"Too late. I don't think I can move."
"Yeah you can. If you don't, I'll be forced to call you 'sweetheart' again."
AJ cracked open one eye and stared up at Alec, feeling her heart squeeze tightly at his teasing grin, at the warmth in his dark eyes. She closed her eyes again and cursed beneath her breath. Too late was an understatement.
"C'mon, up you go." She felt a pair of hands grab her right arm, then opened her eyes in surprise when a second pair grabbed her left arm. Ian was also standing next to her, laughing quietly as they pulled her to a standing position. She didn't even bother to try skating away, just let them pull her across the ice. Which was a good thing, since she didn't think she could really do more than just stand anyway.
"I think my legs have turned into Silly Putty."
"You'll get used to it. You actually did pretty good out there," Ian told her. She looked over at him, waiting for him to add something else, but only saw grudging admiration on his face.
"If you say so. I didn't even score once, though." She paused and gave Alec a mock dirty look. "The least you could have done was make it look like you had to work at least a little to make a few of those saves! It would have made the aches and pains more worth it."
Both men laughed again, still pulling her across the ice. Alec crooked his hand further through her elbow and pulled her just a little closer. "I'll make it up to you later. After we get home and you take a soak in the hot tub."
AJ's heart tripped in her chest and she stumbled just the smallest bit as they walked off the ice. Don't read into it, she told herself. He didn't mean it the way it sounded, she was sure of it. It was just a figure of speech, a meaningless phrase.
Ian reached behind him to slam the door shut, momentarily throwing her off balance since he still had hold of her arm. Alec's own hold tightened and she turned her face toward his, surprised to see him leaning toward her, as if he was getting ready to kiss her. Her heart hammered some more then she noticed a flash from the corner of her eye, and knew that Joey was back with his camera.
But she didn't understand why he was using a flash. AJ turned her head away from Alec, then felt herself being pushed to the side as a blur and another flash exploded in her vision. She stumbled and went down on one knee, almost taking Ian down with her.
She was saved from doing a full face plant right there in front of everyone only because Ian tightened his hold on her and quickly pulled her upright. Alec had let go of her other arm, and she turned to see what was going on.
Her body stiffened in disbelief. Alec had let go of her because he now had his arms full of a buxom blonde—one of the rink bunnies AJ had noticed earlier. Only maybe she wasn't a rink bunny, since Alec seemed to know her. At least, AJ thought he knew her, since he wasn't doing anything to push her away as she pressed against him.
"Alec! Have you missed me?"
AJ watched in stunned silence as the blonde wrapped her arms around Alec's neck then actually wrapped one leg around his before leaning forward and kissing him.
And it wasn't just a simple kiss, either. It was a full-contact, tongue-down-his-throat spectacle. AJ closed her mouth with an audible snap and just stared as the kiss continued, both parties apparently oblivious.
Oblivious to the small crowd. Oblivious to the attention they were drawing. Oblivious to the camera that was clicking and flashing away inches from them.
"Shit." The word may have come from her, but she thought it was most likely uttered by Ian. AJ pulled her arm from his grasp and turned away, making her way to the locker room. She ignored the sound of her name being called, focusing only on getting away from the unfolding scene, and barely registered the sight of Gerry Brown standing smugly off to the side. She paused, then shook her head and moved on, no longer caring about anything but getting away.
FIFTEEN
When it came to making a grand exit, AJ was an abject failure.
She had the entire scene planned: it would be mature, quiet, positive. Professional, even. And, hopefully, leave Alec-the-jerk feeling like a lowlife as she waltzed out the door with her bag and laptop in tow.
In reality, grand exits lost a lot of their drama when the person doing the exiting fell asleep with a wet head and only a partially-packed bag. And grand exits really lost all their appeal when the person doing the exiting had to be awakened by the person being exited.
Those were the incoherent, groggy thoughts that floated through AJ's head as she slowly came awake in the dim room. A few long seconds passed as she pushed herself to a sitting position and glanced around, trying to remember where she was.
