Even after her second attack at the university when all she wanted was the safety of the ranch, she’d kept going and finished her degree. After her third attack, and realizing even her ranch wasn’t safe, she could at least say that she’d kept working hard for the Ranch, loving the children, especially her sidekicks Frankie and Ari, and training to protect herself better.

  “’Nobody can kill me,’” she muttered, her eyes tracing over his well-developed and huge frame.

  He grinned. “It’s true.”

  The call connected so she couldn’t tease him.

  “Bennett? Rose? Are you all right? I heard some loud thumps and yells as we loaded up in the helicopter but Shawn promised that all the challenges were potentially dangerous, but non-lethal.”

  “Oh, he did?” Bennett’s voice was incredulous and he arched a brow at Rose. “Mercedes. That jaguar could’ve easily killed one of us and the steps turning to a slide and a seven-story drop definitely would’ve killed us.”

  “No, no, no,” she squeaked out. “You had weapons to defend yourself against the jaguar and he’s old, they said he’d be slow without sharp claws.”

  “Old?” Bennett grimaced. “We couldn’t get the weapons fast enough, they were hidden in a sweatshirt, and it was pitch black.”

  “Oh, no. You were supposed to have guns, knives, and a flashlight. I’m so terribly sorry.”

  Bennett looked like he was gritting his teeth. “What about the slide of death?”

  “There is a net. You didn’t see the net? A fun scare is all. You were supposed to use the Gecko gloves to climb back up to the door.”

  Bennett met her eyes. It was odd to see him not smiling. “Did you see a net, Rose?”

  “No,” she said quietly. “But it all happened so fast.”

  The jaguar was scratching at the door again. She wanted to hear Mercedes’ explanation and be reassured, but she also wanted to get out of here. The only problem was—the next door might reveal something much worse.

  “Rose!” Mercedes cried out. “Oh, beautiful friend, I’m sorry. The challenges are dangerous and difficult, but they shouldn’t be life-threatening. I’ll call my people right now and make sure they go over everything again and it is all safe. Please don’t quit.”

  Silence met her pleas. Except for the infernal scratching far too close behind them.

  Rose and Bennett’s gazes were locked. She questioned him with her eyes. He finally lifted his free hand. “It’s your choice, Rose. I’ll fight to the death for you, but you have to decide.”

  Fight to the death for her? Was he truly this noble? She’d known Bennett a matter of maybe an hour and already she’d put him on level with her dad, grandpa, and all the trustworthy cowboys from her hometown for honor, loyalty, gentlemanliness, and Christian values.

  She loved when he said her name. Earlier in the quavering light of the flashlight, she’d said his name and he’d returned the favor. So appealing. Her sisters would tell her to stay simply for the opportunity to be around Bennett. Neither Lily nor Daisy knew why she wouldn’t date and it drove them insane. They’d both go insane over Bennett. Well Lily wouldn’t, as she loved Miles Coleville, but she’d encourage Rose to pursue him.

  What was she thinking? She couldn’t pursue this stud of a man and she was here to save the Ranch. She wanted to trust Mercedes, and while it was clear that this week would not be easy, with Bennett by her side, she had very good odds of surviving.

  “Thank you for being willing to protect me, Bennett,” she said, staring into his blue eyes and seeing that her saying his name affected him. “Let’s do this!”

  “Hooah!” Bennett whooped loudly.

  “Hoorah!” Mercedes repeated.

  Bennett chuckled at that and Rose smiled at him then she started laughing too.

  “Whoops. Shawn says it’s hooah,” Mercedes said in the phone.

  “No worries. We appreciate the hoorah.” Bennett studied Rose. “Rose and I are going to tackle this challenge. I’ll make sure she’s safe but you double-check everything from your end.”

  “I’m calling my people now,” Mercedes said. “You make sure she’s safe.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Bennett hung up the phone and slid it into the backpack pocket. “You are impressively brave, Rose Lillywhite.”

  “It’s easy to be brave with a superhero like you around, Major Bennett Mason,” she said back.

