Watch Me

Throughout the training, my body was very aware of Jude’s but thankfully, I was able to keep it in check for the most part. Granted, when I was forced to hold him from behind or pin him to the floor to teach him how to escape the hold, my dick started to become unruly. At one point I was so distracted by the feel of Jude’s body beneath mine that I found myself unable to deflect some of Jude's power when he performed the escape move on me. By the time we were finished, I was actually feeling a decent amount of soreness in my ribs from where Jude had gotten in a couple of good jabs.

It was all worth it because Jude was smiling as we wrapped the session up. He was clearly driven to succeed, and when he did so, it changed his entire personality. That just opened the door to more questions for me. If success drove him so high, what did failure do? And why didn't he think he was worth saving? I had a feeling that his engagement in the training session hadn't necessarily been about the need to defend himself, but rather to prove he could.

"Hang on, I'll get us some water," I said to Jude, then suggested, "Why don't you cool down with some stretching?"

Despite Jude being in such good shape from running, I was sure he'd used some new muscles today so he'd likely be sore tonight.

Hell, he wouldn’t be the only one.

I hurried to the locker room to grab some towels along with a couple of bottles of water. I was heading for the door when it opened and Mike rushed in.

"There you are," Mike said with a grin.

"Here I am," I agreed. Before I could even react, Mike was walking into me and then gripping me in a bear hug that threatened to crack a few bones.

"You are the man," he declared.

"We've got to update your slang," I said. "Next thing I know, you’ll be calling me da bomb.”

Mike released me and clasped his hands around my upper arms. "Whatever you are, you're also a fucking genius," he said excitedly. "I gotta tell you, I thought that pulling a gun thing on Archer was it for us… this place." Mike motioned to the area around us. "But it was pure genius."

"Take it down a notch, Mike. What are you talking about?" I asked. I'd never seen the man so happy. Well, except for maybe his wedding and the births of each of his kids.

"Hayes," he said. "The golden goose."

I shook my head because I was still completely clueless.

"He called this morning. Said he’s looking to throw some more work our way."

"Really?" I said in surprise.

"Yeah, apparently the employees at TDS are liking all the new security measures you suggested. Hayes said he's got some international contracts that need filling. Bigwigs who do business in high-crime areas. He uses Premier for his K and R but isn’t happy with their success rate.”

“Well, if Premier knew what they were doing, there would be less need for the rescue part of kidnapping and rescue. If Hayes’s employees are at risk for kidnapping, the man needs to focus more on prevention—"

"That's what I told him," Mike interrupted. "He wants a team for a couple of guys who are going to Rio next week to negotiate some kind of property deal. Contract’s ours. We pull this off and there will be more to come. Hell, we do this right and he may even kick Premier to the curb."

If that happened, Mike's business would enter a whole new stratosphere. Not only would he be rolling in lucrative contracts, he'd be establishing himself as one of the leaders in the professional security business.

"I need you on this, buddy," Mike said as he dropped his hand to my shoulder.

“Mike, I—"

"I know, you've got a lot going on at home. We’ll work around that, I promise. For now, just keep doing what you're doing with Archer."

"What do you mean?" I asked as a pit opened up in my belly. Mike must not have noticed my tone because he continued on excitedly.

"Keep him happy. If Archer is happy, Hayes is happy and when Hayes is happy…" Mike let his words fall off as he turned away from me. "Okay, I've got a lot of planning to do. I'll call you tonight to talk about next steps?" he asked as he was pushing the door to the locker room open.

"Yeah," I murmured.

“Shit, you wanted to talk to me about something, right?” Mike asked as he paused in the doorway.

“No,” I said with a shake of my head as I took in Mike’s bright eyes. He looked ten years younger. It’d been a long while since I’d seen him so pumped about something. “I figured it out,” I added.