Logan held up his hands as if surrendering. “Whoa. This one’s already got her hooks in you. I get it. No problem.I’ll...damn!”
Mack turned to watch Madison descend the stairs. She carried herself with the grace of a debutante. She’d washed the makeup off her face, revealing a stunning complexion. It reminded him of fresh summer peaches. Why on earth had she covered up all that perfection with paint? He shook his head. She looked so much better without all that gunk onherface.
“Well hello there.” Logan stepped forward and grabbed her hand. He kissed the topofit.
Mack didn’t normally want to slug his brother, but he did right now. His bear reared up to demand that he challenge Logan. Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy to reason with his bear. He silently willed the animal to stay calm. This wasn’t the time or place to make ascene.
If he could appear nonchalant about Logan’s obvious lust, then his brother would be less suspicious of their relationship. Not that there was a relationship. A few kisses and one night of hot sex didn’t give him any real claim over her. Not that he wanted to claim her.Right?
“Nice to meet you,”shesaid.
When she didn’t immediately pull her hand away, Mack’s bear growled. Logan must have caught a whiff of his anger and immediately droppedherhand.
“So you’re going to be with us through Christmas?” Loganasked.
“Yep.”
“Nice. Well, I look forward to seeing you around. If you need any help with your biscuits, let me know.” Hewinked.
Mack groaned. “Really?”
Logan smirked. “What? I know mom’s recipe the best. I used to help her allthetime.”
Mack shot him a look that said that he’d better keep his hands off herbiscuits.
“See you later,”shesaid.
“Countonit.”
After Logan left, Mack turned to her. “Abouthim—”
“I can handle guyslikethat.”
“He thinks he’s God’s gift to women. He’s not going to attack you oranything.”
She raised a brow. “Unlikeyou?”
His jaw dropped. “Ididn’t—”
“I’mkidding.”
“Anyway, we can’t let what happened upstairs happenagain.”
“Nothinghappened.”
“Nothing?Really?”
She bit the edge of her lip. “We should forget that ithappened.”
“I agree. While you’re here, we need to keep things strictly business. The B&B is very important to the ranch’s bottom line, so we need to keep things between usprofessional.”
“There’s nothingbetweenus.”
Her comment cut deeper than he could have anticipated, but she was right. They’d had a one-night stand, nothing more. But he wasn’t completely in denial about their attraction. He’d have to stay away from her as much as possible. Avoiding temptation was half the battle when trying to resist something. That’s why he didn’t keep jars of honey lying around. He’d be face-first in them if he wasn’t careful. Being a bear, he had one hell of a sweettooth.
“So boss, when do I officially start working?” sheasked.
“Tomorrow morning. There will be ten people total including you. You’ll find everything you need for breakfast in the kitchen. I’ll be cooking dinner tonight. We eat at six. Until then, you can unpack and get familiar with the locations of the various supplies. It might help to get everything you need laid out forbreakfast.”
