Page 12 of Stunts and Sparks

“Not particularly.”

“Hm.” He watched her sit up for the last time and let go of her feet. “That’s too bad. Switch?”

They switched places and Cole did his sit-ups in relative silence, aside from counting aloud, which caused Heather to laugh a little when he grunted while counting. They followed the exercises with lunch, and then there were the communication classes. Neither of them participated much at all. Cole found the whole thing humiliating, sitting in a circle of couples, while he and Heather were only coworkers. He got the feeling the director wanted this to be some kind of lesson in humility more than anything. What other goal could there possibly be here? It was ridiculous.

After lunch, they were made to participate in sparring classes. Most of the couples were beginners in this arena, each able to choose their favorite martial art to learn. Cole and Heather were already advanced, having received plenty of training for their work.

“Any requests?” Cole asked, standing on the mat opposite her. She looked so good just standing there. Sexy, even.

She stood with her feet apart, ready for a fight. “I request that you don’t intentionally piss me off in order to get me to hit you harder.”

He mirrored her stance. “Well, are you going to give it your all, or are you going to chicken out?”

“What are you, twelve?” she scoffed.

“I’m just trying to get you to not go easy on me. I can take a hit or two, you know. It’s insulting the way you baby me, honestly.”

“Maybe I wouldn’t baby you if you acted like more of an adult.”

He growled at her and lunged. She blocked him as he knew she would. He took another swing, and she blocked him again. Then she swung back and kicked him. The woman was amazing with her legs, he had to admit. “Ouch,” he said with a smirk. It was a nice hit.

“You really are such a baby,” she said, backing away again.

This time, she struck first, and he caught her leg mid-kick. “Nice try,” he said, pulling her in close. “But I was ready for you this time.”

Quicker than he’d ever seen her, she twisted out of his grip and sent a punch flying at him. He failed to block it, and she hit him in the stomach. He caught her arm this time and turned, flipping her over onto the mat. She landed with a thud and a grunt.

“Who’s the baby now?” he said, egging her on intentionally.

Heather leapt up and ran at him again, shouting as she did. This time, he blocked her repeatedly. Her hits and kicks were fast. Hewas shocked that she actually gave him a run for his money. For a few minutes, all he could do was block her. When he finally found her rhythm, he caught hold of her and put her into the mat once more. This time he dropped on top of her and pinned her in place. She was furious, breathing heavily underneath him. His face was inches away from hers, but he didn’t back off. He held her there, grinning the whole time.

“Do you yield?” he asked.

“Never,” she hissed up at him.

“Yield,” he said.

“No.”

“You’ve lost. Can’t you see that?”

“No one really loses until they give up.” She looked up at him with fire in her eyes, and Cole wanted nothing more than to kiss her infuriating mouth. But he didn’t.

Instead, he sat back and helped her to her feet. “You’re quite the firebrand when you want to be, aren’t you?” he said. “So, why are you so jumpy on set?”

“I’m not jumpy,” she said, wiping the sweat from her brow with the towel she had brought. “I’m just following protocol. It’s part of the job.”

“I think you and I have different ideas about what the job entails.”

She started walking away from him, back to the cabin. “And I think you’re just wrong.”

That night, Cole lay stretched out on top of his sleeping bag, staring at the wooden ceiling above him and wondering if Heather would ever really compromise. Or would he have to be the one to let go in the end? It was the last thing he wanted, giving in to her. His career was too important to him. And in addition to that, he didn’t want to appear weak. He told himself it wasn’t because he was aiming to impress her, but he wasn’t entirely sure that was the truth.

After several minutes, she came in the front door and hung her towel on a partially pulled-out drawer of the dresser. She’d just taken a shower and was still damp from it, her colorful hair leaving little water stains on her T-shirt. She rolled out her sleeping bag carefully on the bed beside him. “I thought you were planning to sleep on the floor,” he said with a wink.

“Not a chance,” she said. “You’re just going to have to resist the temptation and keep your hands off me.” She crawled into her sleeping bag and turned to face him. “Otherwise, I’ll kick your ass.”

Cole laughed under his breath. “Oh, I wouldn’t risk that.”

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