Page 10 of Further To Fall

“On that note, I better get in there.”

“All right, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Later, Liam.”

I switched off my car and made my way across the parking lot. The fluttering in my stomach increased the closer I got. I looked up at the faded sign that readBoxing Gymin peeling paint. This was the place. Shifting the bag on my shoulder, I pushed open the door. I was so not sure about this particular exercise in new friendship. The smell of stale sweat that greeted me did nothing to help convince me.

Tiptoeing a few steps forward, I took in the rows of punching bags swinging back and forth as sweaty dudes grunted each time they made contact. This was certainly not the swanky West Hollywood gym I had joined a few weeks ago. This was the real deal, and I could not feel more out of place in my teacher get-up of pencil skirt, blouse, and heels.

This was such a bad idea, why had I thought this was a good idea again? Oh, yeah, because of sheepish, adorable Austin with his apologies and cupcakes and broken-heart stories. Ugh, I had no way out of this one.

A wolf-whistle cut through the steady beat of gloves beating heavy bags. “Mamí, are you lost? Or have I died and gone to librarian heaven?” A sweaty but handsome guy swaggered towards me, licking his lips and removing his gloves as he walked. As he moved forward, I moved back. Part of me wanted to laugh, but the other part was just a little bit nervous.

“Leave her alone, Carlos, she’s here for me.” Relief swept through me at the sound of Austin’s voice.

“Shit, man, why you gotta crush my dreams like that? I swear she’s the future Mrs. Rodriguez!”

Austin grabbed one of Carlos’s gloves and smacked him over the head with it. “Get back to training, Casanova.”

“Yeah, yeah. Bye, wifey, I’ll miss you!” he called with a massive grin on his face as he headed back to his punching bag, swagger still in full effect.

“Sorry about that, he comes on strong, but he’s harmless.”

I laughed out a shaky breath. “No problem. Thanks again for offering to do this.”

“Happy to. Learning how to defend yourself will give you the confidence to handle situations like that one.”

I groaned and shifted from foot to foot. “I’m not really a big fan of violence.”

“We’ll get you used to necessary force, Firecracker. Do you have clothes to change into?” His eyes raked over my body in what felt like a physical caress. Uh-oh, this was not good. “Because as much as I dig the sexy school teacher look, I don’t think it’s going to work for what we’ll be doing.”

I swallowed thickly and squeaked out, “In my bag.”

“Come on, I’ll show you where you can change.”

My eyes darted around, taking in everything I could as we walked through the gym. Beyond the heavy bags was a row of treadmills and mats where men—and one bad-A-looking woman—were jumping rope. Past that was two boxing rings with sparring going on inside. It was actually pretty darn cool, and my nose had already grown somewhat accustomed to the stale sweat smell.

“We don’t have many women who train here, so the locker room is just a bathroom with a few lockers, but your stuff will be safe there for the hour we’re training,” Austin said as he stopped at a door.

“Okay, cool. Thanks again.”

He smiled. “You don’t have to keep thanking me.”

“Right.” I reached for the door handle and tripped over my own feet in the process.

Austin let out a low chuckle that hit me in all the wrong places for a platonic almost-friend. “Careful, don’t want you getting injured before we even get started.”

I gulped and shut the door quickly. Cruddy McCrudderson, this was so not good. I needed to put Austin in the brother-like friend category and stat. Why couldn’t I see him like Liam? Or Ford? I mean, I could objectively see that they were handsome, but they were my friends. They didn’t make my stomach hollow out as if I hadn’t eaten in days, nor did they give me the shakes as if I’d given up coffee cold turkey. I hit myself in the forehead repeatedly while I set my bag down on the bench, hoping that would miraculously knock some sense into me.

I quickly slipped out of my skirt and blouse and into my cropped workout pants, sports bra, and hot pink tank top, while reassuring myself that I could do this. I was simply reacting to a good-looking man. Once I got used to his hotness, these feelings would pass. I grabbed my water bottle, shoved my bag into an empty locker, steeled myself to face Hottie McHotterson again, and pushed open the door.

Austin leaned against the wall opposite the locker room, looking like aMen’s Healthcover model, and I stifled a sigh. This was going to be a long adjustment period. Looking up, I caught Austin’s scan of my body and fought a pleasant shudder. “You ready?”

“Yup.” I did not sound convincing.

Austin led me down the hall to what looked like a private workout room. “This room is usually used for classes, but it’s free Thursday evenings, so we can have some privacy while you’re starting out.” He walked over to a cabinet in the corner and grabbed a couple of towels, tossing me one.

“Thanks. I’m not the most athletic person, so I’d rather a whole gym of finely tuned machines not see me falling on my butt repeatedly.”

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