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Her breath was warm on his chest, and when he inhaled quickly, he caught a whiff of oranges and vanilla. Sweet cherry tomatoes. This woman is deadly.

And he was alone with her. Hadn’t he wanted that every night since she’d slammed the door in his face? Right now, he couldn’t recall, not under the confused stare she shot him.

He stepped back and gestured to her suit. “You, uh, look nice. I mean good. Nice and good.”

Nice? Good? What was he, four years old on the playground? Jill looked sexy as hell, but his brain was still running through the last idiot thing out of his mouth.

“Coming from you, that might pass as a compliment.” She laughed and winked in the same frustratingly seductive way that had made him fumble over himself at Bennett’s wedding, and his stomach did a nauseating flip.

Oof. He could do without that. If he was going to survive this business dinner, anyway.

“So, how was your trip out from San Antonio? It’s a pretty drive, huh?”

“Yeah, if you like cattle ranches and the smell of hay mixed with cow crap.” She wrinkled her nose as if there was a pile of manure at her feet.

“Wow. That’s a harsh assessment, don’t you think? I mean, the Guadalupes are pretty spectacular.”

“Sure.” She shook her head. “And Deer Creek is nice. The town, I mean. The ranches on every corner aren’t my thing, though.”

Ranches weren’t her thing? Something about the way she said that, with a hardness around her eyes, said they’d personally offended her somehow.

And he took offense to that.

Forget their agreement to start over; he was gonna need to do that every time she opened her mouth. Something about this woman had the power to turn him on and make him want to scream simultaneously.

“I happen to like ranches. You kinda should, too, if you’re working for Steel Born.”

Jill rolled her eyes. Like, actually rolled her eyes.

“Why does everyone think that because I work for a ranching equipment company I should want to live on a ranch? I’m an engineer and finance officer by trade, not a cowgirl.”

“Trust me, no one’s mistaking you for a cowgirl.” He gestured to her suit again, this time with a frown and more than a little animosity.

She whistled and put her hands on her hips. “Wow. That wasn’t necessary. My appearance at a professional dinner doesn’t say a damn thing about what I value. And just because hanging out on ranches isn’t my idea of fun, it doesn’t mean I don’t know my way around them. But you wouldn’t know that since you seem intent on taking every word out of context.”

Jax pinched the bridge of his nose and felt like his older brother as soon as he did it. How did he keep messing up with this woman?

“Okay. I’ll do better.”

“I hope so. I don’t know what I keep saying that’s rubbing you the wrong way, but if we’re going to be partners, we’ve got to knock it off.”

“Partners?” Steel Born was a business deal of his brother’s and the two of them were going to work together to help his brother and Maggie. End of story. But to that end, Bennett would have his ass if Jax effed up this opportunity with the Steiners for the company.

A company I’m getting out of.

Except he wasn’t out of it yet, so he’d better shut up and play ball. No matter what beef he had with her, he’d play nice.

A car pulled up, and an elderly woman struggled to exit the passenger seat. Jax jogged over to her door, held it open while he assisted her out. Could he dip into her car and make a clean getaway from Jill, whose brows were furrowed and mouth turned down? Although, the way she nibbled on the corner of her lips almost made her look curious.

“Should we go in? We can talk about this inside instead.” Jill nodded to the entrance.

“Sure.”

Jax scratched his arm through his suit jacket. He was wearing Egyptian cotton, so there was no reason his skin should be this itchy. Then again, with the scrutiny of Jill’s unrelenting, and frankly judgy, gaze, it was a shock his whole body wasn’t covered in hives.

He shot Bennett a text. “I hope you know how much I love you, bro. This woman makes Ms. Reeves from second grade look like a saint.”

The Marshall brothers’ teacher had been a stickler for order, productivity, and abhorred mistakes. Safe to say, the rough-riding brothers had all despised her.