Present day…
It’s been four years since I set foot in Wrath’s gym. The place looks pretty much the same as it did then. Someone has done a good job keeping the place tidy, which doesn’t surprise me. Wrath has always been a rather precise guy.
He leads me into his office, where I set my purse in the bottom drawer of his desk. Heat streaks through me when I remember him bending me over and fucking me on the desk. I flick my eyes up and find him watching with an intensity so deep I know he’s remembering that night too.
“How many other chicks have you bent over this desk?” Fuck. Why the hell did I ask him that? I don’t want him to think I’m jealous or that I even remember that night.
Beyond those thoughts, I don’t think I can handle hearing the answer.
“No one since you, babe.”
Oh, wow. Totally not what I expected him to say. He’s probably lying, but I appreciate the effort not to hurt my feelings.
Unsure of what’s next, my hands fidget. Wrath watches me for a few long seconds before meeting my eyes.
“It’s okay if you don’t believe me right now. You will.”
Yeah right. Maybe I’ll sprout some wings and fly home later too.
Except Wrath doesn’t lie. You would think that’s an admirable quality in a man, but it can be pretty fucking annoying. People lie to avoid hurting other people’s feelings—Wrath doesn’t give a fuck about feelings. People also lie to avoid getting in trouble—Wrath fears nothing.
“Do you want to look around?” he asks, startling me out of my thoughts.
“Sure.”
I’m shocked to run into Jake, the trainer I met when Wrath opened the gym. His flirting was charming and nonthreatening.
“Trinity, right? Wow, took you a long time to come in for those self-defense classes.”
Wrath is quick to shut Jake down. “She’s here to work with me to get ready for the fight.”
One corner of Jake’s mouth slowly curls up. “Sure. Good to see you.”
When Jake pushes through the locker room door, Wrath shakes his head. “That fucker never quits.”
“Well, at least I’ve still got it.”
He tilts his head to the side, watching me with a curious expression. “Babe, you don’t got it. You are it.”
Maybe one day I’ll believe it. Today isn’t that day.
I spend my afternoon in his office, doing research and working out meal plans. I’ll need to do some grocery shopping later.
In the middle of the day, when it’s quiet, Wrath pops in the office. “Do you want to try those self-defense moves?”
“Now?”
He shrugs. “Yeah, we got another two hours or so until it gets busy in here again.”
“Okay, give me a minute.”
I meet him in front of one of the heavyweight bags. He’s got a man-shaped dummy waiting for me too.
With calm patience I wouldn’t think Wrath capable of, he talks me through a bunch of moves. Each one involves him touching me or, worse, pressing himself tight against my body.
Desire swirls through me like a tornado. Wrath, warm, solid, sexy, and lethal, is too much to take. I want him so much. Want him to want me just as much. Despite the soul-shattering sex we had a few days ago, he hasn’t made a move on me. Can’t blame him after I made a big fuss about how we were “friends” again.
What else could we be? I’d fucked up any chance of ever being his ol’ lady. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry to find one anyway—and dammit, when I thought of him with someone else, it left me tattered inside. Our only option was to be friends.
If we could be friends who fucked from time to time, that would be even better.
“Trin? Are you paying attention?”
Dammit. His mouth is so close it’s taking every bit of willpower I have not to taste him. I want him so much it hurts.
His brows furrow, and he brushes the hair off my sweaty forehead. “You okay, Angel Face?”
Why? Why do tears threaten to embarrass the crap out of me when he uses that old term of endearment? I never understood what he found so angelic about me, but I always loved hearing him say it anyway.
My heart thuds as I struggle to come up with an answer. “I’m okay. I just… I don’t have your endurance I guess.” Wow, is that the truth.
Concern darkens his eyes from ocean to marine blue. He pulls away from me, and instantly I miss his body heat.
“I’m sorry. I got carried away. We’re supposed to be working me to exhaustion. Not you.”
Almost dizzy with the rush of emotions he stirs up, I drop my gaze to the mat.
“Let me get you some water.”
When he steps away, I’m finally able to look up. Sweet mother mercy, he’s ridiculously sexy. What the hell was I thinking agreeing to accompany him every day? I’ve done lots of stupid things in my life. This has to be one of the worst.
