Across the Line (In The Zone) Read Online Free PDF Page B

stuff only happened in movies. But part of her was appalled at this reaction. She’d always thought of herself as above that kind of feminine swooning. Women had evolved past that, hadn’t they? Sure, she was grateful, but did her body have to get all hot and bothered over what he’d done? Most of her was covered in goose bumps from the cold, but one certain part of her was heated up and ready for plundering.
    Shit. She may as well turn in her feminist card.
    Annoyed with herself, she said, “It’s safe to turn around now. You’re crazy, you know. Who do you think you are? The Crocodile Hunter?”
    “No. I think I’m the guy who saved your ass from getting bitten by a rattlesnake.” He turned. His eyes flicked downward, then he sighed with such visible male regret it made her smile in spite of her self-indignation.
    “You are that, and I thank you for it, but that doesn’t negate the fact that you’re crazy, charging a snake like that.”
    He grinned. “You just don’t like that I helped you. You’re an independent woman who likes to ‘handle’ things on her own.” He made irritating air quotes as he hit the nail on the head.
    “You have a problem with independent women?” she asked with an arched eyebrow.
    “Hell no. I love them. I just need some time to find out where your boundaries are. I’d already figured out you like to carry your own stuff and blaze your own trails, and now I know if we encounter any more snakes, I should stand down and maybe just hand you my stick.”
    His smile was disarming. He was so easygoing, not a bit like the brat he’d been years ago. He was pretty good with that stick too.
    * * *
    When Calder got home, he found his mother had baked cookies again, this time snickerdoodles, still warm from the oven. Yet again he couldn’t resist eating a few. At this rate, he was going to weigh three hundred pounds when he got back to California.
    “So,” Jenny said, pouring him some milk, “tell me about your date. How did it go?”
    He bit into the cookie. It was soft and chewy. He pointed at it, smiling and nodding as he chewed. “So good, Mom. No one makes snickerdoodles like you do.”
    She smiled. “The secret is a tiny bit of nutmeg.” She sipped her tea. “So? Your date?”
    “The date was good,” he said. “Mostly.”
    “What do you mean, mostly?”
    “Well, we had a close encounter of the rattlesnake kind.”
    His mom gasped. “Good Lord! Are you all right? Is she? Neither of you were bitten, were you?”
    “No, we didn’t get bitten.” He told her the whole story and managed to devour four cookies in the process.
    “I didn’t know we had rattlesnakes here,” his mom said.
    “I didn’t either, but this was definitely a rattlesnake. It had a triangle head and a loud rattle.”
    “I’m very proud of you, Calder. You saved her life.”
    He colored at the praise. “Come on, Mom. You’re getting melodramatic.”
    “No, I’m not. You were very brave. If you hadn’t taken action, who knows what might have happened? It sounds like she kept her head too. She sounds like a strong woman and you need a strong woman, someone who can hold her own, especially with those teammates of yours.”
    His mom was familiar with how rough around the edges his teammates could be, and although Calder knew his friends could behave themselves if they knew a woman was important to a guy, in general, they wouldn’t respect someone who crumbled under the slightest pressure. Neither would he, for that matter.
    No, Becca was not a fragile flower. She was capable and feisty. She had a good head on her shoulders, not to mention a set of tits that could win the Nobel Peace Prize because one look at them covered in wet cotton would stop armies in their tracks. No man could possibly think of anything but sex when faced with such an evocative image.
    Back at the falls, he’d wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss the hell out of her. He’d wanted to peel away the shirt, the bra,