I smiled to myself as I walked into my room.  Brielle must have been the girl across the hall Zach was talking about the first day we got there, and he was right.  She had a great ass.  I don’t know how I managed to sleep that night knowing that Brielle was right across the hall from me, but I did.  She was the last thing I thought of when I fell asleep and the first thing I thought of when I woke up. 

 

I couldn’t get the way her mouth tasted and the way her body felt pressed against mine out of my mind as I lay in bed just a few minutes longer than usual that next morning.  I relived our kiss in my mind hoping to temporarily satisfy my ache for her, but gave up in frustration a couple of minutes later when my desire for actual physical contact with her body took over.  I hopped out of bed and went through my normal routine before heading to the gym.  The fight was the next day and I had to stay focused, so I was going to use that frustration in the ring. 

 

I was going to have to push thoughts of Brielle out of my head and told myself I would deal with my feelings for her after the fight.  I almost regretted asking her to come watch my workout because I couldn’t get her out of my mind, but I figured she wouldn’t show up anyway so it wasn’t a big deal.  I met up with Zach and immersed myself in training.

 

Zach and I were five hours in and I was completely in the zone when the energy in the room shifted.  I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I took a step back letting Zach know that I was ready for a break.  He grabbed a water bottle for me, squirted water in my mouth and I quickly glanced around the gym stopping cold when I saw Brielle and Sophie standing by the ring.  My heart skipped a beat as my eyes quickly glided over her face.  She actually showed up.  I hopped down to go say hi and Sophie looked like a super fan with eyes as big as saucers and a smile as bright as the sun.  It was cool that she was so into MMA, but I would rather have had that reaction from Brielle.

 

“Hey, I’m glad you made it.”

 

Brielle’s gorgeous sparkling green eyes almost smiled at me.

 

“I guess I had to see for myself that you’re not going to get killed tomorrow.”

 

Sophie jumped in.  “I told her that she has nothing to worry about because I’ve seen you fight and you are amazing, Declan.”

 

Her enthusiasm was awesome and I gave her a genuine smile.  “Thanks, Sophie, I’m glad you were able to put her at ease.”

 

“Oh, I never said she put me at ease.  I still don’t like the idea of you participating in this violent fighting, but Sophie says you’re the best so you don’t get hurt.  From what I’ve seen so far I guess you do look like you know what you’re doing.  I just don’t think I’ll ever be into the violence because it seems too dangerous.  One wrong hit and you could be paralyzed or killed, Declan.”

 

I winked at her and climbed back in the ring.  “I’ll be fine.”

 

I sparred with Zach, careful not to exert too much energy, but hard enough to show Brielle she had nothing to worry about.  I knew what I was doing in the ring.  Knowing Brielle cared about me, even though she never came right out and said it, and knowing she was standing a few feet away made me want to be the best I could be.  I didn’t ever want to be the one to cause her any type of worry, so I felt I had to kick ass with Zach to put her mind at ease.

 

Zach and I finished up for the day about 45 minutes later and I felt ready for the fight the next day.  I wanted it to be over, get my title win, and move on to the next one.  My manager set up a few meetings for me with some sponsors when I got back to Chicago, so I was anxious to hear what they had to offer me.  It was crazy how fast everything blew up for me, but that was what happened when you rose to the top as quickly as I did.  I loved that I didn’t have to ask my father for a dime.  I looked over at Brielle who was still there, but Sophie was nowhere in sight.  Zach and I made plans to have a quick meeting before I turned in for the night so I told him I would see him later.  He wandered off to the back of the gym to get in a quick workout.  He was great about pumping me up before a fight and it always gave me the extra boost I needed to go in and obliterate my opponent.

 

I went over to Brielle and she gave me a hesitant smile.

 

“You’re pretty good.”

 

I raised my eyebrows giving her a playful shocked look.

 

“Pretty good?”

 

She laughed and it sounds corny but it was music to my ears.  Everything about her made me happy and made me want to be around her all the time.  I loved to see her smile.

 

“I’m kidding, I’m just surprised that you actually look like you know what you’re doing in there.”

 

“I didn’t go too hard today since I’m fighting tomorrow and yep, I know what I’m doing.”  I winked at her.  “That’s why I always win.”

 

“Well, you better win.  I don’t want to see any blood coming from your body tomorrow.”

 

I looked at her with a smidgen of seriousness.  “Are you worried about me?”  I didn’t expect her to answer but she did and I was floored.

 

“Yes.  I know I shouldn’t be but I am.  Something changed for me the other day Declan when you rescued me from that jerk, Eric.  I saw a different side of you, one I seriously doubted existed, and I like the guy I saw that night.  I care about him and I don’t want him to get hurt.”

 

I looked at her and the worry in her eyes killed me.  I had to make it better.

 

“Hey, I need to go shower and I’ll just be 10 minutes.  Do you want to wait for me and we can go grab dinner?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Okay, great.  Be back in a flash!”

 

I rushed off to the shower feeling great about the fight the next day and feeling even better about things with Brielle.