MY PROTECTOR: The Valves MC

by Kathryn Thomas

  “Let’s do it.” Adriana plants her feet as Grayson has taught her and gives him a determined look.

  “Alright, but be careful, you don’t want to—” Grayson doesn’t have a chance to tell her what she should be careful of before she lands him on the mat.

  He looks up at her in shock, his eyes comically wide in surprise. “You cheated!”

  “Umm, actually I think you’ll find that she just handed you your ass in front of the whole gym.” The note of satisfaction in Tommy’s voice is unmistakable, and it makes Adriana giggle. Tommy holds his hand up for a high five, and she obliges, feeling pretty slick.

  “Okay, so you’ve got that one down. Let’s see how you do with something a little tougher.” Grayson plants his feet and starts showing her another move, a Muay Thai punch. Then, they move onto another and another. It’s not long before they’re the focal point of the entire gym.

  “Back to work, guys.” West’s commanding voice encourages them all back to whatever they should be doing, and it cuts through Adriana’s concentration. She looks at the clock on the wall, almost an hour has gone past since Grayson had started showing her the flip.

  “I guess I should let you get on with your training.” Adriana takes a step back from Grayson, needing that physical distance from him. The smell of his maleness and his nearness was a heady mixture. It threatened to completely overcome her.

  “You’re really good, Adrie.” She’s about to tell Grayson not to humor her, but there’s no mistaking the expression on his face; he’s seriously impressed.

  “Good teacher I guess.” She shrugs off the compliment, just as she always does.

  “Stick around. We’ll take a break for lunch in a little while.” It’s not a request, and the way that Grayson looks at her makes her feel like she’s going to be the one on the menu. She feels her knees go weak and reminds herself that’s exactly why she can’t stay.

  “Thanks, but I have um…plans for lunch.” Adriana looks anywhere but at him, not wanting to get into this now.

  Grayson frowns at her, like he knows she’s hiding something. “Coach, I’m gonna walk Adrie to her car.”

  West nods curtly and throws her a look. “And Adriana, if you ever think about going pro, you know where to come.”

  She smiles at the sweetness of the older man. “Thanks West, you’ll be the first to know.” She turns to Grayson, not wanting to spend any more time with him, especially not alone and away from the prying eyes of his buddies. “You really don’t have to walk me.”

  “I know I don’t have to. I want to.” The words are said so gently and so simply that all of Adriana’s objections fly out of her head.

  As they head outside, she concentrates on putting one foot in front of the other and not on the smell of him, the heat of him, and the memory of his hands on hers, as he showed her the flips, kicks, and punches.

  “I’m glad you came.” The sincerity in Grayson’s eyes mixed with the unimpeachable gorgeousness of the man is almost enough to crumble her resolve. “So where are you rushing off to?” The question seems casual, but the way he narrows his eyes at her is anything but.

  Adriana gulps, she had hoped to avoid this conversation, but there’s no point in lying. If they were friends, then these things were bound to happen. “I have a lunch meeting.” She hopes that she’s not blushing like Willow tells her she does when she’s not telling the whole truth.

  “A lunch meeting? On your day off?” He looks askance at her, clearly not buying her story.

  “It’s a date, a lunch date.” She doesn’t look at him, as she admits to her deceit, and once she’s started she can’t stop. “A colleague at the hospital, he’s been asking me out for a while now. I guess I figured, why not?” She can’t look at Grayson as she says the words, but she can feel his shoulders slump at her words.

  “Right, why not?” The sarcasm in his voice is clear, but he seems to pull himself together. “This guy, you like him?” The words sound like he’s forcing them out, like it’s not a question that he really wants to hear the answer to.

  Adriana shrugs noncommittally. If she’s being honest, the answer is not really; but, the doctor had been persistent, and she’d run out of reasons to say no. Aside from that, Willow had threatened her with indescribable pain if Adriana didn’t ‘get out there’ as she had put it. So, that’s what she was doing. She was getting over Grayson. It was the only sane thing that she could do.

  But she doesn’t say any of those things. “He’s nice.” It sounds so banal, so ordinary as the words are out of her mouth, but it’s not untrue.

  Grayson looks at her as if she’d just punched him. “You deserve to be with someone that’s good to you.” His voice is husky as he looks at her, and there seems to be so much more that he wants to say.

  She feels her heart break a little at the expression on his face. She had assumed that he didn’t care enough about her and that’s why he’d never stuck around, but the way he’s looking at her now tells a different story. That’s what got you into this mess in the first place, Adriana, she reminds herself. Trust what you know, not what you think you can mind read.

  “Thanks, but it’s just lunch.” Adriana brushes away his comment. She needs to get into her car and drive away right now. Otherwise, the way that Grayson is looking at her is going to take all her strength of will away. “Thanks for walking me.” She smiles at him gratefully, resisting the urge to reach up and smooth the frown furrowing his brow.

  “Sure.” Grayson concentrates on the ground in front of him as if he’s seeing something intensely interesting there.

