She found herself scowling at him. How dare he volunteer them to bounce around like idiots inside of an inflatable death trap, and then look completely unfazed.
Catching his eye, she jerked her head at him, gesturing for him to get over here so they could get this over with. He raised an eyebrow at her, but began making his way toward her. The yells on the other side of The Castle indicated that the kids in front of them were making their way through the final obstacle.
“You ready for this, Dalton?” he asked.
“I can’t believe I agreed to this,” Sophie muttered.
“Scared of losing?” The man looked downright giddy.
She scoffed. “We both know this is ridiculous. We’re going to look like fools, but I suppose it will be good for your people to see you when you’re down.”
Gray’s eyes followed her movements as she reached behind herself and pulled her foot back toward her butt, unconsciously moving into a pre-run routine.
“Are you stretching?”
Blushing, she dropped her foot. “No. Maybe. Gotta stay agile, you know?”
He rolled his eyes as The Castle employee headed toward them.
“You guys ready?” she asked.
“No,” Sophie grumbled.
But Gray gave a nod and kicked off his shoes, practically grinning as they stepped up to the starting line. Who would have thought that an inflatable toy and a bit of competition were all it took to coax a full smile from the man?
Word had apparently gotten out that the CEO and his assistant had lost their minds, because the crowd of people had doubled, and the whoops of encouragement and laughter grew deafening.
“You’d think they were watching gladiators,” he said.
“I’d be the gladiator,” Sophie replied. “You’d be whatever weakling they throw in there, who gets mutilated.”
“That’s not very friendly, now is it?”
“On the contrary,” she said. “It’s quite friendly. See, if we were more than friends, I might let you win for your delicate pride and all, and because I wouldn’t want to deal with you sulking over dinner. But since we’re just friends…well, then I don’t have to see you over dinner, now, do I? Therefore…I’ll happily beat you.”
She didn’t even know what she was talking about. Where had this case of verbal diarrhea come from? Gray looked at her with a thoughtful expression on his face, but didn’t respond.
“Okay, guys, are you ready to RUMBLE?” hollered the way-too-enthusiastic Castle referee.
“On your mark…”
Shit.
“…Get set…”
Dammit.
“GO!”
A whoop of laugher escaped Sophie as she and Gray rushed forward, pushing each other out of the way in order to be the first one up the tube.
“Hey!” Gray said, as she jabbed her elbow into his side. “You fight dirty.”
“Pussy!” she mumbled back, all thoughts of keeping this affair family-friendly forgotten.
Thanks to her pointy elbows and sharp fingernails, she managed to get to the tube first, giggling as she squeezed her way through the tight opening. It was more yielding than it looked, but it still required an awful lot of wiggling.
“Nice view,” she heard Gray mutter from close behind her as he followed her through the narrow opening.