Less-than-Innocent Invitation Read Free Page A

time ago.
    Done.
    Over.
    He’d asked her to dance to confront her, not to reminisce about how it felt to hold her, to touch her skin, to run his hands over her body.
    His goal was to get her to tell him why she’d broken up with him.
    Nothing more.
    Maybe once he knew the truth he could truly forget her.
    God knows he’d tried.
    â€œWhen my story producer heard about the legend surrounding Jessamine Golden, he insisted on coming with me and my videographer to learn about it firsthand.”
    â€œYeah, history has it she was quite an outlaw,” he answered. “A lot of people believe the gold she stole is still hidden around here somewhere.” His struggle to keep Melissa at a distance was proving more difficult than he’d imagined. Her perfume filled his senses. Her scent hadn’t changed. He’d never quite forgotten her smell—like sunshine and lavender.
    Excitement lit her eyes. “If it’s true and the gold was found, it would be quite a story.” Tempted to stay in Royal and dig up some additional material on Jessamine Golden and the treasure she’d supposedly stolen and hidden, Melissa hesitated. If she did, she’d chance running into Logan again—a risk she wasn’t ready to take. This one encounter with him was definitely enough.
    Truthfully, her heart had never quite healed. She’d thought she’d successfully dealt with her feelings for Logan, but now in his arms, she realized she hadn’t. Though not in love with him anymore, her emotions for him still went deep. It was best to finish this dance and say goodbye.
    â€œSo, is this what you’ve doing all these years?” Logan asked, changing the subject to one that would help him keep his focus. “Chasing leads and reporting the news?”
    â€œPretty much.” She lifted a shoulder in a soft shrug as they slowly moved to the music, conscious of how Logan used that moment to pull her closer. Rather than make an issue of feeling his hard, lean body pressed to hers, she pretended that she didn’t notice. Or notice how easy it would be to lean the few inches separating them and kiss him. She focused on his chin instead of looking into his eyes. “Of course, I haven’t always been given assignments like attending glamorous events. I’ve covered a lot of stories over the years, paid my dues, as they say.”
    â€œWas it worth it?” Logan asked, his voice low, yet determined. He’d planned on waiting until the right moment to ask her, but the words spilled out of his mouth. He told himself it had nothing to do with the way she felt.
    Melissa’s eyes grew wary. “I enjoy what I do.”
    â€œThat’s not what I asked.” A hard edge crept into his voice, an underlying current of tension he hadn’t been able to conceal.
    â€œI thought you wanted to dance for old time’s sake.” Melissa stopped moving and tried to disengage from him. She came up short when he wouldn’t let her go.
    â€œI did,” he told her, aware he wasn’t being totally truthful. Grimacing, he admitted, “But I also want to know what made you break our engagement. You owe me that.”
    â€œNo, Logan, I don’t.” When she pulled away this time, he let her go. It startled her as much as when he hadn’t.
    â€œThe hell you don’t.”
    â€œThis is ridiculous! Why would you want to dredge up old memories anyway, Logan? What happened between us was a lifetime ago. It’s water under the bridge. Over.” Her lungs lacked air. Calming herself, she managed to take in a short breath.
    His jaw hardened. “I guess maybe to you it is.”
    Melissa eyes widened. Did his comment mean that to him it wasn’t? His rigid stance revealed nothing more than that she’d provoked his anger. Well, she was pretty angry now herself. How dare he imply that their breakup was her fault? “I’m not responsible for what