Rules of Entanglement by Gina L. Maxwell Read Free Book Online Page B

didn’t have to know they were safe. “You can spank me if I get to shave your balls with a straight razor.” Then she added in a mocking tone, “I promise I won’t slip, Jax.”
    His laugh rumbled in his chest. A moment later she found herself flying through the air yet again just before landing butt-first into the sea. This time, though, she’d been prepared and had taken a big breath. Once fully submerged, she turned over and swam underwater away from him until her lungs burned and she had to come up for air.
    Spinning around to see how far she’d gone was pointless. Jackson had swum after her. “Okay, I concede,” she said, holding her hands up in resignation. “You win. Now will you please stop tossing me on my ass?”
    “As long as you concede, yes, I’ll stop.”
    “Good, because I have to go.”
    “What are you talking about? We were just starting to have fun.”
    She looked over at him and had to remind herself to keep breathing. The sun hitting the water trailing over his muscles made it look like diamonds dripped from his body. His cargo shorts, heavy with retained water, hung deliciously low on his hips, showing off that incredible V . He really was something to behold.
    She gave herself a mental shake and continued walking back to their things at the bar. “Success comes from ninety percent work and ten percent play, and that,” she said, pointing to where he’d recently tossed her, “was my ten percent for the day.” Adjusting the back of her bottoms to ensure they weren’t skewed into a compromising position, she trudged toward the beach.
    Aaaaaand Jackson followed. Naturally , she thought. This guy didn’t know the meaning of “quit while you’re ahead.”
    “Is that one of your seven rules?”
    Her feet glued themselves to where the sand met the sea and her head whipped around. “Excuse me?”
    “You know, your rules that you follow or whatever.”
    “How do you know about those?”
    He shrugged a shoulder as he dragged a hand over his dark hair. “I asked Reid what your deal was with lying. He told me you have a list of rules you live by, that’s all. Are they supposed to be a secret?”
    The question took her aback. “No, not necessarily. But they’re personal, so they’re not something I go around advertising. And, no, that isn’t one of the rules. More like a mantra, I guess.”
    They picked up their walk again, trudging through the soft white sand toward the bar. She’d hoped claiming her rules as “personal” would prevent further discussion, but she was beginning to see Jackson as a junkyard dog that wouldn’t let go once he’d latched onto something.
    “So why do you have them?”
    She shrugged. “They keep me in line with the way I want to live my life and the kind of people I want to surround myself with.”
    “Wow. That sounds really…” He seemed to be searching for a polite way to say what he really thought. “Careful.”
    She shook her head and smiled, refusing to let him get under her skin any more.
    When she didn’t take the bait, he continued. “Where’d you get the idea for something like that anyway?”
    It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him she’d gotten it from Gandhi’s life teachings or something equally profound…but that would be breaking Rule #6.
    “It doesn’t matter where I got the idea. What matters is that they mean something to me. And they work. You should try coming up with a few of your own. I’d bet you could use a little structure in your life.”
    “I have plenty of structure when it comes to my training. I don’t need it for anything else.”
    She laughed. “Oh, yes, you do.”
    Crossing his arms, he braced his legs shoulder-width apart. A stance she now recognized as his challenge-issuing pose. Also, his mega-alpha super-hot pose. “Give me a rule you think I should have.”
    “How about ‘Anything other than early,’” she said, pinning him with a meaningful look, “‘is late.’” She waited only a