Crossing the Line (The Baltimore Banners Book 1) (7 page)

     "Easy, son. I'm not implying anything, just asking a question." The editor turned his gaze to AJ. "Gerry Brown came charging in here yesterday—"

     "Oh, great. I can just imagine what that asshole—"

     "AJ, enough. If you're serious about this, you have to stop letting people like Gerry Brown get to you. It's seen as a weakness, and as soon as any of these sharks—including me—see a weakness, it's a feeding frenzy and you know it."

     AJ's jaw tightened, her entire posture stubborn and defensive. It was so completely different from her reactions around Gerry Brown that Alec wondered why the asshole had such a negative effect on her. He watched her for a few more minutes, finally relaxing his own guard a bit when he noticed the stubborn lift of her chin settle.

     "So you were saying?"

     Tim shook his head, just a small movement as he lips lifted into a small, brief small.

     "I do like your style, AJ, you know that." He moved back behind his desk, sitting in the chair with a creak. "Gerry was extremely glad to let me know that you propositioned our hockey player here in order to get an interview."

     "That's—" She was interrupted by Tim's quick hand motion.

     "Semantics. After questioning him, I was given the details of your proposition. He also admitted he had been given the same chance but didn't take it. That I would have liked to see." Another brief smile lifted one corner of his mouth before he focused his attention squarely on Alec. The sudden intensity caught Alec off-guard, especially since he had felt invisible right up to that moment. "So, Mr. Hockey Player...my girl actually scored a goal with you in the net, huh?"

     Now it was Alec's turn to flush, a disconcerting feeling, especially since he had just been made to feel as if his athletic abilities had been called into question. He opened his mouth for what surely would have been a stammered reply but was interrupted by AJ.

     "It was a lucky shot, trust me. I fell on the ice and slid straight into him. The only reason the puck crossed the line is because he was more worried about me plowing into him."

     Tim flicked his gaze between the two of them, watching. Alec was barely aware of the scrutiny because his attention was focused on AJ. She stood with a feigned casualness, her gaze forced straight ahead on the wall behind Tim. Alec cleared his throat.

     "Actually, it was a pretty decent shot and I wasn't expecting it. I have no idea if I would have stopped it even if she hadn't, you know...slid...into me." Alec couldn't believe he had just admitted that. From the look AJ was now giving him, she couldn't believe it, either. What the hell had just gotten into him that he would ever admit that?

     "Hmm. Regardless..." Again, Tim divided his gaze between him and AJ, accompanying each glance with a tap, tap, tap of his pencil. "I don't care about any physical relationship you two have. What I need to know is if it's going to get in the way of this interview."

     "Excuse me?" Alec's remarkably controlled response was much tamer than AJ's outburst.

     "That's bull, Tim! There is no relationship. Trust me. Especially not physical—"

     "AJ, I am not blind, even if you two are. And I don't really care what goes on behind closed doors. But make sure it stays there. Be discreet. Any hint of indiscretion is going to taint whatever article comes out of this. You don't want to lose this opportunity over something like a sexual indiscretion."

     Alec was stunned into speechlessness. Even if he had known what to say—and his mind was completely, unforgivably blank—he wouldn't have been able to utter a single word.

     "Gee, Tim, thanks for the vote of confidence. Thanks for thinking I would stoop so low as to trade sex for a story. Un-freaking-believable. You know, you rank right up there with Gerry. Worse, because I thought—"

     "AJ, save your breath.
I
don't think that. But you know how this business works. You don't need something like that tied to your name."

     "Yeah, whatever."

     "AJ..."

     She shook her head and gave her editor a 'talk to the hand' gesture. "Don't even. I don't want to hear it."

     A long silence stretched around them, but still not long enough for Alec to think of anything to say. He stood there, in the middle of the room, feeling like an outsider despite the fact that he was very much a prominent subject of the conversation.

    
But I don't even like her.
The thought crossed his mind, followed by swift denial. He did like her. He'd been thinking just this morning—hell, just two hours ago!—what it would be like to be tangled in the sheets with her, her luscious curves draped around him, her long hair caressing his bare skin—

     "Oh for crissakes, Kolchak. Give me a break. You're as bad as Tim. I'm out of here."

     Alec watched in bewilderment as AJ stormed out of the office. Had he missed something?

     A chuckle pulled his attention back to the man seated behind the desk.

     "Don't ever play poker, son. Everything you're thinking is written clear as day on your face."

     "Shit. And people wonder why I hate reporters." Alec turned and skulked out of the office, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do now.

     AJ breathed in deep, held it, and tried like hell not to let it out in a rush but God, it hurt. She would
not
look at him, would
not
let him see her struggle, would
not
look at him—

     The weights crashed down with a loud bang, which at least hid the sound of the breath rushing out of her as she grunted in both pain and exasperation.
This
is why working out was unnatural.

     "You okay?" Alec barely spared her a glance as he effortlessly raised and lowered the weights against his chest.

     His bare chest.

     Double damn, she looked.

