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“If you’ll call me Rose.”
“Done.” His broad smile was back.
Rose didn’t know that she’d ever been so intrigued by a man. She hadn’t let herself date or really think about men since her first attack seven years ago, it just felt safer that way. But this man …
What was she thinking? She obviously wasn’t thinking. She had tonotlet down her guard, and currently she was standing much too close to this nice-looking, nice-smelling, nice-grinning tank of a man, and still grasping his hand.
She released his hand and thankfully he let her go. She’d never be able to pull free if he didn’t agree. That realization made her throat feel thick and scratchy. She almost reached for her pepper spray. She didn’t want the show’s producers to steal it from her, but she would let Bennett know she had it before they laid down to sleep tonight so he didn’t get any ideas.
Stepping back, she swallowed and asked, “Where are you from, Bennett?”
“Originally a ranch outside of Huntsville Tennessee, but I currently live in Chicago,” his southern drawl was understated but still there.
“Why would you leave Tennessee for Chicago?” she burst out with. Why would anyone leave a ranch of any kind to live in a huge city with supposedly a lot of crime? Her ranch currently hosted a family of five from Chicago. To hear them tell it, the city was far from safe—drugs offered to their children, murders a daily occurrence, gangs roaming free and intimidating or attacking any who didn’t support them, and more. They praised Jesus every day for the miracles that had led them to Safe Haven. Because of them and so many others, she had to win this money. Those children needed her and the ranch.
Bennett smiled. “A friend owns a gym for vets there. We connect with at-risk youth. It’s a good focus for now.” Hissmile looked a little strained, but what did she know. She needed to stop thinking they had some connection. She’d probably invented the vulnerability and pain she’d glimpsed in his eyes earlier. Her subconscious begging for reassurance and connection.
What did she really know about him? So far the major seemed nice, smiley, and he’d protected her from Shawn’s snarky comment. After she showed him her pepper spray and made it clear he shouldn’t expect any superfluous physical contact, maybe this week wouldn’t be as terrifying stuck alone with him.
“Well, you beautiful people,” Mercedes interrupted before Rose could ask more about Bennett. “Let’s load up in the helicopter and take you to the spot for your challenge this week.”
Immediately Rose’s stomach flip flopped with nerves. The challenge. It was why she was here. Her nerves swung from stress-sweating about the man she’d be doing this reality show challenge with to the challenge itself.
There was something about Bennett that had calmed her—his touch or his smile or a combination of both. She liked his southern accent and he seemed steady, considerate, a gentleman cowboy like her dad and so many other men she’d grown up with. She was still overwhelmed by his massive size and if he was a former Major for the Army Rangers she could bet he could kill an armed man with his bare hands. What if he hurt her before help could come?
She started to inch away but suddenly a large arm wrapped around her waist and gently cradled her against a muscular abdomen and chest. She flinched and almost elbowed him, screamed, and ran for her life but for some reason her body didn’t react violently like usual and she was able to remember that the camera, Shawn, and Mercedes were all watching her.
Any other time an unrelated male had initiated physical contact in the past seven years Rose had jumped, cried out, punched, scratched, and fought her way free, even using pepper spray in two separate instances. The men had been lucky she hadn’t been armed with anything stronger than pepper spray. She’d sometimes felt badly for her overreaction afterward, but it was as a rule her natural reaction.
Stiffening, she was surprised she wasn’t duking it out with Bennett and at the same time she tried to think how to disengage from his arm without looking like an inexperienced and frightened child. Was the show expecting them to have some kind of romantic interlude? They would be very disappointed and she hadn’t signed anything agreeing to a fling with her protector.
As her mind scrambled for the right response to Bennett wrapping an around her, her body reacted in a different way than she’d ever experienced. Somehow she found herself leaning into Bennett’s massive strength. His arm around her … settled her. That made no sense, but it was the correct descriptor. His touch also felt warm and thrilling. She should be too warm in this hot sun attached to this burly man, but the heat from Bennett was comfortable not scary or too hot.
“I don’t want you to be nervous for the challenges,” he bent closer to her ear and whispered for just her to hear, acting like his arm around her was just support for her nerves, not a come-on. “I don’t support a lot of braggin’, but I am certain I can best anything—man, animal, or other unknown dangers—and help you win your money for your charity.”
“Thank you,” she managed in a breathless voice she’d never heard from her own throat. She smiled up at him but her smile was shy and possibly flirtatious. That wasn’t like her at all.
“Of course ma’am.” He escorted her with his arm around her waist as if they walked like this every day of the week.
She liked it. Despite her fears and her past she found herself liking being close to him. That was crazy. She didn’t like his touch. She couldn’t like his touch.
They followed Mercedes clinging to Shawn, the cameraman hustling backward to keep them all in view. A white helicopter with the pilot standing outside waited for them maybe fifty feet from the plane Rose had flown in on.
Mercedes glanced back at them and grinned like she’d just won an Emmy award to see they were still cuddled up. Rose needed to move away, get some distance, some perspective.
Deftly stepping away from him and creating some space between them she didn’t let herself look at his face.
“Did you fly with Mercedes and Shawn?” she asked to cover any awkwardness of refusing to stroll along with him like they were some couple. They weren’t and they never would be.
“No, ma’am,” he answered her question, his voice still easy going. She glanced sharply up at him. Was he not upset at her for moving away? His nice smile was still in place. Nice? That smile was downright mesmerizing.
“They were waiting in the airport for me when I came about twenty minutes ago on a different private jet,” he said. “I’m certain they set it all up for ultimate impact of our first meeting.”
“Makes sense.” She nodded and glanced away.
They reached the helicopter and watched as Shawn lifted Mercedes in then easily hopped up himself. Rose moved to climb in but Bennett wrapped his hands around her waist and she was plucked off the ground like she weighed nothing and set gently inside the helicopter. She wasn’t a small woman and had never felt light as feathers like that. She’d been airborne, soaring but yet grounded and safe because of his large hands and his strength.
She was going crazy.
