Jennifer Seasons - Throwing Heat

He was ready for the explosion.

Peter leaned forward and whispered into Leslie’s ear, “Tonight.”

He felt her back snap straight as a helpless little whimper escaped her lips, betraying her. “I don’t know what you mean.”

The hell she didn’t. Her breathing had gone shallow. Peter could feel her core get hotter and pushed his middle finger into her gently, teasing her through the fabric. It killed him, what she was wearing.

Princess.

Knowing that she had picked it just to torment him made it so fucking sexy. Almost as hot as the way her breasts were displayed, all pushed up together with the best cleavage he’d ever seen. It had nearly dropped him to his knees when he’d first laid eyes on it.

Glancing down the table to see if Mark was watching, Peter nipped the back of her neck and said roughly, “Don’t play coy.”

He was going to say more when Mark glanced over at them, frowning slightly. So instead of keeping his hand on her like he wanted to, he stepped back and said, “It’s still on.”

She tossed him a look meant to be dismissive, but the hint of uncertainty he saw in her eye ruined the effect and had his gut squeezing. So she knew it too. Tonight was their night.

“Hey, Kowalskin! Come join the celebration!” shouted Drake. “You’re missing all the fun.” The jolly green ballplayer waved down the table to the stacks of empty shot glasses.

“I’ll be there in a second,” he replied, his attention on Leslie as she sashayed away with her nose in the air, looking every bit the regal, royal princess she was pretending to be.

She was headed straight toward Paulson. Once she reached him, she poured a shot glass full of whiskey and raised it up, shouting to be heard over the music. “To the Rush!” And then she downed the drink, not waiting for anyone to join the toast.

“Hey!” protested the veteran. “Sharing is caring, sweet thing.”

Leslie smiled tightly, and Peter couldn’t help admiring the way her hair looked all bundled up like that with little strands dangling against her neck. It was different than what she normally did. It was softer. He liked it.

“Sorry about that, y’all,” she said with an apologetic smile. “Crazy night.”

Right then the lights flickered and went out, making somebody scream, and she added dryly above the noise, “Case in point.”

He was just starting to become uncomfortable in the dark when the lights came back on. The first thing he saw when his eyes readjusted to the brightness was a giant ugly green man with an afro like a head of broccoli. The second was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen wearing a purple dress potent enough to drop a man at twenty paces. He might not have gone down, but that didn’t mean the impact of her hadn’t hit him like a wrecking ball.

She was a fantasy.

His fantasy. Peter’s very own princess.

“What’s on your mind there, Walskie?” How had Paulson snuck up on him? The guy moved like a lumberjack.

“Visions in purple,” he replied, not even trying to pretend.

The veteran scratched his chest and muttered gruffly, “Damn stuff itches something fierce.” His green shirt was open in a deep V like a seventies porn star—he was making the Green Giant into a perv, apparently—and he’d used one of those green spray cans of hair paint on his chest, turning his thick patch the color of summer leaves.

“I have to give you props. When you go at something, you really commit,” he said, gesturing to the getup.

“It’s all about the love.” Drake held out a shot glass full of fine malt whiskey. “Hey, your vision is about to hit the floor with the Lone Ranger. Unless you want to see her ride off into the sunset on Silver, you better intercede, man.”

Peter’s gaze whipped to where Drake had indicated, and sure enough his princess was taking to the dance floor with some poser in a cheap costume. His jaw clenched and his gut turned sour.

It shouldn’t matter. He shouldn’t care. This whole bet thing with her was just physical anyway. All he wanted was to replace the memory of their shitty night with a new, improved one. Why it mattered so much, he didn’t know. Didn’t really want to know. He just knew that he was tired of carrying the memories with him like a frigging ball and chain. He wanted them gone. As long as he got what he wanted then it shouldn’t matter at all what the hell she did.

It shouldn’t.

But it did.

LESLIE SAW HIM coming for her. Like a panther stalking his prey, Peter was stealth and grace, cutting through the crowd like a big cat in the tall grass, his eyes locked on her. Her pulse skittered and her breath caught in her throat. God help her, but it was exciting.

“Come closer, fair maiden,” said her dance partner with a suggestive wiggle of eyebrows almost hidden by his mask.

