Chaos Theory (Nerds of Paradise #2)(9)
Will had just finished signing the PSF form at the same time. As he stood, their eyes met. Melody smiled, not even trying to keep the mischief out of her expression. Will looked as stoic and determined as ever, but there was a spark of something thrilling in his eyes. The game was on.
Chapter Three
There was no telling how many people Howie expected to sign up for the orienteering event, but as Melody and Calliope walked into the PSF gym on Monday evening, it felt like half of Haskell was there.
“And here I thought I’d come along and watch for moral support,” Calliope commented. When Melody sent her a questioning look, she went on with, “You’ve got more than enough moral support here without me.”
“You’re sure you don’t want to join in the fun?” Melody asked.
Calliope laughed and shook her head. “I’m not the masochist in the family.” She plunked her hand on Melody’s shoulders. “I’ll leave all of the grunt-work to you.”
“It can’t be that bad. It’s basically just a glorified camping trip, right? And training will be things like how to build fires and use a compass.”
Melody’s smile remained bright as she glanced around the room. Howie stood off to one side with his son, Quintus. They both carried clipboards and had their heads together, whispering. Everyone else looked like they were there to train, judging by the serious workout clothes. A variety of weights and strength-training machines had been set up on one side of the room. A couple of the PSF guys who Melody only vaguely recognized were tossing medicine balls. Frankly, they were showing off. The other side of the room had several thick ropes dangling from the ceiling. Sarah Meyers was already halfway up one and climbing higher as her friends cheered her on.
Melody had an instant negative reaction. “Please don’t tell me this is high school gym class all over again.”
“You signed up for it,” Calliope chuckled. “I need to get back to the shop. Have fun.”
“Oh, I will,” Melody said with determination. She waved her sister goodbye and went back to studying the room.
Directly across from the door was the most intriguing thing in the entire room—a rock-climbing wall. She’d seen them on TV, but never in person. It didn’t look too terribly daunting. Ben Bertran was already three-quarters of the way up the wall, and he looked like he—
Ben’s hand slipped, and he let out a quick shout as he fell away from the wall. Lucky for him, he was wearing a harness. Melody swallowed hard as she watched him swinging in mid-air, two stories off the ground. Her stomach quivered with dread.
“That’s right, I forgot that you don’t like heights.”
Melody turned to find Katrina Bonneville standing next to her. Of all people. But at least Melody’s perpetual need to be nice to anyone and everyone made a nice cover for the instinctive fear welling up inside her.
“I remember that time when Rita Templesmith dared you to climb that big pine tree next to the school playground,” Katrina went on, crossing her arms. “She was such a bitch.”
Funny, but in Melody’s memory, Katrina and her friends were the ones who laughed and threw pinecones at her as she reached the highest branches that would support her. Still, she let out a weak laugh and said, “Rita was just fooling around.”
“I wouldn’t mind doing some fooling around myself,” Katrina said, zeroing in on Ben as he was lowered to the ground. “Man, I love the way that harness makes guys’ packages stand out. You can see what they’re really made of.”
In spite of herself, Melody burst into a giggle and took a look. Sure enough, Ben’s bulge was highlighted in an extremely interesting way by the harness straps. “Yeah, I can totally appreciate the view.”
“There’s just so much to look at in here,” Katrina went on.
For a second, whatever past rivalry Melody and Katrina had was forgotten as the two of them scanned the room. Now that she was focused on the people instead of the equipment, Melody was struck by how delicious a lot of the nerds were. And the local cowboys weren’t too shabby either. Most of the guys were dressed in workout gear that highlighted their physiques.
“Who would have thought that guys who obsess about rockets and outer space could look so…earthy,” Katrina said.
“Mmm,” Melody agreed. “Someone pointed out that a lot of the guys who work in the aerospace industry are former Air Force. A little military training looks good on a guy. Well, unless it makes them into a stick in the mud.”
Her gaze fell on Will as she finished. He stood over by the strength-training equipment, testing out the weight of a set of kettlebells. He wore a tank-top that revealed everything she’d guessed at when she touched his arm the other day. His biceps were just the right size and definition to show off his strength without making him into a monster. And he had some pretty smokin’ thighs too.
“Yeah,” Katrina said.
Melody had to blink herself back to reality to figure out what she was talking about.
“I’ve got my eye on that one,” she went on, nodding toward Will.
“Which one?” A snake of jealousy reared its head in Melody’s gut.
“William Darling. He’s gorgeous.”
“He is,” Melody agreed. She could be objective about that much. “He’s also really nice, if a bit shy. I had to pry words out of him the other day when we walked to the luncheon together.”