Page 138 of Simon Says

Confused, Dakota frowned at him—and Simon stepped in between them. “Harley. Dean said you were here.”

“Hope you don’t mind, Sublime, but you did issue the invite.”

“It’s fine.” Simon slipped his arm around Dakota. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you, honey, but a few of the sports magazines are trying to make it look like Harley and I have a grudge to settle.”

Comprehension dawned. “Ah. Because of Bonnie.”

Simon shrugged. “I figured the best way to put that bunk to rest was to have Harley here, where anyone can see that this fight will be like any other.”

“Not about a woman,” Harley clarified. “But about the sport.”

“Just one more competition,” Simon added.

“Yeah. Got it.” Dakota wasn’t sure she liked it, though. And she’d be willing to bet Bonnie would hate having the spotlight reduced. “So you’re going to train here?”

“It’s always good to mix it up with other fighters, to learn their techniques and defend against them.”

“Makes you better rounded.”

“Exactly. I’ll hang out for a few weeks, then head back to my own camp.”

Simon nodded at her phone. “Any luck?”

“I have a contractor coming over tonight to look at it. He says he thinks it can be cleaned.”

“Great.” Simon brushed his thumb over her cheek. “I’m going to get busy. Go get changed so you can do some work, too. Barber should be here any minute.”

And so the day went.

Dakota pushed herself to keep up with the men, but she still needed more breaks than anyone else did. By the time Simon called it quits, she was ready to keel over, but not ready to stop. Especially since Simon wanted to use the last hour of the day to work with her himself.

She’d thought Dean was good, but had to admit that Simon was an even better coach. No wonder he was known throughout the SBC as a trainer of champions. Dean had certainly fared well under his instruction.

After Simon took her through several sets of defensive moves, Dakota took a few deep breaths, wiped the sweat from her face, and said, “Let’s do it again.”

Simon propped his hands on his hips. “I don’t think so.”

Something about his tone got through to her. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re pushing yourself too hard.”

“Not nearly as hard as everyone else here.”

Dark brows lowered over the bridge of Simon’s nose. “Everyone else here is a man used to training.” He took a step closer. “Everyone else here outweighs you by at least sixty pounds, most by a hell of a lot more.” He stepped again, and loomed over her. “Everyone else is a professional fighter.”

Back stiff, Dakota shrugged. “Fine. You want to quit, we’ll quit.”

He caught her arm before she could walk off. “What’s going on, Dakota?”

“Nothing.”

“From day one you couldn’t lie to me, so why do you think you can now?”

Jerking free, she said again, “Nothing. I’m trying to learn, that’s all. You said you wanted me to, remember?”

“I didn’t say I wanted you to kill yourself in the process, damn it.”

She had no idea what to say to that. They both sounded angry for no good reason. With nothing else to do, Dakota snatched up the water bottle, took a long swig, and then tossed it to Simon. “If you don’t get a move on, we’ll miss the contractor.”

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