Page 34 of High Value Target

Grady stood in the foyer in his running clothes. “You sure you’ve got it covered?”

Thomas shoved his hands in his suit pockets. “Yes, sir. Go on. We can certainly take care of things for an hour. Miss Wyatt hasn’t even come down yet.”

“I shouldn’t be gone long.” Grady checked his watch, and his eyes were drawn to the stairs.

Tinsley stopped short halfway down when she spotted him. She was dressed in shorts, a racerback tank, and running shoes, pods in her ears. She yanked them out.

“You’re kidding me.” Her eyes swept over him.

His brow shot up. “You run?”

“Yes, I run. I didn’t knowyoudid.”

He held the door, grinning. “This should be fun.”

She skipped down the rest of the steps. “What’s that crack supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. Let’s go.”

“You’re not coming with me.”

“I’m your protection detail, so yes, I’m absolutely coming with you.”

She spun around. “Forget it, then.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You like to run. I like to run, so let’s just do this.” He arched his brow. “Or are you afraid you can’t keep up?”

Her eyes narrowed, and her chin lifted. “I’m not afraid of anything. Try to keep up, bodyguard.”

He grinned as he followed her out. He jogged easily at her side and studied her, thinking about the night before.

She caught him looking. “Just FYI… I’m out of the pills that make me like you.”

“Likeme?”

“Tolerate you, then.”

“Right.”

They jogged to the end of the driveway. Granted, it was a fuck of a long driveway, but he was surprised when she was already out of breath. She stopped to rest, and he stopped, too. When she turned back, he laughed.

“You can’t be serious?”

“What?”

“Let’s keep going. I thought we’d at least take the road down to the next crossroads.”

“That’s like two more miles.”

“Yeah. We’ll start small today. Or don’t you think you can do it?”

“I can do it. Let’s go.”

They headed out, and he slowed his pace to match her shorter stride. She surprised him by keeping a good pace. Obviously, she was capable of the distance, so he had to surmise she was just being lazy in only wanting to do the driveway. “I try to run every morning if I can. I’ve missed the last couple of days.”

“You like routine, don’t you?”

“I do. It builds character,” he replied.

---