Page 13 of Tropical Inferno

He was thoughtful. “What level are you doing and when is it?”

She sighed. “I haven’t signed up yet because, duh, I don’t have a bike.”

“Your brother is a professional hockey player and you’re afraid to ask him for help to buy a bike? Are you not close?”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, no! We’re super close. He’s less than a year older than I am, so we’re practically twins. He would do anything for me. I just don’t want to ask. I’m twenty-seven, not eighteen. Asking him for money would be embarrassing.”

He shook his head. “You’re family. It would be different if you were a lazy slob who lived on your parents’ couch and constantly wanted money to buy shoes, but this is special. This is a huge life goal and those things can be costly. You should ask him. I bet it would make him proud to help you with this.”

She smiled. “Probably. He’s a good guy.”

“Sounds like it.” Hawk watched her face; she definitely lit up when she talked about Jamie. Which meant they were close and he’d kind of been holding out hope that maybe they weren’t. He was a selfish ass and he knew it, but it almost made him sick to think about how she would react once she found out who he was and what he’d purportedly done.

“How far do you run every day?” she asked.

“At home I run about five miles, depending on my work schedule. When work is light, especially in the summer, I do more. I also lift weights and bike when I can.”

“Is it about how you look, how you feel, or something else?” she asked.

He took a breath, trying to formulate his answer carefully. He was a professional athlete, but since he couldn’t tell her that, he had to find a more generic tactic. “I like being physically strong. Not just muscles, but a whole-body approach to my health and fitness, with a small focus on how I look. I think everyone wants to look good, the way a woman colors her hair or goes on a diet. Men are the same, we just go about it differently and we certainly don’t admit it out loud.”

She chuckled.

“I have a personal trainer,” he said carefully. “So if you’d like, I can give you some tips for making the most of your endurance training.”

“That’d be great. I do a lot of research online but it’s always good to hear it from a person.”

“On that note, are we having dessert?”

She smiled. “Well, yeah.”

7

It was another early night because Maddie fell asleep on the couch again. She woke up in bed, fully clothed, and stretched lazily as she heard Garrett calling to her to get moving. Crap. They were going running. What time was it? She flipped over and grabbed her phone. 6:30. That was too early; she was still on vacation, dammit. She almost went back to sleep but the thought of running with him was too enticing. She liked spending time with him. Last night’s dinner had been so much fun. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d enjoyed a date that much, even though it wasn’t truly a date. While he hadn’t said anything, she had a feeling he didn’t plan to see her again once they left Hawaii. Part of her was cognizant of the fact she was being as ridiculous as a teenage girl, hoping she could change his mind, but deep down she sensed that when she got on that plane in three days, it would be the last she saw of him.

She pulled on shorts, a sports bra and T-shirt and was digging around for socks when he came into the room. “No socks,” he said. “No shoes either. We’re running barefoot on the sand.”

“Sounds like a song!” she laughed, scooping up her hair to put it in a ponytail.

He chuckled. “The truth is that it’s harder. You work your legs more and it’s more cardio.”

“Oh, goody,” she pretended to pout. “Up at God-awful-o’clock to work extra hard.”

“You can go back to bed,” he taunted.

“I’m coming,” she mumbled.

“Here.” He handed her a package of peanut butter crackers. “A little protein and some carbs for fuel. We can have a real breakfast when we get back.”

“All right.” She popped a cracker in her mouth as they walked outside. It wasn’t hot yet but there was still enough humidity to remind her they were in Hawaii.

“Ready?” he asked as they got to the edge of the sand.

She dropped into a squat and bounced on her haunches a little. “Let me just stretch out for a minute and we’ll go.”

He nodded, jogging in place as he waited.

“Okay.” She stood up and they took off down the beach. They started slow and worked up to a moderate speed; marathons weren’t about speed so much as pacing yourself. Maddie ran fairly regularly, but she’d never run any distance on the beach before and felt her calves straining after the first mile.

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