Heated Pursuit (Alpha Security #1)(6)

Lord knew he’d fueled her own as she’d lain in bed last night. In fact, the main plot of her personal Rafe-induced flight of imagination involved him getting really close. And naked. And a whole lot of sweaty that definitely didn’t involve hand-to-hand sparring.

Dream Rafe had nearly sent her body up in flames. His hands. His mouth. Good God, and when he used them together? She was lucky she hadn’t set the bed on fire. Never having been the type of woman to be fueled by lust, she found the whole experience a little overwhelming—and a hugely bad idea.

“Have something to say…Red?” Rafe’s scrutiny pulled her back into the moment. Before she could conjure a snappy retort, he turned to Logan. “Stop giving her time to recuperate. You’re not doing her any favors by being too easy on her.”

Logan gave him a skeptical snort. “Easy? She looks like she’s an axe kick away from passing the hell out.”

“Then we’ll have proven our point and can send her on her way home.” Rafe slid her a condescending smirk. “Which is where she should be.”

Label it daddy issues or feminist tendencies, but what Penny hated most in the world—besides nylons—was being dismissed. Either Rafe knew that or he didn’t care. No matter his reasoning for being a mountain-sized jerk, it sparked an inner fire she hadn’t felt for a ridiculously long time.

“Like hell will I be going home.” She stepped back onto the center of the mat and crooked her finger at Logan. “Let’s go. No napping. No taking it easy on me.”

Logan looked a bit wary by her sudden rejuvenation. “Okay, but will you go easy on me?”

“No.” Penny spun. Her fist clipped the blond operative’s jaw in a back fist that would’ve hurt them both if he hadn’t ducked when he did.

“Jesus.” Logan shot a glance toward Trey. “Why the hell am I the one being offered as the sacrificial f*cking lamb? She’s your not-so-little sister.”

“Because you volunteered.” Trey smirked. “And I’m not stupid. I saw what she did to Tommy Wilcox when the little shit tried to cop a feel at the homecoming dance. No way in hell was I offering.”

“You could warn a brother, you know.”

Trey shrugged. “Not as fun to watch.”

“Are we going to do this or what?” Penny asked, drawing their attention back to the task.

Logan, looking less eager than before, stepped back onto the mat. Penny mirrored his movements when he made his approach. No way in hell was she backing down. Her renewed fervor had less to do with tossing the cowboy operative to the floor than it did wiping the bemused grin off Rafe’s face.

And she’d be lying to herself if she didn’t admit that a small part of her wanted to impress the hell out of him, too.

Crazy. Pure insanity considering she told herself years ago that men with the GI Joe Complex were strictly off-limits. She abso-freaking-lutely appreciated everything soldiers did for their country. The duty and loyalty that ran through their veins produced true heroes. But she knew from experience that that kind of allegiance often put people who weren’t dressed in Army green—or Navy blue—into a second-tier spot of importance.

Been there. Done that. Had the daddy issues to prove it. And most importantly, not doing it again.

Keeping a safe distance from anything or anyone who couldn’t offer her a first-place ranking was paramount. And she’d get back to it—after she demonstrated to Rafe and the others that she wasn’t a liability.

The glint of the mock knife in Logan’s hand snapped Penny back to reality. He deftly tossed it from palm to palm. Her eyes tracked it like the pendulum of a clock. The second he lunged, she dodged left. The quick-ducking side step made him miss by inches. It was poetry in motion as she found her groove.

Lunge and evade. They moved in an unchoreographed dance that paraded them around the mat. On their third pass, her sneaker snapped against his wrist, sending the knife flying.

“Save the acrobatics for the circus,” Rafe growled from the sideline.

Logan’s gait glided over the floor as he and Penny circled. He flashed her a quick wink. “I don’t know, Ortega. Some of those gymnastic moves could be pretty damn inspiring in the bedroom.”

“Aw, have things become so deficient you’d resort to getting your butt kicked to spice it up again?” Penny ignored the fact her words came out sounding like an asthmatic phone-sex operator and continued to tease. “Maybe you should be the one taking that nap. You’re slowing down.”

“No way in hell, darlin’. You caught me once. Not gonna happen again.”

Male laughter erupted from everyone except Rafe. A split second later, Logan charged in a frontal assault. Grabbing onto his forearms, she used his forward momentum and propelled him across the floor like a two-hundred-pound paper airplane.

A second from his face hitting the mat, he ducked into a roll and came back to his feet. When he turned, she was there with a sharp elbow jab to the gut. Logan doubled over with a grunt, giving her the opening she needed. Lowering her center of gravity, Penny gripped the back of his shirt and with a throaty growl, tossed him over her shoulder and onto the mat.

Again.

Logan looked momentarily stunned. “Well, hell, darlin’. You may be small, but you’ve got some skills.”

Penny chuckled as she wiped the stream of sweat off her forehead. “I think there was a compliment in there somewhere, so thank you.”