Crossing the Line (The Baltimore Banners Book 1) by Lisa B. Kamps Read Free Book Online

bed. It's not done that way. I have a whole list of things—"
         "Okay, fine. Here's the deal." Alec stood and closed the distance between them, so close that AJ could smell the faint scent of soap on his skin, could feel the warmth radiating from his body. "We either do the interview right here and now, or you pack some things, come home with me and do it by the terms of the bet."
         Alec stared at her, his eyes almost daring as he held a large duffle bag between them. Funny, but AJ hadn't noticed it earlier, and she wondered briefly how he had gotten it out of her closet without her realizing it.
         "You have one minute to decide."
         AJ looked up at Alec, into his dark eyes, and felt a funny flip in her stomach. She had no idea what he was up to and she had a feeling that this whole plan of hers was about to backfire. But in the end, she really didn't have much choice.
         She clenched her jaw and yanked the duffel bag from Alec's hand. "Fine. I'll meet you in the living room in five minutes."
     
    **
     
         Alec sat on the sofa, staring at the wide-screen TV in front of him without really seeing it. His attention was focused more on the girl curled up on the recliner, her legs tucked under her, a frown on her face, papers scattered across her lap.
         She had been sitting that way for at least two hours and Alec wondered why her legs hadn't fallen asleep yet. Except for reaching up and rubbing her temples with a wince every few minutes, she hadn't really moved. If he sat that way for any length of time, not moving, he'd not only have leg cramps, he'd start to go insane with the inactivity.
         His hand clenched momentarily around the soda can he was holding and he resisted the urge to stretch his own legs. AJ paused in jotting down whatever she had been writing and looked over at him, her face almost serene in its blankness. A few seconds went by before her blue eyes cleared and one corner of her mouth tilted ever-so-slightly, as if she just realized where she was. It occurred to Alec that she had been so lost in whatever she had been doing that she really had been somewhere else, at least mentally.
         The thought almost scared Alec. Not just because it was evidently very easy for her to lose herself like that. No, what worried him was that he was fairly certain that he had figured at least a little bit in wherever she had been mentally. And he did not like the idea of someone being so focused on him...unless, of course, that someone was in bed with him. Then being focused on... He shook his head, wondering where in the hell that idea had come from.
         "Are you okay?"
         Her question, asked so quietly in the stillness of the living room, caught him off-guard. Alec took the last sip of the soda, trying not to look at her too much. "I was just wondering the same about you. How can you sit so still like that for so long? That would drive me crazy."
         AJ stretched her legs out in front of her, making a small little noise of contentment as she did so. Alec swallowed and tried not to notice the shapely length of her calves, or the way her bare toes wiggled as if she was trying to restore circulation to them. He suddenly wished that he hadn't offered to keep her company earlier, that he had just disappeared into another part of the spacious condo once they had gotten here.
         But the thought of her wandering around, nosing through his personal things, had stopped him from making his own exit. Oddly enough, though, she hadn't seemed very interested in looking around. Other than the brief tour when he had carried her bags to the spare room, she had pretty much stayed curled up on the recliner. In fact, except for pausing on the downstairs balcony and openly admiring the waterfront view of the harbor, she didn't appear to be interested in anything other than the papers in her lap.
         "It doesn't bother me. I guess I'm just used to