“How do you know?” He moved his arm just enough to look over at me.
“Because I’ve had lots of bad ones.”
“Have you ever tried teaching?”
I thought about his question. “Sort of.”
He rolled over to his side, his elbow supporting his head. “How does one sort of teach?”
“Well… I did some coaching. And I made some videos.”
Interest lit his green eyes. “What kind of videos?”
I laughed. “Not the kind you’re thinking of.” Then my grin faded. All the videos I’d made—ones on proper breathing techniques, stretching, yoga positions—all of them had been taken down. It was as if I’d never even existed—or at least my online persona hadn’t.
Ford didn’t know about that, but he looked sympathetic anyway.
I didn’t want him to ask any more questions about that. “Ready to run?”
“Run?” He raised his eyebrows, which looked weird since his head was sideways. “Have you even looked outside?”
Yeah, I had, on the walk over here. It was a normal day. Hot. Sunny. Looking like it never rained. “Yeah, why?”
“It’s windy as hell. Maybe that’s not a huge problem here with all the buildings around, but as soon as we get out in the open, it’ll be like trying to breathe through a dust devil. Unless you have a gas mask handy, I suggest we stay in here.”
“Oh. Okay.” Now that I thought about it, it had been pretty windy.
“If it doesn’t let up, we might have to cancel the bonfire tonight.”
His words took a moment to register. “Bonfire?”
“Yeah, we have one every Friday night when we shoot outdoors like this. It’s fun… good food, good booze… though I suppose after Wednesday night, you might want to take a break from that.”
“I wasn’t that drunk.” I frowned as I stretched my legs out in front of me. “I was hoping to get a good run in today since yesterday wasn’t my best.” I needed to move my muscles, and I had to admit, I kind of liked spending my mornings with Ford.
“Don’t look too disappointed. I figured we could work out in here. There’ll still be a lot of opportunities for you to check out my ass.” He did that little flip thing like yesterday and landed on his feet, reaching a hand down to me.
“Thank God. That’s the only reason I come here.” Ignoring the hand he held out, I got to my feet in a quick, fluid movement, not using my hands to push off of the mat. It wasn’t as cool a trick as his flip thing, but I didn’t know how to do that.
“I figured as much.”
“Did it ever occur to you that I’m not as impressed with your body as you are?”
“No.” He grinned and walked over to a table to take a long drink from his water bottle. “Want to fight?”
“Over how good-looking you are?”
He laughed and gave me a genuine smile. “No, I meant in the ring. Ever boxed before?”
I shrugged. “A few times, but it’s not really my thing.”
“What is?”
I thought it over. Over the years, I’d taken a few classes in karate, Jiu-Jitsu, and taekwondo. Oh, and self-defense, but I didn’t want to incapacitate Ford by kicking him in the balls. Now Aiden, on the other hand…
Ford filled the silence. “Let’s just spar a bit, freestyle, and see what happens.”
“Like what, a bloody nose?”
He chuckled. “No hitting faces or below the waist.” He glanced down. “Especially since I’m not wearing a cup.”
We moved over to the ring where he and Roger had sparred. Ford helped me lace up the boxing gloves. They were big and bulky and heavier than I was expecting. I wished I didn’t have to use them, but since we’d be hitting each other—although none too hard, I was sure—I guess I had to.
“Do I need a safe word?” I asked as Ford walked over to a table by the wall. When he returned, he had something in his hand and a gleam in his eye.
“Not here.” The way he said it made me think he wouldn’t mind my needing one in a different context. “Open up.”
Confused, my eyes dropped to what he held out in his hand. A mouthguard. “That better not be the one Roger used.”
“It’s clean and sterilized. The rule is, safety first around here.” He slid the guard into my mouth, situating it over my teeth. His fingers were warm as they brushed my lips. Then he put his own guard in and deftly laced up his own gloves. I didn’t know people could do that by themselves, but he didn’t have much of a problem with it.
I walked over to the sparring area and did a few stretches. I was about to fight a trained stunt man—a stunt man who trained others in fighting techniques—and I hadn’t even had any caffeine yet. I jumped up and down, trying to rev myself up. Almost instantly, I felt the pull of the altitude. I also noticed Ford’s eyes on me as I jumped. I had on a sports bra and tight shorts. My ponytail bounced up and down as I warmed myself up, and I was fairly sure that wasn’t the only part of me that did.