Crossing the Line (The Baltimore Banners Book 1) (6 page)

     AJ swallowed against the dryness in her mouth and quickly averted her eyes, afraid he would catch her staring. She glanced back up at him to see that he was still watching her, his face carefully blank. She had the sudden urge to reach out and touch the heavy growth of stubble along his jaw line, just to see how it would feel against her palm.

     But AJ didn't move, she just lay there frozen and hoped that her thoughts weren't written all over her face. It didn't help that Alec still hadn't so much as twitched a muscle. He was so still that he could be carved from stone.

     "I have practice in a little bit. Do you feel up to going or would you rather stay here?"

     "Uh...I...I can go."

     "Okay."

     She expected Alec to get out of the bed, to leave her room and get ready. At the very least, she thought he would move away but he didn't. Not like she expected.

     He reached out with one hand and brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes. The gentle touch came close to snapping something inside her, and it was only for fear of embarrassment that she didn't move an inch. AJ gave herself credit for not leaning forward just the tiniest bit—that's all it would take for her lips to brush his. The thought sent heat spiraling through her and her gaze dropped to his lips. Firm, fuller than she first realized, well-sculpted like the rest of him.

     More thoughts whirled through her mind in those few seconds: what his lips would taste like, what his tongue would feel like as it danced in her mouth and over her skin...

     AJ bit back on the moan in her throat and forced herself to stare at the wall, knowing there was no doubt Alec could see her blush. Her face was so warm, she was surprised he couldn't feel it as close he was.

     Or maybe he did. He suddenly chuckled then rolled out of the bed in one swift move that reminded her of his agility on the ice. Surprised, she looked up and found him smiling down at her, his eyes alight with mischief. He braced his weight on one hand as he leaned over her, so close again that she thought he really was going to kiss her.

     "The next time I'm in your bed, neither one of us will be doing any sleeping!" The words were barely a whisper, the teasing clear in their tone. AJ gasped both in shock and indignation. How dare he?

     She was ready to make some sarcastic retort when she noticed the heat in his dark eyes and realized that while his words might be teasing, he was serious about his intent. Her jaw snapped shut as images of their naked bodies rubbing against each other, learning, teasing, pleasing, came to mind. She may have squeaked in surprise, or worse, moaned in anticipation, but before she could cover it, Alec straightened, reached out and swatted her backside playfully, then walked out of the room without another word.

     Alec swore as the puck rushed past his glove and hit the post with a clang before falling into the net. Part of him wanted to rip his gloves and helmet off in frustration, to throw them to the ice and kick them in a fit of temper. He barely resisted the temptation.

     Barely.

     The only thing stopping him was knowing that his teammates would look at him even more strangely than they had been throughout the entire practice. If not for the fact that he had a visitor, he'd walk off the ice and call it quits for the day.

     But that wasn't an option. And every time he looked up, he noticed that his visitor wasn't even paying any attention to him. For some reason, that bothered him. Shouldn't she be as aware of him as he was of her?

     But no. Every time he glanced to where she was sitting in the stands, she was engrossed in something. He could see her fingers typing furiously at the keyboard of the laptop she dragged with her. Another time she was engrossed in a deep conversation on her cell phone. The one time he thought she might have been watching, he actually stopped what he was doing and looked up at her. It wasn't until the puck clipped the side of his leg as it flew past him that he realized she wasn't watching him at all, she was staring off into space.

     The lack of attention wasn't bad just for his concentration, it was killing his ego. His mind had been focused on one thing and one thing only ever since he woke up next to her this morning. Did she even remember how she had curled against him while he held her in the middle of the night? How she had draped her body across his? It had taken all of his control—more than he thought he had—not to push the hem of her shirt up past her waist and run his hands along the silky smoothness of her skin. He had wanted nothing more than to wake her with kisses, to tangle his hands in her thick hair and ravage her, to feel her body come awake under his touch.

     Alec moaned at the sudden discomfort gripping his groin then cursed beneath his breath as yet another puck clipped him, this time on his shoulder. A shrill whistle pierced the chilly air of the practice rink and he looked up to see Sonny LeBlanc storming across the ice toward him. More than a dozen sets of eyes were focused on him, including startling blue ones from up in the stands. Alec groaned again. Of course AJ would pick now to notice him.

     The coach slid to a stop in front of him, showering him with ice from his skate blades. Alec straightened and lifted his helmet, bracing himself for the verbal assault he knew was coming.

