Hot Target

“If you weren’t being targeted,” Ron argued, “you wouldn’t be a focal point. And it’s neither here nor there because bottom-lining it here, Luke, without proper precautions, your season is over before it starts. And Katie has the credentials to make management confident we’ve taken those precautions.”

Tension climbed a path up Luke’s spine. Everything was going wrong. He didn’t need this right now. Not when he was trying to stay focused on his game, and come back from scandal with a strong season. Inhaling, he tried to calm himself, to think logically. Then, unintentionally, Luke’s gaze collided with Katie’s. To his surprise, her eyes softened, seemed to reflect understanding.

He liked her, he thought. Damn it to hell, he liked her. He didn’t want to, but he did. Instinctively trusted her even, and based on his recent judgments, that should be enough to send him running to the hills. He’d learned the hard way with past relationships about how dangerous trust could be.

People wanted things from him. They didn’t just want to be his friend. Not without a reason.

“I know this is difficult, Mr. Winter,” she said in a gentle, almost comforting voice, as if she actually cared how he felt.

She still wouldn’t call him by his first name and for some reason that really set him off. “Luke. My name is Luke.” The woman was driving him insane, and he had known her mere minutes. The last thing he wanted was for her to get close enough to know what really got to him—he needed her gone. Lashing back at her incredible ability to get under his skin, trying to upset her, Luke gave her a quick, intimate, up-and-down perusal meant to stir her anger. It was a look that held an intentionally blatant message—you’d be a great piece of ass. Of course he would never confirm that assessment. She didn’t like him, nor did he want her to like him. He’d chosen a plan and he was sticking to it—she had to hate him.

***

KATIE CAST Ron a pleading look, silently asking for guidance. In reply, Ron quietly repeated, “He’ll be reason able.”

But in the flash of a second that Katie had looked away from Luke, he’d advanced on her, and she had a feeling it wasn’t because he intended to “behave.” Suddenly, he was standing beside her, the spicy male scent of arrogant, pain-in-the-backside man, invading her nostrils and her space. Trying to regain the composure she rarely lost but that Luke was managing to rattle, Katie remained facing the bar, both palms flattened on the wooden surface. Tilting her chin to the side, she cut him a suspicious look—wondering what he was up to, and he was up to something, of that she was certain.

Covertly, she took in his appearance—she simply couldn’t help herself. It was her first time to see his entire body. And what a body it was. He was dressed casually in snug-fitting jeans and an equally snug black tee, both of which molded ever so nicely to the rippling length of his powerful body. Physically the man was nothing shy of outright impressive. Even his foul mood didn’t take away from the pure maleness of his presence, and the perfection of his athletic body.

With a facade of control that defied her racing heart and the funny fluttery thing in her stomach, Katie dared to give Ron her back as she turned to face her challenger. It was unsettling that she wasn’t as capable of dismissing Luke Winter as she was the rest of the bigger-than-Texas egos she’d encountered in the wild world of professional sports.

She and Luke now stood face-to-face, each with an elbow propped on the bar, neither blinking, a standoff of sorts, one she feared she was losing. His nearness washed over her in a wave of warm, tingling sensations that tested her cool exterior and threatened her mask of aloofness. She was certain she was the one who would break, when something unexpected happened. For an instant, a tiny instant, the arrogance of the big, bad baseball pitcher melted into vulnerability. Taken off guard, Katie blinked and it was gone, replaced by something much different, more tense, almost angry.

He laughed, but there wasn’t any hint of humor in the deeply resonating sound. “I don’t see how you are going to stop anyone from hurting me.” Again he was taunting, and Katie couldn’t help but wonder if he was punishing her for seeing something in him that he hadn’t wanted exposed. He continued his verbal assault, “I believe a large woman could overpower you. A man would easily control you.”

His eyes made a slow, lazy tour down her body and then back up again, blatantly pausing at her breasts. When his eyes met hers again, she wanted to reach over and smack his face. The hand that hung by her side balled into a fist as she willed herself to calm, glaring at him with what she hoped was fire. Not once now, but twice, he had taken the liberty of undressing her with his eyes.