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“Right.” I eyed the pole speculatively. “How?”

“Not sure,” Tobias said. “But I’m sure as hell going to try it.” He sat, dangling his legs over the side of the hole. From there, he wrapped his arms and legs around the pole. There was a moment when he remained suspended in the air, and then he loosened his grip, gaining momentum as he slid down the pole until his feet hit the ground. He tilted his head back and grinned up at me. “Your turn.” I hefted the crossbow to provide a silent reason I couldn’t do that. “Leave it up there. We know the building’s empty.”

I didn’t leave it up there, unable to shake the suspicion that this could be a ruse to separate me from it. I hooked it over my back instead and let it dangle. Tobias had made getting on the pole look easy; I made far more of a meal out of it. I might have been stronger, but I was also considerably more bulky. I didn’t control my eventual slide down the pole as well as Tobias had either. I had to admit, though, that just like the bike, there was a certain exhilaration to it.

When Tobias met my gaze with a slight smile, I knew exactly what he was thinking: the two of us racing to the stairs for another round. He won, of course—closer to the door and more devious—his shoulder barge at the doorway as underhand as it was effective.

It took three more goes before we’d satisfied the itch. Afterward, I paced the floor while Tobias leaned against the pole, his fingers tapping out a rhythm on his thigh. “Ever heard of pole dancing?” he asked.

“No,” I answered honestly. Tobias’ expression said he found that amusing. “What is it?”

“Dancing, but using a pole as a prop.”

I frowned. “That makes no sense.”

“People used to like it. They used to pay a lot of money to see it.”

“I’m sure people used to like a lot of pointless things when they didn’t have to worry about getting eaten.”

“Want to see some?”

“No. We should be…” I scanned the room for inspiration. “Looking for wood to build a fire, or finding something to eat.”

“I have food.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Wood, then.”

“You didn’t notice the old bookcase, did you?”

I shook my head. “Where?”

“In the locker room. Axe plus bookcase equals firewood.”

There was no arguing with that. “Right. Seems like you’ve got everything covered.” Tobias’ fingers dropped to the buttons on his shirt. He eased one through the buttonhole before starting on the next. “What are you doing?”

He glanced up at me through his fringe. “Pole dancing requires a certain look. I want to get it right.”

“This is not…” I stopped, the shirt already off to reveal Tobias’ lean musculature. I didn’t know where to look, my gaze flitting between him and a patch on the brickwork behind his head. I’d gotten a pretty good impression of how nicely put together he was the previous night when he’d worn a white shirt in the rain, the sodden and extremely transparent material not leaving a lot to the imagination.

But that was different. Everyone had been looking. Even those who’d deny it to their dying breath. And there’d been lots of people. And distance. And probably a hundred other things I could come up with if I could just force some blood from a certain extremity back into my brain.

I fastened my gaze on something that wasn’t bare skin as Tobias’ shirt hit the ground. “Nice chain.”

He lifted his hand, his fingers wrapping around the pendant. “It’s a horseshoe. They’re supposed to bring luck. My… Someone gave it to me.”

The correction didn’t go unnoticed. “And has it? Brought you luck?”

Tobias laughed. “I’m still alive, aren’t I?”

“You are.” Alive. Hot. Too close. About to do God knows what. There was something I could do about at least one of those. I backed off until I leaned against the fire engine, the metal reassuringly solid. “Go on then. Get on with whatever it is you’re determined to show me.”

Tobias leaned back, reaching above his head to grasp the pole. “Ideally, this would involve my being oiled up.” Jesus! Just the thought of it had me almost swallowing my tongue.

The next few minutes were like nothing I’d ever experienced before as Tobias moved in sinuous ways, which basically equated to him having sex with the pole. I’d think he was done, and then he’d find some new way to torment me. Because that’s what it was. Pure torment. Like someone showing you all the best bits of something you couldn’t have.