  He grinned. “All right. Here’s the plan for getting off the stairway of death.”

  “There’s a net,” she reminded him, hoping it was true.

  “Ah, right you are. But I don’t fancy climbing up the side of the building with Gecko gloves just to get back to where we are now. You?”

  “Though I do enjoy a good Spiderman climb, I’ll save my energy for shooting snakes or walking a tight rope over lava pits.” Especially if the jaguar came out again and joined them in that net. She shuddered.

  He laughed. “Here’s hoping the show’s producers don’t hear you and quickly install some lava pits.”

  “Oops. I’ll stop giving them any ideas.”

  “Thank you. Okay. I want you to stand right next to me. Let’s get as close to the door as we can.” They both eased in and he put his hand on the doorknob. “You hold on to me with one hand and have the Sig ready to fire at whatever’s waiting for us with the other. Deal?”

  A tremor rushed through her. What would be waiting on the other side of this door? They’d only made it through one stairwell. Getting through seven stories of death sounded overwhelming and impossible at the moment. The door shuddered behind them. Was the animal ramming it?

  She said a prayer and nodded. “Deal.”

  “I’ll swing the door open hard and fast to clear a path and give us space. We’ll leap into the room as soon as I open the door. Then we’ll deal with the next … obstacle.”

  “All right.” She pulled out the gun and switched off the safety.

  Bennett wrapped his right arm around her and clung to the handle with his left. She instantly felt supported, comforted, and as if she could take on the devil, or whatever monster was waiting in the next room for them.

  Thank You for Bennett, she prayed silently.

  “Counting down. 3 … 2 …” Her fingers gripped the gun and Bennett’s shirt. “1!”

  He shoved the door open. The landing they stood on instantly tilted and threatened to spill them out the opening in the wall. The jaguar roared louder than ever as if it knew it’s prey was escaping. They leapt forward together, Bennett’s arm assisting her.

  They landed on a concrete floor dusted with fine sand and slid to a stop. Bennett released her waist, slid her behind him, and yanked out his gun.

  For a moment the only sound was their breathing, the twittering of birds out the open wall of the stairwell, and the jaguar scratching at the door.

  The room was large, as big as a football field, with windows lining the wall to their far left and a view of palm trees and the beach and ocean. The other three walls were made of simple plaster, painted white. Cameras were placed every twenty feet or so.

  Her nerves prickled, waiting for the ceiling to collapse or the floor to disappear or a lion to prowl out of a secret door.

  After they both searched the room for a minute, Bennett put his gun back in the small of his back and arched an eyebrow. “Maybe they gave us a freebie after the stairwell of death.” He glanced back out the still open door or window or whatever the opening should be called. “Huh, there is a net,” he muttered.

  “That’s reassuring.”

  Bennett closed the door behind them. At least they were safe from the jaguar. For the moment.

  She smiled, relieved that Mercedes’ team wasn’t trying to kill her and the next stretch might be easy, and tilted her head. “Shall we?”

  She stepped forward. A horn honked, lights flashed, Rose cried out, and something thundered toward her head.

  Bennett wrapped his arms around her from behind and swooped her back against his chest.

  A large red water balloon landed where she’d been and burst open, spraying their legs with something wet and gooey.

  Her breath rushed out and she had a hard time catching it again. The mess in the balloon wouldn’t have hurt her, but she’d rather have it on her legs and shoes than on her head and face.

  The real reason she couldn’t catch a breath was her position to Bennett. His arms were wrapped around her abdomen, his strong chest pressed against her back, and his head dipped close to hers so his warm breath brushed the side of her head and her temple. How could breath on an ear make time seem to stand still and fill her with a longing she’d never known?

  Bennett held onto her but reached down and swiped some of the goo off his leg. “Pepper spray? Black tar? Heroin?”

  “Are you serious?” Maybe the mess in the balloon would hurt them.

  “No. I think it’s just slime. Not life-threatening.”

  She let out a nervous, high-pitched giggle. “Small blessings. Do we dare go forward?”

