by Stacy Eaton
“Sorry, didn’t mean to do that quite so hard,” he said huskily as we stared at each other for a moment, and then a smile exploded over his lips.
Yeah, he totally meant to do that. Didn’t they say they were going to put me through the paces? If I knew Greg, he was going to make sure I failed so I couldn’t go with him. He’d find some reason to show that I wasn’t strong enough, fast enough, or fit enough to do it.
I was going to prove him wrong. I patted him condescendingly on the chest as I turned away. “Yeah, sure.”
I shifted the vest around a little bit, rolled my shoulders, and walked in a circle, getting the feel of the substantial addition to my body weight.
Trevor approached. “We’re going to put a helmet on you too. We don’t need you bonking your pretty little head on something.”
“Aw, thanks for thinking of my head as pretty, but I know you’re lying your ass off, especially right now.”
He laughed and winked. “I don’t know. Women who work out are pretty sexy. Don’t you think so, Greg?”
Greg was leaning against a support post a few feet away, and his eyes traveled down my body and then back up like they had yesterday. Damn him. He was totally trying to get me off my game.
“Definitely,” Greg replied gruffly as his eyes locked on mine. I rolled my eyes and turned away from him. Let him ogle my ass as much as he wanted. At least, I wouldn’t see him doing it.
Trevor took a few minutes to walk me through the obstacle course and explain what needed to be done: jump this, climb under that, pull this ten feet, push that fifteen, run around this, and so on. For the most part, it looked relatively easy. The hardest segment would be the wall at the end with a rope hanging down. It was only eight feet high, or so I estimated, but would probably feel more like sixteen feet by the time I got done with everything else.
“Alright, you are going to do this three times.”
“Three?” I choked out the response and then laughed. “You guys really don’t want me to go on this with you, do you?”
“Our feelings have nothing to do with this, Maggie,” Trevor said. “We want to see if you have the stamina to do it. Our days are long and hard, and we can’t have someone with us that might hold us back. How about Greg and I do it with you?”
I was about to tell him not to bother, but Greg spoke up. “That’s actually a good idea. It’s been a while since I ran this. I’ll go before you, Maggie, that way you can see the course in action.”
“By all means, go right ahead, Mr. Competitive.” I held my hand out, and he grinned.
“Let me grab another vest.”
Greg went into the closet and returned with a couple of vests. He strapped his on, and I tried not to drool. The vest looked much smaller on him, but that was because his shoulders were broader and his back thicker. “You ready, Trev?” Greg asked after he got the vest secured.
“You aren’t going to wear a helmet?” I asked him.
He laughed. “Fine, I’ll wear a helmet too.”
Not that I cared, but if I was wearing one, they should too. With his gear on, Greg stepped to the line, nodding to Trevor. “Let’s go.”
Trevor gave him a ready-set-go countdown, and he was off. My eyes stalked his every move as he vaulted over things, crawled under others, and hopped from one obstacle to the other, making it look effortless. Trevor and I walked along as he moved through the course and then toward the finish line as he reached the rope wall.
When he dropped to the other side and hit the finish line, Trevor called out his time. “One minute thirty-six.”
“Wow!” I said in awe of his time.
“Wow? Was that a good wow or a bad wow?” He was breathing hard as he asked.
“That was a good wow. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to do it in under two.”
“Actually, that was one of his worst times,” Trevor commented. “You’re getting old, Greg.”
“Shut your mouth, Vaughn.”
Trevor laughed and turned to me. “You ready?”
I inhaled deeply and sighed. “Let’s get this over with,” I told him as I put myself at the starting line. “I’m ready when you are.”
“Okay, Maggie, give it your best. We’ll let you do it three times, and count the best score.”
“And if I don’t make it under two minutes?”
Trevor smiled. “Let’s just see how you do right now, alright?”
“Fine.”
Trevor did my ready-set-go countdown, and I dashed off the line, mentally crossing my fingers that I did not embarrass myself.
Chapter Seventeen
Gregory
I half expected Maggie to complain about doing an obstacle course—but she didn’t. I definitely thought she’d have something to say about wearing the weight vest, but she surprised me and kept her mouth shut. In fact, Maggie had been suspiciously reserved all morning. Where was her head?
During the run, she’d made a few comments, answered a couple of questions but, for the most part, did not take part in our conversation. I wondered if she was one of those people who liked to check out when they ran so that they weren’t counting every footstep to the finish line.
I knew Maggie was listening to us because she’d chuckle every once in a while, but then slip back into silence—which bothered me. Maggie was never quiet, and I wanted to ask her what was on her mind. I wanted to ask her more than that, but I kept my mouth shut.
It was evident that Maggie did run often, and I never once heard her huff or act as if she needed to slow down. Once I told her to lead the pace, she’d picked it up nicely, and I wasn’t the only one that noticed.