Oh yeah. She was in Alec's guest bedroom. She had driven here after the fiasco following the photo shoot and packed most of her stuff, intending to just leave. The creeping soreness throbbing through her muscles had convinced her to at least take a shower so she wasn't completely miserable. Then she had stretched out on the bed, intending only to stretch, and had promptly fell asleep.
She pushed her tangled hair out of her face and eased herself out of the bed with a stifled groan, ignoring Alec as he leaned against the doorway and watched her. She threw her few remaining clothes into her duffle bag and zipped it shut, then stiffly walked across the room, stopping when Alec refused to move out of her way.
"Where are you going?"
AJ looked up at him and wondered why he even bothered to ask the question. Maybe the earlier kiss had melted what few brain cells she had given him credit for having.
"I'm going home."
"Why?"
"Why? Did you really just ask me why? Why do you think?"
"I don't know. That's why I'm asking."
AJ gritted her teeth and tried to push past him, only to have his arms close around her. She stiffened in his hold, refusing to budge, refusing to look up at him. She just stood there, only barely resisting the urge to swing her duffle bag upside his head, and then only because she didn't think she'd be able to lift it that far.
"Aren't you even going to ask me who she is?"
If possible, AJ stiffened even more, her back teeth grinding so hard she expected them to crack under the pressure. Her lying words were clipped as she spoke. "It's not my business."
"It's not?"
"No, it is not." But oh, how she wanted it to be. She wanted to know exactly who the woman was, how well Alec knew her—although she figured she already knew the answer to that one—and what their relationship was. Then she wanted to know where the woman lived so she could find her and rake her eyes out of her skull. Then she wanted to come back and do the same thing to Alec.
"You're lying. You want to know."
AJ pushed against him and broke free from his hold, her suppressed hurt morphing into sudden anger. How dare he try to make light of it? Did he really think it was funny?
She gripped her duffel bag tighter and pushed past him and into the hallway, heading for the stairs. Alec followed her but she ignored him, wanting only to get downstairs and out the door.
"AJ, wait. AJ, c'mon. I was joking."
She paused at the bottom of the stairs and turned to look up at him. "Joking? Yeah. Ha ha. Real funny."
Alec jumped the last two steps then moved in front of her when she turned away from him. He placed his hands on her shoulders and leaned down, pushing his face closer to hers. "AJ, I'm sorry. Alright? I thought if I tried to make a joke of it, the whole thing wouldn't suck so much."
"Well, it didn't work. And like I said—it's not my business, so don't worry about it." She stepped away and Alec's hands dropped from her shoulders. They looked at each other for a long minute, and AJ tried to think of something to say to break the silence. Her mind came up blank. After all, what could she say?
She couldn't come out and tell him how she felt—she wasn't even sure how she felt herself, not really. And he had never said anything about how he felt, either. Yeah, he liked having her around. Not exactly a declaration, since she was pretty sure he liked having food around, too.
"Why
don't you think it's your business?" Alec finally asked, his voice quiet. She looked into his eyes but they were carefully veiled, giving away nothing. She took a deep breath and looked away, shaking her head.
"Alec, it's not like...I mean..." She took another deep breath and adjusted her grip on the bag. "We're not together, okay? You don't answer to me, I don't answer to you. So if there's...you know, someone else...that's your business, not mine."
"We're not together? Then what are we, AJ? Hell, you share my bed every night. What exactly is it that we're doing here?"
She couldn't look at him, afraid he would be able to see too much in her eyes if she did. So she shook her head again and took a step back. "I guess we're just sleeping together. And we wouldn't even be doing that if not for your stupid bet."
"Stupid bet?"
"Yeah. You would have never given me even a minute of your time if not for the bet and you know it." AJ's breath hitched in her chest at the words, and at the harsh truth of them. Up until a month ago, it was all she could do just to get Alec to look at her, and then it was usually because he was looking over his shoulder as he ran away. It would have almost been funny how quickly things had changed...if not for how she really felt.