He returns with a guilty smile and passes me a bottle of water. My heart’s still pounding, and of course, he notices. He reaches out and traces his finger down my neck and over my collarbone. “You sure you’re okay?”
This time it’s more than concern I see lurking in his gaze. For much longer than I’m comfortable with, he studies me, and it makes me wonder.
For the second day in a row I’ve got a happy buzz stirring inside me. I enjoy having Trinity in my gym with me.
Of course, a lot of lustful urges are also stirred up watching her bend over and store her purse in my bottom desk drawer.
I made a stupid decision once she agreed to help me. After thinking about my conversation with Rock, I decided Trinity and I wouldn’t be having sex. Unless she initiates it. Yes, I gave myself that out. I’m not completely insane.
It seems like the best way to show her how I really feel. That she means more to me than a way to get off. That I like her and want to be with her no matter what.
Against my will, my eyes track her every movement in my office. Going through those self-defense moves with her yesterday had been a mistake. It put my “no sex” rule to the test. I spent half the night jerking off under the cold spray of my shower.
She bends at the waist and picks up the bag she brought with her. “Can I use the locker room?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Well, you brought me to a gym. Am I allowed to use it?”
Inwardly, I groan. Just what I need. “Sure. You want to wait until later?” When the gym will be clear of my nosy pervert colleagues.
“Uh, yeah. I can wait. Can I use your computer today to do a few things?”
“You don’t have to ask. You can use anything you need, Trin.”
Her lips curve into a smile. “Thanks.”
She drops into my chair.
I like the way she looks behind my desk. Why didn’t I think of this sooner?
We don’t see each other much after I leave her to do her thing in my office. I spend my time in the gym going over moves with Jake. As much of a pain in the ass as he can be, he’s a great trainer. He’s smaller and quick on his feet, so he’s a good sparring partner for me to work on a couple issues. He also knows exactly how to needle me to keep me motivated but not kill him.
“Trinity’s a pretty girl. She still single?” he asks while I’m busy hanging from a pull-up bar with a stability ball tucked between my ass and ankles.
“No,” I huff out. The reason I’m not dropping the ball and kicking his ass is I know he’s just fucking with me. If he were serious, he wouldn’t have described Trin as a “pretty girl.” Something along the lines of “hot piece of ass” would be more his style.
Trinity wanders over while Jake’s unleashing his inner sadist by pushing me through “one more set” of bear crawls. My skin prickles the second she’s within reach, and I power up off the mat.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
Jake raises an eyebrow at me. “Did I say you were finished, son?”
Now he’s asking for an ass kicking.
Trinity snickers but runs her hand over her mouth to hide it. It’s an endearing gesture and makes me want to grab her and kiss her.
“He’s training you?” She glances between the two of us, and I shrug.
“Don’t worry. I’ll spar with him later and knock his ass out.”
Her eyes widen in surprise, and she glances at Jake again. “How can you go up against each other? You’re not evenly matched.”
The corner of Jake’s mouth curls into a smirk.
“Go ahead, Snake Charmer, lift your shirt.”
Jake loves showing off his abs and how cut he is.
“It’s not always about size, Trinity,” Jake explains, dropping his shirt.
“Yeah, I know.” She glances at me. “You ever have him spar with Teller?”
I can only guess why she’s asking, and it burns my ass. “Yes.”
Jake nods in agreement. “He’s a scary little prick. So’s his Irish buddy.”
Trinity laughs, and I understand why. She’s only ever really seen one side of them.
My attention is finally drawn to the papers Trinity has in her hands. “What’s that?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. I didn’t realize Jake was already… You asked me to put some stuff together… So never mind.”
She folds the papers in half before I snatch them out of her hands.
“Ow! Thanks for the paper cuts, asshat.”
Jake chuckles and grabs her hands to look them over. I can’t wait to get in the ring with him later and kick his ass while Trinity watches.
I’m impressed with what she printed out. I knew she’d be good at this. She’s got a week’s worth of circuit training exercises broken into different ones on each day. Each circuit includes a balance of strength and endurance exercises. I glare at Jake, and he takes the hint to get lost.
“You’ve done your homework,” I say, handing the papers back to Trin.
