Travis Justice Read Free

him in the shin as she moved, his loose grip broke and she twisted free.
    He stumbled, recovering quickly, but it was enough to allow her to reach the hallway. This time he tackled her, catching her about the hips to force her to her knees. The marble smacked into her patellas, but she had no time for pain. As she fell, she caught her weight on her hands and bowed her back, using the leverage it gave her to straighten, smarting knees spread for stability, and smack her head backward. She had a very good idea that he was bent over her, that arrogant cleft chin offering a nice bull’s-eye. Sure enough, she felt the point of his chin and then his own gratifying grunt as she caught him obviously off guard. She scrambled to her feet.
    When he recovered enough to grab again, he reached for air. She’d gained the front door. However, she was slowed as she had to unlatch two very solid locks. She was reaching for the knob when he whacked her hand away and trapped her, both hands flat against the door framing her head.
    A smile lifted those arrogant lips, allowing her to see the rim of his perfect white teeth. “What now?”
    She was pretty sure now he wouldn’t call the police since he’d searched her and visually scoped out the study, so he knew she hadn’t stolen anything. But she had a feeling his father would make a more critical audience, so she had to finagle her way out of here and she had to do it quietly.
    â€œI didn’t take anything. Let me go,” she finally said.
    â€œOh, so you can talk. Why did you break into my house?”
    â€œYour house? Your father would probably have something to say about that—Zachary.” His blue eyes, the exact deep turquoise color of the Aegean Sea she’d sailed once with Kai, narrowed. “Who the hell are you?”
    â€œNo one.” She fingered behind her with her hand again, feeling for the knob.
    â€œWe’ll let the police decide that.” Snatching her hand away from the knob, he caught her wrist to pull her back toward the study.
    So much for her reading of his character.
    She acted on instinct. His towel shower wrap had lost another snap in their struggle. If she hadn’t been so desperate to get away she would have enjoyed the sight of so much unfettered male power. His years in the Army Rangers had sculpted him into pinup status, except there was nothing airbrushed or fake about his six-pack abs and pure symmetry, broad shoulders angling down into his lean waist. He was primal, powerful, and a fitting adversary; the tingling at her nape and other inconvenient places might have intrigued her at a less critical moment.
    She hadn’t felt this inconvenient sensation in a long time. Since Kai, really, but then she’d been a foolish child. No longer . . . As it was, she pretended to let herself be pulled behind him back toward the gaping study door. But they’d only moved a few steps when she caught her fingers in the waist of his sagging wrap and jerked. The wrap fell to the floor.
    He stopped cold, making an indistinct sound that sounded like a garbled “fuck me.” His buttocks were as solid, though nicely round, and not quite as muscular, as the rest of him. He looked back over his shoulder, and she saw his high cheekbones were red. She knew his dilemma. If he turned she’d see all of him in full-frontal glory. She watched him weigh modesty and duty.
    For the first time that night, she smiled.
    While he debated, she tugged her wrist, and finally was free. She couldn’t help it; she slapped his buttocks with her gloved hand on her way to the door, delighted with the meaty echo against all the fancy marble and woodwork.
    Her own smile showed perfect white teeth as she flung open the door. “Next time, I’ll bring a twenty!” The alarm sounded as she spoke, but she saw the shocked look in the blue eye she could see, and she realized few women ever challenged a man so bounteously