The Handshake
by Sam James



After just two days of riding and working out at her uncle Fred's ranch Gina
was getting frustrated. She came out of the small but well-equipped gymnasium
at the back of the house, her sleekly muscled body gleaming with sweat, and
said to Fred, "I think I need a bit more of a challenge... who's your
strongest ranch hand?"

"That'd be Wilson"

"And where would I find Mr Wilson?"

"You won't - it's Ms Wilson. Karen Wilson is my crew boss and is just about
the toughest hand on the spread.

The next morning after breakfast, as Gina left the house, she harboured a
thrill of excitement, remembering her uncle's directions. "Go down to the feed
barn and when you see a tall honey blonde who looks like Britney Spears with
the muscles of Wonderwoman, then you've found Karen... but go easy on her,
she's the best crew boss I've ever had".

The girl unloading the truck at the barn was a real stunner, with a deep tan
from working in the open air. But what exited Gina's attention was her
physique - she was over six feet tall with a voluptuous figure and muscles
which rippled and coiled against the confines of her T-shirt as she hoisted
the 100 pound sacks with casual strength.

As Gina approached the big blonde broke off from her work and stood with hands
on hips, a querying smile on her lovely face. "Looking for someone?"

"Yeah ... I'm Gina, I guess you must be Karen?"

"Sure am - how did you know?

"Uncle Fred gave me a pretty good description - muscles and all"

Karen laughed and then, letting her eyes roam over Gina's strong, toned body,
replied, "You don't look too bad yourself, but I guess them's gymnasium
muscles - not quite the same thing".

"Oh, really", replied Gina, "let's see shall we?"

Gina extended her hand and with a slightly puzzled smile Karen took it in a
firm grip. For seconds the two girls stood motionless, staring into each
other's eyes and then Gina slowly tightened her hold. and Karen's expression
changed to one of amused surprise. Gina felt the blonde's hand respond with
crushing power, and Gina's couldn't stop a gasp of astonishment... she had
expected the girl to be strong but the grip on her hand was powerful beyond
her wildest expectations.

But as Gina failed to show any sign of discomfort or strain Karen's confident
look changed to an open-mouthed gasp of disbelief. She'd matched grips with
many a strong man, and a few of them had given her a good fight, but they'd
all admitted defeat in the end. No one, let alone a slim young woman, had ever
matched her strength like this!

Karen's stupefied gaze dropped to her arm where her muscles were standing out
like steel cables and she knew she was nearly at the limit of her power. But
the slim brunette was still bearing down with unbelievable pressure and though
Karen could see a lacework of silky sinews playing along Gina's forearm and
the swell of a good-sized bicep, there was nothing to remotely match her own
muscles.

Karen felt tears come to her eyes as she dredged up the last atoms of strength
in her magnificent body. For long seconds the two women stood locked
motionless in titanic struggle and then, as Gina began to angle her pressure
downwards and Karen realised what was going to happen, her head went back and
she gave forth a gasping cry of defiance, "No! no! ...I'm not going down, you
can't do this to me.... I'm too strong... Oh, God how can this be happening".

Within a few moments the battle was over. Karen fought desperately to the very
last, refusing to accept that she was losing a contest of strength to another
woman. As her legs buckled her lovely face contorted with effort and then she
was down on one knee, her breath coming in great moaning sobs as she realised
that her magnificent muscles were helpless against a strength she couldn't
comprehend.

"Had enough, honey?" said Gina, not unkindly. The beaten girl nodded silently,
her face stained with beads of sweat, her tearful eyes gazing up at her
conqueror in awe and disbelief. Then her head sank forward and as her forehead
touched Gina's taught abdominal muscles Karen whispered, "Yes, I give in,
you're too strong for me."

The two girl's released their grip and Gina reached out her other arm and
helped Karen to her feet. The arm she'd used to defeat Karen was numb, but
that was to be expected, the automatic shut down had begun to operate exactly
as it should have, warning her that the bionic parameters of her prostheses
had almost been breached by the exceptional strain to which it had been
subjected. Another 30 seconds and she's have been at the blonde's mercy!

Karen stared at Gina in bewilderment. "Shit, how'd you do that, you don't look
you could bust out of a paper bag?"

Gina grinned. "Don't feel too bad about it, it wasn't a fair fight". And she
went on to tell Karen about how she'd lost her arm in a car crash five years
ago and was now acting as a "test bed" for her father's prosthetics company.
"I've named this one after you", he'd said. "The Genetically Intensified
Natural Arm is five times as strong as any normal man's arm, so go out and
test it as hard as you can".

Karen shook her head slowly in wonder, and gave a Gina a smile to show there
was no hard feeling. Gina smiled back, "Why don't you come up to the house and
have supper this evening, I'd like to try a bit of arm wrestling, if you're
game?"

Karen's eyes lit up. "I'll say I'm game, it's about time I got some real
competition around here!" And both girls laughed as they hugged each other
with warm strength.