  “Just a moment.” He released her and she felt the same letdown she’d experienced earlier when he released her. Thankfully their intense situation didn’t give her time to think too deeply about her crazy reaction to him.

  Stooping, he filled his hand with the sand from the floor and then flung it forward into the room.

  Multiple lights flashed, horns blared, and many ceiling tiles flapped open. Half a dozen balloons dropped to the floor and exploded—more sticky goo, feathers, red powder, white powder, glitter, shiny little star cutouts.

  Bennett rolled his eyes. Of course, he was still grinning at her. She’d rarely seen his smile leave his face. She loved his smile.

  “Is it okay to admit I’m a little disappointed?” he asked.

  She smiled. “What were you hoping for?”

  “Bombs, scorpions, spiders, throwing stars, throwing knives, at least some firecrackers … something exciting.”

  She clapped her hand over his mouth. His eyes widened.

  “Shush that mouth,” she said. “Don’t you give them any ideas.” She tilted her head to the cameras in the corners of the room.

  Bennett chuckled and she loved the feel of his lips and his breath against her palm. Decorum dictated that she remove her hand. She did, and with a great amount of willpower looked away from his captivating smile and that blue gaze that had become far too deep and enthralling.

  “So … do we just sprint for it and pray there’s a shower at one of Mercedes’ safe zones?”

  “While that does sound appealing, I don’t completely trust these people. They might not be planning to kill us but they definitely want to slow us down or incapacitate us. There could be nasty surprises waiting to drop on us that I’d rather avoid.”

  “What do we do then?”

  He slid off his backpack and fished some red sunglasses out.

  She stared at him and felt awful that she hadn’t noticed before this moment. His shirt and pants were torn and blood seeped from the cuts. Some cuts on his arms and neck had dried blood on them.

  “Bennett! You’re all ripped up and bleeding from that jaguar. We have to doctor you up and take care of those cuts.”

  He chuckled at that, his smile as big as ever. “Ah, sweet Rose. I’m fine. We’ll clean me up when we stop for the night. All right?”

  “Are you certain?”

  “Yes. You doctoring me up will be my reward after this crazy first day.” He winked.

  “Um … alright,” she managed. The vision of ‘doctoring him up’ gave her a shot of energy that no caffeine could do. Her reaction to him confused her. She wanted to take care of him. She wanted to take that shirt off and admire his muscles as she doctored up his cuts and touched his skin. She had never been comfortable like that with any man. She was definitely drawn to him.

  What was she thinking? What was happening to her?

  “We could keep throwing sand to clear the way and wade through the mess or …” He distracted her from her worries. He slid the glasses on, grinning. It was comical, the red glasses far too small for his face. She hated them covering up his blue eyes. “Yep.” He looked around the room. “Lasers all revealed. Take a look.”

  He handed them over. She slid them on and gaped at the red lasers bisecting the room.

  “How’d you know?”

  “Training exercise when I was a newb. Our COs got a kick out of us all wearing these very cute Valentine’s Day glasses they’d bought at Dollar Tree and replaced the lenses with the infrared.”

  She smiled, imagining a troop of men in Valentine’s Day glasses. Sliding them off, she handed them to Bennett.

  “I’ll guide you through,” he offered.

  “I’m trusting you.”

  She startled. She actually meant those words.

  “I like that.” He grinned at her. The red glasses distracted from his handsome face and blue eyes, but nothing could dim that smile. He slid his backpack off and put it on his chest, sliding his arms through the straps. “Can you buckle this up behind me so it’ll stay on?”

  “Sure.” She did up the clasps. One of them was right over a rip in his shirt. There were far too many rips in his shirt and claw marks with blood trailing down them. Her fingers lingered on the smooth skin over rippled muscle, next to a shallow cut where the blood already dried.

  He sucked in a breath and glanced back at her.

  “Sorry,” she murmured. “I hate seeing you cut.”