Oh God, really?

She should have known that any guy who’d be the Lone Ranger for Halloween wouldn’t know how to pick up a woman successfully if directions had been written on the inside of his ten-gallon hat. But, whatever. He had just been a handy excuse to get away from Peter anyway.

Or so she’d thought.

Now she had a way nerdy and slightly creepy dance partner and a dangerous man stalking toward her. With nowhere to run. Or hide.

As the ballplayer bore down on her from across the dance floor, she cozied up to the Lone Ranger, completely unashamed of the fact that she was doing it just to see what kind of reaction she could get out of Peter. Until she figured out how to not be in love with him anymore she was stuck with it—stuck with feeling vulnerable.

And if she had to feel that way, then it was time to poke at the pitcher and see what was hidden behind that cool, detached exterior of his. See if he really was jealous. Because if he was, then it meant that she had a hold on him too. And that would be okay because then she wouldn’t feel so alone.

“Here, like this,” she shouted as “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis came on, the rap music filling in for the reggae band while they took a much deserved break. Leslie spun around, hiked up her full skirt, held fistfuls of it on her knees, and rocked against the Lone Ranger.

He put his hands on her hips and moved with her, calling out, “What’s your name?”

Never going to happen, was all she could think to reply, but then she saw Peter scowling and shoving his wave through the crush of hot bodies toward her. Oh my. The look on his face was one she’d never seen before. It was hard with warning, and when she did a booty shake and backed up to the Ranger, Peter’s eyes flashed like diamonds in the sun and her instincts went on high alert.

Leslie’s feet wanted to bolt from her spot, but her heart needed her to stay right where she was and look for proof that she hadn’t made another ginormous mistake. That she hadn’t just tossed her heart away for a man. She needed desperately to feel that Peter was deep in this thing too.

He was moving to her, getting closer and closer with every bass beat as Macklemore went on about popping tags and only having twenty dollars in his pocket. Excitement had her breath coming in hard, fast bursts. Her heart raced from exertion and from having a very tough, very sexy man barreling down on her with a look in his eye that promised trouble once he got his hands on her.

Part of her was scared. Any sane woman would be. Peter Kowalskin on a mission was a sight to see, all pale lethal eyes and hard athlete’s body. Her stomach pitched and her nerves were singing. He had that effect on her.

Suddenly a full-figured Hispanic woman dressed up like Fergie during her Black Eyed Pea days spun around and discovered Kowalskin right behind her. With an, “Hola chico guapo!” she grabbed him up by the waist and wrapped herself around him like a vice, hooking one heavy thigh around his hip and her hands around his neck, stopping him dead in his tracks. The look of utter astonishment on his face was absolutely priceless.

Leslie started laughing and couldn’t stop. Peter glared at her, tried to unwind himself and failed, glared again. In return she just shrugged delicately and rotated her hips. Her dance partner hollered into her ear, “Can I buy you a drink after?”

That was sweet, really, but, “Thanks for the offer, but no.”

The Lone Ranger stopped moving, clearly disappointed in her response. “I’m done here then,” he practically spat and left her standing alone in the middle of the dance floor with her purple dress around her knees.

Suddenly self-conscious, Leslie reached out and snagged a shot glass full of something from a passing server’s tray and tossed it back. She needed fortification. When she glanced back at Kowalskin, she found him giving her a smile that wasn’t really a smile at all. It was the self-satisfied smirk of a predator who had a clear line on his prey and was just about to pounce.

And she ran.

She couldn’t help it. Every instinct in her told her to tuck tail and run for dear life. The panther had been bated long enough and now he was after her.

It was terrifying. Exhilarating. Erotic.

Leslie took off through the crowd, blind to anything but putting distance between her and Peter so that she could breathe. She’d made a mistake, teasing him. She took it back.

With a quick glance over her left shoulder, she swallowed a cry when she saw he was right behind her, successfully untangled from the big-chested Latina. And he was still grinning.

Leslie broke free on the far side of the dance floor, “Thrift Shop” still slamming through the speakers to the delight of the party crowd. A laugh bubbled up in her chest and let loose as she took off running down the hall that led to her office. Was he still coming after her?