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“Why would I…” She rubbed and squeezed her forehead. “I don’t understand why that happened. The way you must hate me.”
He toppled her into his arms.
She didn’t see when he moved.
“Ayesha, I don’t hate you. I’ll admit it…threw me off, but I don’t hate you.”
“Joel, I swear I don’t have feelings for him.”
“Okay.”
“You don’t believe me.”
“I believe you that you think you don’t.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“What do you have planned for today?” His thumb moved in lazy strokes along her lower back. “I’m taking Theo with me to pick up some stuff for the house. Later, I’ll get Josiah from school. We can spend the afternoon together, the four of us.”
“I can’t today,” she said, equally uninterested in returning to their previous conversation. “The ladies and I have Book Club.”
“You guys never miss a book club.”
“Mo’s very passionate about it.” She rose onto her toes, and he leaned down to brush a quick kiss over her lips. “I’m going upstairs to get ready.”
“If we’re not going out, I’ll make dinner tonight. Any requests?”
“I’ll eat whatever you put in front of me.”
“Ditto.”
After another kiss, he released her, and she hurried up the stairs.
CHAPTER12
Ayesha coughed into her elbow. Sweat dripped from her forehead onto the boxing ring’s non-slip canvas floor. At this point, her shirt and leggings could be wrung out like a dish rag, and her shoulder hurt like hell.
“Is it painful?” Mo examined a bright, purplish-red spot on her upper arm, fingers light. “Giorgio saw a bruise on my side the other night and asked me who I’d been fighting. I had to tell him I fell in the garden before innocent lives were lost.”
Ayesha laughed and smothered another cough. “You guys don’t have a garden, and youlikethat he’s crazy.”
“I do. My name is Mo Pozza, and I’m in love with a psycho.”
Behind them, Tayler grunted with each fist she slammed against a heavy bag. They’d started “Book Club” shortly after a woman showed up at Mo and Giorgio’s looking for baby Aleksi. Tayler worked on marksmanship, and when Sydney was in town, she focused on boxing. Mo trained them in everything else. The last thing they wanted was to be sitting ducks, waiting for the guys to come in and “save” them, or rely too heavily on Tayler’s deadeye or Mo’s lethal skill.
“Take five,” Sydney said.
Tayler grabbed the bag. “Five minutes? Thank G—”
“Nope. Seconds. Let’s go.”
Groaning, Tayler restarted her set.
Ayesha switched with Ari as Mo’s sparring partner and joined Xara and Larke in the weight room. Just like the guys had their “lair,” Mo had a spot close to where their property was located. Her hope was to start a training program, much like she’d done in California.
None of the guys knew about it yet. Ayesha figured Giorgio would find out about it when Mo learned about his secret piranhas. Joel had let it slip that Giorgio kept the exotic fish in a massive aquarium in the back office of the hangar where he kept his vehicles.
The complex was equipped with a boxing ring, rows of heavy bags and other boxing equipment, weight, cardio, and stretch areas—Mo turned into a drill sergeant during pilates, calisthenics, and yoga—and a glass play area more secure than the Oval Office. However, Ayesha’s favorite room was at the furthest end of the structure, an obstacle course where they used paintball guns and lasers for tactical training.