     She mumbled a reply, afraid that her voice would sound anything but calm and collected. It took a lot more concentration than she would have thought necessary to control her breathing, to take slow, measured breaths instead of gulping in air. Sweat dripped down the sides of her face and she had to resist the urge to reach up and press her shirt against her chest in order to stop the trickle of sweat dripping between her breasts. Her pulse pounded, and she swore to herself that it had absolutely nothing—
nothing
—to do with the fact that Alec Kolchak was less than five feet away from her, half-naked, buff, and gleaming in the fluorescent lights.

     Her arm muscles quivered and her legs felt like jelly, and there was no way
that
was from watching the play of Alec's muscles as he continued his bench presses.

     Nope, she was not affected in the least by the smooth motion of his arms as he lifted up, down, up, down...as the bar came so close to that sculpted chest, as his muscles stretched and contracted with each movement. She was
not
captivated by the sight of his sculpted jaw, covered in dark stubble; she was
not
fascinated by his full lips and how they quirked with each breath he took in and let out.

     Nope. She was
not
sneaking looks at him as he laid back, stretched out on the bench, his abs so tight and defined that she wanted to reach out and touch them, feel if his skin was warm over all that muscle. She did
not
want to reach out and trace the thin line of hair that disappeared into the waistband of his loose gym shorts.

     And she absolutely was
not
remembering the look he gave her the other day in Tim's office. The look that had started out vaguely confused then quickly morphed into one of smoldering liquid heat. Aimed at
her
.

     God, what was she supposed to think about
that
? The look had caught her so completely off-guard that at first she was stupefied into silence. Then, as the heat from his gaze seeped into her, warming her from inside out, her mouth came to life.

     Of course, that
would
happen seconds before her brain kicked in. She was an idiot. She couldn't remember her exact words, but she knew they were stupid and exasperating. And then she just turned around and left. Walked out. No sassy comeback, no sexy retort, no whimsical reply. Just idiocy and...escape.

     Alec had looked at her with heated desire deep in his eyes. After sleeping with her the night before. After taking care of her. After wrapping his arms around her and comforting her. After sleeping in the same bed with her!

     Which meant absolutely nothing. But still...she could have come up with something a little wittier than whatever stupidity stumbled from her mouth.

     Only now, she was beginning to wonder if she had imagined the whole thing. Alec had followed her out of the office only minutes later, and there was no indication on his part that there had been any look of any kind. He was back to being the quiet, reserved, grumpy guy he usually was around her.

     Which was just as well, because no matter what half-baked fantasy was trying to form in her mind, there would be absolutely nothing happening between them. This article—this story, and her chance for the column, her chance at redemption—could not be tainted in any way. And after Tim's comments the other day...

     "It actually works better if you move the weights with your legs, instead of scowling at them."

     AJ shook her head and turned to find Alec standing less than a foot away. Her mouth went suddenly dry and her mind went completely blank. With the way she was reclined on the leg press, with the way Alec was standing, her eyes—mouth—was directly level with...

     She snapped her gaze upward as her face heated to a hundred degrees, and she absolutely refused—
refused
—to let her eyes rest anywhere other than on his own amused gaze. A few dozen retorts came to mind but she bit down on all of them. Looking away, she gritted her teeth and pressed down so hard with her legs she thought the weights should go flying across the room. Instead, they barely moved.

     She heard Alec chuckle as he put distance between them, and she wondered if that had been a deliberate move on his part, if he had stood like that, so close, on purpose. Maybe if she ignored him, if she pretended he wasn't there...

     But she knew better. That was never going to happen, not when his presence literally surrounded her whenever he was near. She didn't even have to see him enter a room—she just knew, could just feel it.

     And really, when had that started? When had she become so hyper-aware of him as a man instead of just a player, another story? At the rate she was going, she'd have him elevated to god-status before she could think of more words to write.

     AJ grunted as her legs pressed out then slowly squeezed back.
More
words to write. That was almost laughable, since nothing she had come up with so far was working. There was one large file with deleted material, and one miniscule file. With a title...and nothing much more.

     Because no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't come up with the right angle. Everything fell flat. Lackluster. Boring. Why was it so hard to capture the essence of Alec on paper?

     She stole a glance at him and had to quickly swallow a gasp of surprise. He was standing right at her feet, watching her with intent eyes. The weights crashed against each other as her legs gave out and she gritted her teeth.

     "Why do you do that? Why do you have to sneak up on me like that?"

     Alec chuckled and shook his head. "I did not sneak up on you—you just weren't paying any attention. Guess you finally found your zone, huh?"

    
Zone
. Yeah, she had found it alright...but it had nothing whatsoever to do with the workout Alec was forcing on her.

     "You ready for a break?"

     AJ nodded and quickly slid off the machine, wincing as a spasm raced through her right thigh. She brushed off the feeling and stepped away from Alec's reaching hand, knowing that he must think she was an absolute, graceless klutz prone to accidents and mishaps.

