It had been years, but Garrick’s muscles still burned with the memory of hours and hours digging fireline, working tirelessly to build barriers against the spread of the fire. Not that they didn’t do plenty of digging as smoke jumpers too, but it wasn’t quite the same as working on a crew with that sole focus for days on end.
“Okay.” After giving Garrick the leash, Rain plopped down on the bench and proceeded to give a first effort that had Garrick fearing for his lower back and neck.
“Plant your feet. Use the core, not momentum, and definitely not your arms pulling on your neck. Slow and steady.”
“This better?” Rain tried again, two more that were more in line with what Garrick expected.
“That’s it. Very good. Nice and easy.” Garrick coached through his next few until Rain paused. “That’s the way.”
“Garrick?”
Something about his tone immediately made Garrick’s back tense like he was the one doing crunches. “Yeah?”
“Are you trying to turn me on?” Rain looked him up and down, like that might be an actual possibility and not absurd.
“Uhhhh.” Garrick made a strangled sound.
“I’ll take that as a no. Maybe try being meaner?” Rain’s grin was positively devilish. “I’m just saying, I’m trying to avoid an embarrassing situation here.”
“Point taken.” Damn. On the one hand, Garrick liked Rain’s directness. A lot. On the other...he could have lived a much more comfortable existence without knowing that apparently Rain liked orders or praise or maybe both. “Try and do another few with good form. I’ll stay quiet.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean you had to be silent.” Laughing, Rain rattled off another few sit-ups, form much better now, to the point that Garrick wondered if he’d deliberately been terrible just to get Garrick’s corrections. And wasn’t that exactly the kind of intriguing development he didn’t need.
“Okay, okay. Next obstacle.” Garrick got them moving again before Rain could flirt further.
“Good! Lunges. Those I can do.” And somehow, someway, Rain made an exercise Garrick had done himself a thousand times ridiculously sexy. “No form corrections?”
“No.” Garrick’s voice came out too gruff. Rain knew exactly what he was doing and had too much fun doing it, especially when they made their way to the push-up station. Either Rain had avoided all push-ups in high school or he was deliberately torturing Garrick with bad form. “Ass in line with the rest of your body.”
“It is.” Rain waggled his eyebrows, a nifty trick while prone. “Trust me, if I was sticking my ass out on purpose, you’d know.”
“Is this how you are with all your friends?” Garrick was still trying to sort out what Rain was after with the flirting, whether he was simply getting more comfortable around Garrick or what.
“How? Goofy?”
“Yeah. Goofy.” Garrick rolled his eyes. If Rain didn’t want to own up to the flirting, he sure as hell wasn’t going to be the one to force the issue. And quite probably Rain was right—this was how he was with the world at large and not Garrick specifically. “Now to the pull-ups.”
“If I can’t do any...” Rain showed his first moment of true hesitation in front of the bars. “I haven’t tried this in months, since I was trying for the fire academy stuff, and last time I tried I think I got like two out, maybe three. When I was a kid, I could do monkey bars all day long, but a pull-up from a static hang is harder.”
“So try for two. For smoke jumpers the minimum is seven, but people don’t start out being able to crank out a dozen.” Then, not liking the serious expression on Rain’s face, he added, “I’m not going to laugh if you can’t get over the bar, promise.”
“Okay. Here it goes.” Rain leaped up to the bar, then dangled. But he made an admirable effort at three pull-ups, and Garrick forgot he was supposed to tone down the praise, cheering him on.
“Way to go. That’s how to do it!”
“You know, if you were cheering for me, I probably could jump out of an airplane.” Rain dropped down, but not before his shirt rode up and shorts drooped, exposing a fuzzy happy trail and some creamy skin. And the hint of a black underwear waistband that was most certainly far from boring white briefs and was going to worm its way into Garrick’s brain all day, making him try to imagine what Rain had on under his clothes.
“That’s awesome. Thanks.” Garrick had no business feeling as pleased as he did at the compliment or as befuddled as he was at the flash of skin.
“Just facts.” Grinning, Rain took the dog back, racing ahead to the next obstacle. He was trouble all right. Trouble Garrick certainly didn’t need, but hell if he didn’t want. And hell if he didn’t feel more alive than he had in months, out here, sunny morning, arm muscles pleasantly burning, prospect of feeding Rain later, anticipation over what flirty bit of banter Rain might toss his way next. Bring it on, Trouble.