  “It’s good. I’ve been through worse.” His smile dimmed and she couldn’t get a clear read on his eyes with those glasses on. He cleared his throat and focused ahead of them. On the challenge. “I want you to wrap your arms around me and stay close, step where I step.”

  “I can do that.” Her voice sounded like she was out of breath. She felt faint simply thinking about cuddling in close to him like that. She had no choice but found she was anticipating it.

  She followed his instructions and molded herself to his strong back, sliding her hands underneath the backpack he wore on his front and wrapping them around his stomach. The ridged muscles of his abdomen were evident even through his t-shirt. She could hardly catch a breath.

  His muscles all stiffened and his breathing picked up.

  “Am I hurting you?” she worried.

  “No. Your touch is the farthest thing from painful.” His voice was so quiet she barely made out the words.

  What he said made her wonder if she needed to back away or hold him tighter. The horror of being assaulted by other men was far away right now. Being close to Bennett healed and strengthened her. She found herself consumed with touching him and wanting him to touch her.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she squeaked out, relieved that this was not the time to analyze the unfamiliar feelings Bennett stirred in her.

  “All right. Here we go.”

  He started forward and she matched his every step. They skirted around, stepped over, and bent low or even crawled under the lasers. She couldn’t see any of them but she trusted that Bennett knew the path.

  Through it all she stayed as close as possible to this veritable giant. A colossal, smiling man, who was proving to be one of the most considerate and incredible men she’d ever met.

  She should’ve been nervous about what might fall from the ceiling or reach up and grab them if they touched a laser, but it took a hundred percent of her focus to mold herself to Bennett’s back and match his every step. She knew he would keep her safe.

  Her reaction to this goliath of a man was mind-blowing. She wasn’t afraid of his touch. Far from it. She relished his touch, and even more surprising, she’d told him she trusted him, and she’d meant it. What was happening to her?

  Chapter

  Six

  Bennett had a devil of a time thinking steady, walking steady, or moving steady with Rose pressed so close, her hands splayed across his abdomen, her warm breath tickling his neck with each quick exhalation. Any issue she’d had with touching him earlier seemed to have disappeared. Was that only because of necessity, her own safety, or was she not repelled by or afraid of him any longer? He wished they could relax and talk about it, but maybe that would push her away again.

  They navigated through the red lasers. The room was huge and the task seemed to take far too long. Maybe they should’ve just run through and let the balloons explode on their heads. Yet he was leery of trusting that they wouldn’t be injured or killed by something that might drop from that ceiling. He couldn’t risk any harm coming to Rose or anything incapacitating him, so they made their way slowly through. He could admit that he enjoyed every second of Rose close to him but practical sense, and his need to win, said they needed to move through the obstacles quickly or they’d never get through seven floors and their stairwells in less than six days.

  Finally the door on the far side of the room was within reach.

  “Almost there,” he said to Rose.

  “Oh, thank heavens,” she breathed out.

  Bennett paused. He didn’t like the way she’d said that. Was she not enjoying being close and touching him? He glanced back at her. The red glasses he wore made her beautiful face glow. Her face was tilted up toward his. It would take very little effort to lower his head just enough to align their lips.

  “Everything okay?” she whispered.

  “Yeah.”

  Their breath seemed to mingle. He would have a kink in his neck from craning his head back to look at her. He didn’t care.

  “We should keep going,” she said.

  “Oh.” He managed to put his smile back on before he faced forward. “Yeah. You’re right.” Disappointing, but better for him to focus. “Duck under the next one.”

  He ducked and progressed forward. She shuffled with him. He wasn’t sure what happened but maybe her backpack was too high and hit the laser.

  The obnoxious horn blared, lights flashed, a panel in the ceiling opened, and something fell toward them. He dodged instinctively forward and he must’ve hit another laser. Something else was coming at them as the first balloon of fine white powder exploded behind them. It was silly as everything that had fallen so far hadn’t been dangerous but he rushed forward, pulling Rose with him, just wanting to be done with this lame room, especially if Rose wasn’t enjoying cuddling into him.

 

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