Fuck. I closed my burning eyes for a second before facing Brenner with a forced smile. “Is it time already?”
“We still have a few minutes. Are you all right?”
“Yeah, of course.” I brushed the hair off my sweaty brow. “Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know, maybe because you look like you’re about to throw up? Plus, you ran out of the room like a bat out of hell after checking your phone. Did you get bad news?”
“No.” I pressed my lips together, but I wasn’t sure if it was to stop myself from spilling my guts or busting out crying. Neither of which I cared to do with Brenner.
Not that he believed me, as the expression on his face indicated. “Uh-huh.” He waited, and I collected myself as best I could.
“Aw, you want to walk in together, like we’re friends?”
Side by side, we headed into the conference room.
“You’re acting like more of an ass than usual,” he murmured. “And I don’t care what you say. I know you’re lying. I’ve seen prisoners looking happier than you.”
Ignoring him, I strode ahead and sat in my chair. With everyone in place, Sara once again stood up in front.
“This next exercise is one that many of you might be familiar with. We ask one of you to stand in front of the other and allow yourself to fall backward. The objective is to have trust in your partner to catch you. Both of you will do the falling and the catching, so no one gets an advantage over the other. And for those who don’t feel they can catch their partner, you can improvise by placing a chair under them as they lower themselves to sit. The premise remains the same.”
Brenner and I shared a glance, and neither of us appeared happy about this test.
“Well? You want to catch me or have me catch you first?” Putting on my most innocent face, I held my hands up. “I’ll let you choose.”
From the stupendous frown and deep furrows in his brow, I could only imagine the thoughts running through Brenner’s brain.
“You’llletme. How magnanimous of you,” he sniped, but then his face cleared. “My decision is you make the choice. Why should you get to decide who decides?”
“Do you hear how ridiculous that sounds—even for you?”
That jab settled it, and Brenner straightened up. “If that’s how it’s going to be, I’ll catch you.”
I took off my suit jacket, rolled up my sleeves, and held my arms out. “Come and get me.”
Chapter Seven
Brenner
Maybe Weston Lively could fool most people, but I wasn’t one of them. Whatever he’d read on his phone had triggered him and sent him running. For the first time, the mask was off—that arrogant, devil-may-care facade I’d always hated had slipped, revealing unexpected emotional turmoil living inside him.
But if he refused to talk about it, I wouldn’t push. He wasn’t required to divulge his innermost feelings to me. I copied him and stood in my shirtsleeves. Other partners had already started, and I watched for a moment to see their techniques. Some caught the other person almost right away, but most waited until they were off-balance.
“Ready?”
Weston peered over his shoulder. “When you are.” He winked. “Be prepared. I’m heavier than I look. All the weights I lift.” He flexed his biceps, and I rolled my eyes.
“More like the weight of your ego.”
He turned and began to tip toward me. I let him go a little past vertical, then caught him under his arms.Damn. He was right. He was pure solid muscle.
“Oof.” I grasped him tighter. Heat poured off him, transferring to me. His hair tickled my nose, and the curve of hisass pressed into my hips. He wore a light cologne that shouldn’t have affected my breathing.
But it did.
We stood frozen for a second. Could he feel the rapid thump of my heart? I needed him off me and pushed him away.
“Nice catch,” he murmured, but he didn’t meet my eyes. “My turn.”
