Girl Gear 1: All Tied Up by Alison Kent Read Free Book Online

“Don’t ask me to adjust your microphone, and we’ll get along just fine.”
    For a minute, Macy felt sorry for Eric. Then her sympathies switched to Chloe. The two were proof positive of that thinly drawn line between love and hate.
    Sydney chose that moment to move into circle one. And, not wanting to be the only woman left standing with the boys, Melanie stepped beneath the fourth spotlight.
    Ray, Jess and Leo exchanged glances of shared male misery. Ray bit the first bullet, glanced at the number on his sheet and took his place beside Sydney.
    His rugged olive-hued brawn and broad shoulders created an interesting backdrop for Sydney’s classic elegance. The two made a perfect couple, and Macy felt a giddy twinge. At least until, in the next second, she registered the remaining odds.
    She wouldn’t think about it. She wouldn’t panic. Not until she knew for sure…Okay, it was time to panic. Because as Jess stepped in beside Melanie, Leo took up his position at Macy’s back.
    The man whose eyes she wanted to gouge out, whose feathers she wanted to ruffle and pluck, whose clothes she wanted to strip from his body in order to learn the scent of his intimate skin, was going to be her partner.
    “Okay,” she said, and her voice squeaked, so she started again. “Okay. This is how this works. The firstrule is that you never show your partner the items on your list. Guard it with your life.”
    “Got it,” Jess stated.
    And Melanie, not to be outmaneuvered by her mate, added, “That’s easy.”
    So far, so good. Macy opened her mouth to start again—only to have her next words cut off by Eric’s loud, “Wait a minute here. This doesn’t make any sense. What’s the point of working in teams if this isn’t about teamwork?”
    Leave it to the sports fanatic to overanalyze the rules of her game. “What’s the point of a game of chess? A game of racquetball? A one-on-one game of hoops?”
    The stadium lights dawned in Eric’s bright blue eyes. “One-on-one, eh? Well, why didn’t you say so earlier?”
    Definitely the wrong comeback to make when surrounded by five of the six gIRL-gEAR women, starting with Macy on his left.
    Her hands found a perch on her hips. “Because you didn’t stop with the smart-ass interruptions long enough for me to explain?”
    Melanie chimed in next. “Because you didn’t trust a woman to come up with a game that would interest a man?”
    “Because you didn’t give a woman credit for having an original thought?” Lauren. Always one to support her best friend.
    And Sydney. “Because you didn’t think a woman’s competitive streak could really be a mile wide?”
    “Because, when it comes to sports, you don’t listen to anyone who doesn’t have a penis?”
    The potshot volley, having begun in the third circle, continued down the line—the final salvo too close forEric’s comfort. At Chloe’s question, he took a step back and raised both hands in surrender.
    “Okay, okay. I give. Macy, you’re brilliant.” He offered her a deferential bow. “Abso-friggin-lutely brilliant.”
    “And here I thought you’d never notice.” She was beginning to think no one would notice. That she’d been imagining her brilliance alone all this time. The way things had been going this evening, in fact, she felt positively unbrilliant.
    So, of course, Leo chose that moment to move in closer, nudging his hip to her backside, reminding her of the pickle her unbrilliance had gotten her into. Here she was, stuck playing a game of her own making with a partner more foe than friend—a petard of an entirely different nature.
    His breath brushed the hairs at Macy’s nape. She ignored the sensation, chalked up the contact to his proximity and not to any underhanded attempt to move his first pawn—though she did reserve the right to change her mind and retract the benefit of the doubt.
    She exhaled and regained her train of thought. “Okay. Where was I?”
    “Guarding our lists with our