Page 36 of At the Heart of It (The Can’t Have Hearts Club #4)

“I watch it, I don’t film it.” Jossy’s eyes followed Kate across the room as she helped Pete string cable from one side to the other. “I like her. Very unpretentious.”

“Very smart,” Jonah agreed. “Very good at her job.”

“Yeah, but not in a Viv sort of way. She doesn’t seem like someone who needs to overshadow everyone else so her light looks brighter.”

Jonah nodded, but said nothing as Kate shuffled back toward them in her clown shoes. “Tell me a little more about the whole shirtless dog-walking thing,” she said. “How has it worked out for you from a marketing standpoint?”

“Great!” Jossy said. “We’ve seen a thirty percent uptick in adoptions since my gross brother started stripping for charity. I’m thinking of trolling for other men to take a shirtless shift.”

“Impressive,” Kate said, and Jonah couldn’t help noticing her gaze flick over his chest. But she quickly brought her focus back to Jossy. “Are the pets he takes for walks always the ones who get adopted?”

“No, that’s the great thing. Once he gets people through the door, the animals sort of sell themselves. We’ve found homes for a lot of pets that might have been overlooked otherwise.”

“That’s terrific.”

“Yeah,” Jossy agreed. “Turns out my big brother can be kinda useful.”

“He does have a certain charm.” Kate looked at him and gave a quiet smile that gave Jonah a pleasant ache in the middle of his chest. He longed to wrap his arms around her and press his mouth against the warm skin behind her ear, but Kate turned back to the camera and lighting guys. “You guys about ready to roll?”

“Five minutes,” Pete reported.

Kate nodded and bent down to pet a persistent puppy who’d started tugging at her shoelace. Jonah’s shoelace.

“You can pick him up if you want,” Jossy said. “It’s good to handle them as much as possible.”

“You just made my whole week.” Kate bent down and scooped up the fluffy mop, pressing her face into his fur.

She murmured something against the little dog’s ear, then began strolling the perimeter of the room.

Jossy fell into step beside her. Jonah stood watching, feeling like an outsider in his own life.

“Are you comfortable giving us an on-camera interview?” Kate asked. “It’s okay if you say no. We’ll keep the focus on Jonah.”

Jossy glanced at him, looking for a cue. He nodded, trying to convey he was game for anything. “Sure,” Jossy said, looking back at Kate. “I mean, whatever you think will help shed some light on what we do here. Puppies, shirtless ex-Marines, a crippled girl with a prosthetic leg.”

Kate froze. She turned and looked at Jossy with an intensity in her gaze that made Jonah’s breath catch in his throat.

“You have my word that we won’t do anything to exploit you like that,” she said softly. “That’s not why we’re here. Not at all.”

Jossy smiled and reached over to stroke the ears of the puppy in Kate’s arms. “It’s okay. I was joking, mostly, but I don’t mind if you do want to show it. You know, zoom in on the fake leg or whatever.”

Kate shook her head. “If we do choose to show that—and I promise you’ll get to consent if that’s the case—I promise we won’t do anything to make you look weak or hopeless. If anything, there’s a benefit to showing the normalcy of someone with a disability doing something amazing.”

Jossy beamed. His sister had just made a new best friend.

“Come on,” Jossy said. “Let me give you a tour of the rest of the place.”

By the time they finished filming for the day, the sun had long since gone down. Jonah glanced at his watch and tried to remember the last time he’d eaten.

He looked up to see Jossy yawning. “Come on.” He slung an arm around his sister’s shoulders and resisted the impulse to give her a noogie. “Let me take you to dinner. How about Cactus?”

“Tempting, but I’ll pass,” she said. “I’m pooped. Besides, I need to get home and feed all the assholes before they tear my kitchen apart.”

Kate smiled as she packed pieces of lighting gear into a fancy-looking crate. “You have a house full of assholes?”

“I am the consummate crazy cat lady,” Jossy said. “I have a soft spot for the ones no one else adopts. The ones with attitude problems or missing limbs or some weird fungus that makes their hair fall out in clumps.”

“I love it,” Kate said. She was still wearing Jonah’s running shoes, and something about that made him happy. “I wish I could have a pet. Someday, maybe.”

