Pushing the Limits by Jennifer Snow

idiot, but other than that, they all seemed okay.
    She pulled out a chair next to her older brother and sat. “So, the interview went well?” The one she definitely regretted getting him. He was supposed to have come away from it with a new job, not an invite to dinner at her house, with her family, where he could learn far too much about her. She wondered what he might have already learned.
    She repressed a sigh. She was going to blow this story if she wasn’t careful. And worse, she knew that it had somehow become more than that. She liked him.
    Fuck.
    â€œWell, I’m not at all qualified,” Dane was saying. “But your dad has decided to overlook that and give me a shot.”
    â€œHe saved the company fifty thousand dollars today,” her father said.
    Her eyes widened. “How?”
    â€œHe used those hulklike muscles of his to catch a propeller falling off a balancer,” her younger brother, Doug, said.
    Her eyes immediately flew to said hulklike muscles and her stomach did an involuntary lurch at the sight of his biceps straining against the fabric of the Edwards’ Propellers logo’d T-shirt. “One size fits all” apparently didn’t apply to bodies built like Dane’s.
    She reached for a diet soda. “That’s great. Congratulations,” she told him, desperate to avoid looking at him. Living in Seattle, she’d successfully been able to avoid bringing any of the men she’d dated into the family home to meet her parents and brothers. This wasn’t even the case—they weren’t dating—yet it felt so much like a meet-the-parents dinner that her appetite vanished.
    â€œI have you to thank,” he said quietly and she abandoned trying to open the can of pop.
    â€œWhere did you two meet?” her mother asked.
    She shot Dane a silencing look as she said, “Oh, just around.” She shrugged. A nervous appetite returning, she violently scooped three cabbage rolls onto her plate, then grabbed another one before setting the dish on the table. This was a disaster. He was sure to discover the truth about her now.
    â€œAround where? Work?” her mother pressed.
    She shook her head no as she chewed furiously, unable to enjoy her favorite meal as her stomach turned.
    Dane was still staring at her with a questioning look.
    She swallowed and sighed. She had to say something or the questions would continue. “We met at a club . . .” she started slowly, hoping he would go with it. She hadn’t told anyone about her purse getting stolen because that would open up the discussion of why she’d been out on the street after midnight alone anyway. Her brothers would have plenty to say about that. They still seemed to forget she was an adult. One who could very well kick all of their asses.
    â€œYeah. I saw her walking home from work . . .” Dane started, but she shook her head, her eyes widening.
    â€œWork at a club?” Her mother looked confused.
    â€œYeah, after the fight she was working.”
    Her brother Marshall, sitting directly across from her shot her look. “Working a fight? A story angle?”
    Unable to control herself, she popped another cabbage roll into her mouth as she shook her head, wishing the floor would give way or a funnel cloud would choose that moment to sweep the house into the air.
    Dane looked even more confused. “A story angle? Why would a ring girl have a story angle?” he said slowly, eyeing her suspiciously.
    Oh, shit. She was screwed.
    A silence fell over the table as all eyes stared at her.
    Then her whole family started laughing.
    â€œRight. A ring girl . . . and I just fought Muhammad Ali,” Doug said, diving back into his dinner.
    Her mother grinned. “You hired a funny one, Ray,” she told her father.
    He nodded.
    Colby forced her own little laugh as she avoided Dane’s eyes.
    â€œSeriously though, Colby, how is