Chapter 7 - Geared Up

Cate laughed, then logged off her computer and led Jon from her office down the hall to the conference room. The rest of the staff had congregated there and were opening boxed lunches from one of the local delis.

Cate and Jon each grabbed a box and a can of soda, then took seats next to each other at the conference table. They chatted with the other instructors for awhile as they enjoyed delicious turkey sandwiches, chips, and cole slaw, then talked about what the rest of the day would hold.

After a half-hour break, Cate and Jon headed down the hall to the other end of the building. She led him into a storage room containing long rows of shelves holding gear, books, binders, clothing, and other items.

“Okay, time to get you ‘geared up’ for training.” Cate told Jon. She picked up a stack of three filled three-ring binders topped with three DVD-ROMs in cases. “You’re gonna have some homework, I’m afraid.”

“No problem.” Jon replied. “I can read all this stuff while I lay on the beach, right?” he teased as he took the stack from Cate.

“Yeah, sure.” Cate responded. She knew he was staying in a private villa at the King and Prince, the most luxurious resort on St. Simon’s Island. “You can watch the DVDs while you get your massage and your mani-pedi.” Her tone was slightly sarcastic, but Jon saw that she was smiling. She was at least making an effort to relax.

Jon chuckled. “Do I look like the kinda guy who gets a mani-pedi? Wait, don’t answer that…”

“I won’t.” Cate replied. She pointed to the top binder. “That first one is all about the various defensive tactics moves I’ll be teaching you. Stuff like how to retain your weapon when a bad guy is trying to take it away from you, how to use strikes to pressure points during a fight, how to use a baton, how to handcuff and control resistant suspects, et cetera.” She gave Jon a slightly mischievous smile. “It’s mostly pictures, so even a 'civilian' like yourself should be able to understand it.” She placed heavy emphasis the word “civilian.”

“Ooooh, so I see you are gonna treat me like one of the guys, Miss Smart Ass?” Jon teased back. “Okay, dish it out. I can take it.”

Cate blushed slightly but felt herself relax. Okay, maybe this won’t be so hard. We can be friendly. “You sure? I’m a pretty highly-trained and experienced Smart Ass. After all, I do have to hold my own with all the knuckleheads in there.” Cate waved a hand in the direction of the conference room.

“I can take it if you can,” he challenged. Jon was glad Cate was starting to thaw toward him. Her smile was now reaching her eyes, and her posture had relaxed a bit. She really does have a gorgeous smile. And those eyes…”

“We’ll see, Rock Star” she taunted back, then let out a low, throaty chuckle. Jon’s eyes widened slightly. Damn! That was sexy!

“Okay, on with the show.” Cate moved to the shelves of clothing. “I need to give you PT gear – there is a dress code in the gym. You have to wear Center t-shirts and black, navy, or gray sweat pants, track pants, or shorts. They can have white or black stripes, but no other colors or logos on them. Do you have sweats or shorts with you?”

“Yeah, I brought black track pants with me.” Jon answered. “And I can always pick up another pair if I need them.”

“What size tees do you want?” Cate scanned Jon’s frame, noting how his dark gray t-shirt clung to his broad chest. Gulp. “Large or medium? They run a little big.”

“Probably a large,” Jon answered. “I prefer a little baggy for working out.”

Cate pulled three blue tees from the stack and handed them to Jon. She also grabbed a navy baseball cap emblazoned with in “FTB” in gold letters and handed it to him. “Okay, now I need to get you some body armor.”

“Huh?” Jon asked, startled. “I need a bulletproof vest? Are you gonna shoot me?”

“Not on purpose.” Cate deadpanned. “But sometimes the students’ aim is a little off….” She paused and looked up at Jon, a serious expression on her face. “Hey, I don’t always know which way the bullets are gonna fly…” She waited a moment while her comments registered with Jon, then grinned.

“Ahh, see, there’s the Smart Ass again.” Jon shook his head. “Okay, so I guess a size large vest, too?”

Cate giggled. “No, it doesn’t work like that. You don’t just buy these things off the rack. They are custom-made for each agent. Of course, since you aren’t a real agent – you just play one in the movies – you don’t get to have the U.S. Government pay for a custom vest. They cost about 500 bucks apiece. You’ll have to use one of the surplus ones we have laying around. Sometimes students wash out of training after the vests have already been ordered, so we keep them for situations like this.”

She paused and took a breath. “ We’re not gonna shoot real bullets at you, but you will need it for training, to get used to how it feels, to use when we do dynamic entry training, and for some of the tactical firearms stuff you will learn. You’ll also be glad you have it when you get shot at with paintballs in the raid houses.”

