Crossing the Line (The Baltimore Banners Book 1)

by Lisa B. Kamps

  Alec's hand reached toward her, and she braced herself for some scathing or sarcastic remark. Instead, he just continued looking at her with those dark eyes as he gently removed the helmet from her head. AJ ignored the throbbing at the base of her skull and held her breath as Alec brushed her sweat-soaked hair off her forehead. The air around her grew suddenly warmer and she was almost afraid to move, let alone say anything. But the silence worried her, and she decided it would be better to just get everything over with now while she could still stand.

  "So does this mean I won?"

  A few long seconds went by before Alec finally gave her a brief smile.

  "Yeah, you won."

  "Cool, because I think I'm going to collapse now."

  **

  AJ pulled the towel off her head and shook out her wet hair, only half-heartedly finger-combing it before turning her attention to the bruise that spread up the back of her arm to her shoulder. An ugly combination of dark blue and purple, it ran along the back and side of her arm from her shoulder to just above her elbow. It was almost the exact shape of the goal post and hurt like hell.

  AJ couldn't stop the smile that crept across her face. She still couldn't quite believe it. She had actually scored against Alec Kolchak! She was going to interview him and get her story!

  Her mind was already planning the course of her interview with Alec. Who was she kidding? She had been planning this since Tim had put the challenge out there! It was going to be extensive and in-depth, giving him the attention and recognition he deserved as a goalie.

  And giving her the chance at the staff spot at the paper.

  Her thoughts of making Gerry Brown crawl back under his rock as she put him in his place were interrupted by the doorbell. AJ winced as the echo bounced around the inside of her skull, and she made a mental note to finally go and get her migraine prescription refilled after she got rid of whoever was at the door.

  She threw on a pair of loose gym shorts and a sports bra then walked the short distance from her bathroom to the front door. She wasn't expecting company and wasn't in the mood for any, not when all she wanted to do was lie down and relive her victory from a few hours ago. Her mouth dropped open in surprise when she opened the door and saw Alec standing there. She smothered a laugh when he quickly turned his back to her.

  "Shit AJ. Do you always open the door half-naked?”

  "Uh..." AJ snapped her mouth closed and glanced down at herself, wondering if maybe she forgot something important, like her shorts. No, she was completely dressed. "I have clothes on."

  "You're missing your shirt."

  "Oh, get over it Kolchak. It's a sports bra. I'm in my own apartment!"

  Alec glanced at her over his shoulder, and AJ was surprised to see a faint blush tinge his cheeks. It amazed her. What on earth did Alec Kolchak have to blush about?

  "Yeah, well...you shouldn't walk around half-naked."

  "Uh..." Hearing the word naked coming from Alec's mouth suddenly made the room seem smaller and hotter and for once in her life AJ couldn't think of anything to say. Which was probably a good thing.

  "Actually, for this it's probably better. Come here." Alec grabbed her hand as he walked by her into her living room, tugging her along. AJ swore her heart stopped beating. She held her breath in anticipation then let it out silently when he none-too-gently led her to the sofa and pushed her down. "Sit and let me look at your shoulder."

  "What?"

  "I said, let me look at your shoulder," he repeated. AJ was stunned into silence as he gently pushed around the bruise, twisting and turning so that she was directly facing him as he bent over her. She swallowed as her eyes rested at his waist-level. Well, not exactly his waist, a little lower...

  AJ swallowed again. The jeans he was wearing were old and worn, snug in just the right spots so that her imagination caught fire...

  "Ouch! Hey, that hurt!" AJ twisted away from him, the burning pain in her shoulder putting an effective stop to her completely uncharacteristic thoughts. She placed her hand up to protect herself from anymore of his prodding, and hissed in surprise when his own hand covered hers in a gentle touch.

  "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make it worse. Here, let me see it again." Alec laced his fingers through hers and moved her hand away. Instead of releasing it, though, he kept it loosely held in his as he continued to examine the bruise. AJ sucked her breath in again, but it had nothing to do with the pain her shoulder.

