Page 4 of The Wrangler

Instead, he reached over and plucked the champagne flute from her fingers, setting it down on his own tray table.

Keely blinked. “Hey...”

“You’ve had enough.”

She let out a breathy laugh. “You do not get to tell me when I’ve had enough.”

Jesse turned in his seat, angling his broad body toward her, his stare pinning her in place. “You keep pushing, Keely. But we both know what happens when a brat like you finally pushes too far.”

Her stomach did a slow, traitorous flip. Because damn him, he was right. And she hated he knew it.

She folded her arms. “Are you threatening me, cowboy?”

Jesse chuckled, low and dark. “Not a threat, darlin’. A promise.”

Keely swallowed, her throat suddenly dry, as she realized her long flight had just gotten a whole lot longer.

2

JESSE

Jesse Bryant had spent years training in the most dangerous environments, honing his skills in combat, survival, and strategy. He had faced down warlords, infiltrated high-risk zones, and once even neutralized a threat in the middle of a blackout with nothing but a knife and his bare hands.

Yet, nothing in his experience had prepared him for Keely Malone at thirty-five thousand feet. The woman was relentless. She sat next to him with all the grace of a queen on her throne, legs crossed, as she snatched her champagne flute back, taking a sip while she studied him with eyes full of mischief.

“This is nice, don’t you think?” she mused, tipping her glass toward him. “Us, sitting together, enjoying a luxurious flight…just the two of us.”

Jesse let his breath out slowly, forcing himself to focus on the pages of the in-flight magazine he wasn’t really reading. “It’s not just the two of us. There’s a whole damn plane full of people.”

Keely waved a hand dismissively. “Details.”

Jesse gritted his teeth. It had been exactly twenty minutes since she had arranged for him to be moved to first class, and shehad been pushing him ever since. She knew exactly what she was doing. And that was the problem. She was too damn good at it.

“I could get used to this,” she continued, her voice full of lazy amusement. “Private jets are nice, but I do love the way the first-class staff treats you. Don’t you, Jesse?”

He flicked his eyes up at her, scanning the slow, deliberate way she sipped her champagne, the way her lips wrapped around the rim of the glass. It wasn’t lost on him that she was performing for him. And damn it, it was working.

“Are you enjoying yourself, Keely?” His voice came out rougher than he intended.

She hummed. “Immensely.”

Jesse let out a slow, controlled breath. “Glad one of us is.”

“Oh, come on.” She nudged his arm lightly, all playfulness, no concern for the way her touch sent a pulse of heat through him. “You can’t tell me you aren’t having fun.”

Jesse turned his head, locking eyes with her. “And what exactly makes you think that?”

Keely tilted her head, considering. “Because you could’ve refused to be moved, but you didn’t.”

Jesse rolled his jaw. Damn it. She was right. He could have asked the flight attendant to move her back to coach, but that probably wouldn’t have worked. People in service industries didn’t tend to listen to people like him. They listened to people like her and her brother Reed. Hell, he could have just ignored her antics completely.

But he hadn’t—because he didn’t want to. And that? That was dangerous.

Jesse forced himself to lean back, crossing his arms over his chest. “You think you’ve got me all figured out, don’t you?”

Keely leaned in, her voice dropping just enough to make his muscles tighten. “I think you’d like to pretend you’re completelyunaffected by me. I’ve seen you watching me when you don’t think Reed or I will notice—dark, hungry, yummy.”

Jesse let out a quiet chuckle, but there wasn’t any amusement behind it. He turned his head, leveling her with a look that had made hardened criminals cower.

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