“Cool! I didn’t know we get to play paintball!” Jon grinned impishly. “Will you be shooting me?”

“I will if you don’t watch yourself, Rock Star.” Cate was feeling much more relaxed now, Jon could tell. Her eyes twinkled as she teased him with that last comment, and Jon noticed they had turned a bright azure. Damn, I could get lost in those eyes….

“Okay, I have to take some measurements of your torso….” Cate turned away for a moment and opened a cabinet. She took out a measuring tape and turned back toward Jon. “…then we’ll see what we can find in our stash to come as close as we can to a…… uh…. custom fit…..” Cate about dropped the tape.

When he heard Cate say she needed to measure his chest, Jon had pulled off his snug gray t-shirt. His hard, tanned chest was covered with soft light brown hair, growing back in from a recent wax. Cate could see every ridge of his amazing six-pack abs. Her eyes traced the deep V of his obliques as they led downward and disappeared under the waistband of his faded black jeans. Even his belly button was perfect, round and luscious.

Cate’s mouth went dry and she felt her panties dampen. Sweet Jesus……. She could stand there for all eternity just drinking in the sight of him, a bronzed Adonis before her….

Cate realized Jon was smiling amusedly at her. She quickly attempted to regain her composure, but she knew Jon had seen – and liked – her reaction. Cate sucked in a quick breath and stepped toward Jon. “Okay, I have to take a couple different measurements, so this will take a minute.” Oh, if only it could take an hour….. Cate moved to stand directly in front of Jon. “Turn around, please, with your back to me…”

Jon silently obliged, turning slowly to his right so Cate got an up-close view of his Superman tattoo as it slid past her gaze. Jon’s back was as breathtaking as his front, strongly muscled and perfectly defined. And Oh! Those arms…..

Cate swallowed hard and raised her hands to Jon’s neck. She had to lightly push aside the thick caramel locks of his silken hair to find the bump of his first thoracic vertebra, where she placed the end of the tape. Cate closed her eyes for a full second at the feel of his warm skin under her fingertips. Breathe….

She pulled the measuring tape taut and spanned the distance from the base of Jon’s neck down his spine to the waistband of his jeans. Realizing she didn’t have a notepad and not wanting to step away from this gorgeous creature, she roughly pulled her pen out of the pocket on her right thigh and scribbled the number on the palm of her left hand. She realized then that her palms were sweating, so she quickly wiped her hand on her shirt, then tried again to record the number. Jon turned his head slightly to the left and Cate could see the corner of his mouth curved upward in a smirk.

With slightly trembling hands, Cate moved the tape horizontally and placed the end on the point of his left shoulder blade. She gently pulled it across his back, unnecessarily trailing her fingers along his sunkissed skin to his right shoulder blade. She could feel Jon quiver slightly at her touch, and his back muscles rippled like a wave washing to the shore.

Cate licked her parched lips, then dropped her hands to again pull out her pen and write the number on her moist palm. She paused for a moment to get control of herself before she had to face Jon for the frontal measurements. Her heart was pounding and she could hear her blood rushing; God, she hoped he couldn’t hear her heart. It was all she could do to keep from panting, to keep her breathing steady.

“Could you … turn around, please?” Cate asked weakly. Jon hesitated for a moment. Though Cate couldn’t see his face, his eyes were closed and he was biting his lower lip. The first slight touch of Cate’s fingertip, when she had brushed aside his hair on his neck, had sent a lightning bolt through Jon’s body.

She hadn’t noticed the quick intake of his breath, for she had been battling her own response. She hadn’t seen how his cock had jumped to attention as her fingers trailed across his back, from shoulder to shoulder. Jon released his lip from between his teeth, opened his eyes and slowly turned to face Cate. Her cheeks were slightly flushed and her eyes were deep sapphire. Jon’s gaze locked to hers and she didn’t look away for a full moment. Jon felt himself falling down into the well of her soul.

Cate dragged her eyes from Jon’s and looked down at the measuring tape in her hands. “Um.. could you … raise your arms… a little?” she asked haltingly. Jon lifted his arms enough for Cate to pass the tape around the barrel of his sculpted chest. As she leaned forward to reach around Jon’s back, Cate’s breasts brushed lightly against his pecs and she felt her nipples harden.

Cate pulled the tape around Jon’s back and brought it together at the front, in the valley between his pectoral muscles. The tape slid lightly across Jon’s nipples, and he inhaled, dropping his head back slightly and struggling to keep his eyes open.

