Page 15 of Simon Says

Less than a minute into the practice, Simon kicked out but Gregor blocked him, and then quickly threw his punches. Simon managed to dodge the blows, but not Gregor’s reciprocal kick. Simon winced at the impact to the outside of his thigh on his left leg.

It happened again.

And again.

So Simon changed tactics. When Gregor went to kick, Simon shot in on him. With incredible speed, he switched to a double leg and the big man went down with the resounding thunder of muscles landing hard on the mat. Gregor made the huge mistake of leaving one of his thick arms vulnerable, and within seconds, Simon forced him to tap out from an excruciating arm bar.

Huh. While digging in her satchel for a stash of peanut M&Ms, Dakota shook her head in disgust. Gregor needed a lot more finesse to take someone like Simon. His strength and size might carry him through the ranks of men with less technical ability, and as she’d told him, he might occasionally get lucky with a shot. But he needed fine-tuning, and then some.

After popping a handful of M&Ms into her mouth, Dakota looked up at the mat. Simon stood leaning on the ropes, watching her.

He looked sinful and sexy, and as macho as one man could look.

“Sorry, but I can’t offer you any candy. I’m sure it’s a no-no while you’re training.”

Simon continued with his burning stare. “What did you tell Gregor?”

With an insulting lack of haste, Dakota left her chair and approached the ring. “You want the truth?”

“Is that a rhetorical question?”

“Yeah.” She swallowed down more of her candy. “I don’t suppose you have a cola machine around here anywhere.”

“No.”

“I didn’t think so.” She eyed his water bottle, but plain old water wouldn’t do much to revive her. She needed the kick of caffeine. “Coffee?”

“At a diner two doors down, across the street.”

Uh-oh. Simon wasn’t exactly in a talkative mood now. “Right. Thanks.” Admiring his tight abs and bulging biceps, she gave him the once-over before meeting his dark-eyed and somehow challenging gaze. “The thing is, you announce your kicks.”

“The hell I do.”

She shrugged. He could believe her or not. Didn’t really matter to her. “I told Gregor what to watch for, and how to counter it. It helped him, just not enough, obviously.”

His voice going a little grittier, Simon said, “I don’t announce shit.”

“I’ll show you. But just real fast, because I do need that caffeine. I can feel myself fading, and a little chocolate isn’t going to cut it.” After tossing back the last of her M&Ms, Dakota grabbed the ropes, put one foot up on the mat, and hoisted herself onto the perimeter of the ring. She lifted a rope and ducked under.

Bending to unlace her boots, she said, “It’s not a super-noticeable thing, but I’ve watched all your fights at least a half dozen times, so I saw it right off. Havoc would have seen it, too, but he had his attention on Gregor instead of on you.”

She straightened, dropped her clunky lace-up boots into the corner, and meandered to the middle of the mat. When she turned back, Simon still stood there near the ropes.

“Well, c’mon. We gonna do this or not?”

He tried to look impassive, Dakota would give him that. But sheer disbelief showed in his eyes. He didn’t move.

Dakota rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry. You won’t hurt me.” And then, just to be devilish, she added, “And I won’t hurt you. I promise.”

That unglued his feet, but the second he moved, both Gregor and Dean started roaring with hilarity and anticipation. Their laughter abruptly died when Simon reached her, bent one knee, tossed her over his shoulder, and carried her back to the ropes.

Dakota did nothing. What would be the point? With the others watching, she didn’t feel threatened. And his hold wasn’t so much restrictive as functional.

But the feel of his big hands on her, one on her calves and one seriously close to her behind, set her heart to thumping. She breathed in his raw, hot scent. Where she braced her hands on the middle of his back, he was sweaty and so solid that his flesh didn’t give way at all.

The man had serious sex appeal.

“Down you go,” Simon said, and he slid her off his shoulder, over the side of the ring, and all the way down to the floor.

---