I give him credit, he at least tries not to laugh at me, but he chuckles anyway. “Do you trust me?” His expression has gone serious now, waiting for my answer. Do I? Without hesitation I know unequivocally, that yes, I do trust him. Probably more than I have anyone else in my life. But that doesn’t mean I’m willing to go out there and be target practice for a bunch of jerks.

“Yes, it’s the other people out there that I don’t trust.”

“How about this: we’ll watch the first round so you can get a feel for how it works. You can see where they hide and get a study of their strategy. I’ll help you. It’ll be fun, I swear.” With a huff, I get out of the car. How could I not? The hopeful, excited look on his face did me in.

“Not everyone’s a trained soldier like you,” I grumble, still making my protest known. He simply laughs at me and grabs my hand and leads me in through the doors. We walk into this place and I’m immediately overwhelmed by all the gear that’s tacked up to the walls and hanging from racks.

“We’ll need to get you suited up before we go out,” he tells me. There’s gloves, helmets, goggles, clothes, everything. By the time he’s placed everything in my arms, I almost can’t see over the pile. Finding a dressing room, I pull on a set of overalls over the clothes I already have on. I pat my legs and arms testing the cushion it provides. It’s not much. Man, this is going to suck. Walking out of the dressing room, I hold my arms out and do a spin for Alex’s examination. “Perfect. Let’s go pay for all of this and I’ll help you put on the protective gear.”

As we’re walking to the register, I dig through my purse to locate my wallet. Alex sees me struggling and says, “Don’t worry, I’ve got it.” I open my mouth to protest but he takes his index finger and places it over my lips effectively shutting me up, making me immobile. He drags his finger down my lips, pulling the bottom one down slightly before releasing it. “No argument, Elizabeth. My treat.” Turning back around, he pays for all of our stuff like nothing just happened. Me? I haven’t moved, my mouth practically hanging open.

Alex flashes me his million-dollar smile once the transaction is complete. “Let’s go, gorgeous.” We walk out the back door, him carrying my bag in one hand, while his other hand holds mine. The simple contact sends a flurry of butterflies to my stomach. It makes me feel like a teenager all over again. Once we reach a table, he sets everything down and starts explaining all of the equipment to me. “I’m going to strap the chest protector on you now, and we’ll put the helmet and everything else on before we go out.” It has a back and a front that’s held together by straps at the shoulders. He slips it over my head before securing the straps at the sides to help hold it together. My breathing accelerates with his close proximity as his fresh scent engulfs me. I take a small step back to regain my senses.

“This is kinda heavy.” I bounce a little at the knees, testing the weight.

“That’s nothing. You should feel the body armor I used to wear.” I smile softly. This is the first time he’s offered up anything about himself without me asking. It’s very minor, but it’s something. “Alright, you’re set. Now let’s go set up a strategy.” His look is so boyish. I can feel the excitement pouring out of him and can tell that he lives for this kind of thing.

We stand by the fence that marks the perimeter and I take in my surroundings. There’s a big open field with huge red, inflatable objects scattered around. People are diving behind them, shots being fired out in rapid succession. Oh God, I don’t think I can do this. “Do you want to be the aggressor or the cover fire?” My head whips around to look at him. He’s got to be high if he thinks I’m going to go out there on the attack. As soon as I set my eyes on him, the grin on his face widens at what I’m assuming is pure horror all over mine. I playfully smack him in the arm.

“Very funny, mister. Now get serious. I don’t want to get hurt.”

“Let’s watch and see what obstacles are good places to hunker down behind.” I have no idea what I’m looking for, so I wait as he surveys everything laid out before us. “To win, someone on our team has to be the last one standing. You’re gonna want to get to one of the outside edges and hold up there. Stay away from the middle. That’ll leave you exposed and vulnerable to attacks from your blind spot. We’ll be on a team with a few other people, but we’re not going to trust them to cover our asses, so it’s up to you and me to stay in the game.” Alex has his game face on while discussing strategy and it is seriously sexy. His concentration and confidence does weird things to me. I have to resist the urge to say the hell with this game and have him take me somewhere more private.

“You see that X to the right?”

Locating it, I point and say, “That one?” He grabs my hand and pulls it down.

“Don’t point. You’ll give away our plan.” I bite my bottom lip to keep from laughing at him. “But yes, that one. You’ll want to set up in the corner that faces this way. You’ll be protected from three sides that way. All you have to focus on is straight ahead. Since it’s facing away from the opponent, they probably won’t know you’re there. When they walk past you, you pop a cap in their ass. Got it?”

“Got it, sir.” I salute him teasingly and his eyes darken. He moves closer to me, his gaze focused on my lips until his body is pressed firmly against mine.

“Keep it up and I’ll drag you out of here where I can show you a real salute.” He moves his hips against me once and I gasp when I feel exactly what he’s referring to. Our eyes connect in that way that lets me know something is about to happen between us. We lean into each other slowly.

“Hey lovebirds, I think you’re on our team,” a guy says behind me. We pull away from each other, and I quickly glance around to see if anyone was watching us. God, what am I thinking acting this way in public? Anyone could be watching and Cal could find out. It’s Alex. I lose all sense of rational thinking with him. Everyone around us doesn’t exist. When he looks at me the way he does, it’s just me and him. Turning my attention to our new teammates, I see two guys. “Hi, I’m Ryan and this is Matt.”

“Hi, I’m Elizabeth and this is Alex.” We all shake hands and exchange hellos. They start to tell us the strategy they’ve formulated when Alex stops them.

“If you guys don’t want to get shot, then follow my lead. Most people I think will fly out to the perimeter. I’m going to charge up the middle. If you want to cover me as we go, that’s fine. Elizabeth is going to stick to the outside so she can get anyone who tries to double back on us, okay?” They stare at him for a few moments before agreeing. Did I mention how turned on this authoritative side of him makes me? After getting a quick rundown on how to operate my paintball gun, I’m told we’re good to go. I don’t know about him, but I’m not so confident.

Soon enough, it’s our turn. “You gotta run fast, got it? Get to your spot. I’ll be watching out for you so listen for my voice. If you need to get out of there, I’ll let you know.”

The adrenaline is starting to course through my body, making me antsy. Butterflies swarm and hold my stomach hostage as the anticipation starts to slowly kill me. Suddenly, a horn sounds, making me jump out of my skin. “Go!” Alex yells. I take off running, my only goal is to get to my designated spot. I stay as low as I can while sprinting to the inflatable X that will keep me safe. Hopefully.

The blood pounding in my ears drowns out most noise. Every now and then I hear, “I’m out!” signaling that someone got hit. I don’t think I’ve heard Alex’s voice yet. If he gets shot, I’m done. There will be no one left to save me. I take a couple breaths to slow down my heartbeat so I can pay attention. The low hum of shots being fired followed by the loud splat of contact puts me on high alert. I have my gun raised, ready to fire should anyone cross my path.