Free Against the Ropes by Jeanette Murray

it’s not a bad thing. And frankly, I’m probably partial because, well.” He winked. “You know.”
    â€œYou’re a horndog?” she said dryly, then gasped and covered her mouth.
    He laughed. Then when she thought he was done, he started chuckling and built right back up to a belly-shaking laugh.
    Reagan glanced around, saw people watching their table with avid interest and kicked him under the table. “Shhh! People are staring!” she hissed.
    He finally quieted down enough to wipe at the tears at the corners of his eyes. “You kill me. Seriously, you do.”
    â€œSuch a compliment. However will I resist,” she muttered as she stabbed her steak with something akin to rage.
    â€œI’m hoping you don’t.”
    He saw by the way her eyes widened for just a second before she looked back down at her plate that she’d heard him.

CHAPTER
    6
    â€œI ’m not sure how you did it,” Reagan said as they walked to Greg’s car, “but I didn’t actually get any answers out of you.”
    â€œI’m good, what can I say?”
    â€œMaybe you should be the one in PR. Oh!” Realizing she’d left her notebook behind, she turned to go. Greg caught her wrist and pulled her against him.
    â€œI’ve got your notebook.”
    Thanks to her heels, she was nearly two inches taller than him. She expected to feel awkward, or maybe powerful, with the height advantage. But her knees were nearly water as he nuzzled his nose against her jaw. Maybe her brain was liquefying, too, because she actually felt herself lean into the caress. His warm breath against her neck sent a tingle of gooseflesh racing over her exposed skin. And as his arm wrapped around the small of her back to pull her tighter against him, there wasn’t a single protest in her mind. He could have laid her down on the asphalt and it wouldn’t have occurred to her to voice an alternative.
    â€œWe should get going.”
    He stepped back, and she was left to blink at the immediate lack of warmth. “Going . . .” was all she could say.
    â€œLong drive home, and we’ve got work tomorrow.” He shifted his hold on her wrist lower to lace his fingers with hers. “Besides, I have to be well rested for my media debut, right?”
    â€œUh-huh,” she said stupidly, following as he walked to the car. Had she really been so naïve to think he’d start putting the moves on her in a parking lot? No, that would be ridiculous. And she was nothing if not practical.
    In everything but footwear, anyway.
    When he opened her door, she turned. It was wrong, and she shouldn’t press, but she had to know. “Why did you stop?”
    His smile was slow, and it sent alarm bells ringing in her head, but she wasn’t quite sure which ones. The alarm that said
Run now!
or the one that said
Supper’s on, come and get it!
    â€œYou were expecting it.”
    â€œI . . . okay.” She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the back door. “So what if I was?”
    â€œWhen I kiss you the first time, it’s not going to be expected. And it’s not going to make you feel the way you
think
you should feel.”
    Reagan turned that over in her head for a moment as she got in the car. She let it marinate while he drove them out of the parking lot, and half the way home.
    â€œHow do you know what I think I should feel?”
    â€œLegs,” he said without taking his eyes off the road, “you’ve got TTBP all over you.”
    â€œI’m almost afraid to ask, but . . . TTBP?”
    He grinned, his face illuminated in the headlights of a passing truck. “Trying to Be Professional. You play the starched business lady during the day, and you tried to bring her out tonight. But you’ve got a wild streak you’re tryingto keep hidden for one reason or another. When you’re ready to let that