AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You can lie to some of the people some of the time,” Jason teased. “Dude, I get it. You have no idea how messed up in the head I was over Presley before she finally agreed to marry me.”
“I can imagine. You’re messed up in the head now.”
Jason shoved him. Derek rushed back at his friend and knocked him onto the padded mat. They rolled around, trading punches and laughing about it. He missed his brothers all the more. The lunch time crowd in the ninja training area watched and laughed with them.
Suddenly the most beautiful woman in the world was standing over the mat, staring down at them with her arms folded across her chest and a smirk on her lips. “Boys,” she teased. “You two ready to stop rolling around like monkeys and start working? I’ve got almost an hour-long break. Plenty of time to show you both up.”
Derek shoved Jason away and sprang to his feet, so close to her she put out a hand to steady herself and grabbed his arm. His heart rate immediately soared, and his skin tingled from the pressure of her fingers.
“Your wish is my command, beautiful,” he said softly for only her to hear. He tried not to use too many lines or compliments with her, even though they were always there waiting to spring from his lips. If they were going to be dating … How could he bring up his request from last night again without pushing her the wrong direction? She was so independent she might say no just to be obstinate.
“Don’t mind me,” Jason grumbled. “I don’t need a hand up.”
“If you weren’t so old, you could get up on your own,” Derek teased. Jason was two years older than his own twenty-four. He loved to give him a hard time about it.
Ellery released his arm and backed up. “Let’s do it.”
They set to work, the three of them, like usual. Other competitors came and went from the gym and Presley trained with them when she could, but this threesome was unstoppable. They worked incredibly hard, but most of the time it felt like play, flying from obstacle to obstacle. They were superheroes who could conquer anything. Had he been tired an hour ago? With Ellery close, he was the toughest man on earth.
The physical challenge and exhilaration was a good release, but nothing could distract him from Ellery. Especially with her right close, laughing and teasing and sometimes bumping into him or brushing against him. Was her touch accidental or on purpose?
She was a light and joy he wanted in his life. He wanted Ellery as much as he wanted his family whole again. His family would never be whole again, not without his mum, but Ellery in his arms and heart could happen. Maybe. She’d been pretty stiff in her resistance to him.
They were each coming across the swinging monkey bars from opposite directions. Ellery was grinning at him and called, “We both go to our right this time.”
He chuckled. They’d crashed into each other a time or two messing around like this. He loved working out with her, practicing with her, being with her. From the wide grin on her face, it seemed the worries that usually creased her beautiful brow were pushed away for a time as well. He knew about her mum’s chronic illness and had heard from Presley that Ellery’s dad had deserted them when she was young.
Derek suspected there was money trouble for her to work as many hours as she did, often cutting into her warrior training, but she was too proud and independent to admit to being in need. He admired so many things about this brave and tough woman. He’d been so impressed by their interactions during competitions in the spring, but then that moment of him making it up the Invisible Ladder and her cheering for him and giving him that ‘look’ even though she’d fallen had sealed his heart to hers. He’d relocated to Boston to work out in her gym after winning the season. Getting to know her better and being inspired by her every single day had only made him yearn to have her permanently in his life.
Right now, he wanted to make her smile. As she tried to dodge around him to the next bar, he veered the same direction. She ran into him and her hands clasped around his instead of on the bar.
“Your other right,” she teased.
“Hold on to me and let’s see if I can finish the monkey bars with your additional weight.” He’d seen Jason do this with Presley, and it looked like a fun challenge. His hands were spent with all the pullups and other exercises he’d done so far today. Gripping the bar with her extra weight on him wasn’t helping, but he’d dredge up superhuman strength to have her close like this for a little longer. Sparks and tingles and all good feelings filled his body.
“You can’t,” she taunted.
“Try me.” He grinned, his ‘bring on the devil’ grin as his twin Malik used to call it.
She laughed and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist, clinging to him like a monkey.
Derek’s body went into hyper-drive with Ellery so close. He could’ve climbed Mt. Midoriyama in record time at that moment.
“Whoo-hoo!” Jason cheered from below.
Derek wanted to drop to the ground with her hanging on him, wrap his arms around her, and take advantage of her lovely mouth for a long, long time.
She’d shove him away if he tried it. Especially with people watching on. He swung to the next bar instead, and the next, and the next.
A crowd gathered quickly from the weight room, and he saw some people snapping pictures and videos. He didn’t care. Let the rumors spread. He wanted Ellery in his arms, his heart, his life.
Only two bars left and his grip was slick with sweat, his forearms and hands cramping and his shoulders burning. He could fly across these bars by himself. Add a hundred and thirty pounds of exquisite woman and it was tough. He refused to quit or give in to the pain, though. He’d tear every tendon in his forearms before he’d miss out on this moment of her willingly wrapped around him.
Ellery grinned. “Anything I can do to make this easier on you, ninja prince?”
“Just keep looking as beautiful and inspiring as you do right now.”
She laughed. It was as pretty as the rest of her.
