by Ciz, Alley
“We have a new fighter at the gym.” Rocky was almost reluctant to part with the information.
Becky snorted in the most unladylike way, reading her like a book. “Yeah a fighter,” she sing-songed the last word. “Nice try downplaying the information.” She rolled her eyes as if to say pathetic. “What she means is Gage James is now the newest member of Papa Steele’s prized fighters.”
And that, that right there was why nothing would ever come of her attraction, her crush, on Gage James. He would forever be one of her father’s fighters, and god forbid she do something to jeopardize that.
“Really?” Ryan questioned, turning blue eyes her way, which only had her comparing them to Gage’s bright cerulean ones. It didn’t matter how much she told herself fighters—especially Papa Steele’s—were a no-go, she hadn’t been able to snuff out the flame of attraction.
“Oh, man.” Jake attempted to smother his laugh in Jordan’s neck. “I wish Tuck was here right now.”
“Bro.” Ryan failed to hold back his laughter too. “He would totally be starting a pool on how long it took the two of them to bang.”
“Oh, I’m texting M-Dubs right now.” Becky’s eyes lit with her usual devilish gleam as she pulled her phone out.
“You leave the man whore out of this.” Rocky pointed an aggressive finger at her so-called best friend. The last thing she needed was for the biggest playboy of their group and troublemaker—which was saying something given Becky’s own penchant for mischief—to add his two cents.
“What?” Becky held her hands up in innocence. “I’m just saying. He’s your celebrity crush. He’s been put in front of you. The math totally adds up.”
“What math?” she asked, already regretting the decision.
“That you should bang.”
There was never a wall around when you needed to slam your head against it.
“Don’t you give me that look,” Becky cautioned. “All I’m saying is P plus V equals O. As in orgasm,” she whispered the last. “See…math.”
“Okay,” Jordan said to preempt any bloodshed. “While this has been fun and all, since you guys have my spawn under control, I’m going to go shower. I can’t remember the last time I did.”
“It’s been two days, babe,” Jake supplied helpfully.
The look of shock on Jordan’s face made the rest of them laugh. “Shit. Really?” He nodded in confirmation. “Damn. I lose all concept of time when I work from home instead of going into the office.”
“Come on, babe,” Jake said, putting an arm around his petite wife. “I’ll help you wash your back.”
It always fascinated Rocky how her barely over five-foot friend so effortlessly commanded athletes well over a foot taller than her, but she did so every day. Along with her take no prisoners best friend and business partner, Skye, the two rarely had one of the athletes on their client roster step out of line.
“Gross. I don’t need to be hearing about you having sex with my sister, Donovan,” Ryan grumbled.
“Hey. How else do you think you got that perfect little bundle in your arms right now, huh?” Jordan teased.
“Don’t listen to your crazy mommy, Lu.” Ryan nuzzled his nose against Lucy’s much smaller one. “The stork dropped you both off here and my little sister does not have S-E-X.” He spelled the word like the five-month-old had any clue what he was talking about.
“That’s about as true as me never getting a peek behind the curtain into your sex life with one of my best friends. Oh, wait.” Jordan snapped her fingers. “I’ve read every one of Maddey’s books. She may write fiction, but you can’t tell me you didn’t inspire some of those scenes when you guys dated.”
Ryan blushed but smartly stayed quiet.
Rocky wanted to help him, but knew if she did the focus would fall back on her. It was an actual miracle the whole Gage revelation hadn’t been talked about more. She had no idea how to begin to process her feelings on being faced with her celebrity crush in real life. So for now, mum's the word.
“Now come on, sexy husband of mine. Let’s go have some hot shower sex while other people take care of our children for us. I gotta stock up now, since I have to catch the red-eye to Chicago tomorrow after your game.” Jordan made sure she spoke loud enough for her brother to hear just to torture him as she and Jake walked away.
“Chicago?” Becky asked Ryan.
“I thought Skye was doing all the travel lately to give Jor more time home with the girls?” Rocky added.
“She is. But Tuck has an interview and photoshoot with some magazine. You know she wouldn’t miss anything important involving her BB3.” Jake's best friend had declared himself Jordan's "third big brother" back in college and the nickname had stuck.
“Plus," Ryan continued, "there’s also the issue of Tuck trying to get Skye back in bed anytime he sees her since she slipped and slept with him after the wedding.”
Becky sputtered her sip of wine.
“Your sister’s wedding? The one that was more than a year ago? That wedding?” Becky asked incredulously.
“That would be the one.”
Wow.
Tucker and Skye had had an on-again-off-again friends with benefits situation during their junior year of college, but as far as any of them knew, Tuck hadn’t been successful in talking his way back into Skye’s panties since. Guess her friend had been holding out on them.
As if reading her mind, Ryan said, “To be fair, she only recently confided in Jordan when she asked her if she could handle anything to do with their Fire clients. I’m sure it would have come up at your next Coven meeting.”
“You guys always make us sound so official. Maybe we should get business cards made,” Becky quipped.
“You guys do have matching tattoos.” He pointed to the small black witch’s hat all the girls had tattooed on their right wrists.
