Entice (The Fighter Romance Series - Book #2) (2 page)

I watched him leave and then rushed over to lock the
door behind him. Shaking all over now, I leaned up against the door. I stood
there for less than a minute before I had to make that trip to the bathroom and
relieve my stomach of the toast and coffee I’d put in
there
hours ago. I sat on the bathroom floor and heaved a few more times before
dragging myself up to the sink and splashing cold water on my face and then
rinsing out my mouth with mouthwash. I stood there looking at myself in the
mirror wondering what I’d gotten myself into. I didn’t trust Mitch, and I
didn’t like him, at all. How did he even know my name? Was he watching me too?
He was a cop…but not any kind of cop that I’d ever met. He made me more than
just a little bit uncomfortable. But did that mean he was lying about
everything? What if there was some truth to what he said? I went back into the
living room and reached for my cell phone. I was going to call the gym and get
Paul’s number so I could call and tell him about Mitch’s visit.
My hands were still shaking as I started to dial the number and
stopped myself halfway through.
What if Mitch was right? What if, by
protecting Paul, a man I really barely knew, I was inadvertently protecting a
person who would hurt a child?

I pushed “End” and stopped the call before it went
through. I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I had already decided
before Mitch showed up that I wasn’t going to keep seeing Paul. I had priors
when it came to believing the BS men liked to feed me and that had worked out
all bad. Paul might be a good guy, but “might” just wasn’t good enough anymore.
I’d wasted too much of my young life already trying to “save” people. Paul
would have to handle this one on his own. He was more than capable as he had
proved when Mitch showed up at the gym. I sat the phone down. I was going to
stay out of it. It wasn’t my business. The best I could do was say a prayer for
poor Victor and hope that whoever was the best parent would win.

CHAPTER
TWO

I made it through the rest of my day without
incident, thank you, God. The washing machine repairman had come by
by
to fix the machine. I did have an issue with opening the
door when he got there, and very likely made him think I was a little crazy by
having him slip his ID under the door, but it turned out okay.
All the
washer needed was a little part, and he was a nice,
grandfatherly and non-threatening kind of man that put me at ease. He talked to
me while he fixed it and barely charged me anything. The best part was that I
was able to wash my clothes. The difference between disheveled and clean and
well-groomed did wonders for the soul. After that, I walked the eight blocks to
Madison Gym to pick up my car and didn’t bother anyone for a ride. I was
surprised to see the window had already been replaced. Greg must have kicked it
into high gear…good for him and damn whoever would do this to such nice people
as the
Madisons
. When I got home I tried to get ahold
of Greg and couldn’t, so I finally ended up calling Jeff.

“Hey, how are things going at the gym? Should we be
there for clean-up in the morning?”

“No, Greg hired someone to do it. He said the
insurance will reimburse him and he couldn’t afford to be closed more than one
day. I went by there a while ago. It looks good, minus the few pieces of
equipment they had stolen.”

“Fantastic, so then we’re on for work in the
morning?”

“Yep.
You have clients scheduled?”

I laughed; I only had a few clients so far…but Mark
was my only current one. I went in every day, though, to help out and get
noticed. You never know… “Not yet, but I’m hopeful.”

Jeff laughed too and said, “I think you’re one of
the best we have. Business will pick up.”

“Thanks! I’ll see you in the morning.”

I went to bed that night feeling a lot better than I
had earlier in the day. I at least felt like some of the issues I’d been facing
were resolving. I just had to remember to use my head when I saw Paul in the
gym…Think with my brain and not my emotions. It wouldn’t be easy, but I knew I
could do it.

I woke up in the morning rested and fresh and ready
to take on the day. I did my positive self-talk, telling myself how strong and
capable I was and that I should be proud of myself for standing up to Mitch and
sticking to my own guns about not calling Paul. I had my career path mapped out
and someday love would happen with the right guy. I just needed to sit back and
let things take their natural course and stop trying to push it with these
losers. No matter how attractive and sexy and virtually irresistible said
current loser might be.

