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That rough clearing of a throat was all it took for Dom and me to freeze. Slowly, I tilted my head back as much as I could, now Dom’s grip had loosened. It took a moment for the sun to stop blinding me so I could make out the shadowed figure standing over us, arms crossed.

“Oh,” I said with a wide grin. “Hiya, Leon. How’s the weather up there?”

“Hot, and only getting hotter. How are things down there?” he asked wryly.

“Well, the ground isn’t terribly comfortable, so that’s a thing,” I commented lightly, trying to twist out of Dom’s grip. Apparently, he wasn’t willing to let go of me just yet. “And it is quite warm now you mention it.”

“Uh huh, Dom?”

“Yeah?”

“Let him go.”

“But—”

“I’m completely sure this is warranted. Let him go.”

“Fine.”

I let out a sigh of relief when I was released, massaging my neck as I got to my feet and put distance between Dom and me. It wasn’t like I didn’t trust that he would listen to Leon, but I also believed I had enough sense not to trust it. “I’m not sure I like the way you saved me, but I appreciate it.”

Leon eyed me for a few beats. “Alright, if you two are done flirting?—”

“He wishes,” Dom said with a smirk.

“You know if you keep telling that joke over and over, I’m going to start believing you want me to flirt with you,” I told him, arching a brow.

“You wish,” he shot back because he was the height of wit and cleverness.

“Oooh, yes, Daddy, my big strong man,” I said in a high voice, batting my eyelashes at him. “I dream of the day you finally realize the depths of my lust for you and return it in full.”

Dom’s mouth snapped shut as he stared at me with widening eyes. I glanced around and saw we weren’t alone, and everyone Leon was in charge of mentoring was assembled as well, all staring at us with expressions of shock, what might be horror, and discomfort. Leon, however, was watching me with a single brow arched so high I was sorely tempted to tell him he risked getting stuck in that position.

“Are ya done?” Leon asked finally. “As impressively horrifying as that was, are ya done?”

“You guys have no sense of humor,” I said with a weary sigh that I hoped encompassed the utter disappointment I had in each and every one of them.

“Can you just fucking stop for five minutes?” a new voice popped up with an irritated growl.

I didn’t need to look to know who had spoken, but I looked anyway. It was, as always, Reno whose patience had run thin. In another life…and with a different personality, Reno would have actually been cute. No, scratch that, he would have been downright hot, and I would have been hard-pressed not to drool.

I mean, it didn’t help that I was a sucker for red hair, and his was thick and a shade of red rarely seen. And it was real because his thin brows, forever pinched together in varying levels of anger, were a softer red. He was slightly taller than me, and while his shoulders were almost as broad as Dom’s, his body was noticeably less stocky. When I’d first laid eyes on him, I wondered just how long his stomach would be when stretched out and what it might be like to follow the trail of red hair I’d spotted on his stomach with my eyes and fingers down to the patch below.

But, even with a fine body and exemplary hair, the rest of him ruined the picture. Not his face, which was a little broad and his nose a little squashed, but his jaw could have cut diamonds, his chin was just long enough to round his jaw out nicely, and he’d been graced with the green eyes associated with his hair.

All of which was utterly ruined by the fact that he…well, he was a complete dick most of the time. I’d never seen him smile once in the month he’d been here, and he always found a reason to be pissed off about everything. He wasn’t combative, so he hadn’t yet caused too many problems, but there had been a few scuffles when someone took issue with his sharp tongue.

Honestly, it was a shame his scowling ruined an adorable face.

“As cheerful as ever,” I told him with a roll of my eyes. “Surprised they didn’t put you with Max instead of the new guy.”

“Fuck off,” he grunted, refusing even to glance my way and instead glaring at Leon. If I had to guess, I’d think he was trying to telepathically will Leon to get on with the morning introductions.

“Still can’t believe they gave Max, of all people, a mentee,” someone else muttered. “And Riley? Jesus, do they hate the guy?”

“Max is fine,” Leon told everyone at the sounds of assent growing in the group. His tone was light enough, but that subtle shove at the end told us we needed to shut up and focus on him. “If Mona said it’s a good idea, then it’s a good idea.”

The mention of her name was enough to dispel the grumbling, mainly because the alternative was to take it up with Mona. Not that it would completely dispel the idea, Max was…well, he wasn’t terribly different from Reno. He had once been a program member like us but had graduated and stuck around to be an employee at the ranch.