Page 14 of Attraction

“No, it’s fine.” Looking her up and down, her hair tied in a tangled mess on top of her head and her clothes, black bra top and shorts finished with bright pink running shoes. “What… you’re goin’ runnin’…now?Okay. But not dressed like that?” He stares at her questioning her outfit. Her long, toned legs poking out from the barely-there shorts and her breasts squashed into the stomach revealing top.

“Like this? Yeah. Why … what the hell do you expect me to go running in?” She frowns, dismissing the comment, concentrating instead on the fitness tracker strapped to her wrist—tapping in today’s goals.

“No see, that’s the point, you’renotgoing runnin’, not dressed like that! You need to put a shirt on. I’m serious, Kat… put a fuckin’ shirt on!”

She laughs, sipping the last of her coffee as she ignores him and checks the time on her watch. But then, looking up she sees in his face that he’s not joking. “What? Are you serious?” she asks. “Did you turn into my grand-momma overnight or something? Seriously,you…. youhave a problem with me going dressed like this? You do remember what happened between us last night?”

“No, I don’t have a problem with it, not if you’re stayin’ home. But you can’t go out there like that, not on the base. You’ll have every fuckin’ dog from here to the state line sniffin’ you out.”

Snorting, she can’t help but laugh at his sudden disapproval. “This is a joke? I mean, you’re not actually serious?…. Ryan, this is bullshit, I’m not listening to this. Besides, if you didn’t notice, I can take care of myself.”

The tone in his voice turns much more serious, and his eyes glow with disdain. “I said put afuckingshirt on!” He picks up the tee-shirt, the one he left on the couch last night, and throws it at her. “Put it on!”

“What? … No, fuck you! Sure, we had sex, but that doesn’t mean you own me. You can’t tell me what to wear.”

“Kat, I’m serious, I’m not gonna let you run around this base dressed like that. Not here…. not when…” He doesn’t finish what he’s saying, just looks at her and takes a deep breath. “Trust me, you can’t.”

“Look, it’s not my problem if you guys can’t keep it in your pants.”

“Fine… then have it your way.”

She frowns, watching as he pulls the tee over his own head—covering up his muscular toned gorgeous body, and then takes the pair of black sneakers from the rack and puts them on. “What…” She sniggers, laughing hard. “Seriously? You’re going to come with me? What, like a bodyguard?”

“Yeah, if that’s what you wanna call it. So… shall we?” he points, gesturing her out of the door.

Laughing hysterically, unable to believe he’s actually going to do this, she takes a breath, frowning as she looks at him. “You have to be kidding me? Oh… oh, I get it. This is Alpha bullshit. What… to prove that you can run faster and further than me? That there’s no way I could keep your pace and so there’s no way I can make the team… is that it? Maybe it’s one of the Master Chief’s ideas? You know what, don’t try to explain. C’mon then, you wanna run with me then we’ll run, but I’ll tell you now Iwillbe slower than you, so you really have nothing to prove.”

“Kat…” he sighs, listening to her continuous babble, “you know special operations, it’s not about how fast you can run, it’s about mindset…. about having the grit and determination to get through to the end—get the job done, no matter what.” His tone is more serious, more focused, “You do understand that, right?”

“Yeah, sure. Okay. I get it.”

Does she though?Does she really understand what’s going to be asked of her?He’s not so sure.Will she make it?That he doesn’t know either—not yet. But what he does know is there’s something about her, something hereallylikes. Relaxing his frown, he smiles and ushers her out of the door. “So, what you say we do… ten-klicks?”

“Yeah, sure. If that’s what you want? I was only going to do five, but ten is cool.”

Ryan frowns as he waits, watching as she twiddles the settings on her watch. “What the hell is that thing you keep messin’ with?”

“It’s my fitness tracker. Tells me how I’m doing: Am I keeping pace? On-time? How many miles? That kind of stuff. What, you don’t have one? But I thought you guys were all into performance goals?”

“C’mon…” He laughs. “Follow me.”

* * *

Turning around at the half-way mark, they begin the steady jog back. But at the seven-mark, it’s obvious Kat’s lagging way behind. Ryan’s pace is intense and the pain in her side lets her know she can’t keep it up. Feeling hot and dizzy, she stops to take more water.

“Okay, okay, I need to slow down. I concede. I can’t keep this pace up and you’re going to have to continue without me.” She gasps and struggling for breath, stops. “You win!”

“What… you’re quittin’? How the hell doIwin if you give up? That makes no sense.”

“You just go, I’ll come back at my own pace.”

“No, fuck you. What kinda bullshit attitude is that? That’s not how it works. We’re a team, you and me… we don’t work as individuals. Only together do we go, so… you need to step it up because right now it’s you lettin’ thisteamdown. C’mon Kat, you’re bein’ a flake… you need to push your limits if you want this.”

Taking a deep breath, she steps forward again, but only a few paces in she has to pull up as the stitch in her side becomes unbearable. “Ryan, I can’t. Look, it’s been good, and hell… I even beat my personal best for the five. I guess having you as my pace runner helped.” She checks the tracker on her wrist.

Digby looks at her and his brow furrows. “What the fuck. You know what, give me that damn thing. C’mon, give it here.” Grabbing her wrist, he holds her tight and undoes the strap on the watch, and wrestles it from her arm, shoving it in his pocket.

“Ryan, what the hell do you think you are doing?”

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