In Safe Hands (Search and Rescue #4)(28)

“Ahh!” Chris yelled, holding up his free hand to ward off the jets of water. “Twenty penalty points for using unauthorized weapons!”

“All kitchen contents and appliances are weapon-use approved. That’s the official Swordfight Code Section 136.8.” Daisy released the sprayer anyway, since she was laughing too hard to stand up straight.

“Who brings a water sprayer to a spoon fight, anyway?” he teased, pulling at his wet T-shirt. It clung to his sculpted chest in a way that made Daisy glad she’d decided to turn their battle into a water fight.

She pretended to ponder the question. “Um…the winner?”

With a snort, Chris swung the spoon he still held toward her rear, but she dodged easily and pretended to reach for the sprayer again.

“Truce?” Chris wiped a droplet of water from his cheek.

“Truce.” Even as she pretended nonchalance, Daisy decided that soaking wet was a good look for Chris…a very good look. As they finished tidying the kitchen, she kept a wary eye out for possible retaliation, but he behaved himself.

As Daisy started the dishwasher, Chris said in a too-casual voice, “Lou also mentioned wanting to talk more about the Willard Gray case with you.”

“Okay?” She didn’t understand why that merited his odd delivery.

“If you don’t want to discuss it with her, she’ll understand.”

Now Daisy was really confused. “Why wouldn’t I want to talk to her about that? It’s fun—okay, that sounded weird, since we’re talking about some poor murdered guy, but it’s interesting. A real-life mystery.”

“She could use someone new to bounce ideas off of. I can’t talk to her about it, and I think she and Callum are both at the point where they’re running around in circles.”

She frowned at Chris. “Why are you trying to talk me into this when I already said I’d do it? The cows are in the corral already, cowboy. You can stop the round-up.”

He gave an amused snort. “Did you just refer to yourself as a cow?”

Waving that off, she said, “I want to talk to Lou about the Gray case. Why are you being weird?”

“I just didn’t want it to, I don’t know, stress you out or anything.”

“Chris Jennings.” Her hands planted on her hips. “Quit treating me like I’m fragile. Don’t make me get the spatula.”

“Just try it.” He smirked. “I’m prepared for your assault now.”

A knock at the door made her fly toward the stairs. “Can you let them in?” she asked over her shoulder. “I have to change.”

“Why change?” His gaze ran over her current outfit of yoga pants and a baggy T-shirt. “What you’re wearing is fine.”

It would take too long to explain the rules of fitness fashion to him, especially since she was fairly fuzzy on them, herself. All she knew was that her clothes were shapeless, smeared with various food items, and smelled like sausage. “Door?”

Although he rolled his eyes, he turned toward the entrance.

“Thank you!” she yelled as she dashed up the stairs.

After a quick change, Daisy hurried out of her bedroom. An attack of nerves hit at the top of the stairs, and she came to a screeching halt. Despite no longer smelling like pork products, Daisy regretted not being the one to answer the door. She hovered for a moment before forcing herself to descend to the first level. From the sound of the voices, Chris had already escorted them to the training room, so at least she didn’t have to worry about everyone watching her come down the stairs, debutante-style.

The mental image made her giggle, but she cut off her laughter as soon as she heard how nervous she sounded. Not allowing herself to hesitate at the bottom of the stairs, she marched through the open gym door.

The room went quiet as soon as she entered, and Daisy hid her cringe, forcing a smile instead. There were a lot of people, and they were all staring at her.

“Daisy!” Of course Lou was the one to speak. Just in the short time she’d known Lou, Daisy had already realized that silence was the other woman’s nemesis. “I know I’ve already seen this place, but I’d forgotten exactly how awesome it really is. Thanks for letting us do this.”

“No problem.” Her voice cracked in the middle and squeaked at the end, so she cleared her throat, hoping her next attempt wouldn’t make her sound like a pubescent boy. “It’ll be fun to have new sparring partners.” Even as she said it, though, doubt filled her as her eyes settled on a bearded giant. Despite her years of training with Chris, there was no way she could take on that one. She’d have to go with flight, rather than fight, if he got hostile.

“The big guy you’re really hoping not to go up against is George Holloway.” Lou’s mind-reading made Daisy blush as she nodded to the oversized man. “Next to him is his girlfriend, Ellie. You probably know Ian and Rory, since they’re your neighbors.” Daisy did kind of know them, although they looked different close up. “And you’ve already met me and Callum, so I think the introductions are done, and we’re ready to be turned into human weapons.”

Ellie laughed at that, and a few of the others smiled. When Chris stepped forward, drawing everyone’s attention, Daisy gave a silent sigh of relief.

“Sorry, Lou. No human-weapon creation today. I need to get a sense of what each person’s conditioning and skill levels are, so we’re going to do some circuit training. Ellie, I know you’re still recovering, so just do what you can. If something hurts, stop.” She nodded, her hand raising to hover above her breastbone.