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Oh, well. I might as well help.

“Come on!” I cut in louder, climbing to my feet. “Five miles is nothing!”

“Fuck you, Mc-Laugh-Lines,” Drew snapped. “Not everyone can run like you!”

I grinned. Damn straight they couldn’t. Running was the one thing I’d never had to think about.

As everyone dragged themselves to their feet around me, I caught Rhodes looking in my direction. His gaze lingered for only a moment, his expression unreadable, before he moved on to someone else. Maybe Operation Get Rhodes Back wasn’t completely hopeless after all.

CHAPTER 10

Rhodes

By the time we made it back to the field, half the team was still somewhere behind us. The guys who had finished were scattered across the grass in varying states of collapse, soaked through with sweat and breathing hard. A few had their hands braced on their knees. One was flat on his back staring at the sky like he’d accepted death.

None of it was exactly encouraging.

I’d expected conditioning to be an issue after everything I’d inherited from the previous staff, but this was worse than I thought. Five miles shouldn’t have gutted this many of them. We hadn’t even made it into the training facility yet, and I already had a growing list of things that needed fixing.

Theo surprised me. He crossed the finish point, slowed just long enough to grab water, and then turned around. I watched him jog back down the route toward the guys who were still struggling, calling encouragement as he did. No one asked him to. He didn’t look around first to see if anyone was paying attention. He simply saw that some of his teammates were falling behind and ran back for them.

That got my attention. That was team captain material.

The team grumped and groaned their way through their strength training over the next few hours. I rotated through groups, testing what they already knew, adjusting form, adding weight where I could. There was a lot of talent here. The problem was that talent had been allowed to compensate for a lack of discipline for far too long. That was fixable. Theo was considerably less fixable. Or rather, my reaction to Theo was. I refused to look at him any more than necessary, which only made me hyperaware of him anyway.

I could feel his gaze following me every time I crossed the room. He was discreet about it. Mostly. Anyone else probably wouldn’t have noticed, but I did. Of course I fucking did. Every time I turned, there was this ridiculous awareness of where he stood, what he was doing, whether he was watching.

He was killing me.

It was obvious he was having a hard time letting go. At least the texts had stopped. That should’ve been a relief. Instead, the silence on my phone had started bothering me in an entirely different way. Sariah had apparently decided to fill the void herself, sending me reminders of every positive thing I’d said about Theo over the last ten months like she was compiling evidence for a case against me.

As if I’d needed reminding.

What I didn’t need reminding of was exactly what Theo looked like without a shirt. Apparently, he’d decided drills were too hot for one. I was trying to maintain professional boundaries while the universe actively worked against me. His skin was already damp with sweat when he walked over for resistance training, every hard-earned line of muscle on display. I had plans for both him and Wyatt. Their speed was already an advantage, but there was room to improve. Theo in particular. He was fast enough now to make defenders panic. I wanted him faster.

Which was exactly how I ended up standing directly in front of him with my hands around his bare torso while I adjusted the resistance belt around his waist. I tried to focus on the buckle, but my gaze kept dropping to his lips, which were moving silently.

“What are you whispering, Theo?” I asked quietly.

“I’m thinking about sad puppy commercials,” he said, making me frown.

“Why the hell are you doing that?”

“Well, the last time you put me in a belt like this, my wrists were restrained behind my back, and you put your belt around my neck,” Theo whispered with absolutely no shame. My hand slipped, and my knuckles slipped across his ribs. Fucking hell. The mouth on him. It made me want to—

No. Absolutely not. I couldn’t have those thoughts. Not anymore.

“Theo,” I warned as I glanced at Wyatt across the way. He was blissfully unaware that his teammate had just referenced our sex life while I was trying to do my job.

“What?” he replied innocently, those vibrant eyes sparkling with trouble. Innocent my ass. I knew that look. I’d seen it right before he deliberately pushed at every ounce of self-control I possessed until I punished him. “Running around with a hard-on wouldn’t be a good look, now would it?”

Those words shot straight to my dick in a way they absolutely should not have.

“Theo,” I bit out. Unfortunately, I was at a loss for what else to say. What could I say? Not a hell of a lot. Especially if I was going to keep my own cock under control.

“Just being honest, Coach.” The cheeky grin he gave wasn’t helping anything. This little shit. He knew exactly what he was doing.

“Do the exercise, McLaughlin,” I ordered as I stepped back from him. “We’re going to use resistance training to increase your speed. And believe me, I will work your ass into the ground.”