Forbidden - Karla Sorensen Page 0,9

just set them off in my belly. From my head to my toes and every inch between was coated in flittering, fluttering, vividly colored, beating wings.

I wanted to douse them in gasoline and light all those little fuckers on fire.

Amy was giving me a weird look because soft-spoken and me did not go together. Ever.

He studied my face for a second, then nodded. “Amy tells me you’ve worked here a while?”

Amy laughed, laying a hand on my arm before I could formulate an answer. “Isabel walked through these doors when she was, what, thirteen? Fourteen? I may not have hired her until she was eighteen, but since the day I laid eyes on that scrappy little girl with a killer right hook, I haven’t been able to shake her.”

My cheeks felt hot again as he appraised me. I gave Amy a slight smile. “She tried, too.”

“Please. I would’ve been crazy to get rid of you,” she said. “She’s the reason we’re doing as well as we are, and don’t let her tell you a word differently. The clients love her, and so do the employees. We all do.”

“Yet you’re leaving,” I heard myself say. My mouth snapped shut because it wasn’t exactly the kind of thing one should say in front of the new owner.

Amy’s eyes watered, and to my abject horror, I felt mine do the same. “You knew this was coming, Iz.”

Slowly, I nodded. “I know.”

When she dropped her chin to her chest, her long, black braids fell over her shoulder, and I heard the quietest of sniffs. The big hulking man watched us carefully, without a lick of judgment in his expression at the display of emotion.

“I’ll give you two a minute,” he said, voice a low grumble that I felt in my bones.

The sound of it, holy hell, I almost shivered. This was so, so much worse than I could’ve imagined.

Amy lifted her head, teeth white and straight as she smiled gratefully. “Thank you, Aiden.”

He dipped his chin, eyes flickering in my direction once more, then disappeared into the office.

As soon as it was just Amy and me, I gestured to the edge of the boxing ring that dominated the center of the main room. She sat first, and I followed.

“I didn’t …” She paused, shaking her head. “I didn’t mean for it to happen this way. To take you by surprise like this.”

I didn’t trust myself to answer just yet, and even worse, I felt my eyes burn at the thought of not working for her.

And Amy, because she’d known me for so long and knew me so well, just kept talking.

“Aiden came in last year. I don’t know if you noticed.”

I snorted, which made Amy laugh quietly under her breath.

“Of course you did.” She shook her head again. “He genuinely wanted a training session, but he was doing some research, too. And when he approached me a few months ago to start negotiating, Iz, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

The air hissed slowly from between my pursed lips. “How did he know you wanted to sell?”

“I mentioned it to a neighbor because he knows a lot of former athletes. Thought he might have insight as to how I could go about finding someone who would be a good fit.”

My hands tightened into fists. “You could’ve asked me.”

Amy glanced at me in surprise. “For your input?”

I swallowed. “To buy it.”

She nudged me with her shoulder. “You got that much cash laying around, Isabel Ward? I know I haven’t paid you enough to be able to afford something like that.”

Lifting my eyes to her, I nodded. “I have a trust fund from Paige that I’ve never touched. Maybe I’m underestimating how much this place is worth,” I admitted quietly, “but I could’ve probably made you an offer.”

Amy sank back against the ropes, mouth slack. “The hell, Ward? You’re loaded, and I didn’t know? I should’ve been letting you pay for the coffee all these years.”

I smiled. “Maybe. She put the money aside for us, but none of us could do anything with it until we were eighteen, and even then, we needed Logan and Paige’s signature to release anything until we turned twenty-five.”

She hummed. “Well, maybe you could’ve made an offer, and maybe not. But his offer was more than what it’s worth.”

“Why do you think he did that?” My eyes wandered back to the office where he sat quietly, waiting for us to finish talking.

“He’s got a huge family, like four or five siblings