PREGNANT AT THE ALTAR

by Claire St. Rose

  “Couldn’t, but then he started making noise. Newt pulled the knife from lost and found as part of his investigation and Foster’s prints were all over it. The DA added assault with a deadly weapon and brandishing a weapon to his list of charges. Overall, he’d have been better off if he’d just kept his mouth shut.”

  “Serves the asshole right.”

  “Yes, it does. See, nobody was out to get you,” she teased.

  “You promised to make me eat crow only once,” he replied, his smile clear in his voice.

  “Okay, I thought you’d want to know.”

  “Anything else?” he asked, detecting a hesitation in her tone.

  “I don’t know how to ask this, but I was wondering…”

  “What?” he prompted when she didn’t continue.

  “I’m still embarrassed that Foster knocked me down, and I was wondering…” she began, her voice trailing off before returning strong and confident. “I was wondering if you’d mind giving me some pointers?”

  “Don’t they teach you that stuff in cop school?”

  She snickered. “Yeah, but there is always more to learn. I’m impressed as hell you took Foster down, twice, once while he was threatening you with a knife, without getting a scratch on you. I’ll be happy to pay you.”

  This time it was Hammer who chuckled. “You don’t have to do that. I’d be happy to give you a few pointers. I teach a basic self-defense class twice a month. I know you’re too advanced for that, but we could use the mat. I know the owner of the place, and he won’t mind.”

  “Is the owner you?”

  He chuckled again. “No. A friend of mine owns the gym where I teach. Canvas. Heard of it?”

  “Yeah. Never been in there, though.”

  “They have a couple of boxing rings and a few mats for training. It’s not a big place, but it’s the only place in town where you can spar in an actual boxing ring.”

  “You’re sure you don’t mind? I’m kind of embarrassed to ask.”

  “Not a bit. What day works for you?”

  “I’m on the seven to three shift for another couple of days, then I rotate to the three to eleven shift for a couple of weeks before I rotate to the eleven to seven for two weeks. Pick something that works for you with that in mind, and I’ll make it work. After all, you’re doing me the favor.”

  “How about tonight, then? Sunday’s are slow, we might have the whole place to ourselves.”

  “What time does it close?”

  “He closes at seven on Sunday.”

  “Not a lot of time.”

  Hammer glanced at the phone to check the time. It was almost five now. “Don’t sweat it,” he said. “Like I said, I know the owner. If we go late, I can lock the place up.”

  There was a pause. “You’re sure you don’t mind?”

  “Stop worrying! Jesus! If you were going to worry this much, why’d you ask?”

  She giggled. “Okay. I can be there in about an hour.”

  “Perfect. Do I need to tell you to wear comfortable clothes?”

  “No. I’ve got workout gear.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you there about six.”

  “Great! Thank you. I’ll buy you dinner sometime.”

  “Deal.”

  She snickered, surprised at his quick acceptance. “Just like that? No arguing?”

  “Why argue? I believe in equal rights for women. Besides, I enjoyed the hell out of dinner the last time.”

  I enjoyed what happened after dinner even more, he thought to himself but said nothing.

  “I like your style,” Lily said. “Let me get my shit together. See you in forty-five minutes.”

  Hammer hung up and walked back into the main room. The game was at the top of the ninth with the Braves up by one. He wanted to stay and see the rest of the game, but he didn’t have time to dawdle. Vanilla rose from his chair and smiled as she stepped aside for him to sit down again.

  He pulled her in and gave her a quick kiss. “Something’s come up, and I’ve got to run.” She knew what that meant, and her face crumbled.

  “You’ll miss the end of the game,” she said with a breathy pout, letting him know that wasn’t all he’d be missing.

  “I know.” He pulled her in and kissed her again. “And worse, I’ll miss the after-game party,” he breathed into her ear, “but it can’t be helped. Maybe I’ll stop by your place later, and you can tell me how the game ended.”

  Vanilla brightened. “I’d like that,” she said as she trailed a finger down his chest. He kissed her one more time. She knew how to roll with the punches, but that didn’t mean he had to be a total asshole.

  “You’re leaving?” Mike asked.

  “Yeah. I have to go do a favor for someone. Nothing to worry about.”

  “Be safe, brother.”

  He grinned and turned to walk out. How could he be any safer? He was going to be with a cop.

  He hurried home, working the bike rapidly through the light traffic, leaving it parked in his drive. Without removing his helmet or gloves, he hurried into his house and dragged his sparring bag out of the closet and threw in his gi. He filled his water bottle from the jug he kept in the ‘fridge, added it to the bag, and then zipped it shut.

  Five minutes after arriving home, he was off again.

  He blazed through town, his workout bag bungeed to the back of his bike. He wanted to get to Canvas early to clear staying late with Motor. He didn’t think Motor would mind, but it was common courtesy to ask first.

