Free Basic Training by Julie Miller

off like an insult.”
    “That’s bull. A man doesn’t call a woman to ask somebody else out for him.”
    “You did it.”
    “Back in high school and college days,” he argued.“I didn’t ask you to set me up with Robin just now. Morty’s a grown man.”
    Tess swept a lock of hair off her face and planted her fists on her hips. Mr. Man-of-the-World just didn’t get where she was coming from. “Trav, I’ve been the plain-old tomboy next door for so many years that it’s impossible for the men in this town to see me in any other way. I’ve tried to shake the stereotype, but I can’t. They ask me to be their friend or to do them a favor. But they don’t ask me out.”
    Travis reached for her. He startled a noisy gasp from her as his big hands spanned her waist and pulled her between his legs. “Then the men of Ashton are idiots.”
    Her hands had nowhere to brace themselves except against his chest. She curled her fingers into a fistful of cotton and shook him to make her point. “ You don’t see me any other way, either.”
    He brushed that pesky lock of hair off her cheek and tucked it behind her ear. “Don’t be so sure, T-bone.”
    “Right.” She angled her head in disbelief. “You’d ask me out on a date that didn’t involve playing baseball and did involve making out.”
    “You want me to?”
    Dammit, his voice had changed again. It had dropped to the husky whisper that fanned her pulse into liquid fire and mocked her resolve to keep things light and friendly between them. “I’m serious. Like, I bet right now you couldn’t kiss me without breaking into fits of laughter. You’d think you were kissing your sister or the shortstop, and that would be just too weird.”
    That’s what she needed—a good belly laugh to make the need coiling inside her go away.
    But the hands at her waist and nape tightened imperceptibly, drawing her closer. He angled his face toward hers. “Are you daring me to kiss you?”
    “I’m proving a point.” His eyes were close enough for her to see the kaleidoscope of sapphire, cobalt and midnight ringing the black, dilated pupils. She could feel the heat of the afternoon workout through his clothes, smell the hint of musk and soap on his skin. Desire clogged her throat, turning her argument into a breathless plea. “Unless I work a miracle, or leave town and abandon Mom, I’m destined to take Nixa Newhaven’s place as the resident spinster of Ashton, Virginia.”
    “Then let’s work a miracle.” He studied her lips as if they were one of her famous blueberry muffins and he were a starving man. A deep, pensive breath made his chest rise beneath her hands. “Maybe we just hit on how I can pay you back for helping me with Dad.”
    “You’re going to kiss me?”
    “I’m going to show you how to set this town on its ear, make them see you in a whole new light. And we’re going to have fun doing it.”
    “Impossible.”
    “Well, first you’ve got to get over that idea.” He stroked the shell of her ear, eliciting a shiver that almost made her forget what they were debating. “You have to think of yourself as an irresistible woman.”
    Tess laughed at the ludicrous suggestion. The whole idea of being irresistible made her nervous, too.
    “Don’t just think it,” he ordered in that seductivepitch, tracing her ear again. “Believe it. Men will see you in a different light.”
    “Ashton’s had thirty-three years to see me in all kinds of lighting, and—” Her throat tightened up on a startled gasp.
    He’d dragged his hand along her ribcage, skimming the side of her breast, and now he lingered since he’d discovered she couldn’t form words when he touched her there.
    “You are irresistible,” he repeated, instructing her, praising her—she couldn’t tell which.
    “I’m not—” He flicked his thumb over the tight bead of her nipple and she choked on her protest. “Trav—” His name rushed out on an embarrassingly breathless sigh.
    He