Hard to Forget

He stops when he sees me approaching, and Duke steps off the pads when he sees me drop my bags. I don’t stop, I walk right up to Nak and throw a punch. He dodges it quickly, his face splitting into a wide smile.

“Someone looks feisty this morning.”

It doesn’t escape my notice that everyone has stopped what they’re doing to watch us, but I block it out. I block out that Nak is my boss, and instead see him as someone who is trying to hurt the person I am protecting. So when he throws a punch at me, I duck it and spin around behind him so quickly I surprise even myself. Shutting down my brain and putting my body into action mode, I take Nak’s arm and twist it angrily behind his back.

He reacts equally as efficiently, and uses his free hand to take my arm and haul my body forward. I make sure my feet land correctly so I don’t go down, and spin around, driving my knee upwards. He moves his leg, protecting his man bits, but I don’t stop. With him still gripping my arm, I use my free hand to land a punch in his ribs as he’s focusing on protecting his junk.

I have him in position, he’s grunting from the jab to the ribs and bent over slightly, now is my chance to fight him back. I shift my body and turn to the side, using my elbow to ram him in the nose. He takes a few steps back and I use the advantage that gives me, and lower my body, perfecting an amazing side kick that hits him in the back of the knees, bringing him down. As he goes down, I take hold of the back of his head and raise my knee up again, hitting him in the jaw.

Nak always told us to fight dirty, even during practice. I can’t tell you how many bloody noses the guys have gotten. Of course I didn’t knee him nearly as hard as I would if he was an attacker, but the point has been made. When his hands hit the mat in front of him, I bring my foot up to his ribs once more, hitting him hard enough to send him flat onto his stomach. Then I throw myself on his back, grabbing one of his hands before he can move, and jerking it backwards.

I’ve officially brought my boss down.

Pride swells in my chest, and I’m panting with adrenaline as I carefully let him go and stand up. He rolls to his back and looks up at me with wide eyes, blood trickling from his nose and lip. “Mother fucker,” he grunts. “You did it.”

A smile breaks out and I drop to my knees, offering him my hand. He takes it, jerking my body down so I fall beside him. We both roll to our backs and stare up at the ceiling. My taking him down lasted no more than a minute, all of my moves were quick and well thought out, not giving him the chance to think any of it through. I know I did good.

“Fuck me, I think I need an ice pack for my nose,” he grumbles.

I roll to my side and smile at him. “Sorry, boss.”

“Don’t be sorry,” he says, sitting up. I go with him. “You proved to me and the rest of the team that you’re capable of being as good as them.”

“So, is that it?” I ask hopefully. “Will you consider me for a case?”

“Obviously I’m not just going to throw you in the deep end on your own, but the next case Kyle gets in, you can go out with him. If you can prove you can do your job efficiently with him, then you’ll start going out on your own. I want you training harder than you’ve ever trained now, Laney. I’m just one person, you gotta keep that shit up.”

I swallow and meet his eyes. “Thank you, Nak. For believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself.”

His eyes grow warm. “I’ve believed in you since the minute you walked in my front door. I just needed to see you prove it.”

I look over to the rest of the team, who are all watching with a range of different expressions on their faces. Some look impressed, others look just plain pissed off. “Now I guess I have to prove it to them,” I mumble.

Nak turns to them. “That might take some time, but you’re on the right path. Congratulations, Delaney, you’re officially part of my team.”

Finally.

CHAPTER FOUR

Over the last six weeks I’ve been training with Kyle and Nak every day. Today I’m in the building training because I don’t have a case when Nak enters the training room and barks out my name, followed by Kyle’s. I’m busy on the climbing ropes, but at the tone of his voice I drop down and turn his way. He wiggles his finger, indicating I should come over. Curious, I head over, stopping in front of him.

“Come with me, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

I nod and glance at Kyle, who is studying the side of my face. Awkward. As we walk down the hall, I undo my hair and tidy it up, before tying another band around it so it’s in a high ponytail. We reach Nak’s office door and he pushes it open, stepping inside. I stop in my tracks when I see the man sitting on a chair beside the desk.

I stop because my breath is sucked from my lungs. Just ripped out and tossed to the ground. I stare with wide eyes at what has to be the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen in my life. He isn’t the pretty kind of beautiful, he’s the scary kind of beautiful. The dangerous, deadly kind. His eyes flick to me and I struggle to keep my mouth closed.

Holy hell.

His face … it’s so blank. There’s no expression at all, he’s just staring at me as if I’m a picture on the wall. Nothing on his chiseled face moves, not a thing. I take a second to catch my breath as I take him in. He’s tall, I can’t tell how tall but by his long legs I know he’d tower over me. His body is big. I mean … big. This guy has shoulders that would make football stars weep.

I can’t tell much more about his body, because he’s wearing a suit. It’s sexy on him, sexy in a way I never thought a suit could be. He’s got a simple black jacket over a white button-up shirt. The top two buttons are undone, revealing a firm, bronze patch of skin. His neck is corded, thick and sexy, coming up to a sharply angled face. He has a jaw that looks like it could break stones. Okay, that’s probably a stretch, but damn, he has a strong face.

His nose is slightly bent, but it is in no way unattractive. His lips are full and he has a scar on his left cheek. It’s faint, but it adds to his scary demeanor. His eyes, though. Holy mother. His eyes are the oddest shade of grey. They aren’t blue grey, no, they’re pure grey. Like the shiny metal of a gun. Gunmetal grey. His hair is cropped short. Normally I don’t like this in a man, but it suits him. It makes him look terrifying, and certainly not like the kind of man who wears a suit.

“Delaney, Kyle, meet Jaxson Shields. He’s the owner of the massive hotel chain, Elite Nights. He’s in need of a bodyguard and he’s come to me.”

He needs a bodyguard? Him? Jaxson Shields? A man who looks like he could crush even Nak with a simple snap of his fingers?

“What’s happening?” Kyle asks, jumping right in as he always does.

I cross my arms and listen, considering it’s the first time I’ve been in the room when someone has requested our services. I’m curious to see how it all goes down.

“What’s happened is my business,” Jaxson says. “I need protection, because I don’t have the time to be looking over my shoulder.”

Holy gravelly voice. My skin prickles at the rich, thick, scratchy sound of his voice.

“Fair enough,” Kyle says. “What kind of protection are we talking?”