Crossing the Line (The Baltimore Banners Book 1) (9 page)

     AJ curled one hand along the back of his neck and rested the other along his arm. A warm feeling of deep contentment flowed through her, a slight smile on her face as she drifted off to sleep, secure in Alec's hold.

**

     Gray morning light filtered through the open curtains, casting the room in a shadowed glow. Sounds drifted in through the open balcony doors: noise of distant traffic, the faint wail of a siren, the shriek of a seagull floating somewhere over the water.

     Alec stared up at the ceiling, one arm thrown over his head, the other curled across his chest. His breathing was steady but his mind was whirling in a thousand different directions, most of them having something to do with last night.

     With the woman in bed next to him.

     He turned his head slightly to the side and looked at AJ. She was sprawled on her stomach, her face turned away from him, hidden by both her arm and the tangled curtain of her hair. She had kicked the blankets off her sometime during the night, and was barely covered by a corner of the sheet draped precisely over the curve of her bare bottom.

     His eyes drifted over her, from the curve of her skull partly buried in the overstuffed pillow, to her tanned arms and the graceful line of her back. They drifted lower, over her sheet-covered bottom that he now knew was all soft skin over firm muscle, down to the shapely length of legs that had wrapped so tightly around him last night.

     His dick twitched and grew in response to both the sight of AJ's naked body so close to his as well as the memory of what their bodies had done together only hours ago. He silently swallowed his groan and turned his gaze back to the ceiling, trying to pull up images of train wrecks and car accidents and mass destruction, anything to banish the memory of last night and tame his fast-growing erection.

     It wasn't working.

     He was so screwed.

     Minutes drifted by as different scenarios played through his head, all of them ending with him buried deep inside AJ's wet, tight warmth. None of them were a viable option, which meant his immediate future was holding either an extremely ice cold shower or self-gratification. Or both. Probably definitely both.

     His dick twitched again, letting him know that neither option was particularly attractive. Alec swallowed another groan and closed his eyes.

     "You don't have to smother yourself in the pillow. I know you're awake." His voice was hoarse, rusty-sounding, as if he hadn't used it in some time. Alec didn't bother clearing his throat and repeating himself, knowing that AJ had heard him. He felt her body stiffen, tense, but she didn't so much as twitch, not a single movement except for the rise and fall of her breathing.

     He wondered what was going through her mind, what she was thinking. Judging from her absolute stillness, he'd bet it was a safe guess that she was having the same thoughts he was. That she was thinking last night had been a huge mistake. A mistake of mammoth proportions. The mother of all mistakes in the last few mistake-filled weeks.

     So why the hell did that bother him so much?

     He turned his head to look at AJ again, noting she still hadn't moved, that her face was still half-buried in the pillow and the curtain of her hair. "What? I didn't hear you."

     She raised her head only slightly and he heard her blow hair out of her face, but she didn't turn to face him. "I said, would you go away so I can get up?"

     Alec stared at her for a long second then resumed staring at the ceiling, his jaw clenched. "It's my bed." It was a stupid thing to say, juvenile and immature. Rudely inconsiderate. But her request had caught him off-guard, even stunned him. He was laying here with a raging hard-on, thinking only of burying himself deep inside her, and she wanted him to leave so she could get up?

     She mumbled something into the pillow, and again he had to ask her to repeat it. This time when she lifted her head, she turned to face him, fire clear in her heavy-lidded blue eyes. "I said, some gentleman you are." She closed her eyes and turned her head away, then slowly pushed herself up to a sitting position and swung her legs over the side of the bed with a small groan.

     Alec watched the swing of her hair against her back, watched the play of muscles in her arms and caught a glimpse of the full curve of her breast as she reached behind her and tugged on the sheet. She pulled harder, dislodging it from his waist and wrapping it around herself before she stood. He gritted his teeth as his hard-on stood even straighter, waving as if trying to get her attention.

     No doubt about it, his body was a total traitor. And he was totally screwed.

     She walked around the edge of the bed, going out of her way not to look at him. "I'm taking a shower. I smell like beer and hot tub and...I need a shower."

     She had been going to say "sex". Alec knew it without a doubt. He closed his eyes, let out a heavy sigh. "AJ, I'm sor—"

     "Don't you dare say it!"

     The vehemence in her voice startled him. His eyes flew open and he pushed himself to a sitting position just as she straightened from picking something up off the floor. She had a pillow in her hand and threw it at him left-handed, her right hand still tangled in the sheet she was trying to cover herself with. Her feet got tangled in the excess length and she stumbled, quickly righted herself, and glared at him.

