Page 1 of Herding Cat

Chapter One

When she stood up, so did he.

When she made her way down the aisle of the rolling deck, he followed.

When she stepped through the door of the Star Ferry to greet the setting sun over Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, he was right behind her. Herding her.

She should be used to it by now, being shadowed every moment of the day. And she was used to it...except when it was him.

He wasn’t that different from his brothers in arms, the other members of her security team. They were all big and burly. All bulged with muscles. All wore sunglasses and identical fierce expressions at all hours. They were all ex-military, mostly SEALs. They were gruff and scruffy and brusque. They towered over her.

She didn’t know why the energy field around her sizzled when he came near. Or passed by. Or looked at her.

It was as though they connected on some subatomic level. His ions and hers, drawn to each other. Stretching, reaching to touch across the chasm of time and space that separated them.

Or she was possibly delusional.

Maybe definitely delusional.

There was no evidence he felt anything for her. There was no reason he would.

In fact, given his stony demeanor, there was no evidence he felt anything at all.

Stoic was an understatement. Hell, the guy was a rock.

She allowed herself to reflect on that for a moment—far too long—before she brutally evicted the thought. Yeah, he was hard. And huge. And fricking gorgeous. Yeah, she was in the thrall of a monumental lust.

It begged the question—she found herself thinking as she stared out at the busy waters surrounding the busiest metropolis in the world, resolutely ignoring him—what made one man stand out from all the others on the planet?

Was it his scent? His heat? His soul? What was it about Garrett Schrodinger that made her pulse race? Made something in her stomach flutter? Made her brain seize like a teenybopper faced with her popstar heartthrob?

But she was hardly a girl.

Ah, and therein lay the rub.

She tipped her head and studied a passing ferry painted in the recognizable colors of white and green, headed back to Hong Kong Island. Like this one, it was crowded with tourists and commuters taking advantage of the city’s cheap transport, bustling with life.

She should quit thinking about him and focus on this experience. Though she’d been here before, it was as exciting as each and every other time she’d come. This was one of her favorite buying trips, and she had a full calendar of interviews and meetings set up with new vendors. This was an optimal opportunity to expand the family business.

She should focus on that.

She should.

But she didn’t.

She peeped at him through the fringe of her lashes, though she didn’t intend to. It stunned her to realize he was staring at her. Something feral sizzled through her veins. It might have been excitement, but she would deny that. She frowned at him and his lips quirked up in a tantalizing smirk. She tore her attention from the aggravating bristles on his cheeks and turned it to a sampan bobbing on the glistening waters, which danced with the colors of the falling night. She barely noticed the breathtaking beauty.

He was not supposed to be watching her. He was supposed to be watching around her. Searching for threats. Not ogling her bosom.

Not that he was.

But he was.

Probably.

Difficult to tell behind those mirrored glasses they all wore. The bastards.

She bit back the urge to scold him for looking at her, but only because she suspected he was trying to needle her into some reaction.