     Sonny stared at him for several long minutes. The silence was deafening, drawn out until Alec had to fight the urge to look away. With a quick motion of one hand, Sonny signaled the end of practice. Wordlessly, the other players skated from the ice as Sonny continued to stare at him. When there was no one left, the coach leaned forward and spoke in a voice pitched so low there was no possibility of anyone overhearing.  

     "Either sleep with her, Kolchak, or don't bring her to practice again. Hear me?"

     Alec's jaw dropped at the blunt words. He snapped it shut then opened his mouth to say something, what he didn't know, but was stopped by a quick shake of Sonny's head.

     "Don't say anything. It's obvious where your mind is. The team doesn't need it right now. What they need is you focused on your game." Sonny paused and looked toward the stands, then shook his head. "Do what you have to, but get back in your game."

     Alec watched the coach skate away, still stunned into silence. He finally looked up into the stands, expecting to see AJ watching him. He clenched his jaw in frustration as he saw her typing away again on her laptop.

     "But she's a freaking reporter," he muttered to himself. A reporter he had slept with. Last night was undoubtedly the most intimate night he had ever shared with a woman, at least in recent memory, and he doubted if she even remembered it. Oh, there was no doubt she had been affected by him this morning. He had seen it on her face, in the shy glances she had grazed his body with, in the faint blush that had bloomed across her cheeks. But that was completely different; Alec doubted if she even realized how intimate the night had been for him.

     How could she? Even now, she was up in the stands, oblivious, immersed in whatever she was typing. The worst part was that he realized whatever she was writing, it was undoubtedly about him. That's what she had been after, right?

     The thought left him chilled even as his body heated from the memory of her curled against him.

     And suddenly Alec wanted to call the whole bet off. It had been a stupid idea. Not even twenty-four hours had passed and already his entire world had been turned upside down. He had no idea what she was writing and a part of him didn't want to know.

     With a loud curse, Alec threw his stick and watched it slide across the ice until it crashed against the boards. He looked back to where AJ sat in the stands, watching him. Their eyes met for a brief moment before he looked away and skated off the ice. He didn't have to see her to know she had gone back to typing.

**

     AJ chanced a sideways glance at Alec. His eyes were focused straight ahead, concentration—or something else—creasing his brow. His left arm rested against the door rest of the oversized, jacked-up truck while he drove with his right hand. Every few seconds or so, he would clench the leather-wrapped steering wheel—at about the same time his jaw would clench. Even if it hadn't been obvious by his expression and body language, she would have been able to tell something was wrong by the palpable tension that surrounded him. And as much as she wanted to, she had avoided asking him what was wrong for the last thirty minutes.

     Her control wavered then finally snapped when he turned into the parking lot of the newspaper office with a squeal of tires. With her right hand still bracing herself against the dash, she turned in her seat and fixed Alec with what she hoped was a lethal stare.

     "Just what, exactly, is your problem?"

     Alec returned her stare with one of his own. But where she knew her eyes were cold, his were fiery, anger and impatience burning bright in their dark depths. His lips thinned for a split-second as he watched her, then relaxed only enough for his jaw to clench. A slight tic pulsated along his jaw line, removing any idea that AJ might have had that he was only a tad bit upset about anything but her.

     Oh no, he was definitely more than just a
tad bit
upset. And it was definitely aimed right at her.

     She sat up straighter, clenching her own jaw as she met his gaze straight on. "Do you want to tell me what it is I did that pissed you off so much, or am I just supposed to guess?"

     "What were you typing at practice?"

     The simmering anger in his tone distracted her for a few seconds before the actual words registered in her mind. She blinked, hard, not really believing she had heard him right. But she wasn't hearing things, wasn't imagining things.

     "You've got to be kidding me." It was the first thing that popped out of her mouth, which was at least a little better than the sarcastic "Excuse me?" she wanted to say.

     Apparently Alec didn't agree with her. He leaned toward her, so close that mere inches separated them, so close she could feel the heat radiating from his body. "What were you writing, AJ?"

     She stared at him, studying him for a few quiet seconds as she tried to mentally peel through his anger. And suddenly it hit her: he wasn't angry, he was worried.       

     Why on earth would Alec Kolchak be worried about what she was writing?

     Well, okay, so maybe she could understand a little bit of worry. He never gave interviews, ever. To suddenly have to give her one...and be stuck with her on top of it...had to stick in him at least a little. And all because he lost a bet because she actually scored on him...

     And then there was that stupid article from a few years ago that had her name attached to it. Never mind that she didn't have a thing to do with it, nobody ever believed that...

