The One You Fight For

by Loren, Roni

  She held his gaze for a moment, absorbed the words. “Right. You say that like you didn’t think I would.”

  He considered her. “Honestly, I didn’t know. It takes fight to start this kind of workout right after the scare you had on Sunday. But the night I met you…”

  She rolled her eyes. “I ran off the stage like a big chicken.”

  “It wasn’t the running off the stage I was thinking about but more the fact that you said you’d never been onstage at all. You have a great voice. You play guitar. But you’ve never performed?”

  “No,” she said. “That’s not about fight. That’s about practicality. Music was something I enjoyed, but I had more important things to do with my life than writing a few songs or performing. The dive bars don’t need another name in their lineup. My time is better spent on my research.”

  Lucas frowned at her.

  She sighed. “What?”

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Maybe sometimes it’s okay to do something just for fun. Just because it feels good, you know?”

  “Yeah? What would you do just because it feels good?” The words were out before she could evaluate how they could be construed.

  His eyes drifted over her, his expression darkening and making her all too aware of each part of her body. Her skin tingled as if his hand had just caressed her instead of his gaze. His jaw flexed and he looked away. “Never mind. We’re wasting time you paid for. Let’s work on some balance stuff for the last few minutes.”

  He turned to walk toward the other end of the obstacle course, and she hurried to keep up. Only exercise. She was only here for exercise.

  And stress relief.

  Ha.

  When Lucas had looked at her the way he had, she wasn’t sure she’d ever felt quite so keyed up. If she was here for stress relief, this professor was earning a big, fat F.

  Chapter

  Nine

  Lucas directed her up one of the ladders on the far side of the main obstacle course and then joined her on the platform. Ahead of them was a thick cylinder that crossed over a wide foam pit like a bridge. Lightning flashed above through the skylights, illuminating the brightly colored foam blocks below. The pit looked very far down, and Taryn’s nerves ratcheted up. “Um, this seems kind of advanced, Lucas.”

  “It can be, but there are some adjustments for beginners. Balance is a big part of this course, and it’s important for building core strength.” He squatted down and turned a few knobs and flipped a switch. A whirring noise filled the air, and two trapeze bars descended from a contraption above, revealing a narrow track that the trapeze could move along while you walked the cylinder, He dragged one trapeze bar toward her and then toed off his shoes. “We’re both going to go out there on the cylinder and hold on to these. There’s a button on the right side of the bar to control tension. Hold it down and it will lock into the track above, keeping the wire taut, and you’ll get more support. If you release it, it’ll give you more slack, and you can practice your balance. The goal right now is to get you used to the feel of standing on the cylinder and being this high in the air. Take off your shoes and socks. Try to use these muscles.” He put a gentle palm over her abdomen, and she sucked in a breath at the heat of his touch. “Keep your focus there.”

  Oh, her focus was there. Very, very there. “Got it.”

  He moved his hand away, and she took the trapeze bar in her hand. He grabbed his own bar and stepped out in front of her onto the cylinder, walking backward and facing her. Looking entirely too comfortable with being so high up.

  He stopped close to the middle of the cylinder bridge and then demonstrated how to lock it in place. He took one hand off the bar to beckon her to him. “Come on, songbird. You’ve got this.”

  She took a deep breath. “Is now the time to admit I may have a teeny, tiny fear of heights?”

  “Just keep your eyes on me,” he said calmly. “Don’t look down. You’re safe.”

  Taryn wasn’t sure she’d be able to resist looking down, but she took off her shoes and socks and grabbed the horizontal bar above her head again. After one more deep breath, she took the first step onto the cylinder. She immediately pressed the button to lock the tension, testing the feel. The foam was firm beneath her feet but rough enough to give her a sense of grip. She kept her gaze on Lucas, and then she released the button, her hands tightly gripping the bar as she managed a few more steps out. The air-conditioning blew over her, chilling her skin even as her heart picked up speed.

  “Good,” Lucas said in a soothing voice. “Now I want you to get your footing without locking the bar. Try to find your balance without its help. It’s just there for backup.”

  Taryn swallowed hard, the urge to look down tugging at her, but she adjusted her feet and did as she was told. She could feel every leg and stomach muscle working hard as she lifted her arms higher and released more tension in the bar. After a few wobbles, she felt when her body took over and was doing most of the balancing work. She lifted her face to Lucas, who was a few feet farther down the cylinder, and smiled. “Hey, I’m doing it.”

  He grinned. “You are. Before you know it, you’ll be ready for it to roll.”

  “Roll?”

  He pointed down at the cylinder. “Yep. This baby spins.”

  “Holy shit,” she said with a laugh. “Yeah, let’s not do that yet. I’m barely keeping steady.”

  “No worries. I flipped the switch to secure it in place. Try to take a few steps forward. Keep your abs tight and supporting you. Don’t lock your knees. The goal tonight is for you to reach me.”

  Taryn’s confidence was building, and she took a small step. It wouldn’t require too many more to get to Lucas, but before she could take another, a loud crash of thunder rattled the building and the bright overhead lights blinked. Taryn made a startled sound, and she lost her focus, wobbling. She gripped the bar hard and managed not to slip off, but then the telltale whoosh of electricity going off filled her ears. All the lights clicked off. The cavernous space went pitch-black.