“Hey, you can come over anytime and pet mine,” Jossy said. “Not tonight, though. Tonight I just want to put my PJs on and eat ice cream straight from the carton.”

“That sounds like the perfect evening.”

“It was so great meeting you, Kate.” Jossy stepped up and pulled Kate into a hug, flashing Jonah a thumbs-up behind her back. “Love her!” Jossy mouthed, grinning at him.

Jonah nodded, trying to keep a straight face. Trying not to let on that he had anything other than a professional relationship with Kate.

“It was great meeting you, too,” Kate said as she broke the hug. “I’m so impressed by what you’re doing here.”

“Thanks!” Jossy tucked a fire-red curl behind one ear. “Call me if you have more questions. Or if you just want to grab a drink sometime. Something besides the nasty beer my brother’s always drinking.”

“I’ve developed a fondness for the nasty beer” Kate flashed him a smile. “But I’d love to grab a drink sometime. I could use a little girl time.”

“Sounds good.” Jossy moved toward the door, then turned back to Jonah. “You okay locking up by yourself?”

“I’ve got it covered.”

“You promise you won’t forget to set the alarm this time?”

“It was just the one time,” he muttered, prodding her toward the door with a boom mic pole that Pete had left propped next to the door. Jossy giggled and scuttled away.

“Night, Joss.”

“Good night, Shirtless Wonder.” She squeezed him hard, standing on tiptoe to whisper in his ear. “Much better pick this time,” she whispered.

Then she pulled away, scurrying out the door before he had a chance to ask what the hell had given her the idea he had any interest in Kate.

Kate, who was now alone in a room with him for the first time since they’d slept together. Jonah looked at her and gave a small shrug.

“So here we are,” he said at last.

“Here we are.” Kate smiled, but there was something in her eyes he couldn’t read. Something bothering her.

“You okay, Kate?”

She smiled a little. “Just tired. And hungry. And tired. Did I mention tired?”

“You might have.”

“Thanks for the shoes.” She tipped her foot to the side and smiled down at them. “Do you mind if I wear them home and give them back tomorrow?”

“No problem. Keep them as long as you like. The clown look is a good one for you.”

Kate laughed, and Jonah took a step closer. He didn’t touch her, of course, but something in him ached to have her nearer. “Thanks for everything you did tonight,” he said.

“What do you mean?” she asked. “I did my job.”

“No, you didn’t,” he said. “You went above and beyond your job. You promised Jossy you wouldn’t play up her disability without her blessing, even though we both know damn well audiences eat that shit up.

Even though she probably signed the same crazy-ass contract the rest of us did that says you’re free to run with whatever storyline you choose. ”

Kate bit her lip. “We aren’t heartless, Jonah. The show is about playing on human emotion, sure. But not at the expense of the humans involved.”

“That’s good to know.” Jonah stretched, feeling tired all of a sudden. And hungry. Still really, really hungry.

“Could I interest you in dinner?” he asked.

She seemed to hesitate. “You mean that restaurant you mentioned? Cactus?”

“Sure, or wherever you want to go.”

Kate glanced down at her shoes. His shoes. “Under the circumstances, I should probably?—”

“How about my place?”

Shit. He hadn’t meant to blurt that out. But Kate looked up at him with something that seemed like relief. “You are less than a mile away.”

Jonah’s heart did a funny little hiccup in the center of his chest. “True.”

“Okay, I can grab takeout,” she said. “I saw a drive-through Thai place down the street.”

Jonah grinned. “Why don’t you just be honest here, Kate.”

Her eyes widened like he’d just stepped on her foot. “What?”

“You just want to see my cat.” He smiled and watched her face, wondering what the hell had prompted such a strong reaction. “It’s understandable.”

Kate gave an uneasy laugh and clamped the lid down on the crate. “You caught me,” she said. “So do you want to meet at your place?”

“Sounds good. You pick up the Thai food, and I’ll move all the socks and underwear out of the living room.”

“Your house is neat as a pin,” she said. “I stopped by unannounced before, remember.”

“Oh, I remember.” He remembered a lot more than that. “I’ll see you in thirty minutes.”