Page 40 of Burn for You (Flirting with Forever 3)

“Puke. Apparently, Susan’s youngest is sick.”

All three women make yuck faces. Gotta say, I can’t argue with them. As teachers, we come into contact with plenty of germs, but there’s no need to push our luck.

“Well, we don’t want any part of that.” Quinn chuckles. “I think I’m going to walk on the track outside. Anyone else want to come?”

Madison nods. “Sounds good. Piper?”

“I’m going to go use the restroom. I’ll meet you guys out there in a few.”

They hesitate no more than a split second before nodding their agreement. “See you out there.” Quinn winks at Piper and pulls Madison away with her.

I shake my head and walk away to check the barre classroom and make sure no one else is waiting on Susan. Piper’s footsteps head in the other direction toward the women’s locker room.

I thought maybe she’d stayed behind to talk to me, but I guess that’s not the case. I remain at the classroom door until about five minutes after the class had been due to begin, then return to my favorite punching bag, strap on my gloves and go to town on it. My fists are flying fast when I spy Piper coming toward me out of the corner of my eye. Maybe she has something to say after all. We’ve been mostly on our best behavior since the field trip. Much to my surprise, we hadn’t exchanged any barbs at all today at school. Have we finally gotten a grip? Ended the suck-up war?

As I watch, she wanders around looking at different equipment, and every once in a while, she peeks my way. I don’t think she realizes that I know she’s there.

Finally, after about ten minutes, she stops near me, catching my eye. I smack the bag one more time before stopping its motion and turning to her. I don’t say anything, but eye her as I pull off my gloves. I toss them aside, settling my hands on my hips.

“Tell me about this MMA stuff.”

Well, that was unexpected. “What do you mean?”

“Why do you like it?” She gazes at me curiously, and I have to admit, I have no idea why she’s asking.

“It’s good stress relief and keeps me in good shape.” I exhale through my nose, decision made. “Come here.”

She frowns hard at me. “What? No.”

I roll my eyes. “Would you just not argue with me for once?”

There’s a slightly petulant look on her face, but after a few seconds, she presses her lips together, clearly exasperated. “Fine.” S

he crosses to me. “What?”

“Hold your hands out.” She eyes me warily, but holds still as I go through the process of putting hand wraps on her. I put the loop over her right thumb, go around her wrist three times, and around her palm. I pause for a second. “Spread your fingers wide.” Then I continue, concentrating on what I’m doing, but also mildly distracted by the way her eyes are focused on me. She’s not even really watching what I’m doing. I feel her eyes scanning my face and occasionally dropping to my chest as I begin weaving the wrap intricately around her palm, fingers, and wrist.

“That’s quite the process.”

I grunt. “It protects your hands. I’ll put you in gloves, too. Just give me a second to finish up here with your other hand.”

She frowns for a second, but falls silent as she watches me work on her left hand, mesmerized.

“Do your friends realize you aren’t joining them?”

Her lips lift into a tiny smirk. “They know.”

“Did you text them?”

“No.”

My brows raise, but I don’t comment. “I’ll be right back.” I would imagine the same female telepathy that happens between my sisters also happens among Piper and her friends. She didn’t need to tell them because they read her correctly before they walked out the door.

She wets her lips as she watches me come back over with a set of women’s gloves for her and a pair of mitts for me. Without a word, I help her with the gloves, then put on the mitts. I give her some instructions as I lead her over to the mat.

She eyes my hands carefully. “Why are we doing this?”

“We’ve been going round and round in circles forever. I figure you’ve probably wanted to hit me for a good, long while. Now’s your chance.” I wiggle my brows at her with a grin.

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