  “Lucas!”

  “Hell,” Lucas said from somewhere in front of her. “Hold on. Just give me a second. I’ll come and get you.”

  Lightning flashed, illuminating Lucas and his tense face briefly. Taryn’s blood was rushing in her ears, and she tried to take a step backward toward the platform, but the trapeze was locked in place. “The bar is stuck.”

  “I know. They automatically lock when the power’s turned off,” he said, sounding closer. “I’ll help you back. The emergency lights should come on.”

  But nothing happened. The only light was the intermittent flash of lightning through the skylights. Taryn glanced back during one of the flashes and realized how far she’d gotten from the platform, but she could feel the vibration in the cylinder. Lucas was moving toward her.

  Soon, a hand landed next to hers on her trapeze bar, and the heat of Lucas’s body brushed against her. The shift caused her to wobble, and he quickly wrapped his arm around her waist. “Easy. I’ve got you.”

  His chest was pressing against hers, warm, solid, steady. She wet her lips, somehow feeling both calmed and completely freaked out by his presence. “Thanks.”

  “Now I need you to listen to me,” he said, his breath tickling her hair. “There’s only one way to get off this thing safely right now, and you’re not going to like it.”

  “You need to go ahead of me?” She was picturing some maneuver where he crossed over her and then guided her back or something.

  “No,” he said, his arm firm around her. “We can’t risk walking back to the platform. You would have to let go of the bar, and it’s too dark. If either of us stumble and fall too close to the platform, we could hit the equipment and get hurt.”

  She heard the words but didn’t quite process what he was getting at. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean
the only safe way is down.”

  “Down?” She wobbled with the force of the word. “Oh, hell no.”

  “Listen.” His tone was gentle. “It’s a big pit of soft foam blocks meant to catch us. I’ve fallen in them many times. The only thing we need to make sure of is that we don’t fall on top of each other. We’re going to have to hold hands side by side and fall backward together.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “’Fraid not.”

  She groaned. “I’m going to freaking kill Kincaid. Why couldn’t she drag me to Pilates or Zumba or something? No, no, that’d be too boring. We have to do goddamned acrobatics. In the air.”

  She could almost see Lucas’s smile in the dark. “We’ve got this. Just don’t think too hard about it. I’m going to release you, and you need to take one hand off the bar to hold mine. Side by side, okay?”

  This was definitely not the stress relief Taryn had been seeking, but she gritted her teeth and forced herself to deal. “Okay.”

  “Good. Here goes.” Lucas made sure she was steady and then released her. Keeping one hand on the bar, he tapped her arm with his other. She got the best footing she could, turning sideways and then let her right hand release the bar. Lucas clasped her hand in his, the grip reassuring. “All right. On the count of three, let go of the trapeze and just fall backward with me. We’ll land side by side safely.”

  The thunder rolled outside, matching the rumble in Taryn’s nervous stomach. She did not want to think about the trajectory of things if she lost her dinner up here. “Let’s just get this over with.”

  “You got it. One. Two…” On three, she let her fingers slip from the bar, closed her eyes tight, and gripped Lucas’s hand so tightly that her bones hurt. And then there was nothing beneath her feet. She screamed and air rushed past her ears as she and Lucas fell backward into the darkness. Her back hit the foam, stealing her breath as the pit absorbed them. She sank into the softness. Everything was still pitch-black, and the feel of the foam around her was disorienting. She’d lost her grip on Lucas when they’d hit.

  “Lucas!” She flailed her arms trying to find purchase, panic going through her at feeling buried, foam blocks hitting her face. Which way was up? “Lucas!”

  Finally, two strong hands gripped her upper arms and pulled her up, but she was still writhing around like a caught rabbit, and her momentum knocked him backward. She landed on top of him in the sea of foam blocks.

  She was about to scramble up, but his hands went to her face, stilling her. “You okay? Are you hurt?”

  “I-I’m fine.” His hands were so gentle and he was so warm and solid beneath her that she couldn’t think straight, much less move. “Are you? Okay?”

  “I’m… Yeah.”

  “Good. That’s good.”

  Their faces were inches apart, her hands splayed on his chest, the nearness making her brain go off-line. She could see the storm in his eyes as the lightning flashed, the blue irises gone gray in the dark.

  She swallowed past her parched throat, her heart still pumping from the adrenaline but her blood pulsing with something altogether new. “We should probably figure out how to get up now.”

  “Right,” he said, his gaze not leaving hers. “Good idea. We should do that.”

  But neither of them moved. Her fingers curled into his chest. His hand stayed on her face. His body stirred beneath hers, a very particular pressure growing against her belly. She sucked in a breath at the feel of his arousal, and a deep ache rushed through her. Bravery surged.

  “Or maybe not.”

  “No?” he asked, voice gruff.

  “Maybe sometimes it’s okay to just do something for fun,” she said quietly, repeating his words back to him.