     "I swear, Kolchak, if you even
think
about saying you're sorry, I'll...I'll...you'll regret it!" She stood a few feet away from him, her eyes blazing, her hair tousled around her face and shoulders, the ridiculous sheet wrapped haphazardly around her. Her chest rose and fell with each harsh breath, drawing his eyes downward—where they widened in alarm.

     He pushed himself off the bed and reached her with one long stride, gently grabbing her elbow when she would have stepped away from him. He pulled her closer to him, out of the shadow, and straightened her left arm in front of him. There, ringing the soft flesh on the inside of her bicep, were four fresh bruises, each a little larger than a dime, overlaying the fading bruise from when she had fallen on the ice. He placed his hand along the marks and lifted her arm, finding a slightly larger bruise on the underside of her arm.

     The marks fit his fingers perfectly.

     Alec actually stumbled, feeling sick to his stomach at the sight of the marks marring her flesh. He dropped her arm and stepped back, raising his eyes to hers, waiting to see his own horror and condemnation reflected back at him.

     Instead, AJ stood there looking at him as if he had lost his mind. He cleared his throat and motioned to her arm. "I'm sor...I didn't mean..."

     "You're kidding, right?" She pulled the sheet more tightly around her then lifted her arm and looked at it before dropping it to her side. "Seriously? You're upset about this?"

     "AJ, I marked you! My God, I actually hurt you!"

     "Alec." Her voice was sharp, impatient. She blew out a deep breath and stared at him, different emotions playing across her face. "You did not hurt me. Last night. Nothing you did...we did...last night hurt me. We got a little...enthusiastic, that's all."

     A blush crept across her cheeks and she looked away, embarrassed or ashamed, he couldn't tell. He was afraid to ask. She cleared her throat and lifted her eyes briefly to his, then lowered them again.

     "Besides," she continued, motioning to his chest and lower, "you have some marks on you, too. So get over it, and don't you dare apologize. Because you did not hurt me. Last night."

     AJ turned away from him, stumbling just a bit on the ends of the sheet, and walked out of the room, quietly closing the door behind her before he could think of anything to say. He knew, without knowing how, that he had just missed something, that there was something in her words or voice that he should have picked up but was missing.

     Muttering under his breath, replaying her words in his mind, he walked into the bathroom and reached into the shower, turning the water on full blast to the hottest setting. Seeing the bruises on AJ's arm had taken care of his hard-on faster than anything else could have.

     He turned and looked at himself in the mirror, his eyes widening briefly. AJ had said she wasn't the only one with marks, and he now understood. There were several scratches on his chest, as well as some small bite marks along his collarbone and the crook of his neck.

     But it was the one lower that made him pause and suck in his breath. Tucked high on the inside of his thigh, damn near in the crease of his leg, exceedingly close to his balls. A clear reminder of where AJ's mouth had been.

     Alec clenched his jaw tight and reached into the shower, turning the water to the coldest setting before stepping in.

     Tap-tap-tap.

     Tap-tap-tap.

     Tim tossed the pencil onto his desk, leaned back in the chair with a loud squeak, tented his fingers under his chin, and stared at AJ. He was quiet for so long, his face completely blank, that she squirmed in the chair across from his desk, her hands fisting where she had them tucked under her legs.

     "It's not an interview, AJ." His voice was flat, with no emotion in the tone at all. She leaned forward, ready to argue or at least defend herself, but Tim held up his hand to stop her. "It's better than an interview. I'm impressed."

     AJ let out the breath she had been holding and sat back, the knots in her stomach slowly uncurling. She had had no idea how Tim was going to react to the article when she emailed it to him this morning, and had regretted sending it almost immediately. That regret had grown even larger when Tim called an hour ago and asked her to come in.

     What had she been thinking?

     Well, she knew what she had been thinking—the same thing she had been thinking for the last two days, and it had nothing to do with the article. It was pretty amazing that there even was an article, considering everything that had happened the last two days.

     Which was, essentially, absolutely nothing.

     Apparently waking up next to the world's biggest asshole after having the world's greatest sex ever with the same said asshole worked wonders for her writing. Although, to be fair, it wasn't like she had anything else to do for the last two days, since Alec had pretty much ignored her since that morning they woke up together.

     In the same bed.

     After having the world's greatest sex.

     And yeah, she wasn't an idiot and knew it had been a mistake, knew that there wasn't anything more to it than two consenting adults getting together for one night. She knew that, knew not to read anything into it, knew not to expect anything from it, had even told herself that it would make things awkward for at least a little bit.

