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She stares back at me blankly, and now there’s no doubt in my mind. Shedefinitelycornered Amir and scared him off. I should be appalled, but I guess I’m getting used to her ways. I burst out laughing.

“Okay, that’s it.” I laugh. “Now Ireallywant to crush you. Time to hit the gym.”

“Hmm.”

“That all you got?”

She snorts. “Last time a guy said that, he ended up with a dumbbell down his throat.”

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take.” I shrug. “You’ve never met a guy like me.”

“You can say that again.”

As she races up the stairs, I check out her ass, making sure I look away just in time when she whips around.

“What’re you doing?” She tilts her head at me. “Chickening out?”

“You don’t scare me, Hitman. Not even a little bit.”

That’s a flat-out lie—when she gets that glint in her eye, she’s positively terrifying. And insanely hot.

I lead her down the halls to the women’s locker room, and five minutes later we’re in the weights section.

It’s busy today, and I can feel the guys’ eyes on her, rubbernecking the hell out of her, shooting me approving winks. I can’t help but smile.Gawk away, guys. This one’s mine.

I grab her waist and frog-march her over to the treadmills.

“Forty-five minutes of cardio,” I instruct. “Think you can handle it?”

She hops onto the machine next to me, stabs at the buttons, and starts to jog, flashing me a wry grin. I decide to step things up a gear.Time to show you who’s boss.She arches an eyebrow at me and fiddles with the settings to match my pace. I crank the speed up a little more, and we go back and forth that way until we’re flying down the rubber, my breath coming hard. I glance over at her—she hasn’t even broken a sweat.

“I could keep going for hours!” I call over.

“Samesies!”

I shoot her my most intimidating stare, and she just looks at me impassively.

“Amy, there’s no shame in admitting when you’ve hit your limit.”

“You’re so caring.”

I keep the speed up until the timer runs down, and when finally we stop, I grip the bars for dear life. My legs are Jell-O. Amy tags a few extra minutes onto the end, before jumping off with a grin.

I stare at her. While I’m gasping for air, she’s oozing inner calm.

“You’re a freak of nature, you know that?”

“What can I say? Brooklyn taught me to run,” she quips. “And to mask my feelings.”

“You sure about that?”

I wiggle my eyebrows at her. She does the same.

“I’m ready for the next challenge. How ’bout rope climbing?” she suggests.

“Last to the top buys the drinks!”

I win that round, but she slaughters me on round three. She’s one hell of an opponent, and I like playing with her.