I had my morning toast, eggs, and protein drink, and
headed out to work. In clean clothes! Victoria was at the desk when I went in.
I stopped and punched my time card into the clock and then went over to say
hello.

“Good morning, Victoria. How are you doing?”

“I’m good. I’m so glad they got the mess taken care
of and reopened today. I got behind on the billing yesterday; I have a ton of
work to do today.”

“Well, I don’t have anything scheduled today. I’m
going to see what I can do to help Sam and Jeff. Let me know if I can help you
with anything.”

“Thanks, Jessie…Oh wait! Paul
Delport
came in a while ago. He was asking for you. I think he went to the locker
rooms.”

Shit! “Okay,” I told Victoria with a smile.
“Thanks.”

I looked around the floor and didn’t see him. Sam
and Jeff were each working with a client and there were three or four other
guys working out. I could see behind the glass wall in back that Yolanda had a
few of her private women clients. She had a few ladies that she did circuit
training with, but they didn’t like to do it out where everyone could watch. I
saw the blinds close just as I heard the loud Zumba type music
come
on.
 

I didn’t see Paul anywhere on the floor. I decided
that he must still be in the locker room. I wondered what he wanted to talk to
me about. Was he going to expect a relationship because we slept together? Was
he worried that I was going to want one? I didn’t know why he would do this to
me at work. It was no place to talk about our private issues. He should have
called me at home. It didn’t matter anyways. I told myself that I would just
handle it by telling him straight out that our relationship…if any, had to be
strictly professional from there on out.

I went over to talk to Sam and as I got there, I saw
Paul coming out of the locker room.
“Hey, Jessie!”
Sam
said. “Paul was looking for you.” Oh great, the whole gym knew my business. I
looked up at Paul who was once again shirtless and in his work-out shorts. He
was coming toward us and God help me if from one smoldering look he gave
me
didn’t already make me feel like I needed to change my
clean panties.

“Yeah, Victoria told me,” I said as he walked up.
“Hey,” I said to him.

“Hey,” he said. “Did Sam tell you that I needed to
talk to you?”

I tried to smile as I said, “Yeah, it seems everyone
knows…”

My voice did that little high-pitched thing it did
when I got nervous or stressed out. Paul raised an eyebrow at me and said, “Oh,
well…anyways, Sam has quite a few clients scheduled for today and he also needs
to make up with the ones he missed yesterday. I was wondering if you had time
to train me.”

That was not at all what I was expecting. I stared
at him a little too long without speaking. He and Sam were both looking at me
like they were afraid I’d had a seizure or something before I finally said, “Oh
yeah, sure. Mark is the only one I have scheduled this week and he does his own
cardio today.” What the hell was I saying? How was touching his hot, sweaty,
sexy, hard, irresistibly delicious…shit! How was touching him all day going to
help me think with my head? I took a deep breath and said, “What will we be
working on?” If it was something on the weights…the machines…the ropes…I
wouldn’t need to touch him…

“I’m fighting Devon Rafter on Friday,” he said, like
I was supposed to have any idea who that was. I guess my face told the story
because he went on to say, “He’s 2nd in Light Heavyweight rankings in the UFC.
His strength is boxing, so I need to work on my ground game. Sam says that’s
where he is the weakest.”

My mind ran quickly over what I knew about the
ground game. We’d be talking about Brazilian jiu-jitsu and all of the mounts
that would bring us closer together than sex…in the back room where the mats
were, basically alone. Shit! We may as well just have sex. I was definitely
going to need a change of panties before the day was over. None of this was
going to fit in with my plan to stay professional and keep my distance. Damn!

I smiled and in my most professional voice I said,
“Okay, are you ready to get started? He grinned then. It was a genuine,
knock-your-socks-off and then melt-your-panties-off grin. It was going to be a
long day. I felt like I should go take a cold shower even before we started.

“I’m ready,” he said.