  “What is it?” She curses herself for not taking his word as a goodbye, but how could she when there was so clearly something on his mind?

  “Nothing, it’s no big deal. I’d just wanted to ask you something today. But…it doesn’t matter. You should get going.” He smiles at her bravely and starts to back away.

  “Tell me. What did you want to ask me?” The question catches in her throat, and she wishes that she weren’t so desperate to know, but she is. That’s the sad truth of it. She would always care about what Grayson had to say to her.

  “It’s stupid really,” he says, waving the thought away.

  “Grayson Christopher Fletcher. Since when are you shy?” She plants her hands on her hips, wondering what’s made him break out in that goofy smile suddenly.

  “You’re the only that calls me that outside of my sister.” He chuckles lightly to himself, and the levity of the moment has broken the tension. “There’s this winner’s party in a couple of days…my new sponsors are throwing it. I wanted to ask if you’d come with me…as a friend.”

  Adriana’s jaw drops, and she makes an effort to close it again before a bug flies in. “Well, umm, I don’t know if that would be such a good idea.” She wrings her hands nervously, knowing that there’s no way she can go to a function as Grayson’s date and see all the other women fawning over him.

  “The whole black tie thing is so not my scene, but I have to go. It would be really nice to have a friend there. Someone who thinks the whole thing is as much of a pain in the ass as I do!” Grayson tilts his head, looking at her with his soulful dark eyes that just kill her.

  “Isn’t there anyone else you want to ask? You know, like a date.” The words turn to ash in her mouth, but she has to ask. After the display of women in his dressing room the other night, it’s perfectly clear that he could have his pick. She didn’t want to be anyone’s consolation prize.

  “There’s no one else I’d rather go with.” The certainty in Grayson’s voice sends the memories of that brunette draped over him flying out of her head. “Besides, I don’t date.”

  He doesn’t date, Adriana thinks. Of course he doesn’t, that’s why she was standing here trying to convince herself that the one night they’d had together was more than just that.

  “And I don’t have anything to wear to a function like that…” Adriana stops as she realizes how pathetic her excuses are
getting.

  “You could wear a brown paper bag and still be the most beautiful woman in the room, Adrie.” Grayson says the words as if they were a statement of fact, and he completely floors her, rendering her literally speechless. “So what do you say, Adriana? Will you go with me and make it a little more bearable?”

  Adriana swallows hard. The look he gives her is so sweet. Plus, with that devastating smile of his, he’s really pulling out the big guns. No matter how she tries to pretend otherwise, she’s powerless to say no to him.

  She smiles with a confidence that she doesn’t feel. “Do I get to see you in a monkey suit?”

  “And you’re free to give me as much of a hard time about it as you want.” His eyes flash with humor.

  “Then, how can I say no?” How indeed, she wonders.

  “Great. I’ll send you the details. They’re sending a limo,” Grayson makes a face to tell her exactly what he thinks of the ostentatiousness of that, “so, I’ll pick you up from your place.”

  “Great.” Adriana nods enthusiastically, asking herself how she managed to get herself into this position.

  “Have fun on your date, Adrie.” Grayson sounds as serious as her father would’ve been if he’d ever had the opportunity to say the same words to her. “But not too much fun. Don’t do anything I would.” The tone of his voice suggests that he’s only half-joking, which makes her even more confused.

  She fumbles her car key into its lock. “Hold on a sec. This is your ride?” Grayson looks at her in consternation.

  “Yeah, did you think I was trying to break into a stranger’s car with my keys?” She waves the collection in his face, snatching it away again as his eyes settle on the embarrassing photo of her and Willow that makes up her key-ring. Willow had given it to her as a joke from some photo booth pictures they’d taken together the first year they lived together.

  Grayson shakes his head, pointing at the red sports car on the other side of her. “I thought that was your car.”

  Adriana raises an eyebrow; it would probably take up most of her salary just paying for the insurance on that thing. “You clearly aren’t up to speed with what nurses make!”

  But Grayson doesn’t laugh. “This car is a deathtrap. Seriously, how old is it?”

  Adriana lifts her chin. She’s been looking after herself for a long time, and she doesn’t need to be told by some guy that her car is a piece of crap. She already knows that, but it is her piece of crap. “My dad gave it to me, and I drove it up here from Philly. It may not be quite up to your new standards, Grayson; but, I knew you when the only set of wheels you had were on a bike!” She crosses her arms, giving him a look that would melt the polar ice caps.

  “Easy there, tiger.” He makes calming gestures to her. “I was just trying to say that it doesn’t look all that safe. I’m concerned about you driving around in something that looks like a coastal wind would knock it into oncoming traffic!”

  Adriana wonders if it’s possible that Grayson will ever stop surprising her. She had thought he was being all hoity-toity, but he was really just worried about her. “It’s fine, Gray. It’s not something you have to worry about. The car’s like me; we’re tougher than we look. Or do I need to get you back on those mats to remind you?” She gives him a knowing look and feels herself go all warm and fuzzy as he turns his genuine, boyish smile on her.