  In fact, she could barely feel the pain. All she could feel was the warm caress of his touch as he gently massaged the bruise, the strength of his fingers laced with hers as he continued to hold her hand. AJ turned her head away in case he could see her face, then immediately closed her eyes. He was standing so close to her, his hips only inches away from her face. All she had to do was...

  AJ bit back a moan and willed her breathing to return to normal. There was no way Alec should be affecting her like this. No way. Yeah, he was attractive...well, no, actually, he was gorgeous, but...No, she was not attracted to him. She couldn't be.

  "You can open your eyes now, I'm done."

  "Huh?"

  "I said, I'm done. I'm not going to poke you anymore."

  "Oh. Uh, okay." AJ bit back another moan as he released her hand and stepped away. At least she could breathe normally now. Sort of. "So...what are you doing here, anyway?"

  "I came to pick you up. Are you packed?"

  "What?"

  "I said, are you packed? Are you sure you didn't hit your head this morning?"

  "No I didn't hit my head!" AJ stood up, hoping for any small advantage to help her out. For some reason, she was having trouble understanding anything Alec was saying. The feeling was disconcerting and left her more than a little rattled. "Why would I be packed?"

  "Your interview. You won the bet, right?"

  "Well, yeah, but...what do I have to pack for?" AJ knew she sounded dim-witted and she hated that, hated playing into the perception too many people had about her based on her appearance, but she honestly had no idea what Alec was talking about.

  "The bet was that if you won, you had me for a month, twenty-four/seven. So unless you plan on wearing...that," he motioned at her from head-to-toe, the expression on his face almost comical, "for the next month, you should go pack."

  "But pack for what? Where is it I'm supposed to be going?"

  Alec took a step toward her, an unreadable expression in his eyes. For a quick second, looking down at her like that, he seemed so much taller, so much bigger. But it was just an illusion, gone when AJ blinked. He had turned away already and was strolling down the short hallway to her bedroom.

  "You're going home with me. How else did you expect this to work?"

  AJ's mouth dropped open at his words, but thankfully he couldn’t see how off-guard he caught her—he was already in her bedroom, out of her sight. She stood frozen for a few seconds then raced down the hallway after him, his words not making any sense.

  "But...hey! What are you doing?" AJ closed the distance to her dresser and pulled the clothing from his hand, inwardly wincing when she realized he was going through her underwear drawer. She stuffed the lace undergarments back in the drawer and slammed it shut, trying hard to keep her mind focused on something other than Alec Kolchak's large hands caressing her lingerie. Not that he had been caressing them, but still...

  "I am not going home with you. Don't be ridiculous."

  "Then how were you going to accomplish this thing?"

  "Thing? Thing? It's an interview, Kolchak, not a 'thing'. And I was going to do it like every other interview: by asking you questions. That's how these 'things' usually work."

  Alec raised one brow at her then slowly smiled and nodded. Before she realized it, he was sitting on the edge of her bed, his hands loosely clasped between his spread legs as he stared up at her. The sight of him on her bed, of his lopsided grin and the day-old stubble on his jaw, sent more crazy thoughts through her mind, which made her wince. What was with her
lately? This was Alec Kolchak, her annoying roadblock to her fantasy job. Since when did she look at him as anything else?

  "So then ask."

  "Huh?"

  "I said, then ask. You're the reporter. Interview me."

  "I can't interview you right now!"

  "Why not? That's what you do, isn't it?"

  "Yes, but—"

  "Then do it."

  "I..." AJ's voice faded and she clamped her lips so tightly together they almost hurt. She mentally counted to five then let out a deep and exasperated breath. "I cannot interview you while you're sitting on my bed. It's not done that way. I have a whole list of things—"

  "Okay, fine. Here's the deal." Alec stood and closed the distance between them, so close that AJ could smell the faint scent of soap on his skin, could feel the warmth radiating from his body. "We either do the interview right here and now, or you pack some things, come home with me and do it by the terms of the bet."

