“And I needed to know this why?” Crossing her arms over her breasts, she glared down at him, though she had a feeling if push came to shove, this man could steamroll right over her if she gave him half a chance.

The look he gave her was one of knowing exasperation.

“Have a seat, sweetheart.” He indicated the chair in front of his desk. “Eli will be a few hours at least. You may as well make yourself comfortable.”

She rolled her eyes at that. “I know my way home. I’m sure I can stay out of trouble that long.”

Hooking her thumbs into the pockets of her jeans, Zoey tried to tell herself she could walk out anytime she wanted to and just ride home. No big deal. So why was she standing there? Why was she letting him hold her gaze, capture her senses?

“I’m certain you do, Zoey,” he stated softly. “And I see the suspicion in your eyes. You can trust me, you know.”

Uh-huh. Trust wasn’t something she gave easily. It was even harder to attain with her than friendship was.

Turning away from him, Zoey stepped to the long couch behind the chair he’d motioned her to sit in and plopped onto the exquisitely comfortable leather seat.

“Trust you, can I?” she sighed. “And what would make me think I could? A single dance six years ago?”

Something shadowed his eyes then. Something dark, something hungry. It caused her heart to beat faster, a heat she’d only felt once before, to begin building inside her.

“We could start with that,” he murmured.

It was about a year too late, she told herself morosely. If he’d shown up a year ago with that suggestion she might have had the option of considering it. She couldn’t take that chance now.

“Nice plane.” She grappled for a change of subject. “Yours or your agency’s?” she asked, running her hand over the supple leather.

“Mine.” The laptop closed and he relaxed his chest, regarding her with open, sexual interest.

“Hmm. Should I bow?”

His lips quirked. “It might be rather hard in that leather, but you can try.”

“You’d be surprised what I can do in leather,” she murmured, the wordplay more exciting than she’d ever known it to be.

Zoey liked to flirt; she liked pitting her wits against the so-called charmers who thought they could talk their way into her bed. This was more than just flirting, though. It was more than pitting her wits against a man she had no intentions of taking to her bed. This was a man she just might have considered giving her heart to at another time.

Maybe.

She crossed one leg over the other and relaxed into the giving cushions behind her. “I could have gone with Eli.”

“You could have,” he agreed with a short inclination of his head. “If I were certain of your ability to convince a bar full of bikers that you’ve seduced their favorite female lone wolf.”

She grinned at that, reached up and removed the bobby pin from the tail of her braid, and let it fall over her shoulder. “I could totally do that,” she assured him with a little wrinkle of her nose. “I have mad seduction skills, you know? All from watching Sam Bryce in action.”

Sam was the shit when it came to seducing women. She could make a totally straight chick sit up and take notice. And give her more than a second thought.

His dark chocolate eyes gleamed with humor now. “Admittedly, Sam would be a capable teacher,” he admitted. “I rather assumed it wasn’t females you were into, though, considering the fact that she hadn’t managed to seduce you yet.”

There was the slightest hint of a question in his voice.

She gave a slow lift of her brows, playing with the braid hanging over her shoulder for a second before letting her gaze meet his again.

That knowing exasperation filled his expression again when it became apparent she wasn’t answering his question. Before he could say anything, though, the ringing of his cell phone drew his attention.

Checking the number, he glanced back at her. “If you’ll excuse me a moment,” he said, rising from his chair, “I need to take this.”

He disappeared through the door behind him without once ordering her to stay put.

She could just walk out and ride away if that was what she wanted to do. So why didn’t she?

Instead, she removed her jacket, laid it across the back of the couch close to her, and waited instead. She who hated waiting was waiting for a man who her instincts warned her was far more dangerous than he appeared.

She wasn’t certain how long he was gone, but it was long enough that Zoey ended up returning to the bike to pull a sketch pad free before returning to the plane. The need to draw wasn’t as imperative as it had been a year ago, but she had a sudden need to sketch Doogan. To catch the subtle expressions on his face before she forgot them. To catch the hint of humor in his eyes and the steely determination in his savage features.

Time passed quickly then. Too quickly.

Lost in the world she became immersed in while drawing, she wasn’t aware of the passing of time until the door opened and he returned.

“Sorry it took so long.” His expression was harder, his gaze chilly. “That had to be taken care of.”

Closing the sketch pad, she blinked up at him, taking a moment to process what he’d said.

“Did you get Eli shot at?” she asked, almost expecting an affirmative answer.

“Not hardly.” The chill in his eyes warmed.

“That’s good.” She laid the pad and pencil on the small table beside her before turning back to him. “I’ve become rather fond of him.”

The statement was actually true. Eli was like a younger Mackay, still fun-loving, not yet hardened or as stubborn as her brother and cousins.

“You’re not exactly what I expected,” he told her, making his way to the couch, where he took a seat with more than ample space between them. “Even six years ago. I have to admit, I wouldn’t have thought you’d be quite so adventurous.”

“And what did you expect?” Her heart was racing; warmth flushed through her, unbidden memories of the fantasy lover she’d created years ago flitting through her mind.

“I’ve met Eve and Piper,” he stated. “Your elder sister is actually very quiet, very introspective.”

“She’s a writer,” Zoey pointed out. “And I don’t think I appreciate your efforts to seduce her the night Brogan broke up that little date with her.”

He chuckled at that. “Had I wanted to seduce her, I wouldn’t have taken her to the Mackay restaurant, sweetie. I merely wanted to push Brogan’s possessiveness buttons.”

She shrugged at that. “I’m not revising my statement.”

“Piper’s rather quiet as well,” he stated then, as though the subject had never changed. “Though Lyrica is a bit more social, still.” His gaze flicked over her, the lust in his gaze becoming more apparent. “My reports say none of them are leather-wearing, Harley-riding hellions.”

“I’m a hellion?” She was rather pleased with the description. “Eli said I hadn’t yet been promoted from troublemaker. I’m glad to see he was wrong.”

“It’s only an initial upgrade,” he informed her warningly. “It could be revised at any time.” She nodded sagely as though well understanding his dilemma.

“Ah well, I’m certain at some point my abilities have been overexaggerated,” she agreed, though she couldn’t imagine when. “Rather than underexaggerated.” She gave him a quick, impertinent grin.

He didn’t reply, merely stared at her, that gleam of hunger deepening in his gaze.

She’d never known a time in her life when she’d responded to a man as she responded to this one. When her pulse raced, her heart beat so hard it made her breathing harder, faster. Or when the look of hunger in a man’s eyes had actually had her sex responding with slick readiness.

“Are you going to try to seduce me, Doogan?” she asked then, licking her dry lips quickly, her heart rate increasing further as his eyes followed the action. “I hear it’s not quite advisable to allow you to do so. Eli would probably have a stroke. He gets rather upset where you’re concerned.”