She glanced up at Alec and wished she hadn't. He was standing less than a foot away, staring at her, his body stiff, his face devoid of all emotion. "So the last few weeks were, what? Research? An extra inside scoop?"
"What!" AJ stepped back as if she had been slapped. And while Alec seemed completely drained of all emotion, hers boiled to the surface. "Is that what you really think? You honestly believe I could just...do that? Thanks, Kolchak. You just proved that you know absolutely nothing about me."
She turned her back on him and walked to the door, digging in the bowl he kept on the entranceway table for her keys. Her eyes closed and she counted to ten while taking deep breaths, searching for a rational calm she didn't feel. Alec was standing next to her when she opened her eyes, studying her, his face no longer quite so blank. But she still couldn't tell what he was thinking or feeling.
"AJ, that's not—"
"Listen, just...don't say anything, okay? I'm almost finished with the series and you're getting ready for an away stretch. The thirty days will be over before you get back so..." She shrugged and cleared her throat, looking away from Alec. "It's time for me to leave, anyway."
Saying the words out loud hurt her more than she thought they would, but she didn't know what else to do. She had known it would be too easy to become attached but she had let herself do it anyway, thinking...well, she hadn't been thinking. That was the whole problem.
Her hands closed around the keys and she squeezed her fist closed, not caring that the metal dug into her palm. When she looked up, Alec was still standing next to her, not moving, not doing much of anything. She wished he would say something to break the silence and at least make her feel less uncomfortable. It felt like a full minute dragged by before he finally nodded and stepped away. It wasn't quite what she was expecting—or hoping for.
"Well, if the time is up, then I guess that's it." He took a step back, not really looking at her, his gaze focused somewhere over her shoulder. AJ stood motionless, pain tearing through her. Had she really thought he would declare his undying love for her? No.
But that didn't mean she hadn't hoped. Maybe not for an undying declaration, but certainly for something other than his obvious dismissal.
Alec looked back at her, his eyes distant, a slow ticking in his clenched jaw. "So tell me. Is it really because the time is up for the bet? Or is it something else?"
She swallowed and looked down at the keys in her hand, blinking hard several times, wondering what she should say. She finally looked up and shrugged. "I don't know. I mean...I don't know, Alec. You asked me what we're doing here. I could ask you the same thing. What do you think we're doing here? Because, you know, I'm not the one who was sucking face with some strange woman in front of reporters and spectators."
He watched her for a long minute then looked away with a small shake of his head. AJ's stomach clenched and her heart tightened in her chest. She took a deep breath, swallowed, then let the breath out in a rush. "Yeah, well. It's been fun, right? And it's not like we won't see each other again, so—"
"AJ, that's not—"
"No, really. It's not a big deal, you know? We're both adults and—"
"AJ—"
The shrill buzz of the doorbell echoed through the entranceway, silencing both of them. AJ met Alec's eyes, wishing she could read their dark depths. The doorbell buzzed again and Alec cursed as he stepped toward the door. "Damn shitty timing."
AJ was going to say something about him not having to answer it but her mouth snapped shut when he opened the door. Standing on the other side was the blonde from earlier, one hand resting high on the door frame, the other resting casually on her hip. The pose was so obviously deliberate.
And her appearance so very shocking that AJ actually sucked in her breath in surprise, feeling as if she had been slapped across the face. She couldn't see Alec's face, but she thought his back stiffened and she was pretty sure he was just as surprised at the blonde's appearance as she was.
Or maybe she just wanted to believe that. Because, once again, the blonde stepped forward and grabbed Alec in a full-body embrace and plastered her mouth against his.
AJ didn't bother to wait and see Alec's reaction; she leaned down to grab her bag and threw it over her shoulder, then pushed pass the lip-locked couple, not caring that she hit them with the bag. She pressed the button for the private elevator and muttered a sigh of thanks when the door opened immediately. Alec called her name but she ignored him and hit the button for the lobby before turning around, careful not to look up.
