Her teasing tone saved his butt. She wasn’t pissed off; that was good. He leaned against the door frame, and this time it was his turn to have her touch him with her gaze, assessing, weighing.
He saw it on her face, the moment she spotted his arm. Or more accurately, where his arm wasn’t. The empty lower sleeve on his left was pinned up so it wouldn’t flap. It was a simple enough solution that at a glance left tourists in town completely oblivious.
“Oh, damn. Marcus? When . . . ? I’m so sorry.”
The sexual buzz died in a flash as he prepared to reassure her, and be all understanding and shit. The usual hassle he went through when dealing with someone about to freak over his missing limb.
He expected her to flee into her room in disgust, or stand frozen uncertain what to do—the two most common responses to his amputation. It shocked the hell out of him when she moved forward instead and planted her hand on his shoulder. He was the one rendered speechless as she lightly squeezed lower and lower until she found the end of the stump, just past his elbow.
She nodded briefly a second before deep crimson flushed her face. “Oh, dear. That was really, really rude. I’m sorry.”
He caught her with his right hand before she could step back. “No worries. Refreshing response, actually. It’s nice to see you’re not going to run screaming in terror.”
Her jaw dropped. “No. Way. You’re telling me that—no, later. First, how long ago?”
“Four years.”
Understanding lit her eyes. “Way to be welcomed home. I am sorry. You mind talking about it?”
He released his grip on her upper arm, letting his fingers slip over the soft fabric of her running shirt like a caress. There was more to the woman now than when she’d been a hotshot rock star on the climbing wall. Getting her to help train his crew was no longer the only thing on his agenda.
“I don’t mind telling the story, but I’m interrupting your run. Shall I come back later? Can I take you out for lunch? I’d like to talk to you about a few things.”
More than a few things.
She didn’t hesitate. “You want to run with me? I can wait until you get changed.”
Oh God. He hadn’t lied to David when he said he’d been keeping in shape the best he could, but if Becki was anything now like she’d been years ago, he didn’t expect a run with her to be a light stroll through the park. Becki always had been all about the challenges.
What the hell. He’d never stepped back from a challenge before. “I have workout gear in the staff room. Meet me by the gym doors?”
Becki nodded as her thorough examination of him resumed. Marcus forced his thoughts to icebergs and math equations to keep his body from responding to the heat in her eyes. Running was going to be bad enough without his dick being hard.
She was finally done, the seductive smile that had first caught his attention so long ago firmly back in place. “Then I’ll finish getting ready and see you there.”
He was still staring at her ass when she closed the door on him.
CHAPTER 2
She set one foot on the railing and stretched as she waited, wondering again if her instinctive urge to blurt the first thing she thought of would ever lessen.
Asking Marcus to join her? Fine—they had years to catch up on. They hadn’t had much of a relationship before he’d disappeared, and even casual acquaintances could enjoy a spur-of-the-moment workout. A get to know you better outing.
But join her on a run?
She’d have to stop the post-training images from distracting her. The ones where he stripped off his shirt as they stretched, the slick of sweat on his skin highlighting his muscles. He had aged well. She wanted to know if his abdomen was still rock solid, and if when he pressed his body over hers if he’d be able to hold her trapped with one hand—
And that was exactly where this wasn’t supposed to go.
She sighed. Taking control of her rampaging thoughts, she leaned against the side of the building and stared into the forest, skimming her gaze over the bits and pieces of the city visible in the distance. As if someone had taken a snapshot of her years ago, and she’d stepped back in time. It was familiar, and yet she wasn’t the same person. This wasn’t about going home, not really. It was a new beginning.
The door beside her opened and Marcus walked out, his head snapping toward her as a sexy melt-her-panties smile lit his face.
Starting new? They’d had only one weekend. Who was to say they couldn’t simply have another sometime?
He held out water, condensation glistening on the surface of the plastic. “I grabbed you a cold one from the staff fridge.”
Becki accepted it happily, pouring the icy water into the bottle that fit in her belt holder. Marcus threw the empty into the gym and tugged the door shut behind him.
“How long and how hard?” she asked. The question escaped before she could consider the innuendo. Her face must have been beet red.
His grin widened. “An hour, and I’m game for hill repeats, if you are.”
The old training routes around the school were still etched into her mind. “Heartbreak Hill?”
He nodded, and they moved in unison to the relatively level warm-up path. The wide trail wove through the forested area, small rises and dips, nothing too imposing.
The temporary silence between them felt easy, but her curiosity needed to be answered. “You returned four years ago? So that means you got back a year after I left.”
Marcus dodged a fallen branch. “I needed a home base. David was still happy here in Banff, and I figured, why not?”
“Are you teaching, then?”
“No, I organized a private search-and-rescue company. The federal government can’t keep up with the demand to haul people’s butts out of trouble, so I stepped in.”
Becki nodded. It was exactly the kind of job she’d expected him to be involved in. “I hear you. I’ve been doing something similar in Yellowstone for the past couple of years.”
They fell silent as the incline increased. Marcus enjoyed the pump of blood through his limbs, the sense of energy he always got when pushing his body. Becki ran with an effortless gait, her muscles firm as they flexed and extended in rhythmic rotations.
“Five repeats?” she asked, and Marcus swore.
“Glutton for punishment?”
Becki jogged on the spot as they eyed the steep slope of the hill before them. “Preventive maintenance. It’s been years since I set foot in the candy shop, and I’d far prefer to pay for my overindulgence prior to devouring the fudge than after.”
Flashbacks to drizzling chocolate sauce over her skin and licking her clean weren’t going to help him finish this workout. “Fine. Set number one.”
He took off immediately, thinking to get the jump on her, but she’d turned as he’d spoken, and he found himself staring eye level at her ass. The curve of where her long legs met her gently rounded cheeks flexed right there in front of him.
His goddamn dick got hard.
Fortunately the incline they headed up was enough that the pain setting into his muscles offered distraction. It was a near-vertical sprint, like racing a set of stairs in the fire hall, although without the hose over his shoulder. Together they dodged the rough footing, the massive exposed rocks creating a maze to weave between. They crested the summit of the hill and slowed. Breathing heavily, chests rising and falling, they sucked for oxygen and jogged the cutline back to the base for round two.
“You’re in good shape,” he managed, without sounding too much like a pack-a-day smoker.
Becki gave him a grin. “One of the rules you taught me. Give one hundred percent.”
“Ha, you remember those lessons?” A flush of desire swept him. What was he saying? He remembered in freakish detail everything she’d taught him that weekend.