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Nothing good can come of it. We’re total opposites.
That thought lasts for all of one minute, until she’s glancing up at me. Her brown eyes locking onto mine from the distance without any hesitation.
I’m fucked. Totally fucked.
Once their class has finished, despite my better judgement, I decide to walk down and ask how it went. It is only right of me as the gym owner to make sure they had a good experience, I bullshit to myself as I take the stairs at lightning speed.
I see her with her friend and head right over. She looks up at me as I approach her, and my heart starts thumping like a fucking fool.
“Hey,” she says with a small smile, a little breathless. She pushes her hair back, some falling from her ponytail after the exercise. It’s nice to see she got a good workout in. Not that she needs it. Her body is incredible.
“Hey, Catherine. How did you go?” I ask, feeling like a teenager with a crush as I get closer.
“Call me Cat, please. It was great. Carter, this is my sister, Maggie. Maggie, this is Carter Grange.” As I look at Maggie, I can now see the family resemblance.
“Hey, Maggie, did you like the class too?”
“It was great. It was exactly what I was looking for when I got Cat the gift certificate for the ten sessions. The instructor was very thorough,” Maggie says, looking at me with a look I can’t quite decipher. Although I didn't introduce myself as a brother of the mob, she seems to know it. She looks a little nervous around me, jumpy even, and her words all stumble out together.
“Well, I own this place, and I was keen to bring in self-defense classes for the local women. It is important to know how to protect yourself.” I look back to Cat when I see her twitch out of the corner of my eye. It makes me even more curious as to why she is here. Why her sister got her these classes as a gift in the first place.
“How are your ribs going?” Cat asks, and her concern for me smooths over me like warm honey.
“Fine, Doc. I’ve had worse. Although I think it helped that you were the one to fix me up,” I say, my eyes now not leaving hers, and I see a soft pink appear on her cheeks. We stare at each other for a moment, and I can’t wipe the smile coming to my lips. She is adorable when she blushes.
“Okaaayy…” Maggie cuts through the moment with a huffed laugh. “I’m going to go and wait in the car while you two chat. Great to meet you, Carter.” Then she’s grabbing her things and walking out of the gym like her ass is on fire.
We both watch her leave before I look back at Cat.
“I should be going too.” She sighs, but makes no move to leave. So I take the opportunity to ask the question at the forefront of my mind.
“You in trouble?” I need to know if someone’s hurt her.
“It’s a bit complicated.” We are standing close to each other, close enough for me to reach out and grab her hand, squeezing it in mine. She looks from me to our joined hands and back again, but doesn’t let go. I know I shouldn’t touch her. At the hospital, at least I could blame it on the drugs, but now there’s nothing else to blame but my draw to her. Fuck, I just want to mark her mine. Facing her now, I can see the confident, elegant woman I met this weekend change a little. It is probably not noticeable to anyone else, but I can feel her hands shake in my soft grip, her facial features soften, and her chest rises and falls at a faster pace.
“You know I can help you with your complications, Cat,” I say quietly, lowering my mouth to her ear so only she can hear. When I pull back, her eyes widen, and she swallows roughly, my own eyes tracking the movement. I know she understands exactly what I am telling her.
As she steadies herself, I watch the change in her again, her confident mask slipping into place as she pushes her shoulders back and smiles. “It’s fine, Carter, you don’t need to get involved. I can handle it.” Anyone else might believe her reassurance, but I can tell that it isn’t.
I nod to her, though, letting her off the hook for now, and already itching to hurt the asshole who is obviously making her so uncomfortable.
“So this is your gym, then?” she asks, looking around the expansive space. Her hand is still encased in mine, showing no interest to let me go either.
“Sure is. It is my space, my vision.” Feeling so at ease carrying on a casual, honest conversation is unusual for me, but with her, I just want to keep it going. I also like that she’s yet to bolt out of here, and instead of nerves, she’s wearing a smile and twinkling eyes. Both of which are aimed at me.
“How long have you been open?” My chest puffs out, happy with her interest.
“It is something I have wanted to do for a long time. It was hard always being in New York to find the time I needed to designate getting it up and going. But Benji helped on the ground when I couldn’t, and we finally opened a few months ago. We have multiple training programs and classes, something for everyone. Our youth programs got it started, and we went from there.”
“Do you teach kids how to fight? I mean, you’re a fighter, right? I assumed you were in a random bar brawl or something when you came in Saturday, but I guess that’s not the case.” She lets out the prettiest chuckle at herself, her eyes now firmly back on me. Exactly where I want them to be.
“No bar brawls for me. Not recently, at least,” I say with a laugh, and her eyes widen again, just a fraction. “But yeah, I fight. I’ve trained in MMA for years, so this has always been a goal of mine. I only ever learned the hard way that I had to know how to defend myself, so I didn’t want others to fall victim to that. The kids who come in are sometimes in a rough place. They need to know basic skills, give them a space to come to get off the streets, and help them channel their anger in positive ways.” Her smile grows as I speak, and I fucking love that I put it there.
“That is amazing. And really admirable. It must take a lot of determination to get something like this up and running.”
“About as much determination to ask for your number again...” My heart stops as the words leave my mouth. I’m not sure if my ego can handle another rejection.
She blushes a little, biting her plush lip. “You are my patient. I can’t date a patient, Carter.” Her tone isn’t very convincing, and I smirk.