After we returned, we polished off a few bottles of water, and then Trevor and I set up the obstacle course. We generally had everyone that went through our training run it at least twice, but I was pushing Maggie to the edge and wanted her to do it at least three times. I knew the obstacle course would be hard for her, especially the rope, but if she was as motivated as I thought she was, I had a feeling she’d get it done. Maybe not in under two minutes, but she’d finish. I’d never known Maggie to give up on anything.
Maggie darted off the line when Trevor said go, and she had no trouble popping herself over the two obstacles, even with the vest on. She got caught going under something, but readjusted herself lower and made it with only a short lapse in time. She pushed, she pulled, she ran, she tripped but caught herself, and when she hit the rope, Maggie tried her damndest. I could see her arms shaking, knew without a doubt that her legs were probably screaming at her, and I could tell that she was huffing. Her face was red, but she kept trying.
I glanced at Trevor, we shared a look, and then I jogged over to her side.
“Don’t!” she hissed at me.
“Maggie, let me just help you get started. A little boost, and then you can finish it.”
She grunted but didn’t reply, and I lunged to the side to allow her to step on my knee and use it to get higher. She struggled for a moment, but then she finally grabbed the top, and even though she didn’t want me to, I pushed her backside a bit to help get her over. Maggie slid down the other side, got to her feet, and crossed the finish line before slamming her back into the wall, sinking to the ground, huffing and puffing the whole way.
Her face was flushed, stray blond hairs stuck to the sides of her cheeks, and she see-sawed air through her parted lips. The woman had never looked more gorgeous to me, and I shook myself and turned away.
“What was my time?” Maggie finally asked after Trevor tossed her a bottle of water.
“Do you really want to know?”
“Yes,” she snapped before she guzzled half the water from the bottle.
“Three minutes and twenty-seven seconds.”
“I blame that on the wall. If I had gotten over that, what do you think my time would have been?” she asked him.
“You would have been over, but only a few seconds. You did excellent, Maggie; that wall just tripped you up.”
>
“Stupid wall,” she growled as she glared at it. When I laughed, she turned the glare to me, and I put my hands up.
“I was not laughing at you. I was laughing at the look on your face.”
“Same thing.” She sucked back the rest of the water. “How long do I get to rest before I have to do it again?”
“How about we let your muscles take a break, and we can try that again after lunch. We can work on some self-defense until then if that’s okay with you.” I answered, and she nodded, looking frustrated with herself.
Trevor helped her to her feet, and then he checked the vest he was wearing to make sure it was secure as I helped Maggie get hers off. “Oh, my god!” she exclaimed after the vest was off. “Let me run the next one without a vest and have no problem doing it in under two minutes.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, that’s not the deal.”
“Just once.” She batted her eyelashes at me.
“We’ll see.”
Trevor tossed the stopwatch to me, and Maggie stood by my side as Trevor ran the course, coming in two seconds faster than me. “I’ll get you on the next round,” I told him as he slapped me on the back.
“Yeah, we’ll see about that.”
For the next two and a half hours, we worked on self-defense drills intermittently as we discussed safety topics so we could rest between sets. By lunch, we were all starving, and when Maggie excused herself to the restroom, Trevor took a seat next to me at the table where we had some lessons laid out.
“She’s in really good shape,” Vaughn said.
“Yeah, she is.”
“But you don’t want her to go, do you?”
I sighed. “Not really.”
“Why?”
“Would you want Davina to go?”
Trevor laughed. “Davina wouldn’t want to go.”
“But if she did, would you let her?”
“Hell no.” He barked with a laugh, and I grinned.
“And why is that?”
“Because I don’t want her to see the shit that we have to see, and I don’t want to put her in harm’s way.”
“So, why is it wrong that I feel that way about Maggie?”
“Because Maggie wants to go. Maggie wants to see it and experience it and report it. I’m kind of with Jake on this, and I think it would be good to have someone along for the ride who can share what we do back here at home.”
“And risk her life while doing it?”
“Greg, granted we have only been doing this for a few hours, but she has bypassed just about every other person we have ever trained on this stuff—male or female. It’s like she’s a sponge, and she’s been waiting for this to come along. Now she has it, and she’s gobbling it all down. Do you ever remember someone retaining the amount of information that we’ve given her this quickly?”
“Yeah, well, she has a photographic memory.”
“Even better!”
I exhaled loudly. “I know, Trevor, but I’m still not happy with this. A woman like her shouldn’t be traveling through what we do, or seeing the horror out there that we could face.”
“I think maybe that’s exactly the type of woman she is, Greg. Give her a chance. She might pass this, and she might not.”
“I doubt she’s going to pass the obstacle course.”
“Yeah, and to be honest, it’s unfair that she has to do it in the same amount of time that we do. She is smaller, and most women don’t have the upper body strength necessary to get over that wall.”
“Seriously? You think that she should have a different standard?”
“Don’t women always have different standards?”
I glanced toward the bathroom. “Don’t let Maggie hear you say that.”
Trevor chuckled. “I won’t, but Greg, what are you going to do if she passes everything?”
I clenched my jaw. “Try to find another reason for her not to go.”
Maggie stepped out of the locker room, her eyes locking on to mine as Trevor replied softly, “Yeah, good luck with that.”