The corner of her mouth twitches down in disappointment. “You don’t think it’s any—”
“Is that what I said?” I hate snapping at her, but sometimes it’s the only way to get through her self-doubt.
“No.”
“Where’d you find some of these?”
“Are they too advanced for you?”
I tilt my head and stare at her. “Seriously?”
She chuckles. “Good, then call me when you’re going to try the Front Lever. It looks sexy.” She spins away and heads back to the office.
I’m stopped from following her by a rush of kids filling up the place.
Three o’clock is our busiest time. Lots of guys and a few girls from the local high school stop in. Some are punks. Some actually have potential. All their parents have deep pockets. There’s a reason I stuck my gym in this suburban armpit.
Jake works with most of them.
At five today, I have a class of kids that come from downtown Empire. Each one of them has potential. None of them have a spare dime. Am I training them for free out of the goodness of my heart? No. It’s an effective way to find potential prospects. Whisper’s here by this point and usually helps out, when he’s not seeking out lonely housewives to stick his dick in.
Maybe ten minutes before class ends, I glance up and find Trinity standing in the doorway, arms crossed over her chest and a solemn expression in place.
Unfortunately, Whisper notices her too.
When the class ends, I still have to spend some time talking stuff over with a few of my kids. Normally, I don’t mind. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Trinity approaching and wrap things up.
“I had no idea,” she says.
I take the towel out of her outstretched hand and rub it over my face. “What’s that, babe?”
“You. Teaching kids. Being civil.”
Whisper chooses that exact moment to join our conversation. “Lookin’ good, Trinity. What’re you doing here?”
“She’s with me.”
Trinity turns pink. “I’ll be in the office.”
When she’s gone, I poke my finger in Whisper’s chest. “Stay the fuck away from her.”
His eyes widen and he steps back, hands in the air. “Chill. What’s up?”
“Nothing. She’s helping me out with some stuff. That’s all.”
Nerves have been rattling through me ever since I handed Wrath those exercise drills. He knows what he’s doing. I don’t. I probably insulted him.
I don’t know what to make of the ten kids I caught Wrath teaching self-defense moves to. With his impatience and general dislike of most of the human population, he’s the last person I’d expect to spend an hour a week with a bunch of sullen teenagers.
Who knew?
A thump against the door makes me glance up. Jake’s filling the doorway, a mischievous grin curving his ridiculously sexy mouth. “How’s Wrath’s girl doin’?”
Stunned, I sit there with my mouth hanging open. “I’m not Wrath’s girl. Why would you say that?”
He stands straighter and enters the room. “Come on. It’s so obvious.”
“How? Did he tell you that?”
Jake chuckles and shakes his head. “He doesn’t need to say anything. He’s never brought a woman to work with him. Never threatened to dismember me over one.” He jerks his chin at the desk. “Never lets any of us use his office.”
Wrath’s a quiet, sneaky fucker when he wants to be. One minute, Jake’s standing in front of me sharing his asinine theory, and the next, Wrath’s behind him with an elbow around Jake’s neck. “You’ve got your own office, dickhead,” he growls at him. Jake’s apparently as stupid as he is good looking because he laughs.
I shoot out of the chair so fast it hits the back wall. “Wyatt, stop before you hurt him.”
“I can get out anytime I want, Trin,” Jake assures me.
Wrath tightens his arm, and Jake’s smug face vanishes. “You sure about that, Snake Charmer?”
Jake gasps. “Don’t. Want. To embarrass you in front of your girl.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Wrath grumbles, releasing him.
Jake stumbles forward coughing and laughing.
I cross my arms over my chest and glare at Wrath. “What’s the matter with you?”
His eyes widen into this boyishly innocent face he makes when he knows he’s been up to no good. “What? Just practicing my choke hold.”
Jake flashes a thumbs-up at me as he leaves.
“Feel better, caveman?”
“Much. Why was he bothering you?”
“He wasn’t. We were just talking.”
He stares at me in disbelief. “About what?”
“How to get a quickie in without you noticing,” I snap. “I’m getting tired of you acting like I’m going to jump on every guy I see.”
He drops the cocky smirk. “That’s not what I was thinking at all, Trin.