The door had just started to close when Alec raced in beside her, pushing her against the wall of the elevator with his solid body. "AJ, don't go."
The door closed with a hiss and AJ felt a second of panic at Alec's closeness. She shoved against him, staring at her hands splayed against the shirt pulled tight across his chest. His solid body didn't budge; instead, he stepped closer and cradled her face with his hands, forcing her to look up at him.
"AJ, don't go," he repeated, his voice just above a whisper. She finally raised her eyes to meet his, searching for something, an answer or an indication or...something. But the dark depths of his eyes revealed...nothing she could easily read.
"Alec, there's no reason for me to stay."
His mouth closed over hers in a searing kiss she didn't see coming, his lips claiming hers with a moist heat so intense that she fell against him with a soft sigh. Alec gentled the kiss too quickly, pulling away and resting his forehead against hers. "For this. Isn't this reason enough?"
AJ closed her eyes and took a deep breath. More than anything, she wanted to say yes. But for reasons more than deep kisses, passion, lust.
"Alec, I...no, it's not. I'm sorry." This time he took a step back when she pushed against him, his face carefully blank. The door opened and Alec placed his hand against the frame, his gaze holding hers. She searched her mind for something to say, anything, but came up with nothing. AJ told herself it was just as well, because she doubted if she could get any words past her thick throat.
She readjusted her grip on the bag and stepped past Alec, out of the elevator and into the lobby. She stood with her eyes closed for a second, then turned when she heard the doors begin to close. Alec stood motionless, his face blank as he stared at her. At the last possible second, just before the doors finally closed, an emotion flashed in the depths of his eyes, so briefly that AJ told herself it was merely a figment of her imagination, wishful thinking.
She took a deep breath, swallowed, and blinked hard, then turned and walked out of the lobby.
**
The paper landed in front of her with a loud rustle, covering the keyboard. AJ glanced down at it, clenched her jaw, and impatiently brushed it away, not bothering to look up at the person who t
hrew it. The shadow grew larger, blotting out the light in her cubicle, and she let out a sigh of irritation.
"They make a nice couple, don't you think?"
AJ gritted her teeth again and took a deep breath, warning herself not to let her impatience—or anger—show. "If you say so."
Gerry Brown reached down for the paper and made a show of casually flipping through the pages. "I still don't know which picture is my favorite. There are so many to choose from. There's this one of them dressed up on the town..." The colorful pages rustled as he flipped through them. "Or this one of the happy couple reuniting at the rink..." More rustling, then a chuckle. "But I do think my favorite is this one here. It really captures your graceful side." The paper was tossed back on her keyboard, and she didn't have to look down to see which picture he was talking about. She had seen them all before, had their images branded on her retinas from staring at them in disbelief for so long.
Pictures of Alec and the rink bunny. Or rather, his once-ex-and-now-current girlfriend. Apparently happily reunited after not seeing each other for more than two years. AJ tried to convince herself that the expression on Alec's face looked more like constipation rather than happiness, but that was probably more wishful thinking.
The page Gerry had turned to showed another color picture from the photo shoot nearly two weeks ago: her sliding across the ice on her butt, just after Jean-Pierre had knocked into her during the mock game. She glanced down at it one last time then batted it away.
"How's it feel to sell your soul for a byline, Gerry? Proud of the tabloid trash?" The words were light and flippant, reflecting none of the anger that had been seething through her since the local tabloid had come out a few days ago.
Gerry reached down and snatched the paper away, a flush mottling his face. His hands crumpled the pages, the paper twisting in his fists as he leaned closer. "At least I didn't trade sex for a story and a paycheck."
AJ stood so fast that her desk chair slid into the cubicle wall with a bang. She stepped toward Gerry, effectively blocking his escape from the small area, and took grim satisfaction at the look of alarm that crossed his smarmy face.
Crossing the Line (The Baltimore Banners Book 1) Page 14