We took a leisurely lunch and then spent another hour talking over more safety information before I noticed Maggie staring over my shoulder at the obstacle course.
“You ready to give it a second try?”
“Yeah.” She nodded slowly. “I think I am.”
“Alright, then let’s get your vest on you again and get you going.”
“Can I try this one with only twenty-five pounds in the vest?”
Trevor and I glanced at one another, and he shrugged. “Sure, but it won’t count toward qualifying.”
“I know that. I think I just need to get through it once without help, and then I can do it with the full weight.”
“Whatever you want, Maggie,” Trevor told her.
I put the vest over her shoulders, and she held her arms out to the sides as I tightened the straps. I glanced at her face and found her watching me. My hands stalled for a moment as I tried to read what I saw in them. There was determination, but also a desire, and it rattled me to see that. I didn’t want to desire Maggie.
The problem was that I did. So damn much so that I could practically feel her in my arms. I could imagine tracing my fingers over her firm body, and I could practically taste her on my tongue. I suppressed the shiver that tore through me and put distance between us, snagging the stopwatch out of Trevor’s hands just so that I had something else to focus on.
Maggie was quick to start and moved smoothly through the course, only having issues with one task momentarily. When I glanced at the stopwatch, I was surprised to see her doing good on time. If she nailed the rope wall, she’d make it under two minutes.
Maggie jumped as she got closer to the wall and got herself up higher, but she struggled to get her foot position and lost precious seconds. I didn’t help her this time, and after some serious focus, she managed to get herself up and over.
Yeah, she was fifteen seconds over the limit, but I was so damn proud of her for doing it on her own. We had quite a few men who struggled through the course.
She was huffing loudly as her chest expanded and released the air while I approached her. “You did great, Maggie.”
“I didn’t hit the time, though, did I?”
“Nope, fifteen seconds off, but you did a lot better this time.”
“Stupid wall,” she growled. “Do you make all the people who travel with you do this course in under two minutes?”
Trevor and I shared a glance. “No, only the ones that want to work with us.”
Maggie bent down and put her hands on her knees, inhaling slowly, then holding it before releasing it again. She did this twice before she spoke again, and when she did, her breathing had slowed noticeably. Damn, I knew a lot of guys who couldn’t calm themselves that fast.
“Why do I have to do this then? I’m not working for your company. I’m going so that I can shed light on the issues you all deal with.”
“Maggie, your safety is important to us, and Jake wants to make sure that you can take care of yourself.”
“Just Jake?” she barked back and raised a brow at me.
“No, not just Jake. I want to know you can take care of yourself too, Maggie. I can’t have you go over with us and get hurt because you couldn’t handle it.”
“Let me ask you a question, Greg.” She came to stand in front of me, the helmet sitting low on her head, and she tipped her face up; she was so damn cute at that moment. “I think you are well aware that I can take care of myself. I think you are looking for an excuse for me not to go.”
“No, I’m not,” I replied, and Trevor burst out laughing. “Shut up, Vaughn.”
“Oh, come on, Blaire, tell the truth. You don’t want her to go because you don’t want to have a hard-on the entire time we are traveling.”
I glared at him, and Maggie started to chuckle. “Oh, so that’s the problem! You don’t want me to go with you all because you want to sleep with me. Is that it, Gregory Blaire?”
“No.”
“Yes!” Trevor roared, and I almost threw the stopwatch at him.
Maggie shifted closer to me. “You know, we can take care of that, Greg. Maybe if we sleep with each other, we’ll stop wondering what it will be like. It’s not like we haven’t done it before.”
I stared down into her pretty eyes; had she lost her mind? I didn’t know about her, but I was pretty sure that having sex with her once would be nothing like it had been when we were teenagers. I also had a feeling that one time with her would never satisfy me. In fact, I was pretty sure a few years with this woman wouldn't be enough.
I think that scared me more than the thought of her traveling with us. As I stared down into her beautiful eyes, I realized that this woman still had a tight grip on my heart. Almost twenty years after I’d walked away from her to protect her, to allow her to have her life, I was finding that I’d never let her go myself.
Is that why every relationship I’d ever entertained had been doomed from the start? Because not one woman I’d ever met could hold a candle to the sexy, sassy, and smart-assed woman in front of me. My god! It was, and that realization was like a punch to my gut.
I swallowed as I stepped slowly back from her. “Sorry, Maggie, but that’s not happening.”
Before I looked away, I saw the disappointment in her eyes.
Maggie turned toward Trevor. “Do you have a problem with me going with you guys?”
“Um, not really.”
“Not really? What does that mean? Do you think I could do it, or do you think I can’t?”
“I think you could probably handle yourself, Maggie.”
“Then what makes you hesitate to say I couldn’t do the job?”
Trevor didn’t answer right away, and when I glanced his way, the two of them were staring at me. Was I the reason he didn’t want her to go? If I didn’t have an itch for her, would he be willing to have her along?
I glanced around and didn’t see the second vest. “Give me the damn vest so I can run this again.”