LITMIR.BIZ

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walk away from everything you know, even though you know it’s going to be hard—because it’s the right thing to do? You amaze me, Kate. You simply amaze me.”

      Aw, hell. Sincere compliments were a bad idea, because now she was crying. Quiet tears slipped down her cheeks, and he couldn’t stand that.

      He leaned over the table and cupped her face in his hand, swiping at her tears.

      “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

      “Don’t you dare take that back.” She sniffed, grabbing a napkin and dabbing at her eyes. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

      Wasn’t that a shame? Her former fiancé, her father—had anyone ever noticed who Kate really was?

      He sat back as she took a bunch of deep breaths and got herself under control. “Sorry—hormones,” she said, giving him a watery smile.

      “Don’t apologize. It was rude of me to ambush you with compliments.”

      That got him a slightly less watery smile. “It was, wasn’t it?”

      A strange silence settled over the table and then a movement behind Kate caught Seth’s eye. Oh, hell—it was Jack Roy, one of Billy Bolton’s oldest friends. Seth gave a friendly nod of his head to Jack, hoping the man would just keep moving without stopping.

      No such luck. “Seth! Finally out and about?” Jack stood over the table, grinning down at Kate. “And who do we have here? Hello, beautiful.”

      Later? Seth was going to stab the man. Repeatedly. Jack Roy was a born flirt and had the kind of face a lot of women went for. And now he was smiling down at Kate and she was blinking up at the man, stunned by the force of his smile.

      “Jack,” Seth said, hearing the tension in his voice but seemingly unable to sound any more relaxed, “this is Kate Burroughs, my real estate agent. Kate,” he went on, mentally willing Jack to get the hint and leave, “this is Jack Roy, head painter at Crazy Horse.”

      “And a whole lot more,” Jack murmured in a seductive voice that Seth had heard him use on every female he’d ever met.

      Kate’s cheeks colored again as she dropped her gaze to the table. Crap, this was terrible. Not only was Jack interrupting just as things had gotten interesting, now the man would probably call Dad up and ask if Billy knew Seth had been having dinner with a pretty real estate agent. How much had Jack caught? Had he seen Seth cup Kate’s cheek? Or wipe away Kate’s tears?

      Damn it all. Seth pivoted and launched a careful kick in the direction of Jack’s shins. The man flinched but, to his credit, didn’t even let out a stream of obscenities.

      Instead, he turned that smile up to full power. “You make sure this one treats you right,” he said, a hint of steel behind his seductive voice as he nodded at Seth.

      Kate’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, no—we’re just working together.”

      The quick defense pricked at Seth’s pride, even if it was exactly what she should have said because it was the truth. “I’m buying a house,” he added.

      By God, if Jack made some sort of crack about how Seth was all grown up and a big boy now, the man’s handsome nose would never look the same.

      Jack’s mouth opened and then he closed it. “Well, then,” he said, notching a knowing eyebrow at Seth. Hopefully Kate couldn’t see it. “I’ll let you two get back to business.” He reached down and appropriated one of Kate’s hands, bowing over it. “Ms. Burroughs, it has been a true pleasure.” Then the bastard kissed her knuckles.

      A rumbling noise startled everyone at the table. It was only when both Kate and Jack turned to look at Seth that he realized the noise—a growl—was coming from him.

      Jack’s mouth curved into a knowing grin and Seth realized he’d walked right into Jack’s trap. The jerk had intentionally provoked Seth with that kiss.

      “Jack,” Seth managed to get out without strangling the man.

      “Seth—be good,” Jack said with another wink before he finally, finally left.

      Seth scowled at the man’s back as he walked away. When he glanced back over at Kate, she was staring at him with what looked uncomfortably like confusion on her face.

      Well, this evening was shot to hell. And he wasn’t even sure what he’d wanted before Jack had interrupted. This wasn’t a date—Kate had said so herself. This was business.

      This wasn’t personal.

      “Come on,” Seth said, leaving a fifty on the table. “I think we’re done here.”

       Eight

      The ride back to the real estate office was tense. Or maybe that was just how Kate felt—because there was no missing the tension. Her dinner sat heavy in her stomach, and her head was a muddled mess. Her back hurt, her feet weren’t any better and she was so tired she could barely see straight.

      She just wanted to go home and go to bed and, inexplicably, she wanted to do so curled in Seth’s arms. She wanted that so badly.

      What kind of hormonal torture was this? There was no good reason why she should be craving Seth’s arms around her, his chest pressed against her back. As fantasies went, it was downright boring.

      Except if she went to sleep in his arms, then she’d wake up there and then...

      No, no. She was not following that train of thought to its logical conclusion. Not a bit.

      It wasn’t that she’d been scared when that friend of his had shown up. The guy was obviously a smooth talker who considered himself God’s gift to women—not that he’d done anything for her. Because he hadn’t. She’d been able to empirically realize he was an attractive man but compared to Seth, he was like a cardboard cutout next to a real man.

      Then there’d been that kiss on her hand. If Kate didn’t know any better, she would’ve thought that kiss had been to intentionally provoke Seth. There hadn’t been a single bit of heat to Jack’s lips—but when Seth had growled?

      That noise had shot right through Kate, primal and raw. God, it’d sounded so good. Almost like he’d wanted her and was more than willing to fight for her.

      But to what end? She and Seth were not together and no one present was a caveman. In her experience, no one fought over her. Hell, Roger hadn’t even bothered to be upset when she’d jilted him.

      This was only the third time they’d ever met face-to-face. The first time, she had been a hysterical runaway bride. The second time, she’d been too stunned to put together two coherent sentences. And today...

      Today, he’d told her he wanted to buy a much more expensive house—which came with a much bigger commission. He’d rubbed her back and bought her dinner.

      She was not the kind of girl to rebound with the first hot guy she saw. Or the second. Or any guy. Kate Burroughs did not do anything so impulsive or crazy or...fun.

      Right. That was final. No fun. She was not interested in Seth.

      It didn’t matter that he just kept right on drifting through countless dreams, ones that always started with him riding up on his chopper before moving to him undressing her to hot, passionate lovemaking to...

      Holding her while she slept. Making sure she felt safe.

      Stupid hormones. She didn’t want to do anything that would jeopardize their business relationship because she needed this business relationship more than she needed an attractive, wealthy man to rub her back.

      They pulled up in front of the real estate office. Kate turned off the car but neither of them made a move to get out. Instead, they sat in silence and Kate had no

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