  Alec stared at her, his eyes almost daring as he held a large duffle bag between them. Funny, but AJ hadn't noticed it earlier, and she wondered briefly how he had gotten it out of her closet without her realizing it.

  "You have one minute to decide."

  AJ looked up at Alec, into his dark eyes, and felt a funny flip in her stomach. She had no idea what he was up to and she had a feeling that this whole plan of hers was about to backfire. But in the end, she really didn't have much choice.

  She clenched her jaw and yanked the duffel bag from Alec's hand. "Fine. I'll meet you in the living room in five minutes."

  **

  Alec sat on the sofa, staring at the wide-screen TV in front of him without really seeing it. His attention was focused more on the girl curled up on the recliner, her legs tucked under her, a frown on her face, papers scattered across her lap.

  She had been sitting that way for at least two hours and Alec wondered why her legs hadn't fallen asleep yet. Except for reaching up and rubbing her temples with a wince every few minutes, she hadn't really moved. If he sat that way for any length of time, not moving, he'd not only have leg cramps, he'd start to go insane with the inactivity.

  His hand clenched momentarily around the soda can he was holding and he resisted the urge to stretch his own legs. AJ paused in jotting down whatever she had been writing and looked over at him, her face almost serene in its blankness. A few seconds went by before her blue eyes cleared and one corner of her mouth tilted ever-so-slightly, as if she just realized where she was. It occurred to Alec that she had been so lost in whatever she had been doing that she really had been somewhere else, at least mentally.

  The thought almost scared Alec. Not just because it was evidently very easy for her to lose herself like that. No, what worried him was that he was fairly certain that he had figured at least a little bit in wherever she had been mentally. And he did not like the idea of someone being so focused on him...unless, of course, that someone was in bed with him. Then being focused on... He shook his head, wondering where in the hell that idea had come from.

  "Are you okay?"

  Her question, asked so quietly in the stillness of the living room, caught him off-guard. Alec took the last sip of the soda, trying not to look at her too much. "I was just wondering the same about you. How can you sit so still like that for so long? That would drive me crazy."

  AJ stretched her legs out in front of her, making a small little noise of contentment as she did so. Alec swallowed and tried not to notice the shapely length of her calves, or the way her bare toes wiggled as if she was trying to restore circulation to them. He suddenly wished that he hadn't offered to keep her company earlier, that he had just disappeared into another part of the spacious condo once they had gotten here.

  But the thought of her wandering around, nosing through his personal things, had stopped him from making his own exit. Oddly enough, though, she hadn't seemed very interested in looking around. Other than the brief tour when he had carried her bags to the spare room, she had pretty much stayed curled up on the recliner. In fact, except for pausing on the downstairs balcony and openly admiring the waterfront view of the harbor, she didn't appear to be interested in anything other than the papers in her lap.

  "It doesn't bother me. I guess I'm just used to it."

  It took a second before Alec understood what she was talking about, that she was only answering his question from not even a minute ago. He raised the soda can to his lips before realizing it was already empty, then hastily sat it down on the coffee table in front of him. He searched for something to say, but nothing came to mind readily, so he reverted back to a question he knew he had already asked her.

  "So, what is that stuff you're so engrossed in, anyway?"

  AJ reshuffled the papers in her lap then arranged them into a neat pile before placing them on the side table next to her. She reached around and turned off the reading light behind the recliner, suddenly casting herself in shadows. She winced, then quickly rubbed her temples before facing him. Her blue eyes were suddenly darker as she turned her gaze on him.

  "I told you, just background stuff I might use for filler. Not that there's much background info out there on you. At least, not much more than what I already knew."

  "You do know that it's really weird to hear you talk about me like that, right? Like I'm some kind of...of...I don't know what. Like an object or something."

