Within This Frame Read Free Page A

She weighed a lot more than the last time she’d seen him and she had on a pink and yellow cat-print robe.
    When she didn’t budge, the knocks began. Firm, consistent thumps that sounded every ten seconds.
    Why is he here? He has no reason to be here. Ever.
    Just get it over with. Let him laugh and say whatever it is he has to say, and then he’ll go away.
    Fear bunched her stomach in knots, told her she was deluding herself. Well, why not? She was good at it.
    Maggie took the doorknob within her hand and carefully turned it, hoping he would magically be gone once the door was fully opened. She could deal with insanity, but Lance Denton, not so much. She looked up and deflated against the doorframe. He was still there, still smiling, still too good-looking. His gaze was piercing, locked on her in a way that made her insides twist.
    “Why are you here?” Maggie considered herself a nice person, normally, but if anyone could change that with their presence, it was the guy who stood on her doorstep.
    “You asked for me.”
    She snorted. “Pretty sure you’re the last person I would ask for.”
    “Wasn’t I?” His tone went quietly seductive, laser eyes zapping her with their heat.
    Maggie tried to swallow and found that function no longer available to her. His eyes traveled up and down her frame, mockery clear in them as they stopped on hers. Lance’s facial features were sharper than she recalled, and the stubble along his jaw was new as well. She knew he was judging her appearance, him with his super fit body and her with her unfit one. Well, she was judging too. Sadly, she couldn’t come up with any needed improvements on his end.
    “Why are you here? Remember that time, long, long ago, when we decided we wouldn’t see each other again?”
    He cocked his dark head and looked deep in thought. “Was that what we decided? I thought it was you deciding you despised the very air I breathed, and couldn’t stand the thought of sharing such a thing with me anymore.”
    “Well, I couldn’t maim you, so the logical alternative was to never see you again,” she said sweetly. Fire scorched her veins and heated her skin. The last time Maggie had seen Lance, she’d told him she hated him and never wanted to speak to him again.
    “Oh, but you did,” Lance whispered, seeming closer and yet not moving an inch.
    “Did . . . what?” she choked, reeling from the fact that Lance Denton stood before her, looking at her, talking to her. Being.
    “Maim me—right here, right where it counts the most.” He patted his chest, expression mocking even as his eyes were indecipherable.
    Maggie’s eyes narrowed. “I doubt it.”
    The somberness cleared from his face and amusement simultaneously put stars in his eyes and lightened them. “You would.”
    “Fun time is over. You came, you saw, you laughed. Now go.” She pointed a finger over his shoulder and hoped he’d move in the direction it faced.
    “Don’t you want to know why I’m here?”
    “Not really.”
    Instead of leaving, he straightened and posed in a way that showed off his toned upper half through the yellow shirt he wore. “You probably already know this, but along with being superbly talented as an actor and model, I’m a trained fitness expert, personal trainer, and nutritionist.”
    He flexed a bicep and looked from it to her face. He rotated his shoulders, showed her his profile, and winked. “Your sister’s gym called me yesterday and told me you were in need of someone of my expertise.”
    Maggie’s throat went dry, and then her mouth, and then her eyes.
    “Obviously I can’t refuse a cry for help from Cecilia Monroe. What would fans think of Derek Ryan if I did?” He stopped preening long enough to look at her in a way that meant she should understand what he was saying.
    “The same thing they thought before—that you’re a selfish, egotistical, narcissistic ass.”
    “Ouch.” With a sigh, Lance dropped his arms. “You do know I’m a