Page 3 of Until You're Mine
I dramatically threw a hand over my heart. “It’s the job I’ve always dreamed of. Why bother putting a paintbrush to a canvas in an attempt to create a beautiful masterpiece when you can direct shit-shoveling instead?”
He laughed, and that made me laugh.
Unable to help myself, I began sorting the mess on the desk into piles. “I’ll get everything back up and running on this end, but come fall, I’m gone, Finn. I won’t be guilted into staying, either, so don’t even try it. I have a huge opportunity with a big gallery, one that’s also giving me a chance to work with one of my favorite artists, and I can’t afford to put my life on pause for any longer.”
“I hear you.” His goofy grin spread wider. “It’s good to have you back. Even if it’s temporary and you have way too many rules. I’m totally going to let your attitude problem slide, too.”
I plucked the paper weight off the desk and cocked my arm like I was about to throw it at his head. “What was that about my attitude problem?”
“No idea what you’re talking about. I fuckin’ love your attitude.”
“That’s what I thought.” I glanced at the computer on the corner of the desk. “You don’t expect me to use that dinosaur, do you?”
“It’s all we’ve got. You can get a new one if it’s in the budget, but you probably won’t know that until after you sort the receipts.”
That whole got-my-work-cut-out-for-me saying? I definitely had that going on, and for the first time, I was glad Trey didn’t end up moving down here with me. It made it easier to simply crash with Finn—I doubted they would’ve cohabitated very well, and I wasn’t sure Trey and I were quite ready to try living together. And, even if he’d relocated to San Diego for the summer, with how much work I had to do…? I wouldn’t have time to spend with him anyway.
Chapter Two
Shane
It started with a laugh, one unmistakably female. Next thing I knew, a mitt hit the side of my face and ringing replaced the sound of laughter.
“Dude,” I said, shaking my head to regain my bearings. Because, seriously, not cool.
Liam gave a nonchalant shrug. “You get distracted, you get hit.”
Sure. In the cage. While we were technically in a cage, we were doing striking drills and I didn’t have headgear on. If we were sparring, all bets would be off, but it didn’t matter what I said or thought, regardless of being on my second round of striking drills and my arms feeling like wet noodles. Team Domination had taken a chance on me, and I owed them, so I’d take whatever Liam or Blake Roth himself dished out.
Ground zero sucked. Especially since it wasn’t my first time there. No matter how much I wanted to argue I shouldn’t have to start completely over, I stuffed those words away. That was one of the conditions of joining the team. It was their way or the highway, and after going down too many wrong roads, I knew I wanted this one.
I struck faster and harder, pushing my body to the brink and then throwing myself on over.
Whack, whack, whack.
The buzzer rang, and Liam tossed the mitts aside. “You’ve got two minutes rest and then it’s cardio time.”
In our line of work, we knew how to get down to business and sweat our asses off, and I was all for it. Most of us gave each other a hard time and were competitive enough to help push each other to our limits, but we also knew how to dick around and have some fun now and then. As a trainer, Liam was more sadistic than most, and he didn’t strike me as someone who even knew how to have fun. Today made five days I’d been working with him, and I hadn’t seen so much as a smile. Since his being one of my coaches meant walking the lines of “Thank you, sir, may I please have another,” I gave a sharp nod, took off my gloves, and pushed out of the cage.
I tried not to think aboutused to’s andshould be’s because they didn’t change where I was right now. It was downright depressing how six years of hard work and slowly crawling my way up the MMA rankings had been undone in one shitty year.
Soon that’ll be a distant memory. I have a couple months of hard work ahead of me, and then I’ll start climbing that ladder again, even if I have to start on the bottom fucking rung.
But I couldn’t complain. The one thing I’d wished for more than anything else had come true a couple of months ago, and even if I never got to strap a big, shiny gold belt around my waist, it would’ve been worth it.
Even in my head, the lie tasted bitter. I was beyond grateful things had turned out so well for my mom, but I wanted that fucking belt, too. Was it so wrong to want both?
I heard that laugh again, and I glanced toward the front desk, automatically lifting my hand to block, just in case anyone else tried to land a cheap shot—let the record show I learned from my mistakes.
The girl with the infectious laugh stood next to Finn. I took in her long curly hair, pale blond on top with dark purple streaks peeking out from underneath, and then my gaze ran down her body. She had on shorts that hugged her curves and left a whole lot of her sexy legs on display.
My quickening pulse thumped through my head, and finding out if her front half was as intriguing as the back was the most I’d looked forward to anything in a long time.
She turned, andholy shit, the front matched. In fact, if I had to choose, I couldn’t. Curves and pouty lips and a figure that’d make a Victoria’s Secret model jealous. We’re talking the most perfect tits I’ve ever seen.
She smiled, and for a delirious second I thought she was waving at me.Hell yeah, baby.I’ll be right there.
Then Liam lifted a hand, and fuck me sideways, the guy actually could crack a smile. I was starting to think he had some stick-up-his-ass condition that no one was brave enough to get close enough to cure.
