"Me too," Jake said.
"Wait a minute!" Damon raised his voice. "Our teams are tied. We need a tiebreaker."
"Like what?" Robert asked, his keen gaze landing on Damon.
The only person in the family who was more competitive than Damon was Robert.
"Push-up contest." Damon gave a casual shrug. "Team with the last man still in wins."
Groans sounded from the group, and Robert's gaze raked over Damon. As the county sheriff with a home gym, Robert was in great shape.
"That's hardly fair," Jake said. "You probably do push-ups in your sleep; you'd beat us hands down."
"Fine, I won't participate. That makes it four on four." He motioned to his teammates.
Robert's eyes lit up, and he nodded his head at his teammates.
"I don't know, man," Ben shook his head. "I sit behind a desk all day. I work out a little, but I can't remember the last time I did a real push-up."
"I'm right there with you." Matt nudged Ben's arm with his elbow.
"Foods getting cold while you sissies stand around gossiping." Zane's taunt lit a fire in Damon's cousins' eyes, and everyone dropped to the ground.
Damon crouched near Gabe and Luke. "I'm counting on you two. Don't let me down."
Luke and Gabe gave each other a nod. Then Gabe smirked at the younger man. “You want to beat me, Luke? You’ve got to earn it."
Damon stood beside Uncle James and Zane, cheering everyone on.
One by one, his brothers and cousins dropped out as the count grew higher. Robert did an impressive thirty-five push-ups before he dropped and didn't get up again.
Gabe and Luke both laughed and kept going.
Up. Down.
Up. Down.
Again, and again.
Everyone gathered around them, watching their arms grow shakier and their grunts deeper. Then finally, Gabe dropped, gasping for air.
Luke did one more push-up then sprang to his feet and pumped his arms in the air as though he hadn't just done fifty-one push-ups. "Yes! Finally!"
Clapping and lots of backslapping ensued as they made their way to the back deck and the food. Uncle James said grace, then a line quickly formed.
Robert's arm hooked around Damon's shoulders just as he was about to step into line. "I hear you've been spending a lot of time with Grace."
You could say that.
He'd spent almost every waking minute with her when she wasn't at work. Doing bucket list things, digging up flower beds and planting rose bushes and tulips bulbs under Marisol's supervision. Grace helped him paint the dining room at his mom's house.
They'd helped decorate the rec center and assisted his mom and Amy with food prep for the wedding. Then last night, they spent a quiet evening with Marisol, making tamales that she hardly touched, and watched a movie.
Through it all, they laughed and talked about everything under the sun. Grace often leaned into him and nudged his arm when she was in a teasing mood, but she'd kept him firmly in the friend zone, always curtailing any opportunity for things to get serious.
"Yeah," he looked Robert in the eye. "So what?"
The last thing he needed was another person telling him to tread lightly where Grace was concerned. He'd fallen so hard for her, no way would he ever intentionally hurt her.
