A way that made him want to walk over and unbutton the top button of her blouse to loosen her up a bit. Hell, he didn’t want to stop there—
“Are you listening to me?” she asked.
“Every single word.” He pursed his lips to remove the grin from his face.
Now her hands were on her hips. The stance drew her blouse tight across her breasts. The fabric
