Read Tag, You're It! for Free Online

Alex kept her snow gear on anyway. There wasn't much chance she'd be able to get one of the guns from him. That meant her most likely escape was going to put her outside.
    She went to the haphazard stack of boxes in the corner, digging out some power bars and flipping him one, deliberhigh. When he looked up to catch it she slipped a couple more in her pocket.
    "What's this?" Tag asked.
    "Dinner."
    He studied it for a second then chucked it over his shoulder, pulled out a chocolate bar, and unwrapped it. "This," he took a huge bite and talked around it, "is dinner. Or at least a respectable dessert."
    Alex went still, keeping her eyes off the chocolate and on Tag. "You went through my things." Pretty thoroughly if he'd found the stash of candy bars she kept in a place that was difficult for even her to get to.
    "Yep. You were holding out on me." He brandished the candy bar by way of explanation. "And you have boring taste in lingerie."
    "You didn't find that in my underwear drawer."
    Tag just grinned.
    "You try riding a horse and hiking all day in lace panties and you'll learn the true meaning of chafing."
    "Gosh, that sounds fun, but I left all my lace panties at home." He took another bite of chocolate.
    Alex's mouth watered, and her thigh muscles started quivering.
    "You want one?" Tag asked her.
    "I'll stick with this, thanks." She unwrapped her power bar and bit into it, trying to chew like it didn't bear a closer resemblance to Jackass's dinner than Tag's. "So now what?"
    "How far is it to the nearest town?"
    Alex wandered to the bed, leaned against the sturdy log footboard. "Why should I answer your questions?"
    "You want me gone, I'm trying to leave."
    "Not with my rifle, you're not."
    "Fine, you can have it back," he said, although he didn't hand it over. "I'll take the horse."
    "You can do that, but he's a horse, not a homing pigeon. He isn't trained to start at one place and end up at another. He goes where you tell him to go, or he stands still."
    "I'll take my chances."
    "Okay."
    "You're not going to try to stop me?"
    She shrugged. "I'll track you in the morning."
    "I'll be long gone by then."
    "You'll be dead by then. It'll drop well below freezing tonight, and it's dark out there—and not city dark, either. No ambient light, and a nice heavy cloud cover so no moon or stars. You won't be able to see your hand in front of your face.
    "It's seventy-five miles to the nearest town," she continued between bites. "My coat won't fit you, so how are you going to stay warm? And even if you make it that far, the town consists of a half-dozen businesses, a few homes, and the sheriff's office. What do you think the chances are that A," she ticked off on her fingers, "they don't know Jackass on sight, B, they won't ask you how you came by him, and C, you won't end up in jail within thirty minutes of your arrival?"
    Tag blew out a breath, leaning back against the door. "Got all the angles figured, don't you?"
    "They're not angles, they're facts. That's the difference between you and me, Donovan. I deal with reality, you seem to think you can create your own."
    "This is dealing with reality? Seems to me you're running away from reality."
    "You don't know anything about my life."
    "And you don't know anything about mine. If you want to stay here and bury your head in the sand, that's fine with me. I got dragged into this thing and I'm going to do every damn thing I can to get out of it in one piece. If you had any sense you'd do the same."
    Alex opened her mouth to fire back at him, but he held up a hand.
    "Shut up," he said, which would have fueled her temper if she hadn't heard what he'd heard. Another engine, but not a plane. Far, far worse than a plane.
    Just like that her anger iced over. She exchanged a look with Tag, and suddenly they weren't opponents anymore. They weren't exactly friends, either, but they were in the same boat, and if they didn't want it to sink under them they were going to have to row