Hot Item by Carly Phillips Page A

quid pro quo toward understanding? Well, fine,” she said before he could reply. “I’m a pro at handling other people’s crises, but not when everything around me is falling apart. If Spencer doesn’t turn up soon, my entire life’s going to crash and burn.” She blinked once, then blinked again.
    He thought she was fighting tears, but she covered it so well he couldn’t be certain. He admired that strength.
    All Riley knew for sure was that for Sophie routine provided comfort and Atkins’s disappearance had thrown her carefully structured life into disarray.
    They had that in common, he thought. He’d been thrown for a loop, too. His sudden inexplicable desire to take care of her threw him. For the first time, other than Lizzie, it wasn’t all about him, and those feelings for Sophie messed with his carefree philosophy on life, and made him very, very nervous.
    Still, he couldn’t stop the words that came next. “I’ll try harder not to screw up your schedule,” he said, hoping he could handle answering to someone, even on a short-term basis.
    “Thanks.” She offered a smile and something inside him lightened with the knowledge that he’d eased her burden.
    “And I’ll try not to be such an uptight pain in the ass,” she said, taking him by surprise.
    He hadn’t expected her to know herself so well or to admit as much to him. Drawn by need and a compulsion he couldn’t explain, Riley reached out and pulled at the binding holding her bun in place. She gasped in surprise as strands of honey-colored hair fell around her face in waves, softening her features, making her appear infinitely more touchable.
    More human.
    More kissable.
    She moistened her lips and he sucked in a sharp breath. Right now he was definitely one of those hormonal idiots they’d just discussed. He leaned in so they were almost cheek to cheek and he inhaled her fragrant scent.
    Together they generated enough heat in the small space to steam the mirror, set off the smoke alarm and send the flight attendants barging in.
    “Ladies and gentlemen, the captain has turned on the Fasten Seat Belt sign. Please take your seats as soon as possible.” The flight attendant’s voice broke into his thoughts.
    He saw in her expression the moment she realized that she’d almost kissed Riley Nash at thirty thousand feet. Her eyes opened wide and she jerked away. Her knees came in contact with the toilet bowl and she sat on the closed seat with a thud.
    He chuckled and held out his hand to help her up. “Tell you what. I’ll leave first and you can sneak out after me.”
    “You’re a true gentleman, Nash.” Her voice held more than a hint of sarcasm, but her eyes held a wealth of gratitude.
    He decided not to remind her that people had probably already seen him follow her into the bathroom or had likely already come to their own conclusions about what the two of them were doing in here. She had enough on her mind and Riley’s presence on this trip probably wasn’t helping her keep things in her life running smoothly.
    But he couldn’t change the strength of their attraction nor, he admitted, did he want to.
     
    C INDY THOUGHT she knew what frazzled meant. Coming from a family that consisted of herself and her father and the employees of his California seaside restaurant, she’d grown up harried and working practically from birth. She’d gone to UCLA and hadn’t moved East until her father had passed away last year. It had been tragic. An employee had stolen money from the register after hours and set a fire to cover his tracks. Frank James, “Jimmy” to his friends, had tried to save his restaurant and prized possessions before the firefighters arrived. He’d died of smoke inhalation inside the restaurant he’d adored.
    After she’d survived that loss, Cindy thought she could handle anything. But The Hot Zone offices without the Jordan sisters, and Athletes Only without Spencer or Yank, was the equivalent of utter chaos. She and