Somehow, getting her to hate him now seemed far from appealing. But it was too late to turn back. Besides, the last damn thing he needed was a woman to screw him over with her own private agenda. He had no intention of expanding his emotional stamina, though as she smiled, sexy, all pride and defiance, he thought his physical stamina might be worth testing. Damn, he wanted her, and he cursed the irony of finding no one tempting for months, until this woman—the one he was trying to shake loose. Katie was hands-off. Yeah, right. Tell that to his cock. He was rock hard, his zipper stretched, his balls drawn up tight in discomfort.
“Drink?” Luke asked, watching her climb up on a bar stool as he tried to decide what his next action should be. What was it about this woman that did funny things to his insides?
Turned him on.
Beyond that even…
Interested him. No, that still wasn’t a strong enough word. Intrigued him was more like it. When was the last time a woman had gotten his attention the way this one did? He couldn’t remember. At some point they had all become users to him. The thought was so cynical, and so out of character, he made a mental note to revisit exactly what was going on in his head.
Katie’s voice, a sultry sound that wrapped around him like an enticing breeze on a hot day, drew him back into the present. “No, thank you,” she said with obviously forced politeness, which did nothing to douse the sexiness of her tone or the way it rippled along his nerve endings.
Despite the businesslike mask she wore, he could see a softer, and even hotter, Katie beneath. Her eyes were a warm green, like grass, with little specks of yellow. Her brown hair hung down her shoulders in soft waves, and he could just imagine burying his hands in it while he kissed her.
He could tell from the way she shifted slightly that she knew how intense his scrutiny was. She continued, “I’d like to get straight to the point. You have real trouble here.”
Luke leaned an elbow on the bar. “Ron is the one who thinks I have trouble. I don’t. As I have already stated, we are simply dealing with a fan who is a bit more aggressive than others.”
Katie quirked an eyebrow as she leaned forward and rested one palm on the bar. “Then what am I doing here?”
Luke’s eyes flicked to Ron. “Making him happy.”
Katie pushed off the bar as if preparing to leave. “Then I don’t see any point in staying. Unless I have your buy-in, Mr. Winter, my services are useless.”
Ron responded immediately. “Luke will cooperate fully. His coach wants this.”
That got Luke’s attention. “Since when?”
Ron’s voice had a hard edge. “Since the team’s water supply was tampered with.”
“When did this happen?” Katie asked immediately.
Luke spoke to Ron, ignoring her question. “That was a prank and you damn well know it,” he said hotly. “Salt. It was flipping salt.”
Ron’s expression was one of frustration. “It was a sign we need to be more cautious. Think of the rest of your team, Luke. This is serious business.”
“This is crazy, is what it is!” Luke said as he stiffened his spine. “A load of crap if ever I’ve heard one.”
Ron stood up. “You’ve had a great preseason, Luke. You’re good—you’re damn good—and you’d be a loss to the team. But both management and the league feel there’ve been too many incidents to let you go into the regular season without extra security. They won’t risk the liability of endangering players, fans and staff.”
Luke scoffed. “This isn’t about me, Ron, and we both know it. It’s about the guy who beat up an umpire last season, and the fight that broke out in the stands and the two players who got killed. Management is worried about liability over things I had nothing to do with.”
“If you weren’t being targeted,” Ron argued, “you wouldn’t be a focal point. And it’s neither here nor there because bottom-lining it here, Luke, without proper precautions, your season is over before it starts. And Katie has the credentials to make management confident we’ve taken those precautions.”
Tension climbed a path up Luke’s spine. Everything was going wrong. He didn’t need this right now. Not when he was trying to stay focused on his game, and come back from scandal with a strong season. Inhaling, he tried to calm himself, to think logically. Then, unintentionally, Luke’s gaze collided with Katie’s. To his surprise, her eyes softened, seemed to reflect understanding.
He liked her, he thought. Damn it to hell, he liked her. He didn’t want to, but he did. Instinctively trusted her even, and based on his recent judgments, that should be enough to send him running to the hills. He’d learned the hard way with past relationships about how dangerous trust could be.
People wanted things from him. They didn’t just want to be his friend. Not without a reason.
“I know this is difficult, Mr. Winter,” she said in a gentle, almost comforting voice, as if she actually cared how he felt.
She still wouldn’t call him by his first name and for some reason that really set him off. “Luke. My name is Luke.” The woman was driving him insane, and he had known her mere minutes. The last thing he wanted was for her to get close enough to know what really got to him—he needed her gone. Lashing back at her incredible ability to get under his skin, trying to upset her, Luke gave her a quick, intimate, up-and-down perusal meant to stir her anger. It was a look that held an intentionally blatant message—you’d be a great piece of ass. Of course he would never confirm that assessment. She didn’t like him, nor did he want her to like him. He’d chosen a plan and he was sticking to it—she had to hate him.
KATIE CAST Ron a pleading look, silently asking for guidance. In reply, Ron quietly repeated, “He’ll be reason able.”
But in the flash of a second that Katie had looked away from Luke, he’d advanced on her, and she had a feeling it wasn’t because he intended to “behave.” Suddenly, he was standing beside her, the spicy male scent of arrogant, pain-in-the-backside man, invading her nostrils and her space. Trying to regain the composure she rarely lost but that Luke was managing to rattle, Katie remained facing the bar, both palms flattened on the wooden surface. Tilting her chin to the side, she cut him a suspicious look—wondering what he was up to, and he was up to something, of that she was certain.
Covertly, she took in his appearance—she simply couldn’t help herself. It was her first time to see his entire body. And what a body it was. He was dressed casually in snug-fitting jeans and an equally snug black tee, both of which molded ever so nicely to the rippling length of his powerful body. Physically the man was nothing shy of outright impressive. Even his foul mood didn’t take away from the pure maleness of his presence, and the perfection of his athletic body.