     Yes, it would have been nice for at least a little bit of morning-after cuddle, but she hadn't expected that, either. What she really hadn't expected was Alec's aloofness and palpable regret filling the room with sub-zero temperatures before she was even fully awake. His attitude had been pure icy misery, as he held himself statue-still, laying as far away from her as he possibly could without rolling out of the enormous bed.

     AJ still didn't know what was worse: that, or his attempted apology. Both memories still sparked anger, and she actually kicked the leg of her chair in retaliation to vent some of it.

     Which made Tim sit back in his chair and stare at her. How had she forgotten where she was?

     She knew how, and mentally kicked herself this time before looking over at Tim with a feigned wide-eyed innocence and gave him her complete attention.

     "You haven't heard a word I said."

     AJ opened her mouth to deny it, but wisely shut it. Tim shook his head then leaned forward, clacking away at his keyboard. "I like the entire set-up you've got going here, AJ. How much more do you have?"

     "Um," she paused and looked away. More? Not much. As in, none.

     Tim waved her off. "It doesn't matter. We can use what you've got so far. In fact, that would be even better for what I have in mind."

     "In mind?" AJ sat up straighter now, worry flowing through her as she noticed the calculating gleam in Tim's eyes, the subdued excitement thrumming through him as he made notes on the post-it pad next to his computer, then clacked away again on the keyboard.

     "Yeah. Forget the original interview idea. We're turning this into a feature series. Four parts, I think. We'll run this one on Sunday. I need the other installments by each Thursday. That gives you almost a full week to come up with the second one. Think you can handle that?" Tim pulled his gaze away from the computer long enough to look at her, the expression in his eyes actually taking her aback. Confidence, pride, encouragement. Tim had always been her mentor, had always believed in her, but seeing it so clearly now surprised her, and she wasn't sure why.

     "Yeah, no problem." She forced more confidence into her voice than she felt, nodding her head enthusiastically.

     "Excellent." He tilted his head and studied her for a second. "This really is great stuff, AJ. You should be proud. And don't be surprised when you're offered a full-time spot in four weeks. As far as I'm concerned, it's a done deal."

     Done deal? Muted excitement and stunned disbelief filled her at the words. A four-week feature series and a full-time spot—exceedingly more than she had ever considered several weeks ago. AJ pushed herself out of the chair and mumbled an inane thanks to Tim then walked out the office, torn between skipping and stumbling. Tim liked her drivel, and what had started out as nothing more than some mindless musings about the game of ice hockey and one of its best goalies was now going to become the first part of a four-part feature that several hundred thousand people would read in three days' time.

     AJ couldn't help it, she did a little skip as she entered the elevator and pushed the button for the lobby floor. She had set out to do something, and she was making it happen!

     She couldn't believe it. A four-part feature. Read by thousands of people. 

     The elevator doors opened with a soft hiss and she stepped out, smiling as she thought of sharing the news with Alec.

     She stumbled and the smile fell from her face as an icy blast tore through her.

     Alec.

     Oh my God, he was the last person she could share this with. The dead last. He would not be sharing her enthusiasm or excitement, she knew that as well as she knew her own name. But it wasn't like she couldn't
not
tell him—he would see it for himself in three days when it came out.

     She had to tell him. She had to. She couldn't let him be blindsided by it. There was absolutely nothing in the article—the feature—that was even remotely negative or unflattering, but he still wouldn't like it. In fact, he would hate it.

     She didn't want to think about how she knew he would hate it, didn't want to fool herself into thinking she actually knew him well enough to know how we would feel. But that didn't stop her from knowing.

     Alec was going to hate it.

     AJ pushed through the lobby doors, her excitement replaced by trepidation as she tried to figure out the best way to tell him when she got back to his place.

**

     Alec stretched out on the oversized sofa and flipped through the channels on the remote, not seeing a single program that flashed across the large flat screen television. He wasn't channel surfing trying to find something to watch; he was channel surfing because he was trying to think of the best way to start the conversation he needed to have with AJ.

     Yes, he
needed
to have the conversation. Not wanted—needed. Something had changed in the last two days, and not for the better. They had barely spoken to each other since the other morning, sharing little more than distantly polite exchanges.

     For as much as he had hated the idea of spending time with her before the whole stupid bet had backfired on him, he thought that not having to deal with her incessant chattering would have been bliss.

     Except she didn't really chatter, and certainly not incessantly.

