Secret Gifts (Steamy Version) by Elena Aitken Read Free Book Online

like to work hard.” He wiped his face again and ran the towel quickly down his chest. He couldn’t help but notice Megan’s eyes flicker to his bare chest. He raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t seem to notice. “It feels good to work up a sweat,” he said. “Don’t you think?”
    She blushed and her eyes flew up. “I don’t spend a lot of time in the gym.”
    It was his turn to look surprised. With such a toned body, he thought for sure she worked out regularly. “No?”
    “I prefer to take my workouts outside,” she said. “Which is what I came to talk to you about.”
    He tossed the sweaty towel into a bin and leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. “You wanted to talk to me about your workouts? Go right ahead,” he said. “You don’t need my permission.”
    Megan threw back her head in a laugh. He had a sudden and unexpected desire to run his lips down her exposed neck. “Ha,” she said. “I’m hardly asking you for permission.” She looked up and he could tell she’d seen him eyeing her neck.
    Gage swallowed hard and tried to look relaxed, which was next to impossible with her so close. What was it about her that made him crazy? Women didn’t have such an effect on him. It was the other way around.
    “Then what?”
    “I want you to come mountain climbing with me.”
    “Pardon me?”
    She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear while she spoke, a move that was so natural and so completely sexy. Gage grabbed a bottle of water and took a drink to distract him while she spoke.
    “Well, I want to go. I usually hit the indoor climbing walls. I haven’t been outside for ages on a real rock face and I’ve never been climbing in the Rockies,” she said. “And since it’s my job to keep you out of trouble, I think you should come with me. Besides, I know you’ve never been to the mountains before. It seems to be a shame to stay tucked away—“
    “Wait,” he interrupted her. “How do you know I’ve never been in the mountains?” Every nerve in his body was on alert. If she knew where he had and had not been, what else did she know?
    “It’s my job,” she joked. “I know everything.”
    But, Gage wasn’t joking. “What else do you know?” he demanded. His voice was hard. He needed to know.
    It took Megan a second, but her face transformed and the smile fell from it as she realized he wasn’t kidding. “I know your favorite meal is a traditional meatloaf with mashed potatoes, you prefer country music even though you pretend to like Top 40, you have an older sister, and you’d never been out of Indiana before you were discovered and you filmed Extinction .” She recited the list as if reading from a dossier. “It’s my job to know the details.”
    Gage almost let out a sigh of relief that she didn’t know more than she did. If all Megan knew was the insignificant details of his life, that was fine with him. As long as she didn’t know anything that was actually important. He gave her a dazzling smile. “It seems you have everything covered.”
    “Like I said. It’s my job to know.” She gave him a strange look and for a second Gage was worried she might know something she wasn’t saying. But all she said was, “So, can we go climbing now?”

CHAPTER FOUR

    After a quick lunch, Megan went to her room to change before heading out. She grabbed a sweater and walked into the main room of their suite, expecting to find Gage waiting for her. Instead, she found him staring out the picture window. His back was turned to her and for a moment Megan held her breath and watched. There was something about the way he didn’t move and the way he held his body that reminded her of a lost little boy.
    She took a step towards him, unsure of what she was going to do, but knowing she needed to do something. “Gage?” Megan’s voice was soft, but still he spun around as if she’d yelled at him.
    “What?”
    In a second, his entire demeanor had returned to normal. The only