He’s full of shit, and we both know it. “How come I never knew about your soft side?”
He makes a big show of patting himself down and checking over himself. “Nope, nothing on me’s soft.”
“No? So what do the kids in your kiddie class call you?” I prompt with an exasperated sigh.
His forehead wrinkles. “Mr. Ramsey, what else?”
I don’t know why, but I find that insanely funny.
As I keep laughing, he smirks at me. “And they’re hardly kids. Most of them are an arrest away from prison.”
“Please. One of them looked barely old enough to shave.”
He chuckles. “That’s Twitch. He’s very skilled at lock-picking and breaking into safes.”
“People still do that?”
“It’s a dying art.” He shrugs his massive shoulders.
I finally get it. “You’re looking for potential prospects.”
“Ding, ding, ding.” He grins at me. “Where do you think I found Birch?”
Never gave it much thought, honestly. I still don’t buy it. He was enjoying himself way too much. “Still, that’s a lot of time to devote, hoping to find one or two prospects.”
His face lights up in his favorite cocky smirk. “Anything for the club, babe.”
I nearly trip Saturday morning when I enter the kitchen and find Trin bent over with her head in the refrigerator. She’s shoving what looks like ten dozen cartons of eggs inside. Or trying to.
“Whatcha doin’, Trin?”
“Can you help me?”
I cross the room in a hurry and take the cartons from her. “What’s all this?”
“For you. I found this great website with meal plans during pre-fight training. I haven’t had a chance to shop all week, so I got up early today and did it. You’ll be eating lots of egg whites, lean protein. I got these from the farmer down the road, so there’s no nasty antibiotics or anything.”
I’m so stunned I don’t know what to say. This is Trinity though. If you give her something to focus on, she fucking runs with it. Just like she did with the circuits she put together for me. My core’s still burning from the Front Levers she thought were so sexy.
I manage to mumble out a thank you. While I’m waiting for her to do whatever she’s doin’ in the refrigerator, I spy a box of what looks like chicken breasts on the counter.
“Chicken?”
“Mm-hmm.” She nods absently while she’s rearranging stuff to make room for the eggs.
I’ve always been a clean eater before a fight. No drinking. No weed. I guzzle a gallon and a half of water every day. I don’t tend to eat fast food even when I’m not training, so that’s never an issue. But Trinity? Girl’s taking things to a whole new level for me. I’m impressed and some other emotion I can’t really put my finger on.
Touched?
“I went to the farmer’s market too. Kale.” She shakes a bunch of the dark, leafy greens at me. “Lots of kale. It’s supposed to be super good for you.”
Of course Z has to walk in at that exact moment and ruin everything.
“Looking good, Trin,” he says to her ass.
Without turning around or taking her head out of the fridge, she calls out, “Hey, Z.”
Z makes a what-the-fuck face at me, and I shrug. “Uh, brother, why you holding like a thousand eggs there?”
Trinity tsks at us. “It’s only five dozen, asshat. Okay, I think I got room. Can you hand them to me one by one?”
Actually, it’s awkward to juggle them all. Z makes himself useful for a change.
She grins at us when she’s finished. “I’ll make up a bunch of stuff and pack it up so it’s ready during the week.”
“Damn, Trin. If I take up fighting, will you feed me all my meals too?” Z asks.
I hate the way she giggles and shoves him away. It’s just a goofy friend gesture. Still fuckin’ hate it.
When they’re done messing around, she takes a folder off the counter and hands it to me. “Here’s the meal plan we’re following this week.”
Z plants a quick kiss on her cheek. “Gotta go, mama. Later, bro,” he says, waving at me.
Happy he’s finally leaving, I have trouble focusing on the papers Trin handed me. When I glance up, she’s nervously chewing on her thumb.
“Do you not like it? I got it from—”
“No, it’s great.”
“You’re okay with the fish?”
“Yup, that’s fine. There’s not much I won’t eat, Trin.”
Her mouth curls into a wicked grin. “That’s not true. You never eat my ginger cookies.”
That makes me laugh because she bitches every Christmas about how I won’t even try one. “Okay, this year, I promise I’ll try one.”
My promise puts a smile back on her face.