Page 3 of Falling for the Knockout

“Yeah,” he whispered back. “So, tell me that you’ll come to my next fight, Aurora,” he insisted. How could she say no to him after what he had just said to her? She couldn’t.

“I’ll come to your fight,” she breathed. Tony took another step towards her and Aurora held her breath waiting for what he was going to do next.

“Thank you,” he said, dipping his head to kiss her cheek. Tony disappeared back into the bakery to find his friends, and Aurora stood there like an idiot, holding her cheek that he had just kissed. He liked her—he really liked her.

Anthony

Kissing Aurora, even on the cheek, wasn’t part of his plan, but he just couldn’t help himself. Telling her that he more than liked her definitely wasn’t his plan and now, he needed to figure out his next move, because working with her every morning was going to be pretty damn awkward.

After he spilled his guts to Aurora, she convinced him that he should go home or do whatever he did after working at the bakery every morning. He tried to protest, but he had to admit, he wanted to get out of there to regroup before he did something with Aurora that he couldn’t take back. So, he did what he did every morning after leaving the bakery—went to the gym to work out. He was predictable, but his Nonno said that was what would make him a great fighter. Maybe his grandfather was right, but Tony felt like he might never get his break.

The gym was only a few miles from the bakery, and he made record time getting there. Maybe it was his fight or flight kicking in, but he ran out of that bakery like his ass was on fire. He was a coward and there was probably no coming back fromembarrassing himself in front of Aurora. He would have to figure out a way because he was sure that his Nonno wouldn’t be up to working at the bakery for a while, if ever again.

Tony walked into the gym, finding Jonesy standing in the back corner with his arms crossed over his chest. Jonesy wasn’t just Tony’s promoter; he was his trainer and a personal friend of his grandfather’s. Jonesy liked to run a tight ship but that was what made him a good trainer. “You’re late,” Jonesy grumbled.

Tony checked his watch and rolled his eyes at his trainer. “I’m one minute late,” he said, tossing his gym bag to the floor.

“You still have to get dressed to train, and that means you’ll be another ten minutes. So, technically, you’ll be eleven minutes late.” Tony rolled his eyes at Jonesy again, making his friend growl—actually growl, at him. He knew Jonesy well enough to know that when he got this way, Tony knew to back down.

“I’ll get ready now,” he said, picking up his gym back and heading back to the locker room, not giving Jonesy another chance to growl at him.

Tony turned the corner into the locker room and found Rocco and Luca standing by his locker as though they needed to talk to him and he had a pretty good idea of what or in this case, who they wanted to discuss. Those jerks saw a pretty girl and they’d lose their minds—and Aurora was gorgeous. If he told them to keep their hands off her, they’d assume that he and Aurora were together, and that was the last thing that Tony needed. But if he let the guys know that they weren’t together, Luca and Rocco would be lining up at her door, begging her to go out with them. The desperate assholes wouldn’t leave her alone, and that would piss Tony off.

“Whatever it is, I don’t have time for it, guys,” he insisted, pushing past them to his locker.

“You don’t even know what we were going to say,” Rocco said. Tony pulled his shirt up over his head and tossed it into his locker. He didn’t like to wear a shirt while sparring. He wasn’t going to be wearing one in his next fight, and he wanted to train as though every sparring partner was the actual fight. His grandfather taught him never to leave anything on the table, even while sparring.

“Um, I have a pretty good idea what you two want to talk to me about.”

“So, you read minds now?” Luca asked. His Brooklyn accent came out whenever he tried to act tough.

“I don’t have to read minds to know that you two want to know about Aurora,” Tony said.

“Okay, well you can read minds,” Luca grumbled.

“How about it then?” Rocco asked. “Is she single?”

“I’m not telling either of you assholes about Aurora. She’s a nice girl and she deserves better than either of you,” Tony insisted. It was true too. Aurora was the sweetest person he had ever known. That was one of the reasons why he kept his hands to himself around her—well, until today when he kissed her cheek. Just one simple gesture made him want so much more with her. He just wasn’t sure if that was a good idea or not. The one thing that he was sure of was that Rocco and Luca would just use her and break her heart.

“So, that’s a no then,” Luca said. “Dibs.”

“You can’t fucking call dibs for a person,” Rocco insisted.

“Finally, a voice of reason,” Tony grumbled.

“Fine, I get to ask her out first,” Luca said.

“That’s still calling dibs,” Rocco complained. “I think you might need a dictionary.”

“Ha, ha,” Luca drawled. “I think that you might need a punch in the face.” He stepped towards Rocco and Tony stepped between them. The last thing they needed was a fight to start in the locker room again. The last time that happened, the three of them were worked like dogs by Jonesy. He seemed to take some sick satisfaction in punishing the three of them. Tony had learned his lesson, but for some reason, Rocco and Luca hadn’t.

“You two apes remember what happened the last time we fought here?” Tony asked.

“Yeah,” Rocco said, standing down.

“Right,” Luca agreed, “sorry, man.” Tony knew that if he didn’t step up and put a stop to this whole thing, Luca and Rocco would end up in a fistfight sooner or later.

“None of this matters anyway,” Tony said.

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