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him and found herself pressed back against the wall by a firm hand on her chest. “You were sizing me up,” he said slowly. “At the game, at dinner. Tell me, how did I come out?”
    Brooke put her hand to his wrist, but was surprised when he let her push his hand away. She began a careless recital she knew would infuriate him. “You move more like a dancer than an athlete—it’ll be a plus on film. Your build is good, it’ll sell clothes. You can be charming at times, and your face is attractive without being handsome. That could sell anything. You have a certain sexuality that should appeal to women who’d like their men to have it, too. They’re the primary target, as women still do the bulk of buying in ready-to-wear.”
    Her tone had been schooled to annoy. Even so, Parks couldn’t prevent his temper from rising. “Do I get a rating?”
    â€œNaturally.” The bitten-off words pleased her enormously. It was a small payment for the scene on her porch, but it was payment. “Your popularity quotient is fair at the moment. It should get higher after the first commercial is aired. Claire seems to think if you could get into the World Series and do something outstanding, it would help.”
    â€œI’ll see what I can do,” he said dryly. “Now, why didn’t you tell me who you were?”
    â€œI did.”
    He leaned closer. She caught a trace of sharp cologne over the smell of wet summer leaves. “No, you didn’t.”
    â€œI told you I make commercials.”
    â€œKnowing I’d conclude you were an actress.”
    â€œYour conclusions are your own problem,” Brooke told him with a shrug. “I never said I was an actress.” She heard a woman’s laugh muffled in the distance and the rush of water into the pool beside her. The odds, she mused, were not in her favor at the moment. “I don’t see what difference it makes.”
    â€œI don’t like games,” Parks said precisely, “unless I know the players.”
    â€œThen we won’t play,” Brooke countered. “Your job is to do what I tell you—no more, no less.”
    Parks controlled a wave of fury and nodded. “On the set.” He caught the hair at her waist, then let it slide through his hands. “And off?”
    â€œAnd off, nothing.” She’d put more emphasis on the last word than she had intended to. It showed a weakness she could only hope he didn’t notice.
    â€œNo.” Parks stepped closer so that she had to tilt back her head to keep her eyes level with his. “I don’t think I like those rules. Let’s try mine.”
    Brooke was ready this time for the sneak attack on her senses. He wouldn’t be permitted to seduce her, make her tremble with those featherlight teasing kisses on her skin. With a cool, hard stare, she dared him to try.
    He returned the look as seconds dragged on. She caught the glint of challenge in his eyes but didn’t see the slow curve of his lips. No man had ever been able to meet her stare so directly or for so long. For the first time in years, Brooke felt a weakness in her primary defense.
    Then he did what he had wanted to do from the first moment he had seen her. Parks dove his hands into the lushness of her hair, letting them sink into the softness before he dragged her against him. Their eyes clashed a moment longer, even as he lowered his lips and savaged hers.
    Brooke’s vision blurred. She struggled to bring it back into sharp focus, to concentrate on that one sense to prevent her others from being overpowered. She fought not to taste the hot, demanding flavor of his lips, to feel the quick, almost brutal nip of his teeth that would tempt her lips to part. She didn’t want to hear her own helpless moan. Then his tongue was plundering, enticing hers to answer in a seduction totally different from the teasing gentleness of his first embrace.