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When I come up for air, I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, my gaze finding her again unerringly.
She moves around the bag like it’s her prey.
Quick feet. Never staying too long in one spot. Beating the hell out of the bag so that it swings wildly from the chain.
“Should we see if she’s okay?” I ask because something about her calls to me.
Beneath the brutal assault on the bag, I sense her pain.
That’s one emotion I’m intimately familiar with.
I don’t know why, after everything her family’s done, but the glower on her lovely face leaves me restless. Itching to do something to make it better.
Whatever it is.
“I don’t think now’s the right time, G,” Alex says and leans over the water fountain for his own drink.
I wasn’t terribly social as a kid, preferring books to barbecues. Being a misunderstood brainiac caused plenty of problems in my blue-collar household. My brothers thought they could beat the nerd out of me. My dad tried.
Alex is probably right.
Computers are usually more my speed. Data—that I understand. But when it comes to women, well, I lean into my bachelor status. I’m only going to live once, so why not take advantage of all life has to offer?
Across the room, Katherine cozies up to the bag, driving her fists into it in rapid fire. It’s a vicious attack, up close and personal, and my ribs ache in sympathy.
When I glance over at my long-time best friend, he’s watching her carefully, his brown eyes tracking every movement. Alex has always been watchful and focused on details. Those traits made him an excellent soldier, a great bodyguard, and a ruthless businessman.
I should probably listen to him because when it comes to this woman, I’m never thinking clearly.
But leaving her in distress like this just doesn’t sit right.
“What did that bag ever do to you?” I ask as I approach, basketball perched on my hip. Even though my words are teasing, I know instantly it was the wrong thing to say.
Or maybe it’s that I’ve said anything at all.
I can almost see her back bristling as she pauses for a beat, glancing my way, then refocuses her efforts on the punching bag. Her fists come up in a classic boxing position, and she gives a one-two jab. “What are you doing here, Gabriel?”
Her chest is flushed a rosy pink, the lightest sheen of sweat clinging to her cleavage. Tendrils of damp, flame-colored hair cling to her temples. But her tone is dripping with disdain.
“I live here,” I say, watching her reaction to those words.
She doesn’t lose her focus.
“In the gym?”
The quick comeback makes my lips twitch.
“Upstairs.”
“That’s right. I heard something about that. Buying the whole top floor.” The way she lifts her brow says that was a little much.
Her feet shift on the rubber mat, quick steps taking her away from me as she slugs the bag. I’ve never seen this barely controlled lioness before.
And it makes me wonder what she’d look like after a long session in my bed. Beneath me, on top of me, full of my cock, and covered in sweat.
Fuck. Now is not the time to think of that. Gym shorts don’t conceal anything.
“Keeping tabs on me, Princess?”
