Hot Target

“Ron,” he said in a slow drawl, his eyes remaining on Katie. “Really, now. Let’s be realistic here. She looks more like one of my groupies than a security expert.” His lips twisted. “Then again, she is a beauty. She might be entertaining.”

Ron grunted. Loudly. “You’re out of line, Luke. Enough. You are not only insulting Katie, you’re underestimating her.” Suddenly, Katie was aware of Ron standing to her left, but she didn’t dare take her eyes off Luke. They remained facing each other, glaring at each other. Katie felt Ron’s attention land heavily on Luke. “You really are being difficult, my man. What’s come over you?”

“I don’t know what you mean, Ron.” Luke never took his eyes off Katie. “Why don’t we see what she really can do?”

Suddenly, Katie found herself trapped, her back against the bar, imprisoned by one of Luke’s strong arms on either side of her.

“Luke!” Ron’s angry voice rumbled as if in a tunnel.

Unwilling to be manhandled, Katie considered pulling the gun in her boot and teaching Luke a real lesson but thought better of it. Instead, she pressed her hands to that warm, hard chest and raised a knee, stopping the instant before she made contact. To her satisfaction, Luke’s eyes went wide with the near impact.

“The way to satisfy a man might not always be in his pants,” she said, slowly easing her leg down, her hand staying on that hard wall of muscle, keeping him at a distance. “But right now, it darn sure is mine.”

“So you like to play dirty, do you?” His breath teased as it trickled along her cheek.

His fast, unaffected comment drew a glare from Katie. “You, Luke Winter,” she muttered between her teeth, trying not to think about the way his thighs were suddenly pressed to hers, “are way too full of yourself.” And his lips were way too close, as well. Sensual lips. Full lips. She snapped her attention away from his mouth, irritated at her distraction. “I’m not a groupie or even a fan. Frankly, I think you pitchers ruin the game. It’s boring. Nobody hits the ball.”

“Wait. You think baseball is boring?”

She smiled even before she got the words out. “Just pitchers.” Her hands slid from his chest and she crossed her arms in front of her, silently dismissing him.

“But you think I’m a good pitcher.”

She blinked at the odd comment. “I didn’t say that.”

“I think you did.”

She almost threw her hands in the air. “The point is—I don’t care about your pitching. I’ve dated my pro athlete.”

“Who?”

“Joey Martin.”

“The quarterback?”

“Yes.”

“Ah. I know Joey. Arrogant guy. It’s a quarterback thing. Pitchers are better. But I can see why you’re bitter.”

Exasperated, she exclaimed, “I am not bitter. And back to my point that I never quite made. I’ve dated my athlete. Got the T-shirt and don’t want another. You have nothing I want or need.” Ron groaned in frustration, though neither Luke nor Katie paid him any mind.

With a sizzling, heavy-lidded stare, Luke leaned in close. “You keep telling yourself that, sweetheart, and maybe you’ll believe it.” A shiver raced down her spine at the intense look that followed. “In my experience, people scream the loudest about the very things they are running from.”

She laughed in disbelief at the implication. “You think I’m running from you?”

His damnable silver-gray eyes overflowed with challenge. “Aren’t you?”

“If anyone is running,” she countered, poking his chest, “it’s you.”

His gaze dropped to his chest where she’d touched him and so did hers. Something happened in that split second. Tension entwined with attraction and exploded. Heat pooled low in her belly, awareness charging a path along her limbs, tightening her nipples, heart pounding in her ears. Slowly, their eyes lifted at the same instant, colliding in an electric charge of pure, red-hot attraction. It was one of those moments, one of those liquid fire moments between a man and a woman, that could turn animosity into wild, passionate sex.

“That’s enough!” Ron’s voice snapped through the air, and Katie all but jumped at the reminder of why she couldn’t have passionate anything with Luke. He was a job, a duty, a pain-in-the-backside, arrogant jerk. But still neither she nor Luke moved. They just kept staring at each other.

Ron’s hands closed down on one of each of their arms. “I said—that’s enough.”

Luke backed away, a smile tilting his way-too-hot mouth upward—the mouth Katie couldn’t stop staring at, wondering what it would feel like pressed to hers. Oh, God, she was thinking about kissing Luke Winter. Was she insane? Shaken to the core, she jerked her attention from Luke’s face, ran her hand along the edge of her hair and made her decision.

“Obviously, this isn’t going to work.” A second later, she was making fast tracks toward the door. She’d been crazy to come here, and she knew it. Ron should have known, too.