Free Flirting With Forever by Kim Boykin Page A

couldn’t outrun him, I sure as hell could lock him out of my room.
    The elevator door opened and I stepped inside. A businessman reading his newspaper started to follow, but Jake threw his arm across the door, stepped inside, and punched the button.
    “Talk to me, Tara.”
    I swiped at my tears, trembling hard. “Go to hell, Jake.”
    “Lou’s the best at what she does.”
    And just what does she do for you? “You promised you wouldn’t tell anybody, Jake, and then you told her. Why would you do that to me?”
    “Look, I did what I thought was best.”
    “Not for me, you didn’t. You were just trying to protect your job.”
    “I was trying to protect you.” He closed the space between us, pinning me against the wall. His mouth slanted across mine, hands threaded in my hair as he kissed me. And I kissed him back. Greedy. Devouring. Terrified that he could make me feel so hurt and angry. Wanted.
    The elevator opened. I pulled away and ran for my room. The damn key card wouldn’t work, or maybe it was my hands that wouldn’t work. He was pressed against me, hands caged on either side of the door. I swiped the key in the lock over and over again. The stupid red light mocked me, and my body betrayed me, arching into his.
    “I’m so sorry you thought I was trying to hurt you, Tara.” His lips pressed just above my ear. “I would never hurt you.”
    Finally, the key worked. I fell into the room, slammed the door shut, back pressed against it, heart beating out of my chest. And that’s when I knew the real reason I was running from Jake Randall.

Chapter Ten
    ‡
    J ake wanted Tara. Plain and simple, but after what her asshole husband did to her, it seemed wrong to start something with her now, especially with the tour and those damn theater gigs. Who knew how those things would go? Janzen had never done anything like that before, and on paper they looked like a nightmare. But Tara was good with people, really good and if anybody could make them work, it was her. And she’d made it clear she needed this to work. Nope, the next twenty-five days were going to suck. He’d do his job and keep his hands off of her, which right now seemed impossible. Definitely a lot of cold showers in his future.
    And telling Lou about Jim Jordan? Jake was just trying to help Tara. Lou might be a bitch, but she knew the business and had an uncanny sense for how the public reacts to scandals and how to fix them. Besides, he was just doing his job, preserving Tara’s brand, only what he felt went beyond that. He didn’t just want to protect her damn career, he wanted to protect her. But he hadn’t protected her, not from Lou. He hadn’t counted on Lou’s claws coming out. She seemed to enjoying hurting Tara, and now Tara didn’t trust him.
    Still, he shouldn’t have kissed her. He didn’t know why he did. No, that wasn’t true, he knew exactly why he’d kissed her. He’d wanted to since the day he first met her. Even if he lost his job, it had been worth it to feel his hands tangled in her hair, her body pressed against his. Her lips, her tongue. And she’d kissed him back, that was for sure.
    But she wasn’t answering her phone, wasn’t answering the door. Through the adjoining door, Jake could hear her banging around. Was she packing? He called the front desk. “Jake Randall. I need to leave a message for Tara Jordan in room 704.” If that annoying little red light was flashing on the phone in her room, maybe she would listen to what he had to say.
    “I’m pretty sure Ms. Jordan checked out, Mr. Randall; she called the front desk a few minutes ago and said she was leaving. She might still be there, can I try her room for you?”
    She was there all right, she just wouldn’t pick up the damn phone or open the door. “No. Thanks.”
    “I see your rooms are on the same credit card. Will you be checking out as well?”
    Was he really going to chase after her? Christ, he’d only known her for a few days. No he’d let