said, leaving a fifty on the table. “I think we’re done here.”
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 idea if it was awkward or not.
“So,” she finally began, unable to take the tension for another moment. “We looked at all the houses that were under two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Do you want go up to three hundred thousand?” That was what most people did. They could handle increases of twenty-five to fifty thousand dollars at a time. And as much as she needed this commission, she didn’t want to make this all about her.
But Seth wasn’t most people. “I can’t imagine there’s a huge jump from what we saw today with a couple thousand dollars. Let’s look in the three-fifty to five-hundred range.”
She took a slow breath. The house on Bitter Root was four seventy-five. Would he like her favorite house or not? “Half a million is a lot of money, Seth. There’s no need to buy more house than you’ll use.” Certainly not because of her. She didn’t want to bankrupt the man just because he had a soft spot for...
Well, not for her. For pregnant women, maybe. But not for her.
He turned, facing her fully. There was something in his eyes—the same sort of almost possessive look he’d had when he growled earlier.
Heat flashed through her body as he stared at her. He’d looked earlier like he was willing to fight his friend over her. He looked very much the same now.
“We can’t do this,” she heard herself say before she completely lost her mind.
He lifted his eyebrows, and she immediately felt stupid. “Do what?” he asked, almost—but not quite—pulling off innocence.
“I’m not looking for a relationship.” Well. So much for not making this awkward.
“Fair enough.” He turned even more, resting one elbow on the dashboard and another against the back of the seat. “What are you looking for?”
Oh, hell. That was a question she most definitely hadn’t seen coming. “I’m sorry?”
“You have to admit, Kate—there’s something between us. I went to your office because I need to buy a house and an industrial property—but those weren’t the only reasons.” He leaned toward her—not close enough to touch her, but his gaze drifted over her and he inhaled deeply. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I know that how we met wasn’t exactly normal—”
Kate rolled her eyes. That was being generous.
“Look, I’m not in the market for a relationship, either,” he went on, politely ignoring her unladylike response. “I don’t plan on sticking around all the time. Settling down isn’t in my blood.”
Wasn’t that what he’d basically said before? He was buying a house he only planned to live in for maybe six months out of the year? No, Seth Bolton wasn’t the kind of guy who started playing house on a whim.
But still, hearing it baldly stated like that was physically painful, like someone was jabbing her hand with a pin. “What are you saying?”
“I need a house and you need a commission. That’s all there has to be. But if you want something more...” His gaze darkened, and Kate swore it got ten degrees warmer in the car.
“More?” Her voice came out the barest of whispers.
She shouldn’t be asking. She should, instead, get out of this car and thank him for his business and promise him that she would have a fresh slate of houses in a new price range that were sure to meet his needs by Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Their standing date.
“I think we want the same thing.” His voice was low and serious, and another flash of heat ran through her body. Ironically, she shivered. How was he doing this to her? She was not sexy—not after being on her feet all day and mowing through that many fries. She was not desirable—her pants barely buttoned.
Yet here Seth sat, looking at her as if she were the ice cream and he couldn’t wait to start licking. Her body felt warm and liquid, like