     "A break, huh? For what? Five minutes until Round Six of today's torture session?" AJ hadn't said it to be funny, but he laughed anyway, turning the lights off as they left the gym and headed down the hallway. She eyed the stairs dubiously, pausing behind Alec as he went down them, and wondered if her rubber band legs would survive the descent.

     The only positive thing that would come of her falling is that she'd take Alec down in her tumble.

     With that cheery thought, she took first one step then another, mentally grimacing with each one.

     "No more torture. We'll each have a protein shake, wash up real quick, then hit the hot tub."

     AJ paused mid-step and almost did stumble. Hot tub? She had to be hearing things. There was no way—
No. Way
.—she was going to get into a hot tub with Alec.

     "And don't say no. With the way you're moving now, if you don't do something to ease those muscles, you'll be stiff as a board before midnight, and completely miserable tomorrow."

     AJ still didn't move, didn't even blink as Alec turned and looked up at her from the bottom step. She was already miserable, and it was all his damn fault for the obstacle course of activities he had been putting her through for the last several days. It wasn't even six o'clock at night and she was ready to crash face-first into her bed.

     But as much as she wanted to protest, AJ kept her mouth shut. She knew Alec had a plan, and that plan was to get rid of her. It was relentless torture designed to make her give up.

     Gritting her teeth, she walked the rest of the way down the steps. Alec wasn't going to win that easily.

**

     She stood in the hall just outside the door to Alec's bedroom, not quite sure if she could actually cross the threshold. Yes, she knew she wasn't actually going
into
his room—technically she was just passing through it.

     To get to the hot tub. On the balcony.

     Which was worse than actually going into his room.

     AJ took a deep breath, working up her nerve even as a large part of her—a very large part—was ready to turn tail and hide. Or better yet, just run away.

     Except that would make her a coward.

     Gritting her teeth, she reached for the door knob and turned it, pushing open the door and stepping into the room before she could chicken out. She refused to look at the large bed off to the side of the huge room.

     But seriously, how big a bed did one person really need? The thing was huge. It had to have been custom-made, sitting on an elevated platform, made up in luxurious shades of deep blues. AJ yanked her gaze from the bed and kept walking across the room, one foot in front of the other, heading toward the French doors that opened onto the balcony.

     She stopped again, her gaze taking in the breathtaking view of the harbor, the pinpoints of light from the Baltimore skyline reflecting on the calm surface of the water stretched out eight stories below. Despite the activity and bustle that she knew was going on down there, it was quiet and peaceful from this private haven. Almost serene.

     Until she turned and got a good look at the massive hot tub and nearly turned tail to run again.

     It wasn't the actual hot tub that scared her. As big as it was, eight people could fit in it without even touching each other. No, it definitely was not the hot tub that scared her.

     It was the man sitting in it.

     Alec was stretched out, his arms draped along the sides, a beer bottle held loosely in one hand as his head leaned back against a built-in cushion. Bubbling water foamed around him, reaching mid-chest, steam caressing his sculpted body as a look of pure masculine contentment radiated from his face. AJ's mouth went dry as she stared at him, feeling safe for at least a few seconds since his eyes were closed and he couldn't see her.

     "Are you going to stand there all night or are you going to get in?" His voice had a hollow quality to it as it mixed with the sound of the rolling water and drifted away with the steam. AJ bit back her squeal of surprise then hesitantly took a step toward the tub. "There's beer in the small refrigerator over there if you want one."

     She paused mid-step and looked off to the side. Sure enough, there was a refrigerator. Right next to the small wet bar. She changed direction and headed to the fridge, opening it up and pulling out an icy bottle.

     "Would you mind getting me another one?" She heard him shift in the tub behind her, heard water slosh as he changed positions as she grabbed a second bottle. "What the hell are you wearing?"

     AJ straightened abruptly, both bottles held tightly in her hands as she turned around to face him. He was staring at her in wide-eyed surprise, the steam doing little to block the intensity of his gaze. She looked down at her black t-shirt and running shorts then back up at him.

     "What's it look like I'm wearing?"

     "You have a bathing suit on under that, don't you? I mean, you're not planning on getting in here dressed like that, right?"

     AJ had been walking toward the hot tub but abruptly stopped, just close enough to hand Alec his beer. He leaned out to take it, treating her to a nice glimpse of bare chest and bare abs and...

     "Are you naked?" Her mouth clamped shut as the words left her, and she wished she could take them back, especially after the look Alec gave her. He twisted the cap off the bottle and tossed it to the side, then took a deep swig and stood up, his arms held out to the side. AJ swallowed back her disappointment when she saw the loose swim trunks sitting low—really low—around his lean hips.

     "No, I'm not naked. I'm wearing swimming trunks. Which, by the way, are the only two options for a hot tub so I hope you have a bathing suit on under that outfit." He lowered himself back into the hot tub, his back partially turned to her, his eyes closed as he rested his head against the cushion.

     She stood at the edge of the tub, chewing on her lower lip in indecision. Yes, she had a bathing suit on underneath. A bikini. A simple black bikini, with two ties for the top and two ties for the bottom.