Chapter 170

I’m down in the exercise room, practicing my punches on a punching bag when Beau comes in behind me. He watches me for a while. I feel the heat of his gaze on my back. Maybe I through a few punches extra hard just to impress him, but I’ll never tell.

Either way, he doesn’t seem all that impressed. “Come with me, Nanny,” he barks out. “We’re going.”

I don’t stop punching the bag. “Going where?”

Behind me, I hear the door open and close. When I look, Beau is walking down the hall away from me.

Shit.

I shouldn’t follow. To hell with him if he doesn’t want to tell me where he even plans on taking me. But… I am curious. And deep down, I know Beau is worried for me too.

Double shit.

I take off my boxing gloves, leave them on the ground, and then rush to follow Beau into the unknown.

The unknown is the back of his motorcycle, and then several long, windy roads. And then, the unknown is actually a very familiar looking warehouse.

The underground fighting arena.

I hop off the bike and hand him my helmet. Beau attaches both helmets to the motorcycle, then leads me inside the building.

There’s no crowds this time. No shouting. No bets being made.

Instead the fighters are stretching or practicing. A few are talking to each other like co-workers would around a water cooler.

How about that weather? How’s your weekend? How’s your wife?

Beau takes me to the side of the fighting ring, where a couple of the female fighters are stretching. They are extra flexible, able to bend nearly in half. Beau takes a moment to appreciate the view. I make a show of rolling my eyes.

“Carla?” Beau says, after shooting me a grin.

One of the women stands up straight. She’s a bit older than the rest. More experienced, then. Her body is muscular, strong. Her hair is shorn short. It would be a cute pixie cut but it looks like she did it in the mirror and didn’t care less how it came out.

“Beau Hayes,” she said. She came closer to us. Beau flashed her his charming smile, but she totally ignored it to look at me. “This the one?”

“She is,” Beau says.

I stand tall under her scrutiny.

“A little scrawny, aren’t you?” Carla asks.

“She’s fast,” Beau says before I can answer. It startles me enough to be quiet. Since when does Beau give me fighting compliments? All the brothers have done the past couple of days is shoot me down cold.

Carla nods. “So, you think your speed will save you in a challenge against a male with a wolf?”

I swallow hard, but answer honestly, “Yes.”

Carla’s serious expression breaks into a smile. “Good. Let’s see what you can do, then.”

For the next three hours, Carla and the other fighters test me and spar with me. None of them have wolves either, but they fought those who had. I am in heaven, learning their tips and tricks. Carla shows me a better way to place my feet, to make dodging and weaving that much easier.

The whole time, Beau watches, sitting up in the stands. His eyes on me are a heavy, heated weight. They make me want to show off, so I do – until Carla puts me down on the ground and in my place.

“Worry less about boys,” she tells me, “And more about saving your own skin. Your challenger will rip your throat out if you let him. Never let him.”

“Sorry,” I say.

“Don’t apologize. Focus.”

I try not to think about Beau again for the rest of the training.

By the time our training is done, every muscle in my body aches from strain, but I feel more confident and more ready than I ever have.

Someday I want to be a part of this team of women. I can only hope I can make the cut.

Carla shakes my hand. “You have skill. Come back again.”

“Thank you,” I tell her, pleased down to my bones.

She shrugs and walks away. Seeing that as a likely dismissal, I turn and find Beau waiting for me near the exit.

I’m so full of joy and confidence, I walk right up to him and kiss him square on the mouth. He startles for a second, fully freezing, but in a flash, his body reacts. His arms wrap around me, even though I’m sweaty, and he tilts his head to more firmly clamp over my mouth.

He licks his way into my mouth and I let him. But when his hand drops to cup my ass, I laugh and push him away.

He smirks at me, the shameless bastard. “Do you remember our talk about being friends with benefits?” he asks.

“Yes, I remember,” I say. My body is coming alive again, despite the soreness in my muscles. The promise of being touched and fondled makes me hot all over. Though I roll my eyes again to keep that from being too obvious.

No reason to further inflate his ego.

“Maybe you’d be interested in pursuing that now,” Beau says.

We had talked about waiting until Neil was home and was stable. He is both of those things now.

“Shouldn’t I be worrying about the fight?” I ask. Sure I’m wound so tight I might explode. A good stress-reliever would be an incredible boon right about now.

But it still kind of feels like I should be focusing on other things than getting my rocks off.

Beau traces his fingertips from my wrist all the way up my bare arm to my shoulder, where the skin becomes covered with my tank top. She slips his fingers beneath the strap and I shudder.

Stepping closer, he leans into my space. His voice is hot on my ear. “There’s no better cardio exercise than a good roll in the hay. It would only benefit you.”

I should push him away, call him a horndog, and go back to training.

But.

My nipples are hardening, pushing out against my sports bra which is doing very little to hide them. And my panties are so damp I need to change them.

Gods, just the hint of him giving me pleasure is sending me spiraling down a funnel of lust. It’s like Beau has some kind of light switch straight into my brain. All he has to do is flip it on, and I’m instantly horny.

All he has to do is wink at me, and I want to drop my panties.

His smirk widens and there’s mischief in his eyes. Those same adventurous fingertips are now tracing over the length of my collar bone over my shirt. Slowly, they start to lead the way down, down, up the swell of my breast. Then, gently, they brush across my aching nipple.

I close my eyes, the sensation overwhelming. We are in public. I can’t exactly moan.

“I have access to a private room here,” he says.

Of fucking course he does.

“We can be there in thirty seconds. I can have you naked in forty.” His voice is lower now, sultry. It’s sending shivers straight through me.

Gods, he’s so fucking hot.

“Make it twenty,” I say, desperate.

His eyes flash. A growl escapes him.

At once, he lifts me into his arms, and he runs.