Disclaimers in part 1
Finally dinner was over, but not before
Jennifer made several more rude comments to Mac. They left when AJ complained
about being tired. Mac had never heard him say that before. She knew it was an
excuse to get away from Jennifer. Mac could tell his temper was about to reach
the boiling point. They went up to their room and once the door was closed, Mac
asked amused, "What ever possessed you to tell them you trained sea
animals?"
"I never said that. I told them I
trained SeALs. If they assume that I’m talking about sea animals that is their
problem. Right? Besides everything I said tonight was true. Well, everything
except my being tired."
"So. Am I really one of the best trial
lawyers you’ve ever seen?" she asked with curiosity.
"Of course," he said
matter-of-factly. "I think I’m going to go see if this place has a gym.
That Jennifer person…" he stopped before he said something that wasn’t
very nice.
"I know. She was almost as bad in
school. I’ll go with you. I didn’t get my jog in this morning." She
reached into her suitcase to grab one of her exercise outfits, shorts and a
Marine Corps T-shirt. But it seemed that Harriet neglected to pack more than
one T-shirt. Harriet knew that she slept in T-shirts she should have packed
more. She noticed some of the other things in her suitcase and was a bit
embarrassed.
"Would you by chance have some extra
sweats? Harriet neglected to pack any for me."
"Sure," he pulled an extra set out
of his bag and handed them to her.
"Thanks," she mumbled as she
slipped into the bathroom to change. While she was changing she thought about
AJ. He had a delightful sense of humor that seemed to be showing itself now
that he was retired and away from people who knew him. She was enjoying the
chance to get to see this side of him. After she finished changing she looked
in the mirror and smiled. She looked like a little girl in his clothes. Now in
the overly large workout gear she walked back into the bedroom catching AJ
pulling his shirt over his head. She stopped to watch him. He was extremely
handsome and well built. He noticed her when he pulled his head through the
neck and stopped without pulling the shirt over his chest.
"How long have you been standing
there?"
"I just walked in, sorry," she said
while averting her eyes.
"It’s okay," he said, pulling his
shirt over his chest. "Ready to go downstairs?"
"Sure, let’s go." On the way
downstairs, he noticed how large his sweats looked on her. She had rolled up the
legs and had obviously pulled the drawstring waist tightly. She had tucked in
the extra length of the T-shirt into the waist. He thought she looked adorable.
They went down to the gym and found a rather
nice little place. It even had some open room for sparring. After a while on
the treadmills and the weights they noticed it also had some sparring gear. AJ
picked it up and tossing it to Sarah said, "What do you say, Marine?"
"I say I’ll try not to hurt you,"
she said with Marine confidence.
AJ just laughed as they both geared up.
Neither was throwing hard punches but they were still getting a good work out.
Every now and again a punch or kick would connect but not hard enough for
either to say anything. AJ was beginning to think that Mac was doing a great
job defending herself against him and when he stopped concentrating, Mac threw
him. Startled to find himself flat on his back with Mac grinning above him, he
did the only thing he could think of, retaliate. He held up on hand for some
help and when she grabbed his hand, unexpectedly he pulled her to the floor and
rolled over on top of her not letting her up. "So, my little Marine, who’s
laughing now?"
The laughter died as they looked into each
other’s eyes and just as he leaned down and kiss her they heard someone
screaming for help. They both jumped up and ran to the voice. "My baby.
Help my baby." They saw a hysterical mother running along the side of the
pool and a child not moving in the middle of the deep end. Sarah and AJ both
worked at ripping off his gloves and then threw them aside as he dove in the
water. Sarah went to the phone to call 911 then tried to calm the mother. AJ
reached the child and carefully pulling him out, checked for a pulse. There was
one. They child started coughing and crying for his mother. She ran to him and
held him. Sarah grabbed a towel for AJ and watched as he gracefully pulled
himself out of the pool. They stayed there until the EMT’s arrived to make sure
the boy was okay. It seems that he had hit his head on the diving board when
his mom had turned away to start to gather their things to go.
Finally, when all the necessary reports were
taken and as everyone was leaving, AJ and Sarah walked back to the gym.
Unfortunately, they had left their keys with their shoes while they were
sparring and now the room was locked. So for an hour they had the pleasure of
wandering around the hotel, AJ still dripping, and barefoot trying to find
someone to open the gym. Eventually, they found the custodian who let them in.
They quickly gathered their things and went back upstairs. Both wanted to talk
about the most recent near kiss, but neither one really knew how to broach the
subject.
Feedback: astridz55@earthlink.net