  "Trust me, Alec, you're not an object. All that's in here," she looked away long enough to tap the pile of papers to her left, "is a bunch of dry, boring statistics. You know: when you were drafted, games played, average saves, blah, blah, blah. Absolutely nothing personal or informative or even interesting. It's all superficial. I told you before that you were more than welcome to look it over if you wanted to."

  "No, I'll pass."

  She tilted her head to the side and quietly studied him, her expression thoughtful. "Suit yourself. But I'll be honest. For someone who's been in the public eye for as long as you have, it's remarkable that there's nothing more out there about you. It's like...I don't know, it's like you've deliberately hid behind this blank wall, and you've done it so well that people stay away from you."

  "I happen to like my privacy. My life is my business, nobody else's." Alec hadn't meant for the words to come out so harsh, but she had hit too close to the truth.

  "Alec, there's nothing wrong with privacy. I like mine, too. But there's a difference between being private, and hiding." She gestured again at the papers. "This stuff isn't just boring, it screams that you're hiding from life."

  Again, her words hit too close to the truth. But phrased the way they were made him sound like a recluse, a hermit who wanted no involvement with the world around him. But that wasn't him. He just liked...being private. He stood up, planning on getting another drink, but stopped. He cleared his throat and then asked his own question to change the subject.

  "So if it's all that boring, how you could get so wrapped up in it for the last few hours?"

  AJ laughed, a soft sound in the surrounding quiet that had a surprising effect on Alec, one that he didn't even want to acknowledge. She lifted herself from the recliner and walked by him, passing so closely he imagined he could feel the heat radiating from her. Alec stepped back involuntarily, once again caught off-guard by his body's reaction to her. And once again, he blamed it on stress and lack of sleep.

  AJ stopped less than a foot from him, staring up at him with those blue eyes that suddenly sparkled in the low light. A half-smile curved her lips and she folded her arms across her chest. Alec's eyes automatically drifted down, and he had to force himself not to stare at the fullness of her chest and the painfully appealing amount of cleavage revealed with her arms crossed like that.

  "I wasn't 'wrapped up' in it, as you say. I was thinking about the best way to approach this whole interview, the best way to get you to open up without having you think I'm going to cut your heart out and use it to finger paint my article." She looked at him for a few more seconds, a fla
sh of disappointment sparking in her eyes, then turned and headed for the stairway.

  AJ paused, her bare foot resting on the bottom step, and looked back at him one more time. Alec swore her eyes were even darker now, a sense of something resembling disappointment reflected in their depths. "And Alec, could you do me a favor?" Her voice was quiet, barely more than a whisper and laced with some quiet emotion he couldn't name.

  "What?"

  "Could you please stop staring at my chest whenever I talk to you? You claim you're afraid of being treated as an object, that people see only what they want to see and that everything is superficial. But you're doing the exact same thing to me that you've accused everyone else of doing to you. I gave you credit for being better than that."

  FIVE

  Alec stood immobilized for long moments after AJ disappeared upstairs, not quite believing her last words. Had he really been that obvious?

  He thought back over their last few encounters. Not only had he been obvious, there were times when he had been downright rude. Never once had it occurred to him that she would be bothered by his comments or his glances. She had never indicated that she even noticed, let alone was upset by it until tonight.

  No, he realized, that wasn't exactly true. Now that he thought about it, there had been times when AJ had made remarks to him, subtle or even sarcastic. But not once did he ever stop to consider...

  Calling himself a complete moron, he walked through the downstairs and turned off the lights, muttering to himself as he did so. His footsteps were heavy as he climbed the stairs, pausing briefly outside the closed door of the small guest room he had shown AJ hours earlier. Guilt went through him, quick and dull. It was the smallest of the three guest rooms in the sprawling condo. Definitely functional but nowhere near as roomy as the others. He could have at least given her one of the spare rooms that had its own bath so she could have some privacy.