But I’d spent months focusing on preserving my job and wasn’t about to crumble just because I straddled a Fifty-Most-Beautiful-People level of beautiful person. With those sexy lips. And his hands on my legs.
Focus, Jo.
The crowd below had begun to thin, and I was tempted to abort plan A, but I couldn’t take the chance that Maggie would walk away once she’d signed the last autograph.
I lifted my camera and zoomed in. There in the center stood my target. And she was facing the wrong way.
Crap.
I yelled down, “I can’t even tell it’s her from here. Do you mind walking closer?”
He began to move down the sidewalk, and my self-control faltered thanks to his neck, now rubbing against my inner thighs—and more. His shoulders tensed and relaxed beneath my legs, heat intensifying in the most intimate way. My fingers gripped his neck, and goose bumps appeared. He lifted his arm and caught my hand in his. It was a miracle I didn’t fall from a spontaneous swoon.
Despite our conspicuous approach, we’d nearly reached our destination before Maggie turned her head up and locked eyes with me. I quickly lifted my camera, but the appearance of a desperate pap precariously perched on a lumbering accomplice must have spooked her, because in the time it took me to point and aim, she’d lifted her bags, grabbed her youngest daughter by the hand, and fled down the block in the opposite direction.
I palmed my forehead. Unless I’d inadvertently captured something during that mortifying display, I had nothing at all.
My accidental hero lowered me back to the street, and I found myself out of breath even though he’d been the one exerting himself. He ran a hand through his hair, and I followed it with greedy eyes, already regretting my descent to ordinary earth after my perch atop a golden god.
He eyed me with equal interest. “Perhaps we should be formally introduced? I’m Micah.” He stretched out his hand. “And you are?”
“J-Jo.” I took a deep breath and let it out.
“Jo Jo?” In ordinary circumstances, his constant teasing might have put me off, but Micah had an air of easygoing charm about him. And he had just agreed to be used as a parade float for no other reason than generosity.
“Jo,” I repeated, a bit more confidently. “Josie.”
“Well, Jo-Josie.” His hand gripped mine, and his half smile hovered somewhere between charming and devilish. “Where are you from?”
I took another shuddering breath and tried to get my heart to stop galloping in my chest. I prayed my lack of composure had nothing to do with a sudden drop in my blood sugar, please, God, and rather everything to do with the proximity of the most attractive man I’d possibly ever laid eyes on. And I’d seen a lot of attractive people in my line of work. “Georgia,” I said, then clarified, “Atlanta.”
He gently pushed my shoulder. “Get back, Jo Jo.”
I snickered at the dated song reference as though that joke hadn’t fallen from the lips of every class clown I’d ever known. I put on my twangiest Southern. “You shooin’ me on home?”
His blue eyes crinkled at the corner, and his playful smile stretched all the way to flirtatious scamp. Dimples emerged in his tanned, smooth cheeks, beneath a hint of blond stubble. His skin looked as soft as a baby’s. “Absolutely not.” He reached over and pulled one of my ash brown curls out straight, and I shivered. “It’s just, you don’t look . . .” He bit his lip and seemed to think twice about finishing that sentence. “You barely have an accent. I wouldn’t have guessed you were Southern.”
“ ’Fraid so. Dekalb County, born and raised.” I took a step closer. “And you?”
“Actually, you’ve wandered into my kingdom.” He twirled his hands out as though to present his domain. “Might I ask, what is your quest here?”
I gave him points for nerd humor and chuckled. “I seek the holy grail. Have you seen it here about?”
“Alas, no.” He winked. “I was just on my way to find it when I was accosted by a fair maiden in distress.” His bratty-little-brother smirk felt like a challenge.
“Is that so?” I flashed him a smile. “And do you make it a habit of photobombing innocent maidens?”
He exhaled with surprised laughter. “You might say that.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and, before he could react, lifted my camera and clicked the shutter. “Aha! I’ve captured a consolation prize.” I shook my camera at him, defiant. “Now we’ll see what you go for on the open market.”
He made a gesture as though to swipe my camera away, dramatically failing and clutching at his chest. “Touché. But I can tell you it’s not much.”
Thoughts of payment hit my stomach like a runaway freight train and sucked all the fun out of this enchanting encounter. The probability of running into yet another celebrity in this part of Brooklyn was slim. I needed to head back to the office immediately and do more research to scout my next lead. Maybe I could still bring something to Andy before the end of the day. I couldn’t afford to let him down again. I knew he’d begun counting down the days until he could fire me—I could feel it. And I needed this job.
I frowned. “I have to be getting back.”
Micah chewed on his pretty lower lip for a beat, then said, “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have a business card? You know, in case I’m ever in the market for my own personal paparazza.”
