Brazen and Breathless (Untouchable #6) - Heather Long Page 0,126
I bounced on my feet and jabbed at the air. “Is that when you and I go toe to toe in the ring?”
Amusement flickered in his pale blue eyes as he swept me from head to toe. “Baby Girl, the only place you and I will ever go toe to toe is full contact wrestling. You can spar against me, and I’ll hold the punch mitts for you and I’ll make sure you can land a hit that will hurt. But I’m never punching you back, Baby Girl. That’s just a hard limit for me.”
The gleam in his eyes went from humor to wicked teasing, and a shiver chased up my spine. “Interesting,” I said, and bumped his hip with mine. “We should talk about these limits more.”
“Happy to,” he agreed with a light slap to my ass. “But first, we’re going to work on your stance and punch, then the follow through. When we’re done, I want you to know how to break someone’s nose if you have to.”
“Not their jaw?” I was only half-teasing.
“Nose is easier, and it will half-blind them with pain,” he said and moved right up behind me, hands on my hips as we stood in front of the speed bag. There weren’t a lot of mirrors where we were standing, so it wasn’t like I could meet his gaze as he tightened his grip on me and stepped right up until the erection he was sporting pressed against my ass. “And you’re being a bit of a tease, Baby Girl. Don’t think I’m not paying attention.”
I glanced back and up at him. “I told you I didn’t want to be good.”
He grinned. “Give me an hour, and I’ll give you whatever you want.”
A shudder had my nipples tightening and my thighs clenching. “Promise?”
“Oh yeah.” He winked. “Now…let’s do this.”
I blew out a shaky breath and then rolled my shoulders. I could do this. “I’m all yours.”
He let out the faintest of groans, then nipped my ear. “You will be.”
I really wasn’t sure who won the game of one upmanship here, or if there even were any winners. Either way, I was down to keep playing. For the next hour, though, Jake dialed up the punishment as he drilled me on how to throw a punch. It wasn’t that I didn’t know how, I’d thrown my fair share. But as Jake pointed out, I didn’t train to fight people who were bigger than me.
Guys, as a rule, were all bigger than me. So the way I hit them had to take into account height and weight differences as well as circumstances. Essentially, if I was close enough to hit them, they were too damn close and could hurt me worse. First rule was always to get away. Second rule was to hit them hard enough to let the first rule come into play. Third rule, make a lot of noise while employing the first and second rules.
Despite the way he patiently walked me through everything and then worked with me to get my speed up, an undercurrent of dislike threaded through him. We went longer than an hour. In between giving me pointers, he demonstrated hits on the speed bag next to mine. We went until sweat soaked through my tank and my arms were spaghetti.
“And now I remember why I hate sports,” I complained as he peeled the gloves off my hands.
“You’re going to hurt more tomorrow, Baby Girl, so we’ll make sure we rub those arms tonight.”
“Oh, massage?” I perked up. I might not like going to other people for full body massages, but the guys were awfully good with their hands.
Chuckling, he untaped my knuckles and then pressed a fresh bottle of water into my hands. I’d already drunk a full other one. Despite having dressed for the workout and that the gym was all kinds of chilly, I was still hot and I needed a shower.
Badly.
That and the droplets of water skating down Jake’s chest were utterly lickable.
Hey, I focused for the last—I checked the clock on the wall—ninety minutes. He slid a hand against my nape, and I grimaced. “I’m all sweaty.”
“I like you all sweaty,” he murmured and tugged. Then his mouth was on mine. I forgot all about the sweat and the burning muscles as I wrapped my arms around his neck. The stroke of his tongue demanding entrance had me pushing up on my toes. Desire kindled and adrenaline flooded my tired system. Nipping my lower lip