My minuscule nod was all the encouragement she needed, and I forgot to breathe when she pressed herself against me, snaking her arms around my waist and placing her head against my shoulder.
Her hair tickled my nose but I slowly placed my right arm around her and took a second to enjoy my first hug with a woman, which was completely different from any hug I’d ever had with a man. Men’s hugs were quick and often involved slapping on the shoulders or backs. This hug was warm and long.
Without releasing her arms around me she leaned her head back and looked up at me with those fascinating eyes of hers. “I’ll never forget you, Alexander.”
I don’t know why she called me Alexander at that moment, when so far she had called me Boulder, but her closeness and my name on her lips made me act on instinct.
I leaned in and kissed her. She gasped and pulled back, her fingers shot to her lips, and her eyes filled with confusion.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” I said quickly to apologize, but we didn’t get a chance to discuss it further when a knock on the door alerted us that it was time to go.
“Are you going to wear those shoes?” I asked to change her focus from the failed kiss.
She looked down and shook her head. “I would break an ankle before I made it down the stairs. They’re beautiful but I can’t wear them.” She took them off and went to pick up her own flat shoes, which were simple in design and neutral with their charcoal gray color.
Christina
My head was still spinning from what had just happened between Boulder and me.
He had kissed me!
I’d never been kissed before.
At least not by a man and not on the mouth. My friends and I were huggers and would kiss each other’s cheeks on occasion, but Boulder’s kiss had been different and made my body buzz with confusion. My reaction had been to pull back immediately but in all honesty, the kiss hadn’t been unpleasant.
I was on Boulder’s right side when we walked into the arena. Maybe he was puffing himself up or walking taller than usual, because I’d never felt so small next to him as I did now. I was only a bit below the average height of women. Still, he was more than a head taller than me.
The white noise from the audience settled down as we came to stand in the middle where Khan and four other men waited for us.
My pulse raced and my eyes flickered around, taking in the huge audience of men and the four large males that had to be the other four winners.
Every one of them scared me, just like Boulder had scared me in the beginning too.
“Our games have successfully resulted in five winners,” Khan said and faced the audience. “It is time for Christina Sanders to choose her champion.”
It was stupid that I felt so nervous about picking my bodyguard, but the set-up of the whole thing was so over the top that it made the responsibility weigh heavily on my shoulders. The man I chose would get a higher rank and financial freedom – something these men had risked their lives for.
With all eyes on me, I cleared my throat and said. “I can’t choose fairly, when I know nothing about these men. Am I allowed to ask them questions?”
Khan frowned. “No,” he said, “but I’ll allow them all to briefly present themselves.”
I nodded and listened carefully when the first man stepped forward.
“I’m Napoleon and I supervise lumber-bots in the area called Old Alaska,” he said.
“Okay, but you do understand that…” I started but was silenced by Khan.
“No questions,” he said.
The next man stepped forward and it almost made me want to take a step back. He was badly bruised, with a big black eye and a crooked nose that looked like it had been broken more than once and never healed right. He presented himself as a mining engineer from somewhere – I had no idea where it was – and informed me that he was forty-two years old.
The third man was young and good-looking. His hair was nicely braided and he only had stubble instead of a full beard like most of the Nmen I’d seen. He even smiled at me when he stepped forward. “My name is Archer Rex and I’m twenty-eight years old. I’m a Mentor.”
“What kind of mentor?” I asked quickly and after getting a nod from Khan, Archer explained.
“I teach boys in both academics and survival skills. My title is Mentor.”
“Oh, like a teacher,” I exclaimed.
