Possessive: Her Protectors (Kingswood Saga Book 4) Completed

11. Rome

I spot Mom in the crowd, watching us do the talk with the juniors, Amalie is stood to one side observing and taking notes, I had watched her go round and speak to each of the press teams, charming them with her smile and words and I had felt a little jealous that she smiled so easily with them and not with me.  I did notice again how each time anyone got too close she retreated, keeping a distance and not allowing anyone to touch her beyond a brief handshake.  

The talk was winding to a close and Amalie came forward and thanked everyone for coming, before sending us off to relax before our races, and I saw Mom head for her.

"Hey, did you know Mom was coming?" I ask Rio, who looks around quickly.

"Where?" he asks and I point towards Amalie who is currently being hugged by our Mom.

"Is she checking up on us?" I question but watching her with Amalie, I wonder if its Amalie she's checking in with.

"Mom knows" I state and Rio looks at me confused.

"Knows what?"

"What happened to Amalie, Mom knows, I think she's here to check up with her, not us" I tell him and we both watch them.

I know the moment Amalie feels our gazes as her back straightens and her eyes narrow as they turn our way, she mutters something to mom before they both head over to us.

"Hey mom, I didn't know you were coming" I tell her, kissing her cheek.

"Why wouldn't I come and support you both, and it's a good chance for me to have a chat with Amalie about the charity as well" she replies and I can see Amalie fidgeting behind her clipboard.

"You okay?" I ask her and she nods hesitantly.

"Its time, I mean you need to go and sign in for your race" Amalie looked between us and Mom, who caught on.

"Go and deal with the boys then come and find me, I shall be around all afternoon" she told her and I saw the look of relief on Amalie's face.

"If she gets too pushy, you need to tell her" I tell her, laughing at the look of horror that crosses her face at my suggestion.

"I can't do that" she sounds scandalised.

"Yes, you can.  Now assistant us, to where you want us, I seem to remember you saying you will be by our sides the whole weekend to make sure we behave" I grin and she shakes her head at me.

I can hear her muttering curses under her breath as she led the way to the competitors area and checks us in, waiting with us as we change and start our stretches. I can feel her eyes watching us and look up to see her scowling.

"Problem?" I ask and she flushes before answering.

"You're stretches are poor, you can do better" she replies honestly, shocking me and Rio.

"What, why?" Rio asks confused and I look at her. "Show us what to do then" I challenge and can see her internal fight before she nods.

"Okay, follow my movements" she orders before leading us through an extensive warm up and stretch.  After the first five minutes of watching her body, I had to concentrate on following her moves to keep up with her.  The end result was astounding, I felt ready to go and after sharing a look with Rio, I knew he felt the same.

"Where did you learn that?" I asked her curiously.

"My Mom and Dads, made all of us exercise together from an early age, we all learned to warm up together and no allowance was made for gender, so I kept up, it always helped me get ready for a competition, helped me centre myself" she replied.

"Thank you, I feel great and that's because of you" I tell her and watch the shock on her face at me being nice.

"I agree" Rio adds "Will you show us again?" he asks and she nods, ducking her head back to her clipboard, which we've noticed she uses as a shield.

We hear the call over the tannoy for competitors and start to collect our stuff together but she waves us off, telling us she will clear up and to focus on the race, and as Rio and I walk out to join the other competitors, but I know we are both thinking of the girl we just left.

"We need to keep her" Rio mutters to me and I nod, thinking of ways we can do just that.

Rio slaps my back once we are aboard "Stop planning and focus, lets win this for her" he tells me and I grin back at him "Done"

We won our races and then hung around making small talk with the committee until it was time for us to present the junior prizes, Amalie once again making sure we were where we needed to be and knew what to do.

"You're coming to the Gala dinner with us this evening aren't you" I ask once we've finished and I can see her mind searching for an excuse not to go.  "Unless you're scared" I taunt and she scowls at me.

"Be ready at 6.30, I'll arrange a car" she growls and I hide my smile.

"We will be ready and I will drive" I tell her and she bites her lip before she nods sharply, before rushing off.

I grin as I watch her go, until Rio smacks my arm "You need to stop antagonising her" he tells me but I just laugh.

"She likes being challenged, it helps her feel stronger" I tell him and he thinks about it before nodding.

"Okay but no questions that will make her run" he warns and I agree.

For the rest of the weekend we are on our best behaviour, doing everything Amalie told us to do, with nearly no complaint and we did not bring up any questions about her past or competing, but by the time the weekend was over, we were both smitten with her and hoped Uncle Paul assigned her to us.