  His jaw flexed. “Just because it feels good?”

  “Yeah.”

  Lucas’s thumb traced her cheekbone, and she knew what was about to happen, knew it was a bad idea, but right now, she didn’t care. She let him close the distance and groaned in relief when his mouth pressed against hers.

  The kiss was soft at first, tentative and seeking, like a gentle slide into a warm bath, but when she let her hand track up his chest and shifted her hips against where he’d grown hard, Lucas made a strangled, needy sound. Their lips parted, and his tongue dipped into her mouth, tangling with hers. A floodgate of need broke open in her, the thin material of her leggings giving her an indecent preview of what Lucas could give her. The kiss turned deep and hungry, and her bare toes curled against the foam blocks. One of his hands slid to her neck, the other to her hip, kneading the flesh there, almost as if he were fighting not to flip her over and put her on her back.

  In that moment in the dark, she would’ve let him. She wasn’t one to sleep with guys she didn’t know well, but she couldn’t remember ever feeling this desperate to be skin to skin with someone. Lucas sat up, lifting her with him, and wrapped her legs around his hips.

  He whispered her name and broke the kiss long enough to tug the loose bandanna from her hair. He tossed it somewhere into the pit, and then he was kissing her again, their chests pressing against each other with only a thin layer of cotton and Lycra between them. Taryn’s nipples tightened at the contact, and heat gathered low and fast.

  She tipped her head back, Lucas trailing kisses down her neck.

  “Please,” she whispered.

  “Tell me to stop,” he said against the curve of her shoulder, his hand tracking up her waist, precariously close to taking this to another level.

  “Don’t,” she said without thought. “Please don’t stop.”

  He groaned against her skin and let his hand travel up her ribs until he was cupping her breast in his big, warm hand. “You feel so goddamned good.”

  The heat of his palm through the thin material was setting every nerve alight, making her body respond with a full-throated chorus of hell yes.

  “Want you,” he said between kisses. “Wanted you from the moment I saw you on that stage singing your fucking heart out.”

  She gasped at the words and at the feel of his erection pressing against her. Want you.

  Yes, please was all she could think. Yes, I’ll take a double order of that. She put her hand over the one he had cupping her breast, encouraging him, rocking her hips without thought. Her brain was spinning, her body burning. She needed this. God, did she need this.

  The doctor had ordered stress relief. This would be a helluva prescription.

  She tipped her head back when he dragged his teeth along her collarbone, and she moaned. “Lucas…”

  His name was a plea, a permission, a Yes, let’s do this right now. But the second the word passed her lips, Lucas froze, his lips still pressed against her, his body going stiff.

  Her thoughts stuttered at the pause, and her eyes popped open. “Lucas?”

  He groaned, a painful sound, as he lifted his head and his hands slid away from her body. “I’m sorry.”

  She blinked in the darkness, trying to get a read on his expression. “What? What’s wrong?”

  He grabbed her waist and gently hoisted her off of him. “We can’t. I can’t… I’m sorry. This is messed up. I’m…”

  “You’re what?”

  “Your trainer,” he said after a beat. “I told you that you’d be safe with me tonight, and here I am, mauling you like a goddamned animal.”

  She stiffened at that. “Last I checked, what was happening was mutual. I didn’t tell you no.”

  “That’s not the point.”

  “What is the point, then? I don’t know what to think when you—”

  A loud whirring sound filled the gym, interrupting her words, and the overhead lights blinked on in a wave of blinding brightness. Taryn winced at the sudden change, the world going fluorescent white for a moment, but when her vision cleared, Lucas was climbing out of the foam pit, a da
rk scowl on his face.

  She awkwardly made her way to the side of the pit, which was like trudging through hip-deep mud, and grabbed the edge. Lucas stepped over and put his hand out to help pull her up. As soon as she was on her feet, he released her hand as if it’d burned him.

  “Lucas…”

  He grimaced and raked his fingers through his hair before lifting his gaze to her. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?” she challenged.

  He waved a hand toward the pit. “For all of that. I can’t begin to explain how out of line I was.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, looking to be in actual physical pain. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  The anguish on his face snapped her out of her own irritation. The guy was clearly beating himself up. Maybe she shouldn’t take it personally. Maybe he had an ironclad code of ethics, and he’d just violated them.

  “Hey,” she said, trying to put lightness in her voice. “It’s not a big deal, okay? I’m a grown woman who makes her own choices. I kissed you back. I was saying yes. We both just got caught up in the moment. It happens.”

  Though she couldn’t remember it ever happening to her. Not like that. Usually if she decided to sleep with someone, the decision was very well thought out. Debates had been had. Pros and cons had been itemized. She was not a get-swept-away-in-the-moment kind of girl.

  Lucas clasped his hands behind his head and let out a long breath. “I can move your training sessions to Rivers or someone else. And obviously give you a refund for tonight and—”

  “Don’t,” she said firmly.

  He looked up.

  “I don’t need my money back. You gave me a full workout before all that, and I like training with you,” she said, going for honesty. “Even with the sadistic streak.”

  He smirked, a glimmer of humor breaking through his grim expression.