Page 73 of 1 Last Shot

I try it once and instantly feel the difference.

Coach grunts his approval. I just wait for him to say what he’s here to say.

“I can get you the Chevlin fight,” he says suddenly.

I quirk an eyebrow. Yoga deal aside, I was fully expecting him to never think I was ready for that fight.

“But I want you to do something for me if we agree to that matchup.”

I stare at him for a moment. “Okay…”

“No sparring.”

Both eyebrows shoot to my hairline. “What? No sparringat all?”

He nods. “No sparring at all. I want you to beat him with jiu-jitsu.”

I wince. “That’s not exactly my strong suit, Coach.”

He gives me a knowing look. “I know. That’s why I want you to work it for this fight. Because it’shisweakness.”

I’m still not convinced, and I’m sure it shows on my face.

“Kane, if you get into a boxing match with Chevlin, youmightwin. Toe to toe, either of you could beat the other. And I was prepared to get you that fight and let you have at it. But now…” He sighs and looks off to the side. “Look, your training has gotten way better. I’m going to blame it on the yoga so that I can take credit for it, but your breathing is better, your control is better, and you’re definitely more present mentally. I want to build on that. I wantyouto build on that. I’d much rather see you be an athlete than a fighter.”

And for the first time, it occurs to me that there’s a clear difference between those two things.

“So… what would my training look like then?” I ask, still hesitantly. “Everything the same except no sparring? Can I still hit the bag?”

“Sure. Hit the bag all you want. But when we’re prepping for this fight, I want you to work more wrestling and take more jiu-jitsu classes. And keep doing yoga, if that’s what’s helping your focus. It’ll probably help even more with the jiu-jitsu.”

I don’t tell him that the yogahashelped with both my breathing and flexibility, or that he’d have to pry me away from that class with the jaws of life. But that’s for a different reason that he doesn’t need to know about.

“Okay, I’m in,” I agree. And even though it was his idea, he looks surprised that I signed on so quickly.

“Good,” he says with a stiff nod. “I’ll set it up. It won’t be for a few months because Chevlin’s gearing up for a fight in two weeks, but that just gives us a little more time to get you ready.”

“Okay.” And then, a little gruffly but with a lot less struggle than it used to take… “Thanks, Coach.”

His gaze softens at that. As much as a guy like him can soften. He claps me on the back before walking away, and it occurs to me that if I ever had a real father figure, Coach Dominic would be what I would imagine.

23

ISABELLA

To say I was elated when Kane suggested we hang out between our work schedules is an understatement. I've never known someone with such an opposite schedule to mine, and if I'm being honest with myself, I was getting a little cranky about it. Seeing Kane once a week on a rare night off wasn't enough—not after everything exploded between us. I wanted to get to knowhim, not just have a quickie every once in a while when we had time.

Not that I don't enjoy those. BecauseGod, do I enjoy those.

Even the thought of the hungry look on Kane's face when I open my door in the morning is enough to make my face heat. He doesn't always fuck me as soon as he pushes into my apartment, but when he does—

I shake the memories of the past few days from my head. Kane's about to get home, and although it's obvious that we both love the physical aspect of this… whatever this is, I hate that he thought I only wanted him for sex. I've been making it a point to greet him with coffee the past few days for that reason.

I glance at the clock on the wall. 5:16. Kane should be here any minute.

It didn't take me long to figure out that he gets home way earlier than he originally let on. Six is my usual wakeup time, but when I realized that he was knocking as soon as I started making noise in my kitchen, I started waking up earlier and earlier. Sure enough, I found him walking up the stairs to our floor at 5 a.m. yesterday.

I don’t even mind, I’ll take all the time with him I can get.

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