“Michael Dean,” he said, offering his hand to the older man—the boss, if he guessed right. He had a hard time imagining Ethan being that deferential to anyone else. “I’m looking forward to helping you reach your goals.”
“Peter Bransford,” said the older man. “I’m the head of this motley crew and our goal is to win.”
Perfect. One more guy who measured everything in wins. Forget things like personal bests or being able to try something new, having a transformative experience. He saw Amanda shift on her feet and wondered what she thought about it.
“I’ll do my best to help you learn the skills to get there and hopefully have fun doing it.” It was the best he could do. He knew without trying thewinning isn’t everythingargument wouldn’t hold water with these guys.
“And this is Amanda,” said Ethan after he’d introduced everyone else in the group. “She’s our rock climbing ace in the hole.”
Michael opened his mouth to say he’d already had the pleasure of meeting her and then he noticed the way the other man’s hand curled possessively around her arm.Well, hell. That answered the question of whether they worked together. With all the time he’d spent thinking of Amanda Southerland, it never once occurred to him that she’d have a boyfriend.How stupid was he?
Of course she was seeing someone. Why wouldn’t she be? She was sexy and smart and she climbed like a dancer. She’d probably been fighting guys off her whole life. But if that was the case, what was she doing with a corporate suck-up like Ethan? She ought to be with someone who cared more about the experience than tallying a win. She ought to be with him.
Well, there was a helpful idea.
He derailed his train of thought and stuck out his hand, forcing her to acknowledge him or risk being rude.
“We’ve met. It’s nice to see you again, Michael,” she said.
She took his offered hand and he pretended he didn’t feel the little shock when her fingers met his. He was in serious danger of turning into a chick if he kept thinking like that.
“Wait, when did you guys meet?” asked Ethan, looking more confused than the situation warranted.
“Michael was the client I was guiding when I fell last week. We had to cut our climb short. He was a very good sport about it.”
She conveniently left off that he’d been trying to call her to reschedule ever since, and she’d been avoiding him. The expression on Ethan’s face kept Michael from mentioning it.
“You fell in front of him? You can’t do that during the competition.”
Christ, what a dumbass. At least Amanda had the sense not to look embarrassed.
“It hardly counted as a fall,” he said, remembering the gravity-defying way she’d skittered over the surface of the rock. “It was too graceful for that.”
“She’s normally much better than that,” said Ethan, glancing from Michael to his boss and back again.
“She was fantastic.” He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to defend Amanda. If she was bothered by Ethan’s comments, she didn’t show it. But he couldn’t stand the idea of the other man trying to make her feel small or like less than who she was. “I couldn’t do what she does. I was just grateful I didn’t have to embarrass myself by quitting before I even got started. I spent the whole time she was climbing watching her and trying to figure out how to get out of it with my dignity intact.”
Amanda met his gaze and something he couldn’t quite name—respect, gratitude maybe—passed between them.
“You would have done fine.” She was lying, but he didn’t care. He liked the way she was looking at him. “I still owe you half a day.”
“I think you might be overestimating my abilities,” he said, shooting her a grin. “But Iwouldlike to make it to the top of that route.”
“I can get you up,” said Amanda. The busty blonde, hanging off the boss’s arm, giggled, and Amanda blushed, her cheeks turning scarlet as she realized the double meaning behind her words. “To the top of the mountain. I can help you reach the top of the mountain.”
“I’m ready when you are.”
“We can tack it onto one of our practice sessions. We’re going to need as much time as we can squeeze in to get ready,” said Ethan, taking a step closer to Amanda and wrapping his arm around her waist.
He might as well pee on her.But regardless of how he felt about the guy, he couldn’t blame him for trying to mark his territory. If she’d been his, Michael would have pounded anyone who’d had the kind of thoughts about Amanda he’d been having. Ethan didn’t strike him as the pounding type, but he’d made his intentions more than clear.
“That would work,” said Michael, cutting the guy some slack. “Have you figured out who’s going to be your fourth couple? We need to get some idea of everyone’s strengths and weaknesses so we can lay out who’s participating in each event and establish a training schedule.”
The Eco Challenge was a six-week course with competitions on the weekend. Teams consisted of four couples, but with the exception of the obstacle course and the relay run, not every team competed in every event. Part of the strategy was figuring out the team’s individual strengths and deciding who to put on which events.
“Amanda’s brother and sister are joining us,” said Ethan, sounding like he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. “They’ll be here for our next meeting.”
The way he said it made it seem as if they’d blown off this one, but with the way Amanda glared at the other man, he had a feeling there was more to the story.
