Read Officer in Pursuit for Free Online Page B

bench. “Kerry?”
    “Hey Grey.” Her voice was
soft.
    Hearing her speak made him feel
idiotic for spending the last several minutes swearing to himself,
alone in the garage.
    “Hey. What’s up?”
    His anger over his weights forgotten,
his thoughts flashed back to the day before: a perfect day with a
weird ending that’d left him wondering where he’d gone
wrong.
    It wasn’t just that Kerry hadn’t
wanted to watch the sunset on the pier with him that’d confused
him. It was the way she’d turned him down: in a hurry, without
looking him in the eye. She’d practically leapt into her car and
had been the first one out of the lot.
    He still had no idea why she’d run
away like that. Had he done something to scare her off?
    “I want to apologize for yesterday,”
she said. “I was rude to you. When you asked me to walk out onto
the pier with you, I was in a hurry to get home because I wasn’t
feeling well.”
    “I didn’t realize you were feeling
bad,” he said. “You seemed fine until then.”
    “It came on suddenly. Look, I’m sorry
– I should’ve explained. I feel like I gave you the cold
shoulder.”
    “It’s all right. How are you feeling
now?”
    “What?” She sounded
surprised.
    “How are you feeling?”
    “Oh. I feel okay. I’m getting ready to
go to my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class. What are you up to?”
    He glanced back at his broken weights.
“Cussing up a storm. My adjustable weights broke and I don’t have
anyone here to spot me. I can’t work out.”
    “That sucks.”
    Her words warmed some part of him.
Most women – hell, most people – wouldn’t understand why it was so
important to him. Over the years, his fitness routine had become a
vital part of his life. Without a healthy workout, he felt off
physically and mentally.
    “Yeah. Guess I’ll either have to get
new ones or join a gym.”
    “You could try jiu-jitsu.”
    “Yeah?”
    “It’s a much harder workout than you’d
think. And where I go, the first week of classes is
free.”
    “Really?” The wheels were turning so
fast inside his head he was almost dizzy.
    “Uh-huh.”
    “And you said you’re getting ready to
go?”
    “Class starts in 40 minutes, then
there’s open mat after that. If you want to try it, you should show
up a few minutes early to sign waivers.”
    He felt a surge of energy, the kind
that no amount of exercise would expel. His evening had gone from
shit to holy shit in .5 seconds. He could hardly believe
it.
    “I’ll be there. Just give me the
address.”

CHAPTER 4
     
     
    One of the main tenets of jiu-jitsu
was supposed to be that a smaller, physically weaker person could
overpower a larger opponent. In other words: size doesn’t matter.
Kerry had always thought that was a very male thing to
say.
    Of course, she was biased: at 5’2” and
112 pounds, she was literally the smallest person on the mats. It
was completely possible to overpower a larger person with skill and
technique, but since she’d only started BJJ a year ago, her skills
were sparse. Every roll demanded every bit of what little skill she
had, even when she was working with the other women.
    There were two of them there today:
Cora and Shelly. At the moment, Cora was pinning Kerry’s arm into a
kimura. Still, Kerry snuck a glance across the mats, to where Grey
was rolling with a relatively new guy.
    Grey had no real training, but the
other guy didn’t have much either. And Grey had the advantage of
size: he was tall, muscular, probably pushing 200, if Kerry had to
guess.
    And he looked really hot in the
compression shirt he’d worn, one that clung to his muscles like a
wet t-shirt. It was a gi day, but it was hard not to appreciate the
fact that Grey didn’t own one.
    Kerry tapped as Cora finished the
kimura.
    “Nice job,” she said, halfway in a
daze as she sat up on the mat, smoothing her gi jacket. She still
couldn’t believe she’d invited Grey to jiu-jitsu. The invitation
had sort of just slipped out over the