     A hot flame of anger surged through her but she quickly doused it. She absolutely
refused
to let that fiasco play a part in who and what she was today. It was behind her.

     "What were you writing, AJ?" Alec repeated the question, his voice flat and chilly. She swallowed once, twice, trying to rein in her anger and disappointment.

     So maybe it wasn't as far behind her as she thought.

     AJ sighed, leaving no doubt about how furious she was in the sound, and shoved open the truck door. Pulling her backpack off the seat as she jumped out, she fixed Alec with as cold a glare as she could manage.

     "I was writing about how big an ass you are!"

     She slammed the door as hard as she could, gratified at his groan as the truck frame shook with the force. Let him take that, she thought, storming toward the building. It would serve him right if she
had
been writing about his being an ass. Too bad she wasn't that vindictive. The funny thing was, she hadn't even been writing about him. Not really.

     Because she had been entirely too distracted by the memory of waking up with him in bed next to her. She paused before pulling open the door, taking a deep breath and willing the heat in her face to fade. She was about to tell Tim that her crazy idea worked, and that she was going to get the interview. The last thing she needed was for him to sense something else was going on...like this sudden irrational attraction to Alec.

**

     Alec glanced at his watch then jammed the power button of the truck's stereo. Twenty minutes had passed already...what could AJ be doing in there for that long? She said all she had to do was run in and get something...

     What if she was doing more than getting something? What if she was already turning in her article? Clenching his jaw in frustration, Alec got out of the truck and walked into the building. It wasn't too difficult to find the correct floor, and the elevator ride up was brief enough. Not so brief that his anger didn't have time to grow, which he knew was irrational but didn't bother to stop anyway.

     The elevator doors opened with a soft hiss. Alec wasn't sure what he had been expecting, maybe a scene like something from one of the many television sitcoms. The controlled quiet that greeted him was surprising.

     He stepped off the elevator and looked around. A central reception area was just ahead of him, with cubicles laid out in a maze on either side of a main aisle. Wood-and-glass encased offices flanked the rear of the floor.

     Right now the reception area was empty. Muted voices and assorted noises drifted from the maze of cubicles, their owners hidden behind the fabric-covered portable walls. Alec looked around, searching for AJ, then started walking past cubicles, ignoring the curious glances as he peered into each one as he passed. Laughter caught his attention and he turned in time to see her stepping out of one of the offices, her profile turned to him as she continued talking with whoever was in the office.

     Alec noticed a subtle stiffening in her posture a half second before she turned toward him. A flare of impatience erupted inside him, quick and irrational, as the laughter faded from her eyes. He watched as she stood there in uncertainty, their gazes locked for the briefest moment. His eyes drifted to her mouth as she pulled on her lower lip with her teeth, and he suddenly remembered Sonny's earlier comment:
Sleep with her
. That was quickly followed by the memory of her body curled against his, soft and flush with sleep.

     Something must have shown on his face, because AJ's expression quickly turned to one of bewilderment. Her brow furrowed for a quick instant before she turned her attention away from him, apparently listening to whoever was in the office. She shot a quick look back at Alec, another to the invisible speaker, then back to Alec. Her body language screamed that she would rather have him leave, but she motioned him forward instead.

     Alec closed the distance to the office, only partially aware of the stares following him as he focused more on AJ's face. There was something in her expression, a look in her eye that he didn't quite understand. Was he imagining things, or was she warning him about something?

     He stopped next to her, still studying her, watching the blue of her eyes darken even as she reached for his arm and yanked him into the office. "Alec, this is Tim Norton, my editor. Tim, meet Alec Kolchak."

     Alec pulled his gaze away from AJ and turned in the direction she was motioning, only to find himself being studied by a set of narrowed eyes peering from behind thick-rimmed glasses. A rapid tat-tat-tat of a pencil tapping against the desk echoed in the otherwise quiet room as Tim continued to study him. A long minute passed before the narrow-eyed gaze shifted to AJ.

     "Close the door, AJ." The request was issued quietly, but with enough authority that AJ quickly complied. Tim stood and walked around the desk, leaning against the edge as he folded his arms across his chest and looked at both of them. "Is anything going on here that I need to know about?"

     Alec wouldn't have known right away what the comment meant if not for the flush coloring AJ's cheeks. As soon as the insinuation sunk in, he stood straighter and took a step forward. He was stopped by Tim holding a placating hand in his direction, accompanied by a raised eyebrow.