He followed me to the back where the heavy mats
were. I was happy to see that Greg was back there with one of the few personal
clients that he still trained. At least with witnesses we would both keep it
professional.

After we both said hello to Greg and his client, we
went back over to the empty mats and I said, “Okay. So ground game, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s never been my strong suit. I’m more of a
fist to face and foot to flank kind of fighter if you know what I mean.”

I forced another smile and said, “Yeah, well, today
you’ll have to learn how to get down and dirty. Lay down on your back. I’ll
walk you through each one and then we’ll spar.”

He smirked at that. “You don’t think I can handle
myself?” I asked him.

To his credit, he lost the smirk and said, “If I
didn’t, I wouldn’t have asked you to train me. I’ve seen you with Mark. You
know your stuff.”

“Thanks. Okay.
On your back.”

He lay on his back on the mat and I got down next to
him up on my knees. He was smiling at me again. I wished he would knock that
shit off. “Okay, so we’ll start with side mount because that’s what you’ll use
to lead into the deadly mount.” I leaned forward and slid my right knee to just
above his hip. Pushing in on it I said, “Make sure to keep your knee here. It’s
going to keep him from turning and sliding.” He nodded and I went on, “Use this
leg as leverage to force your chest into him. The extra weight will make it
harder for him to move or breathe.”

“So, I’ve seen it with both knees against the
opponent. Is this one better?”

“I’m getting there,” I told him with a “pay
attention” look.

“Okay, sorry.” I reached my arms across his chest
and dropped my chest down onto his, using my legs to push all of my weight into
him. He grunted and I was satisfied that he’d gotten the point, so I sat up
before my body started trying to take over.

“Got that?” I asked.

“Yeah, you’re heavier than you look,” he said with
another grin. I ignored him and moved on.

“Okay,
side mount
with both
knees. Make sure at least one of them is above his hip like this,” I put my
knee back into the soft flesh just above his hip. “The other one can be pressed
against the upper part of the thighs like this,” Now I had both of my knees
pressing against his naked flesh. This was like torture. Greg wasn’t paying me
enough and neither was Paul. I once again dropped my chest against his and felt
somewhat self-gratified by his jerk and grunt. Sitting back up, I said, “Got
it?”

“Do I get to try it?”

Shit! “Yes, of course,” I said. I still sounded very
professional and relaxed. I was in awe of myself. I lay down on my back and he
got down on his knees next to me. I felt his knee press against the top of my
hip gently. “Don’t treat me like a girl,” I said. He laughed and pressed it in
harder. Then as I had done to him, he dropped his chest down. Before he hit me,
I rolled out from underneath him so he landed on my side. It was a position I
easily escaped from.

“Hey! What the hell?”

“You think this Devon guy is going to sit still and
wait for you to crush his chest? You’re going to have to move faster than
that.”

“I will. I’m worried about…I don’t want to…”

“You aren’t going to get anything out of this if you
don’t just put the fact that I’m a girl out of your mind.”

He ran his eyes down my body and back up. I felt the
heat coming from his eyes. When they settled back on mine he said, “It’s not
easy.”

I sat up, pushing him back slightly. “Then you’re
going to get your ass kicked,” I said. “Get back down on all fours.”

He was looking at me strangely now, but he did what
I asked. I straddled his back and then lowered myself down so that I was on top
of him. I wasn’t gentle about it. I hooked my feet around him just as he
thought he was going to be as cool as I was and throw me off. I was quite
pleased with myself when it took him a whole hell of a lot of effort to do it.

“Damn, girl! You missed your calling. You should be
an MMA fighter.” I stood up without responding and he said, “Wait, I get to try
that one.” I reluctantly got down on the mat on all fours. I felt him straddle
me and just as I was thinking about rolling away, I felt his strong legs clamp
down on either side of me. He dropped himself down on me…and not gently in the
least. He hooked his feet around me and there was no way in hell I was going
anywhere. Then he put his arms around my neck and leaned his lips so close to
my ear that I felt their vibrations as he said, “How’s that?”