Page 4 of Ensnared

I’m left scrambling after him. “Hey, whoa!” I grab his shoulder just outside the office. Everyone in the gym’s watching, but I can’t bring myself to care.

“What?” Gideon spins around, his dark blue eyes flashing. “You gonna tell me I can’t enlist? Are you my mom, now?”

“Umm,” I say. “You’re the one who kept telling people what they could do with me.”

“Why do you think I’m quitting after all this time, Liz?”

That’s what I can’t fathom. He’s so close to breaking through! He could be the world champion in under a year if he keeps pushing and gets lucky. Why would he throw it all away?

“Think about it.” His lip curls up into a half smile, and his voice drops to a low, husky rumble that only I can hear. “Think really, really hard, you idiot.”

“You said your heart’s not in it,” I say, “but you love fighting.”

“I need a cause,” he whispers. “I don’t feel like I have that anymore, but there’s another reason. My real reason.” His eyes meet mine, and I’ve never seen them look quite so intense, not even in the ring.

“Is your family alright?”

He waves his hand through the air, like he’s shoving that thought away. “Fine.” He points at me. “But you are denser than I thought.”

“I am?” Why’s my heart galloping?

He steps toward me, and for some inexplicable reason, I back up. He steps closer, and I scramble backward again. He repeats that move, again and again, until my back hits the wall.

Finally, he says, “We can’t date anyone at the gym. That’s always been the rule.” His voice is still low—clear, strong, but low, the volume turned up just loud enough for me.

“Okay.” Something inside my belly twists.

“I’ve hated that rule for years, Elizabeth. Tell me you haven’t.”

My mouth goes dry. Is he saying. . . For years there’s been something between us, yes. It’s not like I never noticed. But like he said, we can’t date. We’re both focused on our careers. He’s been the best friend I’ve needed, and he’s been a constant force in my life.

“I got sick of waiting,” he says. “So I’m not going to do it anymore.”

“But you’ll be?—”

“I’ll be in training for six months,” he says. “And after that, I’ll be on one- and two-month missions. I negotiated for that. It turns out, when you have some skills, you have something called leverage, even with the federal government.”

“But—”

His head drops toward mine, his eyes staring at my mouth. “Tell me you understand, Elizabeth. In three weeks, we won’t be at the same gym anymore.”

I swallow. “I do.”

“You think it’s the right call, too.”

“But—”

His hand slams against the wall, inches from my head. “You agree. Say it.”

I look up at him, immediately realizing my mistake. His deep blue eyes. His locked jaw. The sweat beaded on his brow. His hair, falling across his face. It’s too much. “I agree,” I whisper.

His smile’s devilish, and his presence is intoxicating. He leans even closer, so that only a hairsbreadth separates my mouth from his. “Three weeks, Liz.”

I’m not sure I can survive them.

2

A Boo Bash.