Free On the Ropes by Holley Trent Page A

hair.”
    “You don’t agree?”
    “No, I don’t. But maybe I don’t have the right eye for it. I tend to buy whatever I like regardless of my hair color. I bought Toby a pink shirt a few months ago just to piss her off. That’s another color she won’t wear.”
    “Stephen, that was a shitty thing to do.”
    “I know. It totally was. She let him wear it, though.”
    He had all his luggage closed back up and pushed toward the door by the time Janette emerged from the bathroom. “Just give me a minute to put some make-up on and I’ll go downstairs with you.”
    “Come on, you don’t need the make-up.”
    She opened her mouth as if to rebut, but before she could get the words out, he added, “And I’m not being impatient or overly flattering. You don’t need the make-up.”
    She looked sweet without it. Maybe that’s what she was trying to avoid.
    “You don’t think my eyes look comically large without the smoky eyeliner?”
    “Comically large?” He chuckled. “Fuck, I’ve heard a lot of feminine insecurities in thirty-seven years, but I think that’s the first time I’ve heard that one.”
    “That’s not funny. You’d understand it if there was anything about you that wasn’t perfect.”
    “You’ve already pointed out that my nose isn’t perfect.” He flicked his finger over the bump.
    She swatted a dismissive hand at him and rolled her eyes. “That just adds to your sex appeal. You got your nose broken doing some very masculine thing and it doesn’t even look bad .”
    “Sex appeal, huh?”
    “You know you’re sexy. You don’t have to fish for compliments.”
    “Well, I’d like to think that I have a certain allure, but I ask because if I have it, you do a damned good job of not showing it.”
    Her cheeks turned burgundy.
    He grinned.
    “In my experience, if you tell a man he’s attractive, he won’t stop badgering you to prove it.”
    “Sounds like you’re in the acquaintance of numerous assholes.”
    The corners of her lips twitched and she eyed him from head to toe. “What’s that say about you , then?”
    “Touché. Just for bruising my pride, you get no make-up. Let’s go. If I have to be up this early, I’d like for there to be bacon in front of me, or sausage at the very least.”
    “I’d rather have the make-up than the pork.”
    “You need to straighten out your priorities, because you should never say no to pork .”
    Her lips parted, gaze trailed past his waist to his groin, then her mouth closed before she could spit out a retort.
    He got between her and the suitcase she was edging toward. “You giving me the cold shoulder for a year is starting to make more and more sense. It’s a serious personality flaw, you not liking pork.”
    “I-I like pork just fine.” She darted past him with her hand extended to her make-up bag, but before she could grab it, he got her arms around her body and held her still. He didn’t even have to squeeze. She just stopped.
    Her tense body relaxed slowly in degrees, but her breaths came out in uneven pants.
    Grabbing her had simply been instinct. Not touching her seemed unnatural to him, but he’d already decided this was her rodeo. She needed to know what she wanted and clearly project that to him.
    He dropped his arms.
    She turned slowly and looked up at him. She swallowed. “I suppose I shouldn’t test the reflexes of a boxer.”
    “If my reflexes were as good as they used to be, I wouldn’t have let you past me in the first place.”
    “I don’t like being manhandled.”
    “And I don’t intend to manhandle you.”
    She groaned softly, closed her eyes, and shook her head. “I didn’t mean to insinuate that you did. I meant that you didn’t. So, thank you. I guess I’m a bit fragile.”
    He’d guessed that, but hearing it coming from her lips ignited an ache in his heart. He wanted to pull her against his chest, hold her, and tell her to go ahead and cry whatever it was out, but he knew better. If all Meg had