  As he expected, Canvas was deserted. He shook his head as he dismounted. He didn’t know why Motor bothered to open on Sundays. Canvas was open noon to ten Monday through Friday, seven to ten Saturday, and noon to seven Sunday. Canvas’ business was slow but steady through the week. During the mornings the hardcore and shift works came in to work out, then his business picked up in the evenings as people with regular nine to five type jobs began to arrive. All day Saturday was a madhouse, with people waiting in line for ring time. The rush dropped off some on Saturday evenings, and that was when he taught his class. Sunday, however, the place was usually a ghost town.

  He stepped off the bike and grabbed his bag. “Motor, you crazy old bastard! You in here?” Hammer roared as he stepped into Canvas.

  Motor was ex-Souls, if you could ever truly be ex-Souls. He had been one of the founding members back in 1972 and had remained a member until 2013 when he’d finally hung up his helmet for good. It was Motor who had brought Hammer into the club as a prospect.

  Morgan Blasick, Motor to his brothers, stepped out of his office in the back corner of the space. Now pushing seventy, he was thinner and grayer, but he still carried himself with the pride and power he once had. “What are you doing here?”

  Hammer smiled. “Someone is going to be here a few minutes for a special session.”

  Motor looked at him, his face twisting in curiosity. “At six o’clock on a Sunday?”

  “It’s when she could make it.”

  “A she?”

  “Yeah. A she. You know, long hair, smells nice, has tits. A girl. You remember those, right?”

  Motor gave him a look. “I’ve probably had more pussy in my lifetime than you’ll ever get. I was your age in the sixties, don’t forget.”

  Hammer snickered. “I have no idea how much help she’s going to want. If we’re going a little long, you want me to lock up?”

  “I could just throw your ass out at closing time.”

  Hammer grinned. “You could. But will you?”

  Motor smiled and shook his head. “Nah, I guess not. Don’t forget to set the alarm.”

  “Yes, Mother. If you want to go early, I’ll be here.”

  Motor nodded. “Maybe I will. You need help getting the mat down or back up?”

  “I got it,” Hammer said as he dropped his bag and walked to the wall where the large mat was rolled up for storage. He kicked his shoes off and started unrolling it. Once it started moving, it almost unrolled itself. It
was folding it back up that was the bitch, but leaving it out to be walked on with shoes would destroy it in short order.

  He gave the mat one last kick to finish unrolling the twenty by twenty padded surface when he heard the door open.

  Both men turned as Lily stepped in.

  “Jesus Christ. Is that her?” Motor asked softly as she approached.

  “Yep,” Hammer replied and then waited for Lily to reach them. “Lily Donovan, Morgan Blasick. Morgan, Lily. Morgan owns Canvas.”

  “Nice to meet you, Mr. Blasick,” Lily said, offering her hand.

  “Call me Morgan,” he replied, taking the hand. “Hammer said you’re looking for a few pointers on self-defense?”

  “Yeah,” she said as her face heated up, not wanting to admit why she felt like she needed them.

  Morgan nodded. “He’ll be able to help you. He can probably take any man in town, one-on-one.”

  “Really?”

  Morgan nodded and Lily could see the pride in his eyes. “Oh yeah. He was the Southeast regional Brazilin Jujitsu champion. He might have taken national if he’d gone.”

  “Why didn’t you go?” she asked, looking at Hammer.

  “Uncle Sam called.”

  “Oh. Then I’m in good hands I guess.”

  “The best,” Morgan said with a confident nod.

  Morgan looked at Lily again. Hammer knew what the old guy was thinking—while it may be true that Motor’s had more pussy than him, Hammer would bet on none of them being as prime as Lily.

  “I’m an old man, and I need my rest, so I’m going to leave you to lock up. Don’t let him forget to set the alarm,” Morgan said, looking at Lily again.

  Hammer chuckled. He forgot to set the alarm one time, and Morgan hadn’t let him forget it since.

  Lily glanced at Hammer as he chuckled. “I won’t,” she replied.

  “Good, then I think I’m going to call it a night a little early,” the older man said as he turned to walk away.

  “Thank you for letting me use your place on such short notice!” Lily called and then grinned when Morgan waved his hand without slowing down or turning around.

  Lily looked around Canvas. It was a long thin open room with a pair of boxing rings in the center of the space. The building was older but was clean and neat, its exposed brick walls and open ceiling making it feel like a place where sweaty men toiled. Along one wall was a section of free weights and along the other was a series of speed and heavy bags, and jump ropes hanging on pegs. At the back was an office and a door that led to what she assumed were the locker room and showers. The room was windowless, but the bright spots in the ceiling provided plenty of light.

  She toed her shoes off and joined Hammer on the mat that was squeezed into a space between the wall and one of the rings. “What’s first?”

