Danger Zone

Chapter 12: "Take My Breath Away"

Jules was, despite being jetlagged, having herself a really good time amongst Tom and the film crew. She was watching the fight scene Tom had mentioned the previous day, and at some point, she couldn't help herself anymore: "Folks, no offense, but y'all wanna know a trick?"
Everyone on set looked at her.
"I just need a volunteer", she said with a sassy grin and locked eyes with Tom. "Not you!" she mouthed.
"I'll do it", he exclaimed anyway. He walked up to her.
"And here we go again", Simon muttered under his breath.
"Are you, like, really sure? This might hurt."
Not knowing what was going to happen, he just grinned. "Bring it on, Jules!"
"Right. Attack me!"
He did ... and found himself on the ground in less than five seconds. "Ooooof!" he said through gritted teeth, his breathing heavy, while he was in some kind of chokehold he couldn't get out of.
Jules leaned closer and whispered: "Consider yourself lucky that I like you a lot, otherwise you'd be screaming in pain now and needing someone to pop your shoulder back in!" She let him go again and looked around: "And that, my dears, was the light version of this. Had I gone full throttle, we'd have an injured Tom here."
"Christ, Tom, where in the name of all things did you find her?" Simon teased him.
Tom rubbed his shoulder and said, "Actually, my sister did. But it was me who decided that I want Jules on my team." He looked at her, his eyes sparkling. "You're such a badass", he said.
"Can you do that again, but in, like, slo-mo?" Hayley Atwell asked.
"That's what I was going to do, if need be", Jules answered and demonstrated the grip, hold and kick very slowly on Simon, while Tom looked on, feeling slightly proud of her.

After she had finished her little teaching session, she stood very close to Tom. "I told you – don't you piss me off!"
"You never fail to amaze me", he replied and looked into her eyes again. Can't help it – I do have a crush on you. And if this is getting serious, I sure won't mind.
Jules held his gaze. "Nora helped me with some of that, she's a black belt, actually, and when you're a single female in the Big City, Martial Arts and self defense come in handy at times", she explained. Although I am not so sure how much longer 'single' is going to be the accurate term. Because I cannot get you out of my head anymore, even if I tried.
"Can I be honest with you?" he asked.
"Sure."
"When you held my hand yesterday on the heli ...that felt really good."
She didn't say anything to that. Just smiled at him ...and knew that he really had her. She wasn't in love with him, yet, but he had a hold on her that she couldn't explain. They kept looking at each other, and for a moment, it felt as if the world around them didn't exist anymore. It was just Tom and Jules, in some kind of amorous rapture.

Later on, Simon pulled him aside. "Tom, that PR gal of yours is one heck of a person."
Tom nodded. "I know. She's amazing inside and out. Funny, smart, full of sass, and she's also a biker. No wonder we clicked."
"Crush?"
"Who knows?" Tom said with a grin. "I really like her. She's absolutely unconventional, authentic and yet, there's a lot more to her. Stories I have yet to uncover. But then again, I've only known her for a couple of weeks now, so there's time."
"Exactly. But I do have an inkling that there's a bit more to the two of you ..."
Tom rolled his eyes. "Not you, too! My sisters are on my case about that already, and from what Jules said, her best friend is of that opinion as well."
"Opinion?"
"That Jules and I are in love already."
"Oh, come on, Tom. I saw how you looked at her ..." Simon teased him.
Tom decided to quote Jules's favorite saying: "Oh for fuck's sake!"

Jules, meanwhile, was talking to some of the crew. "So, how long have you known him for?" Hayley asked.
"Just a couple of weeks. His sister contacted me about a job interview, and shit was a done deal after our first meeting, basically." Jules knew that Hayley once had had a fling with Tom, so she didn't go down that road at all, out of respect.
"He's a really good guy", she said. "I loved how he demanded you demonstrate that chokehold thing on him."
Jules chuckled. "I did warn him. But he didn't want to listen!" She looked at Hayley. "You know, I could've knocked him out entirely, but I didn't want to. I did that exact thing some time ago when my best friend and I were out and about, and some dudes decided it was a good idea to kinda hit on us. We told them we weren't interested, they kept pestering us, and well, their problem, not ours."
"Messing with the wrong ones!"
"Absolutely."