Page 34 of Unexpected Trouble

“Yep, that’s it in a nutshell.”

“Is this public knowledge? I mean the medical supplies.”

“It’s not top secret or anything.”

I tossed that around in my mind for a little while. “Greg, do you think your boss would mind if I wrote a story on that?”

“What?”

“Well, wouldn’t your plan be proprietary information? I mean, if your company came up with it, then others shouldn’t be able to implement it without your permission, right? They should be called out on that.”

He stared at me for a minute and then began to smile. “Jake might go for that idea. He was pretty pissed today, and he is never afraid to make waves. Let me speak to him about it in the morning.”

“Alright, you let me know. If I can’t give my editor something that he wants, maybe I can give him something that he doesn’t know he wants. God knows the media loves to bash politicians.”

Greg got off the swing. “Mind if I hit your head before I leave?”

I must have looked totally stunned by his words because he barked out a laugh and grabbed my hand, pulling me off the swing.

“I meant, can I use your bathroom?”

“Why didn’t you say that the first time?”

“I did.”

“Yeah, okay. I think you said something about knocking my head around, not using my bathroom.”

“Hit the head means go to the bathroom.”

I stared at him with a duh look on my face. “I know that now, and yes, you may go hit my head.”

I followed Greg into the house, enjoying the sound of his laughter, and watched him disappear toward the powder room before I took our beer bottles to the kitchen. I was about to rinse his bottle out when I paused and lifted it to my lips, running the smooth glass over my bottom lip for a moment.

I frowned at myself and jerked it away; what the hell was I doing? Greg was back a few moments later and paused at the edge of the counter. “Thanks for dinner. I appreciate it, Maggie.”

“You’re welcome. Maybe sometime you can join us while it’s fresh.”

“That would be nice.”

“Would it?”

Greg stared at me thoughtfully. “Yeah, Maggie, it would be nice. I enjoy talking to you.”

I stepped toward him, watching his shoulders roll back and tense as I grew closer. “I have enjoyed talking to you too, Greg.”

His eyes flicked back and forth between mine for a moment, and I swear he started to lean forward, but suddenly jerked back and looked away. “Mags, don’t.”

I stepped closer to him, and he was now back up against the counter. “Don’t what, Greg? Don’t get close to you? Why? Are you afraid you might feel something for me? Don’t you want to know if there is still a spark there from all those years ago? I do, why are you trying to avoid it?”

He stared down at me, his jaw tense. “It doesn’t matter if there is a spark there, Maggie. It will never be anything. I can’t give you what you want.”

I snorted. “What I want? You have no idea what I want, Greg! Right now, the only thing I want is to see if kissing you is all I remember it being. Maybe all those nights I dreamed about it made me build it into some bullshit fantasy. I want to know if it is or not. I deserve that!”

I barely got the last word out of my mouth before Greg speared his hand into my hair and cupped the back of my head, bringing our mouths together. My fantasy was instantly blown to smithereens—every inch of my body burned as if a fuse had been lit on my lips and traveled right through my entire body.

His arm banded around my waist, and I clung to him. My body moved, but I couldn’t focus on anything other than the way his lips and tongue were making me feel. He pressed me back against something cool—the fridge—but I didn’t care as he pushed his body against mine, and I whimpered. One of his hands was on my face, holding mine to his as he ran his other hand down my side, brushing his thumb over my hardened nipple because he squeezed my breast, and my knees went weak.

“Oh!” a voice spoke from the other side of the room, and Greg and I jumped apart. He spun, putting his back to me as my mother laughed. “Did you kids forget that I was home? You shouldn’t be doing that in the kitchen. Maggie’s father might come home and see you, and he just won’t understand.”

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