Free Falling for the Guy Next Door by Claire Robyns Page B

are very thin.”
    His voice rose
to a normal level. “Do you always have to whisper?”
    “Shhh.” She
leaned in slightly. “I’m going to run upstairs to fetch the
books.”
    He started to
rise from the sofa. “Let me help you carry—”
    “No!” she
whisper-yelped, pressing him down again. “My office is a total
mess. A private sanctuary. I don’t let anyone up there.”
    A strange look
came over his face.
    “Relax, finish
your coffee and I won’t be long.” She backed away, whispering, “Try
not to move too much.”
    Halfway up the
stairs, she paused to send her message. We’re
going upstairs now for some carefree, adult fun. I’m not fragile.
I’m a woman and I have needs that don’t come attached to a string
of expectations.
    There was no
reply. She didn’t expect one. He’d probably swooned or something.
But if she knew Jack, and she believed she did, he was tripping up
the stairs right now, if only to prove himself right.
    Inside her
bedroom, the door softly closed, Megan crossed the room and pressed
an ear to the wall. She waited a moment, then sent her final text
of the night before turning the phone off. Please
do not disturb.
    The muffled
ping of a new message notification filtered from the master bedroom
on the other side of the wall. Busted! She tiptoed away from the
wall before flipping from covert tactics to baby elephant stomping.
She put some music on, dialled up the volume and flopped onto the
bed. Rolled over onto her back, arms flung out, and closed her
eyes.
    Not so smug
now, hey, Jack? Maybe this would teach him to think twice about
his dictatorial consideration next time she threw herself at him.
Which she wouldn’t, of course.
    Was he still
there? Would he stay to listen? She slid off the bed and positioned
herself at the base.
    God, what was
she doing?
    She took a
deep breath and squared her shoulders. Bludgeoning him over the
head, that’s what. She could take her sex just as wild, hot and
brief as he could. She bent, gripped beneath the base and gave a
hard shove. The oomph that left her lungs added to the effect as
the headboard slammed up against the wall. Another two mighty
shoves and she was done. Gabriel might be quick, but he’d
definitely delivered a punch.
    A few more
minutes, and she collected the small boxes of books from her office
on her way down the stairs. She rounded the corner into the sitting
room and froze at the sight of Jack seated in the armchair opposite
Gabriel.
    “What have you
been doing up there?” Jack grinned at her. “Rearranging
furniture?”
    A hot blush
heated her entire body. Her spine went weak and her arms collapsed,
dropping the boxes onto her toes.
    “Ouch!
Freaking friggin’ ouch!” She hopped, gritted her teeth, and died a
slow, slow death of shame.
    Both men
jumped up. Jack reached her first, swooping her into his arms and
carrying her to the sofa. He hunched before her, lifting her feet
onto his knees and sliding off her sandals. His fingers wrapped
around her toes, applying pressure until the throbbing dulled.
    Gabriel was
gathering the books that had spilled out. “Do you need ice,
Megan?”
    “Yes,” Jack
said.
    “I’m fine,”
she countered. She jerked her feet from his grip and pushed into a
corner of the sofa, folding her legs beneath her.
    “Ice,” Jack
barked.
    Gabriel
jumped, and then hurried into the kitchen.
    Megan squeezed
her eyes tight. “I know what you’re thinking, Jack, and I don’t
want to hear it.”
    “What would
that be?”
    She opened one
eye to peer at him. “Yeah, like I haven’t humiliated myself enough
for one night.” She wanted to crawl under the sofa and never come
out. “Just go, Jack, please.”
    He stayed
right where he was, gazing into her eyes. “I rushed over here to
stop you.” His grin was absent, although the expression on his face
still crinkled the edges of his eyes and softened the angles of his
jaw. “I’ve spent most of the day being an over-confident jerk and
it