Covered in mud, laughing. In his arms.
Life beckoned him.
He pressed his mouth to hers.
Immediately she stilled, her lips softening under his. He liked the way they fit together, liked the tightening of his body. Wanted to embrace it. Deepen it. Just as he was about to cup the back of her head and do just that, a passing runner gave a wolf whistle and Gayle pulled away, studying him…intently.
The reality of what he’d done slammed into him. Holy shit. He’d kissed Gayle. Without thought. Though it hadn’t been the best first kiss—brief, unexpected—he felt the gravity of this moment to his core. As he stared at her, he brushed his fingers across his lips and swallowed. Gayle made him be in the moment and not remember the failures of his past. Nothing but fighting had done that for him in years. It scared the fucking shit out of him, but he wanted so desperately to grab it at the same time.
Her gaze softening, she squeezed his bicep, a small smile curving her mouth. She simply said, “Okay,” then turned and half-slipped half-ran down the mud path.
He wasn’t sure what she’d meant by that, but the hushed, reassuring way she’d said the word eased the pressure of the moment, allowed them to continue. And he did.
Obstacle after obstacle came at them after that. They climbed a rope net, crawled through tunnels, and waded through waist-deep mud. When they reached an extremely high rock-climbing wall, there wasn’t an inch of their bodies that wasn’t caked with mud, which made keeping a grip difficult.
As they climbed side-by-side, Gayle’s foot slipped, and she fell. The whack of her arm hitting one of the hand grips made Mac hiss. He looked down in time to see her hit the ground with enough momentum to roll backward. Shit. Worry twisting his stomach, he jumped down and hurried to her side just as she was pushing to her feet.
“You okay?” he asked, scanning her body for any injuries, unnerved by the fear tightening his chest and making it difficult to breathe.
“Wouldn’t be a mud race if I didn’t fall off the rock wall.” Her chuckle and smile made him shake his head at his knee-jerk reaction. “This one always gives me trouble.”
She’s fine. Chill the fuck out.
“Oh, we’ve got this.” Brushing aside the weird moment, Mac scaled the wall and straddled the top. He reached a hand down. Gayle blinked up at him. He wiggled his fingers at hers and she hesitantly slid her hand in his. As he hauled her up with ease, she squealed. He didn’t let her go until he knew she was safely anchored to the top. She turned wide eyes on him. “Holy shit. Did you really just do that?”
Then her gaze swept over his bicep and an appreciative noise passed those sweet lips. “Rick’s fired. You’re so my new mud buddy. He’d never have been able to just lift me up like that.”
Then she slid down the pole on the other side and landed on the ground.
As he followed her down, the appreciative noise she made rang in his head and plummeted to his groin, making him lose coherent thought for a moment as he watched her muddied ass disappear over the hood of a car.
He wanted her. No reason to fight that anymore. But the fear he’d felt for her safety just seconds ago lay heavy in his chest. Wanting her was one thing. Worrying about her was something else entirely, and it made him immediately want to put distance between them.
Gayle jumped up from behind a car. “Don’t let me lose you now, handsome. Come on!”
She had no idea there was more to the statement than lagging behind on the race. He was at a damn crossroads and he knew it. If he continued, he’d be starting a whole new chapter in life.
Did he really want to? The future he had now was clear. No heartache. No attachments. No worry.
No real life.
If he allowed people in, then he opened himself up to all of that again. But he couldn’t *foot around with Gayle anymore. He wanted her. It was time for him either to go all in and risk it all, or fold and play it safe.
Both were tempting as hell.
Gayle cocked her head to the side and watched Mac stand still. An odd expression twisted his handsome face. A mixture of confusion and pensiveness. She didn’t know what was going on in his head, but was wise enough to remain silent as he worked through whatever had triggered this one.
The third one of the day.