"Breathless"
I had to rewrite this chapter. I found a big mistake.
Thank you Rainbow and Sandman for your beta work.
Special thanks to Ms. Claudette for her encouragement to continue this. This story is dedicated to you, from "Little girl."
...
Her eyes were closed and she concentrated only on the sound of her own breathing. In and out. In through her nose. Out through her mouth. She tuned out all noise till all she heard was her own breathing and the soft whirl the machine made as it move. In a crowded room of people, she felt as it she were alone. She was focused. She was in the zone.
Ranger was in town on a high bond skip recovery. He wasn't due to meet up with his contact till ten hundred hours. Deciding to follow his normal routine, he made his way down to the hotel gym, and was surprised to find it busy. Walking over to a small mat in the far corner of the room, he started with some stretches and surveyed the room. Ranger smiled when he saw her. Her curly brown hair swung side to side with her movements. He watched as a drop of sweat trickled down the small of her back. As he stretched his arms, he watched as one man then another came up to hit on her. She opened her eyes long enough to glimpse them, then went back into the zone. Ranger moved over to the free weights and began his normal routine, watching the beautiful stranger through the mirror as he lifted.
If he hadn't been watching, he would have missed it. It was so small. A small gasp in her breathing. He stopped moving and just watched her. Her eyes remained closed and nothing else had changed. He began to think he was wrong, until she did it again. He put the weights back on the rack and moved to a machine that was closer to her. Not even pretending to be working out on it, he leaned against it and watched her. She gasps not once, but twice this time. He moves to the machine right next to hers and stares at the man using it till the man grabs his towel and quickly leaves. Ranger leans up against the now vacant treadmill and stares at her. He is now less than two feet away.
She feels his eyes upon her and looks over to him in question.
"Your breathing..."
She nods to him, then closes her eyes and continues her work out.
He gives a little smile at her dedication, but is still worried about her. He stays there, arms crossed and watching closely. When he sees her gasp again and she does not even slow down, he approaches. He puts his hand on hers where she gripped the top of the display screen.
She opens her eyes and raises an eyebrow at him, but continues working out.
"Do you need help?"
She shakes her head, then looks at his hand on hers and back at his face questioningly.
Ranger chuckles and removes his hand.
She closes her eyes. Back to her workout. Back in the zone.
When she gasps again, he is close enough to hear it. He hears the small deep sound that accompanies it.
He looks down at the tiny tray on the machine for water bottles, and sees her inhaler. He holds it up to her.
"You need to stop."
She opens her eyes to his voice and widens them when she sees what he is holding. She shakes her head. Closing her eyes once more, she continues on.
Ranger shakes his head at her stubbornness, then pushes the buttons on her machine and she begins to slow down.
Steph can't believe his actions, and attempts to stare him down.
Ranger laughs. He stops her machine completely and pulls her off and into an embrace.
She is stunned by his outrageous behavior.
He holds up the inhaler to her mouth and watches as she opens for it.
He holds her for a couple of minutes letting her breathing return to normal before he whispers to her.
"I know a better way to leave you breathless." He licked his lips and ran his hand down the small of her back. He pulled her body tight against his.
She watched his mouth and felt his hand run softly up her sports bra and into her hair. She knew he was about to pull her in for a kiss.
She pushed away gently and shook her head. Grabbing her things, she walked towards the door, but stopped and looked back to find him watching her. Steph smirked and gave him a wink before leaving.
Thanks for reading!
