she said, which was lame and stupid but really, how was she supposed to react here? Seth Bolton was hot, kind, supportive...hot—and now also an amazing salesman and a whip-smart business owner?
Her fantasies weren’t this good. They just weren’t. If he also loved babies and puppies and was single, then she’d know for certain that she was having the best dream of her life.
Nothing about this made the least bit of sense. Not only was the man of her dreams—literally—sitting in front of her, suddenly in the market for a great deal of real estate, the commissions of which could carry her through the next several months, but he was part of Rapid City’s most famous local family.
Underneath the desk, she pinched her leg. But nothing changed. Seth was still sitting in front of her, dimples in full force, ready to discuss all his real estate needs while also giving her those searing looks.
She was in trouble. The very best kind of trouble.
One thing was clear, Seth realized as he sat across from Kate while she called up listings to give him an idea of what was on the market.
He should have checked on her sooner.
He remembered a hot woman. Okay, that had been more her body than her face because she’d had a very bad day and had looked like hell. But it was hard to forget skimming that petticoat down her legs, revealing her gorgeous ass in that little scrap of fabric—not to mention the stockings and garter.
He shifted in his seat. The woman sitting across from him in a tacky yellow blazer with Zanger embroidered on the chest wasn’t hot.
Kate Burroughs was beautiful.
Without the false eyelashes and lopsided hair—and without the lost look in her eyes—Kate was simply stunning. Even more so because today, while it was clear that she was shocked to see him, she wasn’t in a state of shock. And what a difference that made.
He might be imagining things, but she even seemed happy to see him. Surprised, sure. Excited about the business he was throwing her way, yes. But Seth saw the way she looked at him—especially the way her whole face had softened when he’d asked how she was doing.
He should’ve come sooner. But he’d had to represent Crazy Horse Choppers at two trade shows and Julie’s soccer season had started, and although it wasn’t good for his image as a tough biker, Seth was the kind of guy who went to his baby sister’s games and cheered her on from the sidelines. Then there’d been a powwow on the reservation and career day at the school where his mom taught and moving out of his folks’ house into the hotel and putting his stuff in storage and...life happened.
But he hadn’t forgotten Kate Burroughs. That wasn’t possible, not after their memorable introduction. But it wasn’t until he’d come to the belated realization that at the age of twenty-five, he couldn’t continue to live in a hotel that he had decided to seek her out.
It’d taken a lot of digging. She had apparently been the Burroughs in Burroughs and Caputo Realty for some years. Seth wasn’t entirely sure what the deal was, since she was now at Zanger Realty and Roger was still at Burroughs and Caputo Realty. The whole situation was messy and Seth was not interested in messy.
Which did not explain why he was currently sitting across from the messiest woman he’d ever met.
That wasn’t fair, though. She’d been a mess the day of her failed wedding, yeah. But the woman before him now? If he hadn’t known she was pregnant, he never would’ve guessed. She looked amazing. Her golden-brown hair was free of the shellacked mass of curls that had overwhelmed her delicate features. Her hair was away from her face, but the rest of it fell in gentle waves down her back. Her eyes were the same startlingly bright green he remembered and today, they were clear and hopeful instead of lost and afraid. Without the heavy layer of makeup, he felt like he was seeing her for the first time.
Seth had seen a lot of attractive women in his time. Los Angeles was overflowing with them. But that was hotness for public display and public consumption.
Kate was more of a quiet beauty. There was just something about her.
Which was the only possible explanation as to why he was here. He couldn’t stop thinking about that something and it went way beyond thongs and garter belts.
“So if you’ll be traveling a lot, a condo would probably be the best property for you. The exterior maintenance is...” Seth scowled at her. Anyone else would have been terrified. But Kate merely lifted her eyebrows and...smiled? “No?”
“Don’t condos—by definition—have other people living in close proximity?”
She tilted her head to one side, studying him. “Yes. It’s not a stand-alone building. You would have neighbors with whom you’d share walls.”
He shook his head. “No. LA was full of people who talked all the time because they were afraid if they didn’t, no one would notice how important they were. I couldn’t stand it.” Among other things. He’d hoped that getting the hell out of South Dakota would be the answer for this restlessness.
It hadn’t been. Traveling the world and selling motorcycles was probably the cure for what ailed him.
Yet here he was, buying a damned house while planning on barely living in it. He went on, “I want peace and quiet. No neighbors.”
“You’re talking to me,” she pointed out, pinning him to his chair with her gaze.
“You’re different,” he said and the funny thing was, it wasn’t a line he was feeding her. He meant it. He couldn’t have said why, but she was. “So I need a house.”
“With enough land to protect you from nosy neighbors. What else do you need? I’m assuming a garage is important—or room to build your own?”
He had to hand it to her as she grilled him on the number of bathrooms and bedrooms he required or if he wanted a finished basement or would he consider building from scratch—the woman knew what she was doing. He’d had some vague notion of a house that he now realized didn’t look all that different from his parents’ home.
But his parents’ home was built for a family. And Billy’s bikes, but it’d been sprawling enough to house the fourteen-year-old boy Seth had been when Billy had married Jenny Wawausuck and adopted Seth and big enough to hold them all when Julie had been born the next year.
It’d been a family home. And that was not what Seth wanted, as he had no plans to start a family anytime soon. Not even by accident. He was careful.
So he wasn’t settling down. Not even a possibility. Billy Bolton—hell, all the Bolton men—might be dyed-in-the-wool family men, but Seth was a Bolton in name only.
Still, he needed a place to keep his stuff and the freedom to come and go—and have guests over—without his parents keeping tabs on him.
He looked at the photos of the four or five houses she’d pulled up, but nothing jumped out at him. “I need to walk through them,” he said.
“Absolutely,” she agreed. “Pictures can tell us
