Chris Wu—what Obiora was considering to be his biggest competition—was among the first six.
Ejiro was not.
Obiora didn’t know if he felt relieved or alarmed. Remembering their jog of two days ago, the way Ejiro had bolted into a run at the end there—obviously he had a lot of stamina.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
He glanced at him.
Big mistake.
Ejiro had that look on his face—eyebrows furrowed, lips slightly pursed, eyes intense. He didn’t look worried at all, just simply … focused.
Obiora sucked in a sharp breath, quickly tearing his gaze away before anyone could notice.
Shit buggering bloody fuck Ejiro was so fucking hot when he looked like that what the fuck.
“On your marks—set—ready?—go!”
Chris Wu ended up winning the first round, beating Sophia’s time with twenty seconds to spare. She gave him a congratulatory hug.
On the second team, Damien won, beating Sophia’s time with twelve seconds to spare. He also received a congratulatory hug.
On the third team, however, the winning bachelor, Eddie, another Chinese-Brit, lost to Sophia with only point nine seconds. She ended up picking Liam, the third to cross the finish line, as her third private date for the week. Ricky seemed to make some kind of offhand remark at that, but Obiora wasn’t really paying attention.
His team was next.
And Ejiro was still here.
Standing directly beside him.
Obiora felt like he was floating somewhere above his body. He refused to look at Ejiro, even though he could feel his presence keenly, like a sizzle of electricity on the surface of his skin.
“On your marks!”
Get your head in the fucking game, Obiora!
“Set!”
He focused on the obstacles in front of him, trying to catalogue his movements. He had to win this—he had to stay in Sophia’s good graces if he wanted to make it further in the competition. He had to remember why he was here.
He had to snuff out this ridiculous attraction to Ejiro.
“Ready?”
Like his last thought had commanded it, like a moth to a flame, his eyes darted in Ejiro’s direction.
At the exact same moment, Ejiro did something that short-circuited Obiora’s entire mainframe—he glanced at Obiora, his eyes glinting predatorily, and smirked.
“Go!”
And Ejiro was off like a shot, leaving the rest of the men behind, eating his dust.
His speed seemed to affect the other men, for they faltered for a second, Obiora included, before regaining their bearings and following quickly.
But they were no match at all. Not even close.
“Three minutes and forty-nine seconds!” Ameri screamed when they’d all passed the finish line, Ejiro first, Obiora third. “That’s the fastest time today, and the only time set at lower than four minutes!”
