Wasn’t going to stop me from irritating her.
We steered into the mooring area, the folk who were supervising pulling the kayak in and stabilising it so we could get out.
I ended up standing next to Dee, narrowly avoiding being smacked by her flailing arm as she stretched out. I kept my distance until the risk of being hit had gone and then scared the shit out of her by putting my hand on her shoulder.
“What the fu…” She spun round and faced me.
I grinned. “Want to bet who wins in the bleep test?” I wriggled my eyebrows, loving the look of sheer annoyance on her face.
She scowled. “I would, except there’s no point.”
My grin expanded. “Because I won’t let you take me out of dinner?” I knew it had pissed her off.
She folded her arms, her eyes glinting. “I just figure your oversized ego can’t take a woman paying for your food.”
“So, let’s make this double or quits: I win, I take you for dinner. You win, and you can take me out twice.”
Her arms relaxed, but she was still looking at me as if I was about to turn into a Marvel villain.
“I don’t want to take you out twice.”
I folded my arms this time. “I feel like I should be taking offence somehow.”
She didn’t respond.
“How about this: winner decides what we do.”
Dee nodded, slowly. Like she was deciding what the catch possibly was. “Fine. We’ll do that.”
I was probably going to die.
Death by fitness testprobably wasn’t going to be on the death certificate, but it should be. I had no idea what level I was at now, but Dee was still running, keeping up with my pace, that ponytail staying fixed during each length we covered.
No one had kept up with us. Ryan had dropped out a couple of rounds ago, and Izzy hadn’t lasted much after halfway. I kept stealing glances at Dee, hoping to see some kind of fatigue, but she still looked fresh. She caught me looking and sent me a beaming smile, with just enough hint of smug to let me know she had no intention of letting me win.
Which was fine. I had no intention of letting her win either.
I grabbed a bottle of water Ryan was holding out for me, ignoring the tiredness that was setting into my legs. This was after the rowing and a long climb; but then Dee had done the same.
“You’re ahead of any other team right now.” One of the coaches shouted it out as we headed into the next level of the bleep test. “Feel free to quit.”
I ignored the last part. Pushed the idea out of my head. My legs were feeling more and more like lead, the inevitable wall not far off.
I didn’t turn to look at Dee. I knew she was ahead of me by a couple of paces now, and I doubted her wall was as close as mine. I’d stop soon, and it would be me taking her out to dinner.
Which wouldn’t be so bad.
The media loved her. She was wholesome and always smiling. No scandal, no exes with grudges, no seedy photos. Rhys would love it if the media put two and two together and made sixty-nine. My image would be polished rather than tarnished, for a change.
I stopped, dropping to a squat. A cheer went up around the hall, mainly from the women’s team. I was going to take flack from the lads about this, letting the side down and all that.
I turned around and watched Dee easily complete another couple of laps, only just starting to look tired. She ended it gracefully, gesturing to the coach that she was done and accepting a protein shake from Izzy.
In between the hands that reached out to smack her on the back or give her a sweaty hug, she found me, our eyes locking. Then her look was smug that she’d won and I’d lost.
Only I hadn’t.
She just hadn’t worked that out yet.
