She stares back at me blankly, and now there’s no doubt in my mind. Shedefinitelycornered Amir and scared him off. I should be appalled, but I guess I’m getting used to her ways. I burst out laughing.
“Okay, that’s it.” I laugh. “Now Ireallywant to crush you. Time to hit the gym.”
“Hmm.”
“That all you got?”
She snorts. “Last time a guy said that, he ended up with a dumbbell down his throat.”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take.” I shrug. “You’ve never met a guy like me.”
“You can say that again.”
As she races up the stairs, I check out her ass, making sure I look away just in time when she whips around.
“What’re you doing?” She tilts her head at me. “Chickening out?”
“You don’t scare me, Hitman. Not even a little bit.”
That’s a flat-out lie—when she gets that glint in her eye, she’s positively terrifying. And insanely hot.
I lead her down the halls to the women’s locker room, and five minutes later we’re in the weights section.
It’s busy today, and I can feel the guys’ eyes on her, rubbernecking the hell out of her, shooting me approving winks. I can’t help but smile.Gawk away, guys. This one’s mine.
I grab her waist and frog-march her over to the treadmills.
“Forty-five minutes of cardio,” I instruct. “Think you can handle it?”
She hops onto the machine next to me, stabs at the buttons, and starts to jog, flashing me a wry grin. I decide to step things up a gear.Time to show you who’s boss.She arches an eyebrow at me and fiddles with the settings to match my pace. I crank the speed up a little more, and we go back and forth that way until we’re flying down the rubber, my breath coming hard. I glance over at her—she hasn’t even broken a sweat.
“I could keep going for hours!” I call over.
“Samesies!”
I shoot her my most intimidating stare, and she just looks at me impassively.
“Amy, there’s no shame in admitting when you’ve hit your limit.”
“You’re so caring.”
I keep the speed up until the timer runs down, and when finally we stop, I grip the bars for dear life. My legs are Jell-O. Amy tags a few extra minutes onto the end, before jumping off with a grin.
I stare at her. While I’m gasping for air, she’s oozing inner calm.
“You’re a freak of nature, you know that?”
“What can I say? Brooklyn taught me to run,” she quips. “And to mask my feelings.”
“You sure about that?”
I wiggle my eyebrows at her. She does the same.
“I’m ready for the next challenge. How ’bout rope climbing?” she suggests.
“Last to the top buys the drinks!”
I win that round, but she slaughters me on round three. She’s one hell of an opponent, and I like playing with her.
