Handsome Wrangler (Handsome Devils #6) - Lori Wilde Page 0,2

up as she studied his large biceps.

The bronzed skin gleamed with a sheen of sweat, and Caitlin felt an unfamiliar sensation in her stomach.

With effort, she pulled her attention away from his glorious body and looked at his face. His amazing mocha-brown eyes suddenly seemed so much more intense, more interesting.

The same with his darker brown hair. Would his hair feel like silk to the touch? And what about the dark stubble on his chiseled jaw? Would it feel sexy if she ran the tips of her fingers across his cheek?

Yikes. Caitlin closed her eyes and turned away from him. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t noticed before how handsome he was. She’d known that since the day she’d hit puberty. But before today, he’d always been, well, just Brent. Good old Brent.

Not hunk-a-hunk Brent. Not break-out-in-a-sweat Brent.

Her thoughts were heading in a dangerous direction. She didn’t have time to stand here going goo-goo over the man. She needed his help, that was all.

This silly chemical reaction happening between them could mess up everything. If she could find an off switch, she’d flip it. Now was not the time to let her hormones run amok.

When she glanced at Brent again, he’d stopped arguing with her brothers. Instead, he met and held her gaze. Another blast of attraction zinged through Caitlin, and she decided she’d better find something else to think about before she embarrassed herself by grabbing Brent and tossing him to the ground.

The image made her smile. Like that could happen. She’d have better luck knocking down a mountain.

No, what she needed to do was focus on the problem at hand—getting Brent to agree to take over The Honey Hive. That was all she should be thinking about, not how great he looked with the afternoon sun highlighting his brown hair.

When her brothers showed no sign of stopping their argument, Caitlin decided to leave the park and head back across the street to her small apartment over her father’s garage. With a quick goodbye to Leigh and Jared, she headed home.

Truthfully, she didn’t think of her garage apartment as home anymore. In four short weeks, she’d start her job with the Henderson Charity in Dallas, and Honey, Texas, would be a memory. Finally, she’d get to start living her life.

She was halfway across the park when a shrill whistle stopped her. Turning, she saw the men had finally stopped trying to out-macho each other and were trotting over to her.

“Hey, where you going?” Logan asked when he reached her side.

“I’m going home,” she said, deliberately not looking at Brent.

Rafe frowned. “What about the game?”

“The game is over,” she said. “Although you and Brent never even noticed, I made the winning touchdown.”

Rafe’s face crumpled in a frown. “Not fair. You two only won because Brent was a jerkface and slammed into—”

“Oh, for crying out loud.” Caitlin held up one hand. “Stop. I don’t want to hear it again. It’s just a game.”

As she spoke, she once again became incredibly aware of Brent standing just a few inches away from her. He was close enough for her to smell a hint of the tangy cologne he always wore. But even knowing he was there, she still jumped when he dropped his arm casually across her shoulders and tugged her close for a swift hug.

“I agree,” he said. “It’s just a friendly game. Let’s congratulate Caitlin on her amazing job.”

His husky voice made her heart do a funny flitter-flutter.

“It wasn’t all that amazing,” she protested, liking the sensation of him being this close way too much.

Drat. Why’d this have to happen now? She hadn’t been attracted to a man in a long time, not since she’d broken things off with her boyfriend four months ago.

Since then, she’d been too busy to fret over her love life. This couldn’t happen now. She couldn’t let this male-female nonsense get in the way of her plans.

She glanced at Brent. Did he have any idea what he was doing to her equilibrium? What about his own equilibrium? Did he feel the pull between them, or did he still see her as little Caitlin, Rafe and Logan’s sister?

“Sure, that touchdown was amazing. You’re an amazing woman.” He grinned down at her, his dark eyes dancing with devilment, his warm, masculine scent surrounding her, tantalizing her, enticing her.

Holy cow.

Brent looked into Caitlin’s face and knew he was in big trouble. Something was wrong. Really wrong. Caitlin was suddenly not the Caitlin he’d always known. This Caitlin was hot.

With