Garrett moved behind her and put his arms around her, nuzzling her neck. ‘Talking with Don definitely wasn’t in the plan for the evening.’
She giggled softly. ‘There was a plan, was there?’
He slipped his hand inside the robe to cup her breasts, feeling himself harden even further at the press of her stiffening nipple against the glide of his thumb. ‘Oh yes, woman, there was a plan.’ He nibbled her earlobe and she squirmed. ‘I wanted to get inside those golden panties of yours, hopefully without getting slapped.’
She shifted till her bottom rubbed against his growing erection. ‘You’re a cunning man, Garrett Thorne.’
‘And brave,’ he added. ‘Don’t forget brave.’
She pushed the start button on the coffee maker, then turned in his arms and smiled up at him. ‘If Don had shown up, I’d have sent him packing.’
‘God help him if he’d argued with you.’ Garrett said, dropping a kiss onto her ear, then another one onto her collar bone where the robe gaped open, offering an exquisite view of the pale, round rise of her breasts.
She sighed and gave him a quick kiss, then shrugged out of his grasp. ‘Still, I suppose we should let him know that we didn’t fall off the planet.’
He took her hand and led her into the living room. His BlackBerry lay on the coffee table where he’d carelessly tossed it last night when his mind was completely taken over by the wonders of Kendra Davis. He’d barely gotten it turned on when it rang. It was Don. Kendra leaned close to hear what was being said.
‘Garrett, are you home?’ Don said without preamble.
‘Yes. Why?’
‘Just turn on the television. Now. Local news.’
Kendra grabbed the remote and flipped to the news just in time to catch her and Garrett in a very public lip-lock at the Golden Kiss Awards.
The voiceover was saying, ‘The Golden Kiss Awards ceremony was full of surprises last night. Tess Delaney, notoriously elusive writer of some of the most popular, and hottest, romance novels on the market, made her first ever public appearance on the arm of Garrett Thorne, bad boy younger brother of business tycoon, Ellison Thorne. The two were clearly enjoying each other’s company.’
There was a close-up of Garrett kissing Kendra’s ear, then her neck, while she smiled and blushed happily.
‘Though the odds were not in her favor to take home the coveted award against stiff competition, the underdog pulled it off and Tess Delaney took the prize.’
They watched as Tess’s acceptance speech was played back in full. Even just watching it, Garrett couldn’t help feel a sense of pride, as though he’d actually witnessed Tess Delaney accept the honor. The voiceover went on.
‘If Tess Delaney’s big win came as something of a surprise, what happened next was even more of a surprise for the audience, and especially for literary critic and announcer, Barker Blessing.’
There it was, right there for the whole world to see, Blessing groping and Kendra reacting. Not only was it being played on national television, but it was being played in slow motion with a close-up, first of Blessing’s hand sliding up the slit in Tess’s dress, then of Tess, deliberately and with forethought, emptying her entire bowl of chocolate mousse, whipped cream, cherry and all, right onto the crotch of Blessing’s white James Bond suit. Fortunately, the cameras were too busy capturing Tess’s antics to notice Garrett’s grip on the back of the man’s collar a split second before.
They watched in high definition, as Garrett took Tess’s arm and escorted her out of the banquet hall to a roar of applause.
‘Blessing could not be reached for comment. However, Andrew Day, our reporter on the street, says Tess’s actions have had a knock-on effect that amount to way more than just her first public appearance on the arm of Garrett Thorne and the sharing of her dessert with Barker Blessing. Andrew.’
The screen cut to a reporter standing in the middle of a huge check-out line in Powell’s Bookstore.
‘What we’re seeing here is pretty typical of the five bookstores I’ve visited so far today.’ The reporter turned to a woman in the check-out line who had three Tess Delaney novels clutched to her chest. She explained to him that she had watched the award ceremony and was so intrigued she rushed right to the bookstore this morning. The same interview was repeated with four other people.
While they watched what was unfolding on the screen, Garrett put the BlackBerry on speaker so they both could hear Don.
‘That’s just the tip of the iceberg,’ Don said. The excitement in his voice was palpable. ‘That little scene with the mousse has already gone viral on YouTube and is trending on Twitter. Kay Lake’s act was a stroke of genius, and Barker Blessing is now trying to convince everyone that it was all planned. You can’t expect the man not to take advantage of good PR, even if it’s at his expense. He didn’t get where he is by being stupid.