     But he still hadn't thought he would miss it, not really. His usually quiet house had always been his refuge, a place he could go to escape, to unwind, to just be himself. He enjoyed the occasional solitude, enjoyed just doing nothing, talking to no one. Unlike AJ, he didn't consider that hiding. It didn't matter that lately he had been feeling like something was missing. He wasn't hiding...he was enjoying his peace and privacy.

     Except he hadn't enjoyed it the last two days. Instead of being a welcoming quiet, the silence was oppressive.

     He felt like his own house was condemning him.

     So here he was, mindless channel surfing, trying to come up with a way to start a conversation with AJ, to make the last two days go away so he could hear her voice, her laughter, again.

     Which was going to be hard as hell, considering the only thing he wanted to do every time he saw her was throw her against any flat surface, wrap her legs high around his waist, and bury himself deep inside her. He could just imagine
that
conversation.

     Hey AJ...I really miss our talks. By the way, would you mind if I threw you against the wall and mindlessly banged you?

     Christ.

     The door opened behind him and he jumped, startled then guiltily when he looked over the sofa back and saw AJ walking in. She tossed her keys onto the hall table and took a few steps toward him. She stopped to look at him before completely entering the living room, her teeth pulling nervously on her lower lip.

     Alec eyed her full mouth and swallowed a groan as memories from the other night raced straight to his groin. He pulled his gaze away from her lips and took in her outfit: a leather and shell necklace worn tight around her neck like a choker, a longer leather necklace with some kind of shell hanging from it, falling near the edge of a scalloped shirt that showed more cleavage than he thought she should be showing in public, especially when the longer necklace called attention to that same cleavage.

     His gaze dropped lower still to her curve-hugging jeans with the slightly frayed patches hinting at the toned flesh of her thighs, the jeans tucked into brown boots. And shit, where did she get those boots? They looked like pirate boots, with a cuff around the top, the leather dark and soft, worn-looking like a bomber jacket. Except he didn't think many pirates wore boots with three-inch heels.

     And suddenly Alec didn't want to talk. The only thing Alec wanted to do was find that flat surface he couldn't stop thinking about. Except that really wasn't going to work either, so he jumped from the sofa and took a step toward her, willing his mouth to start working, hoping the words would come out the right way.

     "Alec, we need to talk."

     Her words froze him in place, right in the middle of his tracks. They were words that nobody ever wanted to hear, no matter what the situation was. He couldn't read the look on her face, could only see that she really didn't want to talk about whatever it was she said they needed to talk about.

     And suddenly he didn't want to talk. About anything. He held his hand out and shook his head, stopping her from saying anything else.

     "We're going out. Just...give me five minutes and we'll leave."

     "Alec—"

     "Some of the guys are getting together tonight, so we'll go meet them and just hang out for a little bit."

     "Alec—"

     "Five minutes. Just stay there." He whirled around and headed for his room, taking the steps two at a time, thinking that a night out was suddenly a perfect idea.

**

     AJ stared at the bright lights and flashing neon decorating the building in front of them in disbelief, then turned to face Alec to see if he was joking with her. He was too busy pulling the keys out of the ignition and putting his wallet in the back pocket of his jeans to notice her look. But he acted like nothing was out of the ordinary, and she couldn't tell if he was pulling her leg or not.

     AJ didn't know what to think, considering how strange he had been acting since she had returned to his place a little more than an hour ago. He had almost literally dragged her out of his condo, brightly assuring her that a night out would be fun. Then, every time she had tried talking, he had interrupted, insisting they were going to have a great time, that this would be a perfect chance for her to get to know some of the other players.

     Alec opened his door to get out, then seemed to finally notice that she was still seat-belted in and making no effort to move. He looked at her questioningly, and she pointed to the flashing neon in front of them.

     "Um, Alec...you do know this is a strip club, right?"

     She almost laughed at his expression, it was that comical. His head whipped from her to the building and back, his eyes momentarily widening before lowering in a frown. She couldn't be sure because of the light, but it almost looked like a blush was creeping across his face. His lips were moving and she knew he was muttering something, but she couldn't make out what it was as he dropped back into the driver's seat and closed the door.

     "Shit, sorry. Wasn't thinking," he mumbled. He leaned back in the seat and jammed his hand into his front pocket, searching for the car keys. "Stupid. Stupid idea. No problem, we can go someplace else. Really, wasn't thinking and—"

     "Alec." She reached out and closed her hand around his wrist to stop his digging for the keys. Her fingers brushed against his jeans and she quickly let him go, pulling her hand back to her own lap and clearing her throat. "Alec, it's no big deal. We can go in."

     "What? Are you nuts? No, absolutely not. That would be—AJ, no, where are you going?"