She punched his shoulder. “You’re not supposed to help me, you know.”
“Yeah, well, it was either that or listen to you bitch in the office on Monday, so I was really doing the company a favor.”
“This is ridiculous,” she said as they began crawling on their hands and knees through a tunnel toward the next horrible challenge. Suddenly the roar of the crowd got louder and she realized that they were in the part of a tunnel that was visible to those watching. Fixing a smile on her face, she grinned and pretended to flex her muscles, while horribly self-conscious of how foolish she must look.
“Somebody get the tissues ready,” Gray called to his laughing employees. “Sophie’s going to need someone to comfort her when she loses!”
“Oh, so you’re making jokes now,” she muttered, as they cleared the tunnel and found themselves in a chamber surrounded by nets.
“I just wanted to give Jeff a man-to-man heads-up that he’ll have a chance to cheer you up when you emerge a sulky loser.”
“I’m not sulky. And I’m not going to lose. And why would Jeff care?”
“Oh, come on,” he said. “You’re going to tell me you two aren’t dating?”
“I don’t have to answer that,” she said stiffly. “But…no, I’m not dating Jeff.”
“Well, he’s interested,” Gray muttered as he began testing the nets for support.
Sophie had suspected as much herself, but wasn’t about to admit it to her boss. “I’m not so sure I like this chatty Gray. I think I liked you better in Vegas when you were all hostile. You weren’t so annoying.”
“I think you like me annoying,” he said with a wink before he began to climb up the side of the wall. “It ensures we have more in common.”
Rolling her eyes, Sophie followed him, finding this particular hurdle much easier than the previous. In fact, her lighter weight made it easier for her than it was for Gray, since there wasn’t as much pull on the net. Neither of them spoke as they concentrated on getting to the top.
“How long is this thing?” Gray muttered as he joined her at the top of the platform. “I thought it was like a minute-long adventure.”
“Are you kidding? It took the kids before us almost ten minutes, and they’re a hell of a lot more limber than we are.”
“Speak for yourself.”
“Oh, come on. You’re hardly Tarzan.”
“Me, Tarzan. You, Jane.”
“This new side of you is giving me a headache,” she said, even as she found herself smiling.
Oh hell, she thought as she looked down at the winding slide in front of her. “They want us to go down that? Onto what?”
“I’m guessing they’re not going to have us land on cement,” Gray said.
“Still, what if I land funnily on my hand? The stitches are out and it’s healed,” she said as she hesitantly settled into a sitting position, “but what if—HEY!”
Gray planted a palm against her back and gave her a shove. With a squeal she went sliding into darkness before landing indelicately on what seemed to be a very bouncy mattress-like trampoline.
“Look out,” Gray called from the top of the slide, and she rolled to the side so she didn’t get crushed.
“Shit,” he muttered as he landed with a grunt. “I think you might have been right. This was not my best idea,” he said as they lay on their backs, trying to catch their breath.
Sophie couldn’t help it. She started giggling. After all that they’d been through, who’d have thought it would come to this? Both of them panting, slightly sweaty, and completely defeated by a pile of plastic, nylon, and nets. Turning his head to look at her, he smiled back, and then he too was laughing.
“Nobody can see us here, right?” he asked.
“Nah, I think they designed this as a reprieve. It lets the oldies like us catch our breath without prying eyes.”
“Good,” he said firmly.
And then he rolled toward her, and before she knew what was happening, Sophie found herself pinned between the padded floor and a hard male body. His mouth took hers with such fierce possession she gasped from the shock of it.
Unlike the kiss in the office, which had been a slow and deliberate exploration, this kiss felt like a brand. The insistent pressure of his lips against hers and the slick rhythm of his tongue left her brain no room to wonder or consider or analyze. There was nothing to do but feel.
He used his arms to brace himself above her, but wanting to feel more of him, she slid her hands around his shoulders and tugged, urging him to put all of his weight on her.
Gray complied and they both groaned at the contact. She didn’t know how long they stayed there, her arms locked around his neck, and his hands framing her face as they learned each other’s taste, their heads tilting this way and that without their lips ever breaking contact.