In It to Win It Read Online Free Page A

silver tongs, and dropped it into the fizzing brown liquid.
    “ I thought you had a flight to board.”
    She cringed at the deep, sexy voice behind her. An entire monologue of curse words plowed through her thoughts as she considered whether or not she could pretend she hadn’t heard him.
    “ Jane?” His warm hand came to rest on her shoulder.
    “ Yeah, I do have a flight to catch. Don’t you?” She clamped a lid onto the cup and braced herself as she turned around to face Grayson. Not that the preparation did any good. He grinned and her heart screeched to a halt. Her knees went all gooey and she reached out to the metal counter for support.
    “ As a matter of fact—” He lifted his wrist to reveal a Rolex, complete with diamonds all around the face. “—I have about thirty minutes. Can we talk?”
    “ Sorry. I can’t. Nate’s waiting.”
    “ Are camera guys doubling as babysitters now?”
    Her eyes narrowed and she heard herself snort, much to her mortification. “No,” she said, sounding like a child. She would have preferred a snappy comeback, but couldn’t come up with anything profound so kept her mouth shut.
    He gently wrapped his hand around her arm and led her to a cozy corner of the coffee shop. He offered her the chair facing the room and as she sat, he asked, “Can I get you something?”
    “ No, I’m good.” She held up her drink, much like Nate had done a few minutes earlier. Although she doubted she’d perfected the you’ve-completely-lost-you’re-freakin’-mind expression that donned Nate’s face a lot lately. “Thanks though.”
    Grayson sat down in the chair and flashed another dazzling smile. Some of the tension seeped out of her, flowing down her body and out her toes to pool on the floor. She moved the straw around her drink, dunking the lemon and waiting for it to pop up again.
    This wasn’t awkward at all , she thought sarcastically.
    They sat in uncomfortable silence; Jane studiously watching the lemon in her drink and Grayson drumming his fingers on the table.
    “ What have you been up to all these years?” he finally asked.
    “ Just doin’ the sports thing. You?” Good grief, next they’d be talking about the weather.
    “ Baseball.” He smiled, showing off straight white teeth and the tiny pale scar on his upper lip. It was barely noticeable under his trim-cut goatee. She liked the facial hair, not that she liked it on any other guy. But for some reason it looked exactly right on Grayson’s chiseled face. “It’s kind of my life.”
    She thought of all the extracurricular activities—and media attention they caught—and blurted, “It seems you have more to your life than just baseball.”
    His dark brows pinched together, forming a V, and Jane could have sworn he flinched, but the reaction was so quick she wasn’t sure. His face softened and he leaned forward, resting his large forearms on the table.
    “ There are a lot of facets to me,” he said softly.
    “ Good to know.” She stood, the chair screeching across the floor. “I should get going.”
    He reached out and snagged her hand. “It really was great to see you again, Janie. Maybe we can catch up in Phoenix. We’re there for a couple of days. I’d love to buy you dinner and … catch up.”
    “ Listen, Grayson, I’m not the same girl you knew once...”
    His dark eyes warmed and moved over her body slowly. The blatant heat in his gaze interrupted her thoughts for only a moment, before solidifying what she needed to tell him—if for no other reason than self preservation.
    “ I appreciate the invitation, but I want more than you can give me. Catching up would only be a waste of time—for both of us. Let’s just say ‘nice to see you’ and leave it at that.”
    “ What if I don’t want to leave it at that?”
    She laughed; the feeling built in her stomach and burst from her in a loud guffaw that caused more than one head to turn in their direction. A little embarrassed, Jane felt heat