“You’ll be paying for that.” I eye the broken partition.
“No biggie.” He stands and throws the football to Ford.
I watch Jana walk to the main house, and she stops right before she’ll be out of view. Our eyes catch and she smiles.
Maybe this team-building thing isn’t so bad after all.
My mom taught me to always make sure I bring earplugs and an eye mask when traveling, and I’m thankful for her right now.
The bed is creaky and the blankets are heavy, but other than that, I had no complaints. Corin and Clark were polite about sharing the bathroom, and the more I’m around them, the less I worry that they’re going to murder me in my sleep or steal my underwear as some weird sort of trophy.
But then the moans started, the light knocking of a headboard on our shared wall, and the vulgar words coming through the paper-thin walls. I hurry to put in my earplugs and bury myself under the blanket, praying I’m hearing animals outside.
“Oh, Clarky baby,” Corin coos, which throws out my theory of two raccoons going at it on the roof.
I clutch the blanket tighter over me, pressing the foam things into my ears more, wishing I had music to play.
Eventually after they’re done, I fall asleep. But now that it’s morning, I’m having a hard time looking Corin in the eyes.
On my way out to the field with the guys, she stops me. “Miss Jana, I’m so sorry for last night.”
I shoo her away, not wanting to discuss this topic.
“Clark isn’t usually that spunky, so I had to take advantage of it. Woman to woman, I hope you understand.”
I smile, unsure how to answer.
“But sorry if we kept you up, especially with all the hiking you’ll do on the scavenger hunt today.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I don’t want you to be tired.” She worries her bottom lip.
“No, you said something about a scavenger hunt and a hike?”
She waves off my concern. “Oh yes, just a few miles. No big deal.”
“Great,” I mumble and walk out the door.
“Just one text.” Warner is bothering Clark when I reach the group. “He’s a newborn.”
“Clark, may I have a word?” I nod at him to join me closer to the showers just as Kane comes out of the bathroom looking delicious, running a towel over his still-damp hair. Clark follows me away from the guys, and it takes me a minute to move my attention back to him. “Listen, Warner’s a new dad. Surely you understand how worried he might be.”
“Do I go to the Florida Fury arena and tell you how to handle your team, Miss Jana?”
“Well…”
“Exactly. He gave his wife the number here. She will call if there’s a problem and we’ll get him to the airport should something arise. What do you think people did before cell phones?”
“That’s the thing, Clark. We don’t have to think about that because we have them now. These boys mostly grew up with them, so we can’t expect them to just go cold turkey like that. They have young families.”
He shakes his head. I swear he might be more stubborn than my dad. “I’m sorry, Miss Jana, my answer is no.”
I nod and give Warner an “I tried” expression. He throws his orange juice container on the ground before grumbling and picking it up to throw it out.
Kane walks over to me. “No go?”
“Nope. How did everyone sleep?”
He shrugs. “They’re all bitching. What about you?”
“You don’t want to know,” I say. “I might have to sneak into your room tonight.”
“You’re always welcome.” He grins.
There’s that spark again. The tension that’s like a live wire between us.
“What’s for breakfast anyway?” I look away from him at the folding tables that have been set out. The boys cannot complain about this. “Do you think Corin cooked all this?”
“Yes, she did,” Clark answers, coming up to my side. “I got lucky when I caught her. She was up at four making fresh biscuits.”
“They’re incredible,” Maksim mumbles over a mouthful. “Can I have my fiancée call you for the recipe?”
“Or you could bake them for Paisley?” I raise an eyebrow.
He points at me with the hand holding what’s left of the biscuit. “I’d definitely get some action then. I love having her best friend here.” He takes another one and two sausages before heading back to the fire that has chairs set up all around it.
“We’re all going to smell like smoke on the plane,” I grumble, picking up a piece of bacon.
“You better eat more than that. Clark told us this morning that it’s a scavenger hunt in groups of two. I don’t want to brag, but you scored the best partner.” Kane winks and takes a plateful of eggs, sausage, and biscuits, then grabs another one for pancakes.
“Jeez, Kane.” I stare at his plate in disbelief.
“Wondering where it all goes?” He lifts his sweatshirt with his free hand, showing off his chiseled abs. The same ones my fingers have traveled down more than a few times. My lips tingle, remembering when I explored his flat stomach with my mouth.
“Pull your sweatshirt down.” I pick up a plate and put some eggs and bacon on it. I’m not really a sausage kind of gal, but I opt for one biscuit.
“Tempting, I know.”
I stare at him for a second, then at the group of guys playing football again. “You’re very flirtatious this morning.”
“I think the wind is changing direction.”
My head tilts. “What?”
“Nothing. Let’s eat.”
I follow him to the fire, and we position our plates on our laps. Kane puts his pancakes on the empty chair next to him.
“I’m exhausted.” Cory sits down next to me. “No one told me Train is called Train because of his snoring. I thought it was because his body checks feel like a freight train hit you.”
We laugh.
“Well, I had to hear Clark and Corin go at it for the majority of the night. Let’s just say there’s a very different side to them that they don’t show us.” I fork my egg and put a piece of bacon over it.
“Okay, you drew the shorter straw for sure. You can bunk with us. There’s an extra bed.”
“I can take that bed and you can have my little time-out room,” Kane says quickly, and Cory chuckles.
“Thanks, Cory, I might take you up on that.” I decide to play this little game for reasons I don’t understand. I guess Kane never struck me as the jealous type.
“Didn’t you hear what he said about Train?” The line between Kane’s eyebrows deepens.
“I have ear plugs. I’ll be fine.” I shrug.
Kane says my name in such a curt tone I can’t help but laugh. Cory quickly joins me in laughing at him.
“Assholes,” Kane mumbles.
Immediately after breakfast, Clark gathers up the group while Corin cleans up all the dishes. I’d love to offer her a hand, but I’m stuck doing today’s activity with Kane as my partner.
“You’ve got fifty acres to cover. You each have different paths and a different order and will cover the same amount of ground, so there’s no cheating. When you reach each station, you’re to take the envelope with your team number on it. It will tell you the next place to go. You have six stations in total to visit.” Clark hands us each a map. “The landmarks labeled—the river, the bridge, the barn… you get the idea. First team to get back here wins.”