Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
He fucking wished, like a dreamy adolescent girl.
Gideon shook his head, impatient with himself. It was foolish to dwell on things he could not change. He needed to focus on the present, and how they would get along with each other today.
She had walked in earlier—a bounce in her step, all smiles—and her eyes had skimmed over him, acknowledging him with a polite nod, while avoiding his gaze.
She looked cute as hell in over-sized—definitely borrowed—camo fatigues. She had a black baseball cap on her head, her hair up in a bouncy ponytail which she’d dragged through the gap in the back of the cap. She was shorter than everybody else here. And when they collected their paintball markers, the unwieldy thing was about half her size.
Cam was allocating teams. To no one’s surprise, Gideon and Beth were on opposing sides. Gideon was stunned to find himself disappointed by that.
He was tired of always fighting with her. He wouldn’t have minded being on the same damned side for once. It would have been refreshing to not take potshots at each other for a change. Literally in this case.
He dragged on his fluorescent yellow armband. The other team’s color was bright pink.
“Ready for an ass-kicking, Gid?” Cam asked with a shit eating grin.
Oh, but his buddy had a conveniently short memory. Time for Gideon to focus and put on his game face.
“You guys are going down, Cam,” he promised.
Okay, it was a weak assed response, but it was all he could manage with Beth’s wide-eyed gaze was on him. She was wearing those massive glasses that made her look like a curious owl. She should have worn contacts; it was going to be hellishly difficult for her to see once she had the tactical mask on with the visor down. The fear that she was bravely trying to keep hidden from everyone made her eyes look even bigger. And for some reason, Gideon lost his taste for smack talk beneath that trepidatious gaze. She looked fucking terrified, and he didn’t want to say or do anything to worsen the escalating fear he could see on her face.
But Gideon’s response was so pathetic that even his own team jeered at him.
He turned to glare at them. He had Kyle, Cynthia, Lucy, and Jacob Taylor, a military type—one of Cam’s colleagues—in his group. While Cam had Kylie, Zane, Beth, and Adam Reece, Zane’s golfing buddy. They’d needed the extras because the venue’s policy was a minimum of ten players per booking. Cat, who had not yet told the rest of the group about her pregnancy, had pleaded an upset tummy, and was sitting on the sidelines with a bottle of water.
They’d be playing several matches and their mission was clear: capture the other team’s ridiculous pink flag. Kill shots meant sitting out of a match until there was a winner. Best out of three or five—time permitting—would be crowned the champions.
The two teams separated to discuss strategy.
“Beth is the weak link. She’ll crumple like tissue paper. Easy pickings. Candy from a baby and all that,” Kyle sniggered once they were all huddled in a circle. “She should be our number one target.”
Gideon didn’t like how gleeful the guy sounded at that prospect.
“Cam will anticipate that move and keep her protected,” Lucy argued. “Besides, strategically it makes no sense to target her first. We can take her out any time we like, we should take out their strongest first.”
“Why? We pick them off as fast as possible, right? It’ll be demoralizing to lose a team member right off the bat. I think we should take her down hard. All rifles on her.”
“Well, I disagree,” Lucy maintained, and they both turned their glaring gazes on Gideon. For a second, he was baffled by the expectation on their faces, until he recalled that he was the team captain.
Right.
“Lizzy is off-limits,” he decreed on a low growl. When his words were met by raised brows and varying expressions of surprise, he realized that it had been a ridiculous statement to make. He backpedaled furiously and amended, “Nobody takes her down but me.”
Kyle sneered knowingly and the women sighed and cast their eyes heavenward. Gideon knew they assumed he wanted to go after Beth himself because of their terrible history. But that hadn’t been his intention at all. He gritted his teeth and half-listened as Lucy outlined her plan to take out the new guy first.
Beth had disappeared into her team huddle, her teammates all towering above her. Gideon wondered if she was the one leading the discussion, and his lips tilted at the thought. His bossy, know-it-all, vocal Beth would undoubtedly have strong opinions on how her team should approach this skirmish. She might be terrified but her way of controlling that terror would be to take charge.
Gideon was surprised at the warm surge of affection that flooded his chest at that certainty. And he bit back a laugh when—among the low murmurs coming from the other team—he heard her voice, sounding a little irate as they probably went with someone else’s plan.