Page 40 of Riding Danger

Since I had my own headphones on, I could only hear the music in my ears. But listening to myself was not the goal. I could sound like a cat gearing up for a fight and it wouldn’t bother me. Though, if I was honest, I probably sounded pretty good. The downside of course was that I heard nothing else. That was the reason I didn’t hear Nick approach until he was right in front of me.

He dangled a set of keys in front of me. “Can you please lock up when you leave. The entire team is off on a mission.”

That couldn’t be good. I’d heard whispers around town and when Shi spoke to her friends, it appeared that friends of theirs might need rescuing. I’d also heard that the Salinger teams rarely went out into the field any longer unless it was a loved one. And if all of them were leaving, I had to guess it was someone very important.

“Is everyone going?”

Nick shook his head. “Tiffany’s still at the front desk. She’ll probably be down to work out before she goes home. Lilly and Shiloh are out interviewing witnesses. They should be back soon.”

“Shiloh?” As far as I knew she was back at work. I didn’t know how Lilly fitted in to that.

“Yeah.” Nick placed the keys on the little shelf fitted in front of the treadmill monitor. “The station reassigned her to Lilly while her partner is recovering. Personally, if all goes well, I want to poach her, but Lilly said it needs to be her choice.”

“She loves being a cop.”

“With me she has more scope for growth. A similar case load.” Nick frowned as if working for him was obviously the better option. “Besides, the pay is much better.”

“Yeah, but right now, you’re all about to go off to god knows where.”

“She has no idea who we’re about to rescue.” At the shake of my head, he continued. “Shiloh’s sister, Caterina, is one of the people who needs an extraction. She would give anything to go with us.”

I narrowed my eyes. “But…?”

“She's a cop and we’re entering…” He smiled and tilted his head. “Another country. We may bend rules. A lot. But I will not compromise Shiloh’s career. No matter how much I want her to work for me.”

With that he turned on his heel and left. I placed my headphones back on and continued the ballad I was singing. I had two more songs that were a little more up-tempo before another ballad. Then I started one that me and the backup dancers had been rehearsing for months. I couldn’t do the full choreography on the treadmill but the tempo of the machine was designed for the choreography. I’d been working out like that for months and there were still days when I couldn’t hit all the notes and move at the right tempo at the same time. Fortunately for me, today was not that day. As I got through the higher notes while hopping on the treadmill, I couldn’t help but smile. I punched the air and whooped. As the song faded out and disappeared from the headphones, I could hear the ambient noise around the gym.

The clapping and whooping drew my attention and I turned around on the treadmill, walking backwards as the next ballad started. I was still breathing hard as I took off my headphones and smiled at the two women looking at me. I stepped off, still breathing hard.

Tiffany was the one clapping and whooping. Her hoodie was once again untied and she had a plush towel hanging over her shoulders. “Wow, that was quite a sight to behold.”

“Thanks.” I tilted my head to the side. “I think.”

She continued chatting but my eyes drifted to the woman next to her.

Shiloh’s eyes were fixed on my naked chest as she spoke. “Nick mentioned you were here. Said you wouldn’t mind if we worked out as well.”

“As long as you can put up with my singing, I don’t have a problem.”

Still, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Long legs topped with a pair of black booty shorts and a silver-grey sports bra that squeezed those tits together in a way that all I could imagine was covering them in lube and shoving my cock between them. The nibble at her lower lip indicated she had similar thoughts running through her head. But the thing that really had my attention was what she wore on her head. A black baseball cap with The Poets printed on the front. The letters were in pink. Those were limited edition at the time, only thrown to the crowd, once per show while we were opening for Evie. Her sister, Maggie, had caught it all those years ago, and she still had it. The idea of her holding onto it made me smile.

“Nice hat.” I smiled and held her gaze.

She shrugged, hunching up one shoulder, as she smirked at me. “Maggie’s nostalgic that way.”

Tiffany let out a sigh as her eyes darted between the two of us. “I can tell where I’m not wanted. Or more specifically, whereI don’t want to be. You two have fun. I’ll drop the latch so no one can get in from the outside.”

It never even occurred to me to do that. I was in such a daze. Mesmerized by Shi’s perfect body and all that skin she had on display. I could tell she preferred her short-sleeved uniform based on the tan line. I could also tell she spent a fair amount of the summer in her bikini. Those tan lines were really faded, and I imagined it had been months since she’d been in a swimsuit.

Once the snick of the latch echoed through the room, I stared at Shi. “So, what were you planning on doing?”

“Weight bar.” She smiled. “But my spotter just abandoned me.”

“Come, I can spot you.” I walked toward her. “I’m going to be watching you anyway.”

“I don’t want to interrupt your workout.”

“Yeah, you do.” I dropped my hand to her lower back and led her to the bar. “Trust me.”

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