Nice Girls Finish Last. Natalie Anderson

Seth was merely the friend of a business colleague there’d be no hint of ‘at work’ conflict. Her panic had been for nothing. And now the long-dormant hormones racing round her body filled her head with wonderfully wicked, over-the-top fantasies.

      She tried to quell them with some common sense—the stuff she’d been at pains to develop in the last year or so. She’d been on ice for so long in the dating realm, a total playboy type probably wasn’t the sort she ought to warm up with. Then again, her inner imp whispered, he knew how to have fun. There was a reason he was so popular with women and it wasn’t his oversized bank balance. He knew how to kiss. It was obvious he knew how to do so much more than kiss….

      Lena still wasn’t ready for a romantic relationship—too busy rebuilding her career and family’s respect. But surely there was no reason why she shouldn’t have a good time with someone who wanted only the same and no more?

      She felt him watching her—felt that focus. The all-sensual, mesmerising, irresistible attentiveness. Couldn’t he be exactly the right guy to break her drought with? No complications, no confusion—it could stay that simple. She burned at the thought, her body so badly wanted to know his. But it was just a fantasy—she had no hope of pulling it off.

      ‘Seth, I’m going to be stuck here for a few more minutes,’ Dion said. ‘Lena will take you up to the offices and you can talk to her. Take the scenic route, Lena—he hasn’t been through this part of the stadium.’

      Lena nipped the inside of her lip. Maybe Seth had said something. But she showed Dion’s guests round the stadium all the time. It was part of her job, not an extraordinary request. ‘Of course,’ she answered politely, desperately trying not to blush. She turned away from him and watched the team break up from the group-in-the-shower shot instead. ‘Not long to go now, guys.’

      ‘You better have the refreshments ready,’ one of them called out.

      ‘Isotonics only.’ She sent the group an apologetic smile. ‘They’re already in the fridge. Doc’s orders.’ She turned towards the door and, under the cover of their groans, looked at him. ‘Mr Walker?’

      He followed, his voice low enough for the others not to hear. ‘Oh, no, please, call me Seth.’

      Just hearing him speak sent heat frizzling from skin right through to bone. Her heart raced light-years ahead of her body as she walked out to the corridor.

      That corridor.

      She set a quick pace, fighting for composure as she stared fixedly at the concrete floor. Oh, she had to pull herself together because this was just embarrassing—had she time-warped into a teen experiencing her first stirrings of sexual desire?

      ‘As you can see we’ve just come through the players’ area.’ She started the tour spiel for safety’s sake. She could talk on auto—and keep talking until she could escape to her office. ‘Now we’re heading up to the corporate entertainment area. The boxes run the length of the stand.’

      She started to get into the swing of it, telling him the details of the stadium, the history of the construction, the naming rights of the stands. But she was so on edge she gabbled it all too quickly. So she had to move on to player stories. And then player stats. Anything so she could keep babbling nonstop all the way to the executive space.

      She was increasingly conscious of his height and his pantherlike smooth movement at her side. He was watching her too closely, not taking in the behind-the-scenes view of the stadium and the boys’ backgrounds at all. Her skin tingled, her nerves twanged.

      ‘Lena, I’m not interested in these stats,’ he interrupted with arrogant dismissiveness when they got to the top floor and her office was a safe step away.

      She stopped midway through her recital of some lock’s weight issues. Slowly—trying to remain calm and collected—she looked directly at him. ‘Well, what did you want to know?’

      ‘Your stats. Every last detail.’

      He took advantage of her stunned immobility and moved a step closer.

      ‘I’m not interested in men,’ he said wickedly. ‘But you clearly are, so how about you memorise my details, as well? I’m Seth. I sell buildings. I’m six feet two, Sagittarius, single, suffering no communicable diseases.’ He paused, the sparks in his eyes kindled. ‘Spellbound.’

      And she was sweating. She, who’d been hit on by all those boys downstairs and never once blinked, was melting on the spot. Because this was different. This was … him and he took up all her vision.

      ‘You going to reciprocate?’ Merciless, he kept her attention his captive, waiting for her to answer.

      She couldn’t say a thing, even though she really wanted to. But she’d breathlessly lost the snappy answer-back ability she’d had in the corridor.

      ‘Let me help you out,’ he offered with wicked charity. ‘You’re Lena. You’re slim, sporty, stylish. Single.’ He paused, apparently waiting for her to deny it.

      She didn’t, so he continued ticking off points.

      ‘Sexy. Spontaneous.’ He paused again, considering. ‘A sensual sorceress.’

      Okay, that was over-egging it. ‘While you’re too smooth, too suave, too successful.’

      He moved closer. ‘You’re also suggestive, sassy, sarcastic. What else?’

      A scatterbrain who was trying her damnedest not to squirm. ‘A little stunned.’ Hopelessly honest.

      ‘Me too,’ he purred smoothly. ‘But I also think we’re both stirred.’

      It was impossible not to smile. ‘You don’t think you’re coming on too strong?’

      ‘Too strong?’ His volume lifted, so did his brows. ‘Honey, I’m reining in hard. I think you know what I’d rather be doing right now. I think you’d rather that, too. I’m just trying to dispense with the preliminaries as fast as possible.’

      She didn’t just feel the heat in her face, belly and chest, but her fingertips, her knees, her toes—she was blushing everywhere. The man was outrageous—and what was more, he pulled the hitherto undiscovered outrageous thread running deep within her.

      ‘You know you owe me a jacket.’ He upped the intensity of his focus as if he knew damn well he had her already.

      Her hormones sizzled into high gear and her tongue loosened completely. Her self-restraint unravelled with it. ‘Well, you owe me an apology.’

      ‘For kissing you?’ His chin lifted defiantly. ‘Never going to be sorry for that.’

      Her innards flamed; fortunately her mouth kept working. ‘No, for your insulting insinuations before that.’

      ‘Oh, those,’ he said flippantly. ‘Sure, I’m sorry.’

      Lena took in his devilish, gleaming blue eyes and his wolfish, unapologetic smile. So assured, so confident, so sexy. Intent rippled from him and sent a wild surge of insanity pulsing through her. It carried her so far away she didn’t stop to think. ‘No, that’s not good enough,’ she sassed back at him, tumbling beyond her boundaries. ‘You can do it properly over dinner.’

      Seth froze to replay her words in his head. Had she just said what he thought? ‘Over dinner?’

      ‘I prefer a home-cooked meal.’

      Seth clamped his teeth to stop his jaw dropping. The rest of his body was still shut down. Well, almost his entire body. Satisfaction slammed into every cell—the ‘untouchable’ had just ordered him to take her to dinner. At home.

      For a moment she looked as if she couldn’t believe what she’d said, either, but she blinked and then held his gaze with unmistakable challenge in her pale green eyes. Her brows lifted—as if she was waiting for him to rise to it.

      Hell,