Remembering You: Pushing the Boundaries, Prequel Read Online Free Page A

work, his mind now crowded with thoughts of two women whom he’d never see again.

Chapter Three
    What a shit day.
    Nina practically ran out of the main doors of Excelsior Media, desperate to get away from all the crushing bureaucracy. Her first day back in a desk job after more than two years traveling the globe, writing hard-hitting reports on human rights atrocities around the world, and she was already on the verge of quitting.
    She’d wanted to cover the drug bust that had just gone down in the city. It was the most interesting local story they had right now. Exciting news with national implications. She’d grown up in Greenbriar and the recent breakup of a big drug dealing ring was shocking, even in this city of half a million people. She would have happily reported on it without feeling like she had come down too far, even if it did mean she’d have to interact with a lot of policemen. She usually didn’t like covering cop stories.
    You wouldn’t have minded covering the cop from this morning.
    Ben Crewes. Even after she’d found out he was on the force, she’d still been unable to control the desire pumping through her from the moment she’d laid eyes on him, standing by her car. And when he’d opened his mouth and in his low, gruff voice had asked whether she was okay, the need to get his clothes off had nearly knocked her speechless. She’d never been so attracted, so fast, to a man like this, to the point where she was ready to get naked with a complete stranger in a Denny’s parking lot.
    It wasn’t solely his tough-guy good looks—light brown hair worn short, deep brown eyes, a well-defined nose to match his angular jaw, and a blue button-down shirt hugging broad shoulders and a trim waistline. His looks had definitely gotten her attention, but it had been his reserved but polite demeanor that had pulled her in.
    A guy who could keep his cool in what could have been a tense encounter was sexy as hell to Nina. His attitude had struck the perfect balance between nonchalance and real concern for her welfare. It— he —had felt oddly familiar, somehow.
    It wasn’t until that she was back in the car, driving away from him, that she’d realized why. He had been the one to lead the drug ring bust. She’d read about him from the reports that had come in to Excelsior.
    Of course, she’d never actually met him before. This strange feeling of closeness that went beyond recognizing his name meant nothing. She definitely would have remembered a man who looked like he did. But talking to him had made her feel good, just the same. She couldn’t figure out why, but something in her also wanted to protect this big, muscled man from harm. There was just something about him that pulled at her.
    Not to mention that she definitely wouldn’t have minded stripping down and riding him in the backseat of the Rover.
    Nina sighed and looked around the street. It was already dark outside, but considering it was nearly seven o’clock, she wasn’t surprised. The city had changed a bit in the past ten years, and the upscale restaurant-bar the news crew used to frequent after hours had closed. In high school, she’d hung around the place, eavesdropping on their conversations and dogging some of the journalists’ heels, trying to learn as much as she could.
    But now she had another goal: she needed a drink.
    She could either walk three blocks over to Trenton’s, another polished-wood-and-leather-seats, overpriced place catering to the white-collar clientele of this city, or she could head one block downtown to the Clipper.
    The Clipper was a dive. But she didn’t care. She’d once lived for six weeks in rural Russia with nothing more than a single change of clothes and a pocket translator. She was usually up for anything, and her easy acceptance of challenges was often what got people to like her, to open up…and to get her a story.
    Besides, she needed a drink, stat. The Clipper was closer, so the Clipper won.
    She