By Invitation Only by Lori Wilde, Wendy Etherington, Jillian Burns

moment felt so cozy—too cozy for people who were having nothing more than a weekend fling.
    She didn’t know what to do or what to say. Part of her kept hoping…hoping for what? A real relationship with Nick? That was absurd on so many levels. And yet he wasn’t at all like she’d thought he was. On the outside he might be a smooth operator, but on the inside beat a heart of gold.
    Can you really take a chance on that?
    A knock sounded on the door and relief surged through her.
    “Olivia Carmichael, you open this door right now,” Holly Addison commanded, the anger in her voice cold as a steel blade.
    Panic bit into her as her eyes met Nick. “We’ve been found out,” she said, her worst fear coming true.
    “Don’t worry,” he said. “It’s my fault. I take full responsibility.”
    “I’m as culpable as you,” she said, shoving the breakfast tray aside and scrambling for her clothes. “We take this licking together.”
    Holly kept pounding. “Open this door right now or I’ll knock it down.”
    Nick went to answer it. Olivia pulled up her skirt, smoothed down her hair. Hand on the knob, he hesitated, looked at her, waiting for her go-ahead. She nodded. He opened the door.
    Holly came tumbling inside, eyes blazing, a fax of a newspaper article held in her fisted hand. “Explain yourself!”
    “I…I…” Olivia stuttered. “What is it?”
    With trembling hands, Holly smoothed out the paper and read aloud from it. “‘J. D. Maynard and Holly Addison, match made in heaven or just the ultimate publicity stunt? By Olivia Carmichael.’” Holly wadded up the paper again and shook it under Olivia’s nose. “How dare you pretend to be my cousin Honey. How dare you write such things about me?”
    “I…I…” Olivia blinked. The headline came from the side notes she’d written to herself before she’d ever met Holly and J.D. A sick feeling settled in her stomach. Ross had lied to her. He’d taken her notes, turned them into an article and published it after he’d promised he wouldn’t.
    Except the nausea roiling inside her couldn’t be as bad as what Holly must be feeling. “I’m sorry,” Olivia apologized, “I’m so, so sorry.”
    “There is no excuse for what you’ve done,” Holly said. “I’ve called security. They’ll be here any minute to escort you from the premises.”
    But Holly wasn’t the only one feeling betrayed by Olivia. “Let me see that,” Nick said and snatched the printout from Holly’s hand. He read it, raised his eyes and looked at Olivia with the most hurt expression she’d ever seen on a man’s face. “This is this morning’s edition of the Austin Daily News. You made me promise not to scoop you and then you went behind my back and scooped me?”
    “Nick.” She extended her hand.
    “Here, I’m supposed to be the untrustworthy one and you blindsided me. What an idiot I am.”
    “Please, let me explain.”
    “There’s nothing to explain,” he said, backing away from her. “I get the message loud and clear. You’ll do anything for your career. Even sleep with me to lull me into a false sense of security.”
    “That’s not how it was,” she said miserably, knowing he was not going to believe her.
    “You’re a reporter, too?” Holly blinked.
    “No,” Nick said. “Just ask Olivia. I’m nothing more than a college dropout who lucked into a successful internet blog.” And with that, he turned on his heels and walked out.
     
     
    O LIVIA SAT IN THE AIRPORT waiting for the next commercial flight back to the States, blinking away tears. What a difference two days made. She thought of all that had happened. All that she’d lost. She’d called Ross to confront him. The man was old-school journalism and he didn’t apologize for what he’d done. All he’d said was, “It was a killer story. I ran it early to save our jobs.”
    “You hurt a lot of people,” she said.
    “Did I?” he accused. “You wrote it.”
    She realized he was right. It