fine,” he said, his gaze never leaving her.
“Did you hear what I said? She’s pretty much convinced.”
“Convinced of what?”
“That you’re the guy for her.”
“That I’m—”
Caleb rolled his eyes. “That you’re the man she should hire. See how she’s looking at you? She probably figures we’re telling you about her.” He gave a quick, all-too-cheerful laugh. “We told her she’d have to turn on the charm, come up with somethin’ special to convince you to—”
Travis, watching Jake’s face, said, “Caleb,” in a sharp, low voice.
“Something special,” Jake repeated carefully.
“And she will. She’s one hell of a resourceful female, Jake. If she decides she wants to grab your attention—”
“Dammit, Caleb,” Travis growled. “Will you shut up?”
“Wait a minute, okay? I’m explaining things here. Jake needs to know this is all about business, that Addison’s all about business …” His voice trailed off. “Jake?”
“Jake!” Travis called, but Jake was already shouldering his way through the crowd, anger churning in his belly where, moments before, there’d been heat.
AT NINE, Addison had run away from home.
She’d done it before.
No special reason, just the childish hope that somewhere out there was a place where people read books instead of watching soap operas, where your mother didn’t spend hours putting curls in her hair and paint on her nails and then, though you hated it, doing those same things to you.
That time, instead of heading for the highway, she’d cut through the woods that led into the mountains.
Branches had slapped at her face, brambles had torn her shirt and jeans.
At last, she’d emerged into a clearing. And found herself face-to-face with a mountain lion.
The big cat had put back its ears and snarled.
Addison’s heart leaped. She knew a lot about mountain lions. They were fast. They were unpredictable. They were beautiful and intelligent….
They were also incredibly dangerous.
Adrenaline pumped through her muscles. Run, every instinct said.
Fortunately, her head knew better. Showing weakness would be the kiss of death.
So, though she was terrified, she’d held her ground. And—such a silly cliché—time stood still.
How else to describe what happened when predator and prey confronted each other?
Now, almost two decades later, she flashed back to that memory. She hadn’t run and after what had seemed like hours, but had surely been only seconds, the cat had turned and bounded away.
Jacob Wilde was coming toward her, and he looked every bit as dangerous as the mountain lion.
Until a few minutes ago, he’d watched her with an intensity that had been … What was the word? Disconcerting. His brothers had been talking to him. About her, she’d assumed, from the way he, then they, had looked at her.
She’d waited for something to happen.
For Travis and Caleb to bring him over to introduce him. Or for him to acknowledge her with a smile, a nod.
She’d waited. And waited. His stillness baffled her. Annoyed her.
Irritated her.
Was he expecting her to make the first move?
Okay, she’d finally decided, why not? She’d smiled. Raised her glass. She’d done all she could to convey the message, Hello, I’m Addison and you’re Jake, and though I don’t think we’ll really do business together, we probably should at least meet to make your brothers happy….
And then everything changed.
His jaw tightened. His mouth thinned. A hot, hungry look swept across his face.
She knew that look. It was one of pure sexuality.
She hated when men looked at her like that. They always had, from the time she’d first grown breasts.
See that, baby girl? her mother would say. Boys like you. Isn’t that nice?
It wasn’t, not when you knew, even then, that you wanted to make it on your intelligence, not on whatever it was boys liked.
So, yes, she hated that look men got….
Except, this time, a stranger looked at her the way a starving man would look at a steak, and she felt her knees go weak.
It shocked her. Flustered her. She felt breathless.
She’d tried to deal with it by changing focus.
She’d taken a mouthful of wine….
And everything had gone to hell.
His brothers said something. Jacob Wilde swung toward them. There was a fast, obviously unpleasant exchange of words.
And then he’d headed straight at her, and all she could think of was that mountain lion and how she’d felt when it had turned its savage eyes on her….
Except, he wasn’t a lion and she wasn’t a scared kid, and she’d be damned if she’d let him intimidate her.
The thing was, it was all happening in slow motion.
His single-minded approach.
His brothers hurrying after him.
“Jake,” Caleb called. “Jake, wait a minute!”
“Dammit,” Travis said, “you’re making a big mistake.”
By now, heads were turning. People were staring. That was the last thing she needed.
A public scene over who-knew-what when she’d spent the past weeks doing everything she could to avoid public anythings!
Okay.
She took a step back.
Forget facing the lion. Forget refusing to be intimidated. The man was crazy, and she was absolutely not going to permit him to—
Too late.
His hand, hard
