“Please don’t hurt him,” Toni cried, her hands next to his on Steve’s arm.

Technically, he was already hurt, but he didn’t feel that he was truly in danger. It wasn’t as though he and Steve didn’t regularly get into fights. True, they were usually both drunk, so the blows hurt less, but unlike Max and Dare, who preferred to talk through problems like a couple of wimps, he and Steve preferred to let off steam through their fists. Which was why everyone on the bus with the exception of Toni didn’t intervene in Logan’s impending murder.

“Why can’t you ever keep your big mouth shut?” Steve growled.

Logan’s grip loosened as his surroundings began to swim around him.

“I don’t care if you’re screwing her, she’s a goddamned journalist. You have to watch what you say to her.”

Logan racked his brain for something he’d told Toni that Steve wouldn’t want her to know about. Everything in Steve’s past was pretty much an open book to reporters already. Steve had one deep, dark secret, but Logan hadn’t mentioned the guy’s eighteen-hour marriage to Meredith.

“I didn’t tell her—” Logan gasped through his crushed windpipe.

“I don’t care if she doesn’t know the details. She knew enough to ask about it, and that’s too much.”

“Let him go,” Toni said, jerking wildly on one of Steve’s wrists. They guy had impressive upper body strength, so Toni’s attempts to save Logan’s life were completely ineffectual.

Toni switched tactics to slapping the crap out of Steve’s back.

“Ow!” he protested.

“I said let him go. He isn’t the one who told me.”

Logan’s vision tunneled. He knew he was in danger of passing out, yet he was more worried about Toni’s distress than his own.

“Knock it off,” Steve said. He released his hold on Logan’s neck so he could grab Toni’s wrists.

Gasping for air, Logan climbed to his hands and knees, hoping Toni could hold her own, because he wasn’t sure if he was much use to her in his current semi-conscious state. He tried to rise to his feet, but stumbled sideways against the sofa and ended up sitting in the middle of the floor, staring up at the ceiling because he was too exhausted to hold his head upright. Toni’s concerned face was suddenly in his line of vision.

“Are you okay?” she asked, leaning close to peer into his eyes.

He lifted a finger—a signal that he needed a minute to respond—as he sucked air into his lungs and huffed it back out painfully.

He watched in astonishment as she sprang to her feet and began jabbing an angry finger repeatedly into Steve’s chest as she told him off.

“You can’t just jump on people like that! What are you, eight? Learn to control your temper! Fighting is never the answer. If you have a problem with something I’ve done, then you need to take it up with me like a mature adult. Not attack Logan when he least expects it.”

“But—”

“You could have seriously injured him, choking him like that. I understand that you’re mad, but how would you feel if you’d actually killed him?”

“He—”

“You’d never forgive yourself, now would you?”

Logan sniggered at the astonished look on Steve’s face as he failed to get more than a word in.

“The two of you are going to apologize to each other and I’m going to apologize to both of you for being an inexperienced idiot who can’t—” She took a deep shuddering breath. “Who can’t even—” Her shoulders shook as her emotions finally got the better of her. “Even conduct a decent interview.”

She burst into tears and raced back to the lounge area, sliding the door closed behind her with a loud bang.

“What just happened?” Steve said, rubbing the red spot in the center of his chest.

“Seems she told you off for acting like a child,” Max said calmly. “Logan didn’t say anything to her about Meredith.”

“It was you?” Steve’s eyes narrowed.

“I panicked when she started asking me personal questions and it slipped out.”

“Poor Toni is obviously upset,” Dare said with a devious smirk. “I guess it’s time for my interview.” He rose from his recliner and headed toward the back of the bus.

Oh shit. Logan knew how Dare comforted women. As soon as he could find the strength to climb to his feet, he’d do something about it.

with Darren Mills

When the door slid open, Toni turned and looked up from her tissue. She’d expected Logan to come reprimand her for being ridiculously unprofessional—she didn’t deserve to be comforted after the foolish way she’d acted—but the man standing in the doorway was dark-haired and green-eyed, not golden-haired and blue-eyed. He was also the last person she’d expected to cuss her out and tell her to pack her bags immediately.

Dare Mills strode into the room and slid the door shut behind him. She supposed at least they’d have a little privacy when he fired her.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She nodded, and his handsome face blurred out of focus as fresh tears flooded her eyes. On second thought, no, she was decidedly not okay. She shook her head, pursing her lips together to stifle the sob creeping up her throat.

“I must say, I never thought you had it in you.” He chuckled and approached her slowly. “You don’t get angry very often, do you?”

Actually, she rarely got mad. And whenever she did, she reacted to her own tirade by crying, which was flipping ridiculous.

She blew her nose and yanked another tissue out of the box to wipe at her eyes. “I’m so embarrassed.” Mortified was a better word, but she’d truly be showing her geekiness if she started using that kind of vocabulary. She’d actually put her hands on another human being and then she’d started spouting words that under normal circumstances she’d think but never say aloud.

“Why? Steve deserved to be told off. And I think after you give what happened a little thought, you’ll give Max the tongue-lashing he deserves as well. He should have never told you Steve’s personal affairs.”

She blinked at him, completely baffled. He’d come back here to praise her for behaving like a raving lunatic?

“Do you need a hug?” He opened his arms wide and flicked his wrists, directing her to the hard chest at his center.

She shook her head. Sniffed her nose and dabbed at her eyes. On second thought, yes, she definitely needed a hug. She nodded and took several steps in his direction. Closing the distance, he wrapped both arms around her and squeezed tightly. She relaxed against him, astonished by how quickly her cares melted away. She would have preferred Logan to be the one comforting her, but whenever she ended up in his embrace, sexual urges consumed her. Being hugged by Dare was different. It was almost like when she was a girl and her father had comforted her when the world had treated her unfairly. Except her father hadn’t had such a firm muscular chest and didn’t smell like a little slice of heaven. Being hugged by Dare was like being hugged by the gorgeous big brother she’d never had but had so longed for when the responsibility of taking care of the family had fallen on her after her father had passed away.

Dare rubbed her back, turning her muscles to butter. Toni appreciated that he kept his touch platonic and his embrace comforting. She’d done enough yelling for the day and if he tried anything, she’d be obligated to tell him off. She’d made a promise to Logan, and she didn’t take such things lightly.

“Feel better?” Dare asked, leaning back to look at what must be a tear-streaked disaster, aka her face.

She nodded.

“You’d better not be touching her, Mills,” Logan called hoarsely from somewhere in the bus.

“I don’t think we need two fights in one day,” Dare said. He released her and stepped away. “Guys like Logan don’t understand how it’s possible to touch a woman without trying to initiate sex.”