“All right.” Rocky passed off the sleeping baby to Becky. “Let’s get you checked out. I still have to go into the city for your brother. You guys are so high maintenance.”
“You love us.”
And she did. Other things in her life may not be settled, but as long as she had her friends, everything else would work itself out in the end. Even if her friends were just this side of crazy.
Chapter Seven
Gage was a goal-oriented person and he had never been more torn in his life.
Make a living as a professional fighter? Start training with Tony.
Be the best in his weight class? Train and work himself up the ranks until he took the belt.
Remain the champ? Avoid all distractions and work through any lingering pain from a past injury.
He had the second part of the equation down to a science, it was the first part giving him issues.
Rocky—AKA the ultimate distraction.
As badly as he wanted to get to know her, the next couple of weeks were spent with him getting his affairs in order from his cross-country move. Besides a handful of times their paths crossed when he stopped by The Steele Maker for maintenance workouts, they didn’t get to spend much time together.
When they'd first met, he thought it would be his libido that would be the problem since his attraction for her was off the charts, but instead it was the overwhelming curiosity he had about her—her favorite movie, how she took her coffee, even the random things, like if she put her socks on left to right.
It was a problem. A big, big problem.
He'd been staying in his cousin's guest room, helping Wyatt and Beth get the nursery in order for when the baby was born. The day before his first meeting with Vic Steele, the broker he'd hired had closed on a three-bedroom condo for him. He’d been so caught up in the other aspects of his life that he hadn’t even seen the place aside from pictures and a video tour. He hadn't been interested in spending time furnishing the place, so he hired a firm and called it a day.
He'd opted to sell his place in California furnished instead of dealing with shipping everything across the cou
ntry. Without even a bed to his name, he had to wait for the decorators to finish doing their thing to be able to move in.
Today was that day.
First though, he had to survive his initial training session with Vic. He was pretty sure he was going to get his ass kicked by his new coach, but at least he’d get to spend the entire day around Rocky. That was a win, even if he knew better.
Becky was leaning against the reception desk, drinking a coffee from an Espresso Patronum to-go cup and talking to Lyle when he walked inside The Steele Maker.
“Hey there, handsome.” Lyle greeted him with a full-body scan. He had grown accustomed to the coffee shop owner's flirtatious banter. He'd had the honor of meeting his husband, Kyle, the other day, and entertaining seemed too tame of a word to describe the encounter.
“I didn’t realize you made deliveries,” he said.
“He doesn’t,” Rocky said, coming from the back of the gym. The sight of her made his body hum. “He only does it so he has an excuse to watch you guys work out.”
Damn, the girl did amazing things for athletic wear. She wore snow white leggings, with mesh sections giving a peek at the skin beneath and tempting him with thoughts of how easy it would be to rip through a particular spot on her upper thigh.
He could see the straps of a matching white sports bra in the wide collar of the loose, black, long-sleeved crop top. He laughed when he read the white writing on her shirt—“Run like you’re late for Platform 9 3/4.” It was clear Lyle wasn’t the only Harry Potter fan in the bunch. It also served as a reminder of yet another thing they had in common.
Her long hair was restrained in a high ponytail and when she smiled up at him while accepting the coffee offering from Lyle, he swore his heart skipped a beat.
What is she doing to me?
He cast a look around the gym. Aside from the handful of paying customers in the regular workout area, he didn’t see any of the other guys he knew trained full-time.
“Lyle’s visit is a little premature today. When he found out you would be sparring later, he may have gotten a tad excited.” Becky held her thumb and index finger less than an inch apart.
“Can you blame me?” Lyle said with a sigh, making both girls laugh.
“Behave, Lyle, but thanks for the coffee.” Rocky held up the paper cup in her hand. “Don’t mess with my guys. Just sit there with Beck and keep the catcalling to a minimum.” She nodded for Gage to follow. “Come on, Gage. Let's get your stuff settled in the locker room.”
He liked being considered one of her guys, regardless of his warnings to himself, but he still hadn’t worked out his feelings on where he stood on the rest of the people he would train with.
He hadn’t been around on a consistent schedule the last couple of weeks, mostly doing his maintenance workouts by himself. Working out here sporadically had afforded him the opportunity to observe the six other full-time guys and he still wasn’t sure how he would fit in to such a close-knit group. Something like that was completely out of his wheelhouse.
After ditching his bag and hoodie in the locker room, he met Rocky in the hallway and they headed back to the main area.
“Do you want me to wrap your hands for you?” She nodded toward the black Mexican-style wraps he held.
“Sure.” He’d take any opportunity to have her hands on him, clearly a glutton for punishment.
They stopped at the empty boxing ring. He tossed one of the wraps down inside it while handing her the other before resting back on the edge of the ring. He braced his feet hip-width apart, allowing her enough space to step inside while she worked, her proximity bringing the blueberry scent he was growing familiar with.
When his leg brushed against the outside of hers, she surprised him by leaning into the contact. It wasn’t as if she avoided him when he'd stopped by lately, but she wasn’t as warm with him as she was with the others. He chalked it up to her having history with them, but again, he had no idea how the group dynamics worked.
