Page 114 of 1 Last Shot

"Reeves, I could do two-a-days of these workouts back-to-back andstillwipe the floor with you," comes Coach's voice from inside his office.

Chuckles sound around the gym as Aiden grumbles, "That's rude."

"If that happens, one of you is obligated to call me so I can get that on camera," Dani snickers from the sidelines where she’s taking pictures of practice.

Aiden glares at his girlfriend. "That's even more rude."

She blows him a kiss in apology, which immediately softens his ire and makes stars explode in his eyes.

"You can make it up to me by getting some shots of me beating up Tristan," he says.

Tristan snorts from his place on the mat. "Fat chance, pretty boy."

I can't help chuckling at the back-and-forth banter. It took me a little bit to warm up to the rest of the team, but after I stopped looking at them as strangers that I sometimes punch, and after Jax pulled me into their conversations a few times, it got easier to connect with them. I learned that Tristan shares my opinions on expressing emotions, and that Jax is a great sounding board when I want to talk about fighting as a form of therapy. Remy also turned out to be a great training partner, and has completely changed my fighting strategy with how technically smart she is. Even Aiden has brought something to my life, most of the time being humor.

Even if it is laughingathim.

“You would think he’d be a little more modest after we just spent the last two hours kicking his ass,” Remy says with a sigh.

Tristan pulls his girlfriend into his lap. “I don’t think he even knows the meaning of the word.” Then he wordlessly rocks backward and throws his leg over her face at the same time that he captures her arm.

"Tristan!" she shrieks in surprise.

"God, I love when you scream my name," he groans. Then tightens the submission.

There are collective groans around the gym. When I plop down next to Isabella where she's seated in the viewing area, I realize she's the only one laughing.

"They're so cute together," she says.

"They're weird together," I correct. "I've never seen a couple where fighting is their actual foreplay."

She gives me a coy look. "I don't know, it might be kind of sexy." I raise an eyebrow at that, to which she shrugs. But her blush gives her away. "I remember feeling connected to you during our self-defense lesson."

My thoughts flash back to that lesson, to the serious start of it and to the way I felt during it. To the protectiveness I felt toward Isabella, and then the overwhelming closeness.

I tuck her hair behind her ear, loving that we've reached a point where I can freely touch her, freely relive some of our memories. "You want to do another lesson, princess?" I murmur. "I can add in some jiu-jitsu this time if you want to get to the real foreplay."

Her blush deepens, andfuckI want to follow that color under her clothes. I give her an openly predatory look, taking a moment to appreciate the sundresses that she's started wearing around me. She claims it's because I've torn too many of her tights.

Fine by me.

I open my mouth to tell her we're leaving, that there's a good chance I'll fuck her on my bike because I'm too impatient to get her home. But I'm interrupted by the door opening from the heavy bag room across the gym.

"And this is our mat room," Jax says, gesturing at the room in its entirety. "This is where we teach the jiu-jitsu and sparring classes."

When he steps aside, a girl walks through the door and peeks around at the gym. She's young, barely college age, and wide-eyed as she takes everything in.

"And your membership covers both Muay Thai and Jiu-Jitsu classes?" she asks. "Or is it an additional cost to do more than one?"

"It covers both, so you're free to take whichever classes you want," Jax answers. He nods first at Tristan, then at Max. "Tristan is our head Muay Thai instructor, he's a professional fighter who's known for his striking. And Max over there teaches our jiu-jitsu classes. He's a brown belt and one of the best in the Northeast circuit. They'll be your main coaches."

Tristan shoves Remy off him so he can give the girl a professional greeting. Max also gives her a polite wave, but his eyes linger on her a little bit.

Jax points at Lucy, who's stretching on the far side of the mat. "And Lucy teaches our cardio kickboxing classes, if you're interested in the more workout-oriented classes."

Lucy smiles at the girl, but not before her gaze drops over her body for a split second.

Jax finishes the introductions by saying, "I also teach, but I'm usually working the front desk during the night classes. If that's when you're thinking of training."

---