Cate sensed his reaction, but didn’t dare look up at Jon’s face. She felt her knees weaken and her heartbeat accelerate. If she looked up at him she knew she would collapse against him, then God help her.

Cate brought the end of the tape to the middle, and noted the number again on her palm. She dropped the end of the tape and pulled slightly so it slid across Jon’s flesh and dropped behind him. She quickly reeled in the tape, back to her hands.

Three more measurements to go…. Dear God, how would she ever survive this without passing out? Taking a shaky breath, Cate again passed the tape around Jon’s body, this time settling it at his trim waist. She brought the end of the tape to the number at his navel, and again her fingertips brushed his heated skin. Jon shivered at the tickle, his abs clenching. Again Cate dropped the tape, reeled it back around his body, and wrote down the number.

Jon was almost beside himself. He was trying so damned hard to just breathe…in, out, in, out…. but her touch was driving him insane. After she had pulled her gaze away from him and looked down to his chest, Jon found himself within inches of Cate’s gorgeous auburn hair. He lowered his head slightly and breathed in her scent. He could smell her conditioner – it smelled heavenly, of mint and jasmine. The bouquet mingled with a faint remnant of slightly-musky perfume, and the clean scent of soap. Jon closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, willing himself to stay in control.

When Cate had pulled the tape across his nipples Jon thought he was going to burst out of his jeans. He knew there was no way she wouldn’t notice his erection now – the question was, what would she do when she noticed? Jon fervently hoped she wouldn’t freak out and throw up her walls again. Jon knew one thing for damned sure…there was no way he was going to get Cate out of his head now. He had to have her, to convince her to have him.

Cate had to pause for a moment to still her trembling hands before she took the last two measurements. She tried to focus on her hands, only her hands, and not on the glorious body before her. The last two numbers were going to be a challenge, though…both for her and for him. Cate was so wrapped up in controlling her desire that she had missed most of Jon’s telltale signs, but she could sense he was turned on, too. Hell, when their skin first made contact it was electric.

Cate took a deep breath. She raised her hands to his pecs again, to take the most sensitive measurement. She placed the end of the tape lightly on Jon’s left nipple, then slowly stretched the tape across his chest, resting the mark lightly on his right nipple. Jon sucked in a sharp breath and jerked away slightly, as if burned by her touch. Cate pulled the tape away from his skin and wrote down the number, this time on the back of her hand as her palms were drenched. Okay, last one…then I have to figure out how to get out of this….

Cate raised her head slightly to look at Jon’s throat. His Adam’s apple rested enticingly right in front of her, and God, did she want to reach up and nibble at it. Cate watched it move up and down as Jon took a hard swallow. She dropped her gaze slightly to the notch at the base of Jon’s throat, where his clavicles joined. She raised a trembling hand to place the end of the tape at the notch, then slowly pulled her fingers down the tape, laying it against his skin, which was now slick with a light sheen of perspiration.

Cate smoothed the tape down his sternum, between his pecs, and down the vertical ridge of his abdomen. She pushed it across his navel and came to a stop at the top of the silver buckle of his belt. Her eyes dilated and she sucked in her breath as she saw Jon’s shaft straining against the denim below her fingers.

It took all the willpower she could muster not to continue to run her fingers over his belt, down his fly, to stroke what was obviously his very ready, willing, and able member. After all, hadn’t she fantasized about doing just that oh, a million times or so, over the last twenty-five years?

Cate forced herself to read the number off the measuring tape, then let her hands drop to her sides. Her head dipped slightly as she closed her eyes, and she rocked forward just enough that her bangs brushed against Jon’s chest. She didn’t notice that above her Jon dropped his head as well, eyes closed, and inhaled deeply the perfume of her hair.

After what seemed like an eternity, Cate opened her eyes and raised her head. Unable to look at Jon’s face, she stepped back and turned away. She scribbled the last number on her hand, then took a couple unsteady steps over to the cabinet. She tossed the tape into the cabinet and stared into it for a moment, gathering her composure.

Behind her she heard Jon blow out a long breath. She gave him another moment to get control of himself, then turned slightly. “I…I’ll see what we have for vests.” she said softly, then walked between two rows of shelves toward the back of the room.

Jon watched Cate disappear behind the shelves, then dropped his head back, groaning slightly. His cock throbbed, and he was sticky with sweat. But for all his physical discomfort, he felt the greatest stirring in his soul. For when his eyes had locked with Cate’s, he knew. She was unlike any other woman he had ever met, in his 47 years. He HAD to figure out a way to get inside her head, her heart….and her bed.