Chapter 6: Chapter Six
Just before dawn the next morning, Oakley let Hercules out to do his business and when she went to let him back in, she wasn’t really surprised to find Tanner up, dressed, and standing at her door with the big dog beside him. “Good morning. Give me one more second.” She quickly grabbed a couple of water bottles out of the fridge.
“No problem.” Tanner glanced down. “Is he going with us?”
She nodded. “I take him on most runs. Don’t worry. We’ll take my car.” She looked him over, noticing the enticing picture he presented in loose black shorts and a matching T-shirt that read ‘Marine’ across the front. She couldn’t miss the abundance of muscles in that outfit. Probably most of the female runners would gawk at Tanner and either stumble or start drooling. A specimen like him didn’t show up every day.
“We’ll have more room in mine.” His tone made it both a fact and a command.
“But he might drool.” She glanced up at him in worry. Tanner’s vehicle appeared spotless. At the least, Hercules would get dog hair on the seats—at worst, he would actually cause some minor damage.
Tanner shrugged. “Grab a towel or something. I’ve got leather seats, so it should wipe off.”
“But… But…”
“It’ll be fine. Get moving. We don’t want to be late.” He grabbed Hercules’ leash, quickly snapped it to the collar and took him outside.
Oakley pulled up the rear with a large blanket in hand. By the time she’d spread it across the back seat, Tanner had the dog in the car. She jumped in and he pulled away just as the sun broke the horizon.
“You know, I’ve never heard him bark,” Tanner pointed out.
Oakley agreed, glancing back at the dog reclining on the blanket behind them. “Me either.”
He shot her a quick glance. “That’s odd.”
“The foster home said the only time he did was when one of the other dogs got caught in a fence. Then he threw an absolute fit. They decided he only barked when something was bad wrong.”
“Lassie syndrome?”
She grinned, eager for once to quote him. “Something like that.”
* * * *
Forty minutes later, they trotted along the course in the midst of other runners. Oakley admitted to being a bit surprised when Tanner showed no inclination to sprint ahead, leaving her behind to run her own race with Hercules. Instead, he matched her pace, breathing easily, as if running came second nature to him. Considering his physical condition, it probably did.
“Marine?”
“Huh?” He peered down at her as if her voice had pulled him from a daydream. More than likely his gaze had latched onto one or more of the beautiful female runners with curvy rears and his imagination had taken him to places with those backsides. Such a horny toad.
She shook her head. “I take it you were a Marine?”
He shot her a grin. “Once a Marine, always a Marine.”
“But you’re retired from the military now?” Her breath came in pants from trying to hold a conversation and jog at the same time. His breathing remained even. Not fair.
“Something like that.”
“Gonna tell me what you do for a living?”
“Nope.”
Good grief. It’s like talking to a rock.
“Why do you run?” he asked, out of the blue, obviously changing the subject.
She considered his question for a moment. “As a kid, I was overweight. The kids teased me a lot, called me names. By the time I hit junior high, I knew I had to do something. My parents helped get me started on the path of health. It’s become a habit. A good habit.”
Tanner’s gaze roamed over her for a few beats before giving a slight nod. “That would explain you being such a health nut.”
She snorted at the unflattering term. “I sense you have objections to my cooking?”
A true smile covered his face. “No. Not at all.”
“Uh-huh.” They turned a corner. Hercules easily kept up. She shunted the conversation back to him. “Do you have family?”
“Yes.”
“Ever married?”
“No.”
“Kids?”
“No.”
“Like your job?”
“Yes.”
“Can you say anything besides yes and no?”
“Yes.”
She growled in frustration. “Now I know why they call you Loco. You’d drive a person insane with all those one-word answers.”
He laughed. “Loose lips sink ships.”
“I thought you were a Marine?” She gestured to the word written boldly in red across his shirt—his race number bib fluttered with movement just below.
“Something like that.”
Her frustration rose. “I’m amazed you can pick up women with such limited verbal skills.”
He smiled so widely that both dimples appeared. “Oh, baby. Don’t you know? I’m a hot tamale on a stick.”
“Do tell.” Oakley bit her lip to keep from laughing at his overabundant confidence. She might agree with his assessment, but no way would she add to that inflated ego by admitting it.
“What? You hadn’t noticed?” He arched an eyebrow in her direction.”
“Nope.” She had to bite her tongue to keep from ruining the answer with laughter”
“Uh huh. Be careful lest your nose start growing.” He chuckled. “Come on, you’re slacking.” He surged ahead, increasing his speed and challenging her to keep up.
“I’m not slacking, you loon. Your legs are longer than mine.” Oakley sprinted after him, determined to stay abreast of the hyena. Her heart rate and breathing increased twofold as she sped up to keep pace with his longer and faster stride.
“Excuses, excuses.”
* * * *
As soon as they hit the finish line, she sucked in great gasps of air, having to bend over for a couple of minutes to catch her breath. Her lungs burned while her stomach turned in a semblance of nausea. Her fatigued legs wobbled under her weight.
Hercules appeared none the worse for wear, doing his usual pant and drool routine following a run. She lifted her head to check out Tanner, finding him breathing a bit hard, but nothing compared to her struggles. Not for the first time, she envied his conditioning.
“Going to check your time?” he asked, bending down to remove the timing chip from his shoestrings.
“Yeah. First… Water… Herc,” she managed to get out, following suit and handing hers over to Tanner. Upon heading to the nearest watering station, she grabbed a Styrofoam cup and four bottles of water, ignoring the glare from the volunteer manning the table. Immediately, she poured the water into the improvised dog bowl, refilling it several times until Herc finally quit drinking. Only then did she take a long drink.
Tanner returned after relinquishing their chips, a half-empty water container in hand. “They have the times posted.”
His cocky grin perplexed her. They had crossed the line together, so she couldn’t imagine him gloating over beating her. But nothing else came to mind.
Apparently confusion shouts loudly in body language. Tanner tilted his head toward the long sheets of paper freshly tacked to a bulletin board. “Go see.”
Leaving Hercules with Tanner, she paced over, one finger following the numbers until she found hers. Her eyes tracked to the right, reading her time. Not believing her eyes, she double-checked the findings before running back to Tanner, leaping into his arms. “Twenty-two minutes! I can’t believe it!”
He squeezed her tightly before releasing her. “I take it that’s good?” A huge smile appeared on his face.
She lightly slapped his arm. “You dolt. That’s my best time ever.” Joy lifted her heart as she hugged him again, pecking his cheek in a chaste kiss. “You’re a good motivator.” It didn’t take a genius to realize he’d worked her like taffy, getting her annoyance and competitive levels up then had pushed her hard to keep pace—a wicked pace at that. She had taken to it like a dog to a bone.
His grin remained. “Maybe we should get some snacks before they’re all gone?”
Grabbing Hercules’ lead, she walked beside Tanner, her mind full of happy thoughts, not just of her race results, but of the man who had helped her attain her personal best.