And the expression in her slightly tilted green eyes practically screamed control freak. He’d bet money she’d never done anything slightly out of order in her entire life.
What would it be like to unpin that bun and watch her hair fall around her shoulders?
Shit, it had to be the house and Noni making him straight up crazy. She wasn’t for him and he wasn’t here for a hook up – especially one with thorns. “Figured you’d get lost out here.”
Kate stiffened even more, if that were possible, and he was tempted to tell her to relax before she cracked her spine.
“Of course I found it. My job is to find things.” Her voice went shrill, the last word almost piercing.
“No offense, but you seem like a city girl. You know, Starbucks and Whole Foods.” She’d probably never even seen a gravel road. As she got within a foot of him, he caught the whiff of coffee. “Starbucks for sure.”
Her eyes widened and she unwrapped her tight hold around her waist, slamming her hands onto her hips. “My life is noneof your concern, just like my ability to read a map.”
Her jacket parted and he immediately saw the large brown stains and put two and two together. “Have a little accident?”
He could practically hear her teeth grinding together. Damn she was cute when she was pissed.
“Are you trying to insult me or does rudeness just come naturally to you?”
If he was a gentlemen he would stop now, but no one had ever called him that. Embracing the perverse need to push her a little further and see what else she’d do, Ethan grinned. “I guess it’s natural.” He let his gaze travel from the top of her head to her toes. “Plus, you make it easy.”
Giving in to the temptation to touch her, he fingered the one dried chunk of hair that had escaped her bun. She slapped his hand away, her eyes flashing. “Don’t touch me.”
Oh I’m gonna touch you alright.
Damn, he had to get himself under control. He was here to train her, not have wet dreams about her. He had to get some distance, no matter how badly he didn’t want to. “That’s going to be hard since I’ll be training you.”
Kate’s lush lips parted.
Nope, not what he should have said.
Did she like to bite during sex?Fuck, where had that thought come from? Kate Richards was everything he didn’t want or need. Uptight. Closed off. Pushy.
No, he liked his women soft and willing and quiet…
She licked her plump lips and he flushed hot, his whole body tense with a stomach tight desire to taste her.
Maybe – No, not going there.
“If you think for one second I’m going to put up with a – a male chauvinist trying to pull the man card all week you’re out of your mind, buddy.” Kate took a threatening step forward and jammed her finger into his chest. “I don’t take orders from someone like you. Ever.”
She tilted up her chin and looked down her nose at him. Ethan’s temper flared like a struck match.
He hadn’t pictured her as a snob, a goody-two-shoes maybe, but not someone who looked down on people. He must have been wrong. He hadn’t put up with anyone thinking they were better than him since he left his last foster home, he wasn’t about to start now. Ethan glared down at her finger until she pulled it away.
“I’m your trainer. For the next two weeks, you will do what I say, when I say it. Otherwise, I’ll tell Grey you’re not up for the job and you can say bye-bye to your little paycheck.”
“I’ll do what you say when Hell freezes over,” Kate spit the words out through gritted teeth.
He could just imagine the set of scissors she carried around to cut a man’s balls straight off his body. Ethan pasted on a cold smile and shoved the lust back under the rock it slithered out of. “Then I guess you won’t be learning what you need for the mission. We should call Grey now, let him know he needs to find someone else.”
“What’s your problem? From the moment we met, you’ve been baiting me.” Most girls he knew would have tossed in a whine, but Kate’s tone turned serious. Analytical. Shit.
“Princess, I don’t have a problem. I’m here to do a job and I don’t do missions half-assed. So if you’re gonna complain about my tone of voice this isn’t going to work. I’ll save us both the waste of time right now.” And with some distance, he could stop thinking about pulling down that bun and running his fingers through her silky black hair.
Why had Grey singled him out for training her? Any one of the other men could get the job done and do it without a hard on.
She held his gaze without blinking and he got the distinct impression she was studying him like some kind of code that needed cracked. She blanked her expression, but not the fireburning in her gaze. “You’re right. We got off to the wrong start. I want this job and I want to be the best I can. If you’re the ticket – I can deal.”
