Desire Me If You Can Novel - Chapter 22

The sight of Ezra, who was usually calm and whose emotions rarely fluctuated, returning with a flushed face, considerably surprised his colleagues. What the hell happened to him?

“What? Did something happen? What’s wrong?”

“Why did it take so long? Did something happen with that guy?”

“What did that bastard do to you? Tell us, we’ll all get revenge for you!”

The team members immediately surrounded Ezra and questioned him, but Ezra just ground his teeth and glared at Grayson, not speaking easily.

“That bastard messed with me. That’s all.”

But what does that mean?

The team members were dying of curiosity, but Ezra showed no sign of saying more. Left with no choice, someone else offered their own speculation.

“Did he refuse to come? So it took a long time to force him here…”

“That’s right.”

Ezra opened his mouth, sounding reluctant. To the team members who were curious about how he was persuaded, Ezra told the truth.

“He wouldn’t budge while flirting with Bess, so I relayed exactly what the team leader said. That he’d be excluded from dispatches if he didn’t come. So he thought about it for a minute and then followed.”

“Really? That worked?”

The team members looked at each other, surprised by that fact.

“What the? I thought he’d prefer staying in the office.”

“Me too. Wasn’t he just here to play and eat?”

“He needs to go on dispatches to look cool, right? The team leader correctly assessed Miller.”

“He was the type to care about things like that? That’s a bit surprising.”

“He fools around with women day in and day out, of course he needs to look cool.”

“Ahem.”

As they exchanged words back and forth, Wilkins cleared his throat to bring attention back to him. When the gathered men quieted down and looked at him, he looked up at Grayson and finally spoke.

“I called you because there’s something you need to do, Miller.”

Grayson looked down at him instead of answering. Since he seemed to be listening, Wilkins cleared his throat again and added.

“You may or may not know, but we all went through appropriate tests before becoming firefighters. That’s because being on the scene requires tremendous stamina and skill. Your physique, just looking at it externally, passes the test. But there’s a huge difference between muscles that are actively used and muscles that are merely built for show.”

Then he looked over Grayson’s body meaningfully before fixing his gaze back on his face. His brow was furrowed, as if saying your muscles are just for decoration.

“Running into a burning site is risking your life. We are responsible for each other’s lives. If you can’t do your share properly, the lives of your colleagues are also put at risk. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Only a fool wouldn’t understand the gist of his long-winded speech.

“So.”

Grayson swept back his hair with a short sigh and said.

“The point is you want to test my physical fitness, right?”

“Hmm, well, yes.”

If Grayson refused here, saying, ‘That was not agreed upon beforehand,’ there was nothing they could do. After all, the chief himself didn’t know about this. Instead, in that case, they planned to call him things like ‘coward,’ ‘chicken,’ or ‘soft muscle.’ Of course, Grayson Miller might not care about such words, but just the fact that he refused the physical test would be enough to deal a blow to Grayson.

There wasn’t a single lie in Wilkins’ words. They entrusted their lives to each other, and because of that, firefighters who couldn’t do their part were naturally culled from the group. Women were no exception. They also underwent the same training as the men and passed the tests to become firefighters. Each of them was a proud firefighter full of self-respect, and someone entering without passing those procedures and then running away would clearly be a huge negative.

This will be enough to deal a serious blow to Grayson Miller.

Everyone had the same thought. If, by some chance, Grayson Miller accepts this proposition…

“Understood.”

Grayson readily agreed.

“I just need to pass a physical fitness test, correct? I will do that.”

Wilkins smiled faintly. Of course, they had a contingency plan even for this scenario.

“You just need to get through the track we’ve set up. But.”

He intentionally paused and turned his back.

“Since speed is also important, one of our team members will run with you. Dane!”

When he crooked his finger, the red-gold-haired man standing far away let out a deep sigh. His reaction clearly showed annoyance. But as if he had no choice, he shrugged his shoulders and slowly walked forward.

Grayson’s eyebrows twitched briefly when he saw his face. The man’s red hair shimmered slightly in the sunlight, contrasting with his solid shoulders and well-balanced physique. Dane stopped walking, his expression clearly showing his displeasure.

With the two tall men standing in the center, everyone’s gaze automatically focused on them. An unspoken tension flowed between the two.

Wilkins stood confidently, his chest puffed out, with Dane behind him, and declared.

“If you can beat Dane, we’ll recognize you as a team member.”

“Ah…”

Grayson’s long eyes narrowed. He slowly stroked his chin, his gaze fixed on Dane’s face.

“That sounds interesting.”

A flash of gold momentarily appeared and disappeared in his deep violet eyes. He seemed to have quickly suppressed his anger toward Dane, but he couldn’t hide the intensified pheromone scent.

A heavy scent subtly permeated the air. The thick, powerful scent of a Dominant Alpha. The moment that scent spread, Dane’s expression changed subtly. But he merely wrinkled his nose once, shrugged lightly, and turned back to Wilkins.

Following that, Wilkins and the others headed to the physical fitness test area they had prepared in advance.

“Haa…”

Dane, who was following slowly at the very back, let out a deep sigh and thought. …Annoying.

Should I say the yogurt I ate yesterday was spoiled and I have an upset stomach, and skip out now? He felt a strong temptation for a moment, but Wilkins turned his head as if he had seen right through him. He pointed to his two eyes with his index and middle fingers, pointed them at Dane twice, and then turned his head back. In the end, Dane had no choice but to trudge along.

A few hours earlier.

In a corner of the fitness room, the rhythmic clanking of heavy iron sounded regularly.

Dane was lying on a bench, slowly lifting dumbbells. Veins stood out on his long forearms, and his shoulder and back muscles contracted tautly. Sweat dripped down his forehead, but he continued the repeated movements silently with an expressionless face.

While he was concentrating like that, Dane received the utterly ridiculous plan and grimaced intensely. Hah. He let out a sigh, rubbed the back of his head roughly, and protested in disbelief.

“Fine, that’s all fine, but why do I have to do it?”

Dane crossed his arms over his chest, twitching his eyebrows in annoyance. His voice clearly expressed extreme bother. But no sooner had he finished the question than Ezra immediately chimed in as if he had been waiting.

“Because you’re the best.”

Then another guy quickly cut in.

“Since we came up with this plan, we can’t let it end anticlimactically. So you have to do it.”

“Just watching that bastard roll on the floor isn’t satisfying enough.”

“Right. We have to make him look utterly pathetic. That way, even a guy like him will lose some face.”

“You’re the only one, Dane.”

“Right. Among us, you have the best skills, and your physique is comparable to his.”

They instantly steered the atmosphere in the direction they wanted.

How on earth am I supposed to accept this absurd situation?

At the opinions pouring out unanimously, as if it were already decided, Dane looked at Wilkins in disbelief. When he held up his hands with his palms facing up, as if asking What is this?, Wilkins opened his mouth with a solemn expression.

“I agree, Dane. Since it’s come to this, I hope you’ll save our face a little.”

And he quietly added, “Actually, I’m the one who came up with this idea.” Dane immediately made a disgusted expression and leaned away. As if he didn’t even want to be touched.