Free Stirred by Lucia Jordan Page B

continued talking with Max Nolan, she’d somehow
felt that the lean-hipped man’s attention was still centered on her.
    They
didn’t share many words after that as she never got to
really contribute much to the conversation. But before Max Nolan got drawn away
by some other fawning group of people, he looked at her with those piercing
blue eyes, shook her hand again, and told her how nice it was to meet her. Her
whole body had tingled for hours afterwards.
    Now she
tried a weak smile, wondering if it was really true that he remembered who she
was. They’d come in contact for no more than ten minutes, tops. And they’d
barely shared three whole sentences. And it was so long ago – months
even.
    Well,
she hadn’t forgotten him either – but that didn’t count. He was Max Nolan,
the Australian billionaire cowboy and owner of the sprawling Keystone Ranch.
She was just…Eva, fresh out of college and working for an online human interest magazine.   Hardly memorable.
    *
    Seemed
like she was wrong about that though. Because Max Nolan was looking at her in
much the same way he’d looked at her that night – in the way that would
make a woman’s toes curl up in her shoes. He
wanted her . Did he?
    Suddenly
Eva was in a whirl. How possible was it that a man like him could be attracted
to her? It looked more like a figment of her overactive imagination.
    “Where’s
the boyfriend?” Max asked mildly, thumbing his pockets in a way that seemed to
unconsciously thrust out his hips. And what hips. Those sexy jeans seemed
sprayed on, hugging him lovingly, especially that spot beneath his belt buckle
that was intriguing enough to make her steal more than a few admiring glances
down below.
    Realizing
he really did remember her, she said, “Um…oh, Leon. He’s history.”
    Max’s
eyes glinted in surprise, and she could swear, even glee. And yet he said,
“Damn.”
    Her
eyebrows shot up into her full fringe. “Excuse me?”
    “I
said, “damn”,” he told her, taking her elbow and leaning forward to whisper in
her ear, “I was so looking forward to the satisfaction of having to steal you
from him.”
    Eva let
out a choked laugh, shock and excitement coursing through her. That moment of
closeness and intimacy as he’d come near to her ear had been electrifying. But
for some reason, she couldn’t seem to take him seriously. She was actually
smiling goofily.
    “You
think I’m joking?” he said softly, eyes narrowing on her face as he correctly
read her mind.
    She
shrugged her slender shoulders. “I think you like to flirt, Mr. Nolan. You like
the idea of making a young, impressionable girl smile and feel admired and
sexy.”
    Eva was
amazed she could be talking to him in this way. Especially when he suddenly
looked so speculative. Quickly, she tried to bring things back to a more
manageable level. No use waving a red flag at him. The last thing she wanted
was for him to think she was challenging him. No way. Men like Max Nolan ate women like her for breakfast.
    She
knew all about his conquests, his success with women. He was perpetually single
and yet always seemed to be just done with his last whirlwind love affair. The
latest had been some hotel chain heiress barely older than Eva, and the three month romance had ended with the heiress fleeing the
country to Europe to nurse her wounded feelings.
    “I’d
like to personally thank you for the kind and very generous donation you made
to the Foundation tonight,” she said with a sincere smile.   “It seems like each time we meet, you’re
giving something away.” Eva was trying at humor to douse the crackling
atmosphere – but at least it was true; this was the second time they’d be
meeting at a charity event. From what she heard, he wasn’t much into the “in”
parties so perhaps it was only events like these he really bothered to grace
his presence with.
    She had
to look away from his burning gaze, wondering how such blue eyes could bring
off so much heat.