  “First, we change,” he said as he shrugged out of his Immortal Souls jacket, then the rest of his clothes, before tossing them over the lowest of the ring ropes. Wearing only underwear, he pulled a pair of loose looking pants from his bag. She could see there was a matching jacket as well, but he left it in the bag.

  “Are you changing or not?” he asked as he skinned out of his briefs and pulled on his workout pants.

  She’d become mesmerized while he’d undressed right in front of her, completely at ease with her seeing him naked. And why should he be? Three days ago he’d seen everything she had to offer, and she’d done the same.

  “Sorry, got distracted there for a moment,” she teased then pulled her own shirt over her head and tossed it over the rope beside his clothes. She then slid out of her pants and added them to the growing pile over the rope. He was bouncing lightly on his toes, loosening up as she turned to face him, dressed in her athletic bra and running shorts.

  “You ready?” he asked, still bouncing, then became still.

  “I hope,” she said. This was going to harder than Lily thought. He was distracting as hell, and she wondered if he would mind putting a shirt on so she could concentrate. She smiled.

  Fuck concentration.

  She wanted his shirt off.

  Chapter Seven

  Lily grunted as Hammer slammed her to the mat again. She was getting mighty tired of him manhandling her ass every time she tried to do anything. Worse, she had the distinct impression he was holding back and going easy on her.

  “Remember, when I come at you, you need to use my momentum against me, right?” he reminded her. Again.

  “Yeah, I know,” she muttered as he reached down and offered her a hand up. “It just goes against everything I learned to allow you to knock me down. That was stressed over and over. If your attacker gets you down, you’re in deep shit.”

  “I understand, but when your attacker is bigger and stronger, than you are, you can’t win in a contest of strength. You use their power against them to take away their advantage, then you go medieval on their ass.”

  She giggled. Hammer really was a great teacher. He was patient and funny and good at making her failures seem like progress. She was sweating like a horse, but at least Hammer had a sheen of sweat as well, and goddamn did that make him sexy. She took her set as he had shown her and got ready for him to charge her again.

  This time, dammit, she was taking his ass down.

  She licked her lips in anticipation. Of course, she’d said that every time they’d done this, and he was still bouncing her ass off the mat.

  “Take a break,” he said as he stepped off the mat. “I’m going to lock the door.”

  He walked to the door and locked it. Lily was a good student, fearless and willing to learn, but instincts were a bitch to overcome, and that was what she was struggling with now. She was getting there, though.

  Because she already knew the arm lock he was going to teach her, he’d shown her how to use her opponent’s strength and momentum against him to take him to the ground. When they went slow she could do it, but when he pressed her, she fell back on her instincts and tried to muscle him. That wasn’t going to work, and every time she tried it, he put her ass on the ground as a reminder.

  Lily was putting aside her water bottle as he returned. Her sports bra was soaked through, and trickles of sweat were running down her bare stomach and face. Hammer wanted to lick her clean and felt another stirring in his cock, but he forced the thoughts aside. He’d been involved in some very intimate clenches with his female students, and he had become good at tamping down his desires and not getting an erection. Of course, that was in a class full of other women, and he hadn’t fucked any of them. Lily was proving to be more of a challenge.

  “Ready to go again?” he asked as he stepped back on the mat.

  She took her set then flicked two fingers on each hand at him, calling him to her. He liked her attitude. He grinned as he stood loose and ready so she wouldn’t know when he was coming for her.

  To be such a big man, Hammer moved with explosive power and speed. If she could ever handle him, she could handle anyone. As he reached her, she sidestepped slightly, sliding her arm under his and grabbing him up high for leverage, while at the same time, grabbing his wrist with her other hand to control him. She tipped away from him, turning him hard as she fell back, using her weight to change his direction. She felt his balance shift, and they were falling.

  Her back hit the mat hard, but she hung on as Hammer’s weight and speed drove him downward. He landed with a thud that she felt all the way to her bones, but she was already scrambling onto her knees, twisting his arm up and back to apply pressure to the elbow. This was a move she knew and was comfortable with, and she knew the moment his arm began to come around behind him, she had him.

  “How’d that feel?” he asked as she pinned him down.

  She turned him loose, jumped to her feet, and began to bounce on her toes with her fists in the air as if she had just won a championship fight. She stopped bouncing as her fists came down. “It felt fucking great! I could tell the moment you lost your balance. That’s going to rea
lly hurt without a pad to land on.”

  “Oh yeah,” he said with a grin, enjoying her triumphant reaction. “They’re going to be slow getting up from that because it’s a hell of a body slam.”

  “Can we do it again?”

  “Full speed this time?”

  She felt herself flush hot, embarrassed that she may have been celebrating prematurely. “It wasn’t the last time?”

  He grinned. “That was about seventy-five percent, and I didn’t try to prevent myself from falling.”