Page 88 of Bite Marks

“Do what?” she asked, though the distraction was obvious in the way her voice carried.

“Drop me to the ground.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Dana replied with a shrug, looking back at Riley—and her chest. “You’re top-heavy.”

The vampire scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Take fi—Vi! Hey! I didn’t know you were coming!”

If Dana felt the same irritation I did watching her with Riley now that the woman’s attention was on me, she didn’t show it. She crossed the ring to come lean against the ropes, looking down at me with an easy smile. “Fancy seeing you here,Striker.”

Cute, I thought, offering her a smile.

“Hey, Riley.Boss.”

Her tongue pressed against her fang, tooth gem sparkling as she tried to stifle a satisfied smirk at the nickname. “Feeling okay?”

“Yeah, pretty solid,” I said, touched by the concern in her voice. “I didn’t know you came to this gym.”

“Riley got poached from my old spot. Been coming to this class ever since.”

I waved at the vampire in question as she ducked under the ropes of the ring, hopping down onto the floor with an affectionate touch of her taped knuckles against my cheek as shewalked by. “She just can’t keep away. How about you, Vi, here to flirt or train?”

I stuck my tongue out at her. Awfully rich accusation coming from her after the giggle party I’d seen.

“Can a girl not multitask? Besides, it looks like one of us needs to train a bit more, given how quickly Dana took you out.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Riley muttered, taking a long drink from her water bottle. Her wavy black hair swayed in its ponytail, slipping over her shoulder.

I’d always thought she was a good-looking girl, though strictly off-limits. It was definitely some kind of faux pas to sleep with one of your sibling’s co-workers.

Make it double if it happened at the gym you went to.

Triple if that person was also your personal trainer.

Though I wondered if Riley had ever been interested. You could only watch someone struggle through eight reps at a time for so long before you got the ick, right?

“Maybe I’ll have Dana train me instead.” I spoke slowly, biting back on a grin at her outraged expression—slack-jawed, looking dumbfounded.But she recovered quickly, hooking her thumb toward the dark-skinned vampire with a raised brow.

“I’d like to see you try to hold your own against her.”

“I’m game,” Dana said, smoothing some nonexistent stray hairs into her perfectly executed space buns.

I tried to stall as I looked between the two. Riley beat my ass to an embarrassing degree half the time, so I didn’t stand a chance if Dana was beating hers.

“Come on. You scared, darling?” Dana purred, her eyes trailing me in my leggings with keen interest.

My brain went straight to the way she’d looked at me in her old office.

Fuck.

My libido and I were going to have a serious conversation when I got home. In the tub. With my vibrator. Thinkinglongandhardabout this exact moment, when Dana’s perfect lips parted on a soft laugh like she knew exactly what I was thinking about.

“Well,darling,” Danny mocked at my side, nearly making me jump. I’d forgotten she was standing there. “What's it going to be?”

I wasn’t sure when I’dstopped beingStrikerand started beingdarlingfull-time, but I wasn’t complaining. Even if I knew Danny was going to be insufferable about it later.

“Fine, let’s do this.” I gave in, peeling off my hoodie to reveal my light blue sports bra. “Somebody needs to tape me up, though. My hand is a little stiff.”

“I got you,” Riley said, digging through her bag for a roll.

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