First and Only (Callaghan Brothers #2)

The most recent additions held little interest. An elderly woman with bag full of yarn and knitting supplies. A tired-looking woman grasping the hand of a young boy. A young couple with their eyes glued to their iPhones. Lexi wondered idly if they were texting each other.

Her eyes were drawn to a woman a few seats ahead of her who kept shooting glances across the aisle. A forty-something woman trying too hard to look like a twenty-something. Too much make-up. Hair too blonde. Clothing made for Disney pop stars, not women of maturity. Her body was in pretty good shape, though, Lexi had to admit. She hoped hers would look as good when she reached that age. Assuming she did, of course. That might be a stretch, given her genetics and the knack she had for attracting trouble.

Lexi’s gaze moved to what had captured the older woman’s attention, and ... hello. She immediately sat up a little straighter, shifting slightly to get a better look at the man. Dark hair peeked out from beneath a baseball cap pulled low over his forehead. The slight profile hinted at strong, chiseled features, too. Shoulders too wide for the standard bus seat extended into her line of vision. A long, jean-clad leg stretched out into the aisle. As it always did, that particular combination of features made her heart beat a little faster.

The cougar reached across the aisle, her red-taloned hand landing on the forearm of the dark-haired hottie. The low murmur of voices mixed in with the white noise as the woman attempted to engage the man in conversation. Lexi couldn’t blame the woman for trying. From back here the guy looked totally delicious. At least the woman had good taste.

With several hours to go and nothing else to hold her attention, Lexi watched the scene with mild interest. A few times, Lexi was treated to additional glimpses which only supported her initial impression. His shoulders were very broad. The line of his slightly-darkened jaw and the curve of his neck was sinfully masculine. Occasional shifts or flicks of his hands when he talked were done with a grace and fluidity that suggested a confident man who was very comfortable in his own skin.

Lord, but he was easy on the eyes. Well, the back of his head and slight profile were, anyway. She passed the time imagining what he looked like from the front, creating her own perfect fantasy in her mind’s eye. Creating wasn’t exactly an accurate word, because the face she conjured belonged to a real person, someone from her past who she’d never quite been able to forget. And from where she sat, this guy was a dead ringer.

She mentally kicked herself for not noticing him boarding, for not seeing his face. How she’d missed it, she had no idea. Given the way parts of him were spilling over the meager seat space, the guy was obviously tall and well-built. And, if the little bit of his face she had seen was any indication, he was gorgeous as well. Surely she must have broken some rule of feminine über senses by not feeling a shift in the cosmic energy within the Greyhound interior when he joined the motley crew of travelers heading north.

Lexi kept her gaze locked on him for longer than she should have, but found it hard to wrench her eyes away. Why bother, she rationalized, when the guy hadn’t looked back her way once? And with nobody else behind her, it wasn’t like she was going to get caught, right? Except that even as she was rationalizing, Mr. Gorgeous shifted slightly, then suddenly turned around and looked directly into her eyes.

Embarrassed, Lexi dropped her gaze immediately, feeling her face flush about a dozen shades of pink. She pulled her hoodie further around her face and shrank back into her seat. For the next hour, she stubbornly refused to lift her head, pretending to be engrossed in the paperback she’d picked up at the station. It wasn’t one of the hot and steamy romances she preferred, but it looked interesting.

Too bad it took her so long to realize she was holding it upside down.

*

Ian felt the prickling on the back of his neck and knew immediately that he was in someone’s sights. By the tingle of awareness in other, more private regions, he also knew that it was a woman who was watching him. An unusual gift, perhaps, but one that had served him well in the past. He cleared his mind, relaxed and stilled his body, and let it wash over him as he extended his SEAL-trained senses.

Yes, definitely a woman. Behind him and to the left. He almost frowned, feeling a slight wave of disappointment. Not the little thing in the hoodie and shades, the one who had been catnapping when he had boarded? She was just a kid, wasn’t she?

No, he decided after a few minutes. Definitely not a kid. A woman. A woman with enough intensity in her gaze to not only have his neck prickling, but to heat up his core temp several degrees at least. Damn.