With a facade of control that defied her racing heart and the funny fluttery thing in her stomach, Katie dared to give Ron her back as she turned to face her challenger. It was unsettling that she wasn’t as capable of dismissing Luke Winter as she was the rest of the bigger-than-Texas egos she’d encountered in the wild world of professional sports.
She and Luke now stood face-to-face, each with an elbow propped on the bar, neither blinking, a standoff of sorts, one she feared she was losing. His nearness washed over her in a wave of warm, tingling sensations that tested her cool exterior and threatened her mask of aloofness. She was certain she was the one who would break, when something unexpected happened. For an instant, a tiny instant, the arrogance of the big, bad baseball pitcher melted into vulnerability. Taken off guard, Katie blinked and it was gone, replaced by something much different, more tense, almost angry.
He laughed, but there wasn’t any hint of humor in the deeply resonating sound. “I don’t see how you are going to stop anyone from hurting me.” Again he was taunting, and Katie couldn’t help but wonder if he was punishing her for seeing something in him that he hadn’t wanted exposed. He continued his verbal assault, “I believe a large woman could overpower you. A man would easily control you.”
His eyes made a s
low, lazy tour down her body and then back up again, blatantly pausing at her breasts. When his eyes met hers again, she wanted to reach over and smack his face. The hand that hung by her side balled into a fist as she willed herself to calm, glaring at him with what she hoped was fire. Not once now, but twice, he had taken the liberty of undressing her with his eyes.
“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.
Luke’s voice mocked her from behind. “She gives up easily,” he said, evidently talking to Ron. “Why exactly did you recommend her? You thought she might actually have some balls? Guess you were wrong.”
Katie abruptly turned around, anger flashing in her brown eyes. “I cannot work effectively when it’s clear I will not have your cooperation. We can’t work together. We can’t even have a conversation together.”
Luke laughed loudly, leaving a trail of arrogant satisfaction ringing in the air. “Like I said, you give up easily.”
Katie fought for composure, enduring his mocking laughter with an internal cringe.
“Katie,” Ron said, his own exasperation apparent in the tension-etched way he said her name. “I don’t know what the hell has come over Luke, but we need you. He needs you. I need you. The entire team needs you.” He gave Luke a biting look. “Luke will behave himself. I’ll make sure of it.” He returned his attention to Katie. “Take the job.” With a pointed meaning, he added, “We both know you need it.”
Luke’s eyebrows arched sharply. Katie, in turn, shot Ron an angry look of reproach. Her financial picture was none of Luke Winter’s business, and that was exactly where this was leading.
Ron ignored her silent reprimand and spoke to Luke. “Management wants this to happen. I suggest you make it work.”
Then he waved his hand between the two of them, pointing at each. “So, to both of you, listen carefully to what I have to say. Katie, you need this job. Luke, you can take Katie or be left behind. There are plenty of young bucks dying to get your starting spot in the lineup. You might think you aren’t replaceable, but so has every other pitcher who’s ever been replaced. Both of you decide now. Are we going to make this work or not?”
Katie and Luke stared at each other, neither in a happy mood. Neither gloating any longer.
Ron continued, “I take that as acceptance from both of you. Now,” he said, crossing his arms in front of his brawny chest, “we need to sort out the logistics. No one can know who Katie really is.” Ron turned to Katie. “Luke is single, and so are you. I say you go undercover as his girlfriend.”
Her rejection was instant. “Forget it,” she spat at Ron. “That’s a deal breaker. I’m not going to pretend to be this man’s girlfriend!” She narrowed her gaze, accusation in her voice. “You planned this from the beginning. I know you, Ron. You knew I wouldn’t agree to this kind of setup, so you waited until I was here. That is low. I expected more from you.”
“Management wants this problem to appear to disappear,” Ron explained. “That means they want Luke’s extra security to be invisible. And let’s face it, our stalker doesn’t need to be alerted that someone is watchin
g or that person might pull back before we catch them. This plan solves all of these issues.” Ron set his jaw, unaffected by her words, apparently prepared for them. “I’ll throw in an extra five thousand a week. That should cover any discomfort.”
Katie opened her mouth to reject the offer, indignant about Ron’s behavior, but forced herself to shut it again. She needed the money to get her sister out of trouble, but damn it, she didn’t want to be bought.
Then, suddenly, she realized Luke hadn’t said a word. Not one objection, not one complaint, nothing. She looked at him, a question in her mind that was most assuredly on her face.
Why wasn’t he complaining? Why was he leaning lazily against the bar, one long leg crossed in front of the other. “Why aren’t you objecting?” she asked suspiciously.
He shrugged a broad shoulder. “I want to play ball, thus I accept my circumstances. Seems you’re the one who still has issues.”
“I have issues?” she asked in disbelief. How had this gotten turned around to her? She turned businesslike, her voice softer now by design. “I just don’t think this is the best approach.”
“I’m open to hearing a better one,” Ron said, leaning on the bar beside Luke. “You got one?”
Katie swallowed. Ron’s idea was a good one. She just didn’t like it. “Well, no, not yet.”
“So this is our best option for now?” Ron asked, with an expectant look on his face.
Damn. She was trapped. If her sister didn’t have this gambling debt, she’d refuse altogether. But what option did she have? Carrie had sharks after her. “I, um, suppose so.”
Luke challenged her then. “Then what’s the problem?”
LUKE HAD already figured out it was not in Katie’s nature to walk away from a challenge, exactly why he’d pushed her, egging her on. And for some unknown, crazy reason, the thought of her leaving kicked his ass. His plan to scare her off had only served to make him want her more.