  “No, no, I’m covered on that front, Adrie.” The awkward moment has passed, and they’re both relieved that it’s over. “Just drive safe, alright?” He looks at her from under his frown.

  “I always do.” She locks eyes with him, and her heart skips a beat. She’s no longer sure if she’s talking about driving or herself anymore.

  “G! Coach is threatening to come out here and drag you inside if you’re not back in the ring in one minute!” It’s one of the younger fighters who had wolf-whistled at Adriana. He’s breathing hard, as if West has put the fear of God into him.

  “Goddammit.” Grayson snarls the word, frustrated, under his breath.

  “You should get back.” Adriana nods towards the kid who is still watching them, as if he’s expecting Grayson to disappear into thin air and then have to explain to West why he wasn’t in the ring within the stated time.

  “Yeah, sure looks that way.” Grayson scratches his head ruefully. “I’ll see you later?” He seems to hesitate then; but, he makes a decision and follows through with it. He reaches out, his arm encircling her shoulders, and he kisses her gently on the cheek. It’s a chaste kiss that Adriana tries to convince herself is purely platonic, but the expression in his eyes is anything but.

  “See you later.” Her words are a whisper, as she tries to recover from the nearness of him. She watches him head back to the gym and eventually disappear inside, wondering if she’s ever going to feel the way she has felt about him for the longest time for anyone else. After ten years, it’s not seeming particularly likely. Not the best headspace to be in just before a date, she thinks wryly.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  GRAYSON

  “She’s going on a date and you’re cool with that?” Tommy looks at his friend as if he’d just grown two heads.

  “Do I look like I’m okay with that, Tommy?” Grayson’s expression at that moment is telling everyone between him and the punching bag to get out of his way. He needs to pummel something and imagine it’s the head of whatever doctor has got his claws into Adriana.

  “So why did you let her go?” Tommy doesn’t read between the lines enough to see that Grayson doesn’t want to be asked any more questions.

  “Because I don’t have any claim on her, slick. That’s why.” Grayson battles to keep his anger under control as he starts laying into the punching bag, taking out all his frustrations on the inanimate object.

  “You’re Grayson ‘The Punisher’ Fletcher! You can make women do whatever the fuck you want!” Tommy looks at him in confusion.

  “It’s not like that with Adriana, Tommy. She’s not just some bimbo MMA-hanger on. She’s…different.” Grayson leans against the bag, enjoying the feel of the burning in his muscles, but it hasn’t done anything to temper the jealousy running though his blood at the thought of Adriana with another guy.

  “Oh man, you’re in trouble!” Tommy shakes his head in amazement. “You’re totally into this girl! Why don’t you do something about it?”

  “It’s not as simple as that, Tommy!” Grayson’s famous lack of patience is wearing thin.

  “So, you don’t like her?” He levels an unblinking look at Grayson, ignoring the storm clouds in his friend’s face. Grayson remains silent. “So, you do like her, but you don’t have the balls to do anything about it!”

  “She’s coming to the Royale party.” The words serve as a sort of balm on Graham’s damaged heart. He’d have her to himself for a night. Yeah, right, to himself along with three hundred other people.

  “So, you asked her out.” Tommy’s expression shows just how little sense this all makes. Grayson’s not unaware of the fact that his behavior around Adriana defies convention. The Adriana Effect.

  “As a friend.” Grayson lets off another volley of punches onto the bag.

  “You’re not friends with girls like that. No one is friends with a girl like that!” Tommy throws his hands up in despair at Grayson. “And you don’t spend time with a girl if it’s not in bed!”

  “Like I said, Adriana’s different.” Grayson leaves out the fact that she’s the only thing in his life that has made sense from the first moment, that she’s haunted his dreams for almost a decade, and that the only time he feels right is when he’s with her.

  “Cut it out, Tommy. Unless you want to be the next thing that Grayson is beating the crap out of.” The warning in West’s voice is enough to shut Tommy’s trap. “Now go and do some laps.”

  “How many?” Tommy sounds like a sullen adolescent told to go do his chores.

  “I’ll let you know.” West’s response is flat and totally unimpressed. Only
when Tommy starts running around the immense gym does he approach Grayson.

  “I can hear you thinking, coach. Something on your mind?” He grunts as he does a one, two punch on the sandbag, followed by a roundhouse kick.

  “Funny, I was just about to ask you the same thing.” West gives him a serious look.

  “Don’t you start too, West.” Grayson takes a swig from his water bottle, before dropping to the floor and doing press-ups as if the fate of the civilized world depended on him completing his set. “You’re the one who persuaded Adriana to come to the fight. I thought you’d be happy!”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about. The only thing I will say about that girl is that she’s good for you, but that’s all.” West gestures as if to draw a line under what he’s just said. “What I’m concerned about is the fact that you’ve been pricklier than a bear with a pineapple stuck up its ass since the fight. You mind filling me in on why?”