She took one of his hands in both of hers, slipping the thumb loop on his finger before wrapping down his wrist and up his hand, the ease with which she worked speaking to years of experience.
“You nervous about today?” There was a mischievous glint in her gray eyes.
“I thought I wasn’t, but something makes me think maybe I should be.”
Her head dropped as she giggled, the sound way more adorable than he would have expected. Adorable? Really? Puppies were adorable, babies even. The word you’re looking for is sexy. You’re losing it, man. At least he wasn’t saying it out loud.
“You’ll be fine.” The way she said the word fine didn’t boost his confidence. “Just be prepared to really be put through the paces.”
She finished wrapping his hand, her thumb smoothing across the long section of Velcro to secure it. Before she could release him completely, he reversed the position, running his thumb along the sensitive skin on the inside of her wrist and over the ink he spotted there.
“What’s it mean?” he asked, continuing to trace the miniature witch’s hat, her arm trembling slightly in his hold.
“It-It’s kind of like a friendship bracelet, except, you know, permanent.”
“The Coven?” He recalled the nickname he'd heard used to describe her friends.
Her mouth, her tempting as hell mouth that he wanted to kiss, tipped into a smile. “Yeah. The guys thought they were funny calling us that, instead, we ran with it. There’s six of us that have it now. Though we're not actual witches, like Wiccan. Just a group of girlfriends.”
He couldn’t say how long they stood like that, her hand in his, before the sound of the front door opening and the voices of the other guys rang out.
The spell broken, she reached for the other wrap and his unwrapped hand and set to work repeating the process. Not wanting to lose all the intimacy they'd started to build, he placed his wrapped hand on the curve of her hip and her eyes widened at the action.
It wasn’t inappropriate contact, anyone looking would think it was a comfortable place to rest it while she finished on the other.
It was what they couldn’t see that would raise a few questions. His thumb stroked across the silky skin of her toned stomach, hidden by the edge of her cropped top. He took immense pleasure in the way her breathing hitched and her pupils dilated at his touch.
It was nice to know the feelings were reciprocated, even if things would be far less complicated for him if they weren’t.
HE WAS TOUCHING her.
Gage was touching her.
And she liked it.
Rocky forced herself to concentrate on the pattern of weaving the hand wrap between Gage’s large fingers and over his knuckles and not on the flash of heat she felt from his thumb exploring her stomach.
She reminded herself he was a fighter and she did not date fighters. Even if the rough calluses on his fingers did feel delicious. She needed to find herself a new celebrity crush immediately. It was the only way she could relegate him into the same category as the other guys she worked with.
She’d never been more grateful to hear Nick and Damon—the gym’s two Boston-born fighters—arguing about how the Bruisers were the superior team in the NHL. Fan loyalties ran deep, regardless of having friends who played for other teams.
Talking. Talking would be good. It would give her something to focus on besides how badly she wanted to know what it would feel like to be carried off by Gage. His large stature was giving her all sorts of ideas about what it would finally feel like to be dainty.
“You know…” A thought came to her as she finished off the last layers of his wrap. “I don’t think I ever asked where you’ve been staying since you made the move out here. Are you staying in a hotel? Renting something?”
Those almost fake-looking bright blue eyes locked onto her with an intensity she hadn’t had much experience with. She shivered beneath his gaze.
“I've been staying with my cousin, but I’m actually moving into my plac
e after I finish here today. It’ll be the first time I’m even seeing the place in person but it’s not too far from here.”
“Oh, yeah? Where?” She finished securing the wrap and stepped back, needing to put some distance between them.
“It's a condo in a building called The Hightower.”
Her eyebrows flew up. No fucking way. “You’re shitting me, right?”
He chuckled at her shocked response, his own brows creating a harsh slash on his forehead in confusion. “Umm…no?”
“I live in The Hightower.” She pointed to her chest. He looked at it. She should stop encouraging him to look at her boobs. But she kinda didn't want to.
“You do?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “Actually, most of us do. I share a place with Beck and Gem. Vince, Ray, and Deck live across the hall from us.”
It was his turned to look stunned.
She missed the weight of his hand when it lifted from her hip to grab the back of his neck. She had no complaints, however, on the way the move made his biceps pop.
She would have thought learning he would be around people he knew—albeit not that well yet—would be a good thing, but the longer she studied him, the more it seemed the opposite was the case. His fingers continued to knead the back of his neck and his jaw was clenched so tight she could practically hear his molars grinding.
“What are the odds?” she said more to herself as a memory worked its way to the surface. There was a third apartment on the floor where they all lived, and over the last few weeks, she recalled seeing various pieces of furniture delivered.
“I guess pretty good since it’s close by.”
“Good point,” she agreed, picking up her coffee. “Your place doesn’t happen to be on the twelfth floor, is it?”
“I think so…I bought 12C.”
“No shit.” Her responses were stuck on repeat. God, why do you hate me? It was bad enough she would have to work with him five days a week, now she’d be seeing him in the elevator and hallway at home too. She was only human. How much temptation was she supposed to endure?
