“Financially. I might have a problem with that one. I don’t like feeling like I’m not making my own way.”
“Then you can do some freelance photography if you like.”
“You mentioned taking care of me sexually. It’s part of claiming?”
“I enjoy having you in my bed. I’d like you to be in it every night.”
“That sounds like you’re asking me to move in.”
She catches on quickly. “I am.”
“We’ve spent one night together.”
“I don’t care. I want you there.”
She’s silent.
“Say yes.”
“I don’t know. What if I snore or do things that irritate you?”
“You won’t.” I kiss the side of her face. “Say. Yes. Bonny Bleu.”
“I love hearing you call me that.”
“If you move in, I’ll call you bonny every night.”
“I may only be here a few more weeks if things are wrapped up with Aunt Edy’s estate.”
“Then spend those remaining days with me.”
She bites her lip and squeezes her eyes. “You’re being very persuasive.” She begins nodding. “I guess we can give it a try. Maybe we won’t kill one another.”
“Perfect. Pack what you need for tonight and I’ll send Sterling for the rest of your things tomorrow.”
“You never told me what we were doing today.”
“We’re meeting Leith and Jamie at the gym.”
She puts her hands on her hips. “You want to take me to work out?”
Bleu has an incredibly fit body. “Definitely not. The three of us box, been doing it since we were lads. I thought you might enjoy watching.”
“Nice. I wouldn’t mind seeing a little friendly battle of swinging fists. I might even join in.”
I hope she’s kidding. “No way I’m letting you in the ring with those dickheads.”
She’s grinning. “You think I’ll get hurt?”
I think Jamie and Leith would be too damn scared to touch a hair on her head. “No, it’s not fitting to put a woman in the ring with a man.”
She looks offended. “Really?”
“There’s no match. You’re at least sixty pounds lighter than any one of us.”
“I can throw a pretty fast punch. My opponent never sees it coming.” She sounds as though it’s something she does on a regular basis.
“Today, you observe.” I say it as though I might let her get into the ring at some point in the future, but that’ll never happen while she’s with me.
She grins as she folds a blouse and stuffs it into her bag. “We’ll see.”
* * *
Jamie and Leith are already in the ring when we arrive. They stop midfight to ogle us. This should be fun.
Jamie and Leith know there are things going on between Bleu and me, but I expect both to be completely shocked when I tell them I’ve claimed her.
“Hello, boys,” Bleu calls out as we walk past. She grins up at me and whispers, “You haven’t told them we’ve been spending time together, have you?”
“No.”
“Then this shouldn’t be at all awkward.” She looks at Leith and then back to me. “Are you planning to tell Leith about us while you’re in the ring together?”
Ah. I think she at least suspects he’s into her. “Aye, and I’m telling him I’ve claimed you as well.”
“Why would you do it like this?”
“Leith has a thing for you. If I tell him while we’re wearing the gloves, he can get pissed off and vent so we can get back to good. It’s how we work.”
“You’re going to let him punch you because you won me?”
“Hell, no. He’ll have to earn a hit on his own, but by getting in the ring together, I’m giving him the opportunity. He wouldn’t come by it otherwise.”
She nods. “I get it.”
“You’d be the first woman.”
She smiles. “Have you yet to understand that I’m not like other females?”
“I figured that out the day we met.”
Bleu sits on the bench as I approach the ring. “You didn’t mention you were bringing anyone,” Jamie says.
I climb into the enclosure. No need to discuss who my opponent will be—Leith steps into the role without a word. He slams his gloves on top of mine. “Let’s do this.”
Jamie moves to the corner. “Something going on that I don’t know about?” He’s confused. That means Leith hasn’t confided in Jamie about Bleu.
“No. Sin’s fucked me over again,” Leith says. “But that’s nothing new.”
Completely untrue. “I didn’t fuck you over.”
“Says the mate who’s with the girl I wanted.”
“She isn’t interested.”
“She didn’t have a chance to be. You made sure of that.”
“Bleu met you before me. She’d be with you if she wanted to be.”
“Hello? Right here, guys,” Bleu calls out. “I can hear everything you’re saying.”
I stop foot working and bobbing. “Hit me, Leith. You’ll feel better so just do it and get it over with.”
“Not with a sucker punch. I’m going to beat you fair and square.”
“We’ve never done anything fair and square in our lives.” I resume the defensive stance.
“Come on, mates,” Jamie says. “You’re both being arses.”
“No, Jamie,” I call out. I’m pissed off now. “My best pal wants a real fight so that’s what he’s getting.”
I bob, dodging Leith’s signature right jab. “When you goin’ to learn that punch is predictable coming from you?”
Leith’s an out-boxer fighter. That means he stays out of my reach because he knows when I hit, it’s a potential knockout. He steps in and makes the identical punch again, landing it against my right cheek. I roll my shoulder upward and rub it against my face. Motherfucker, that hurt.
“I don’t guess it’s too predictable since you didn’t see that one coming,” he says, laughing.
He’s slipping, a maneuver to evade my coming punch, but it’s not enough to avoid the left uppercut I land against his jaw. “Just like you didn’t see that one comin’, pal.”
I’m a brawler. I don’t have the finesse or the footwork I had before my amputation but my strength is in the power of my punch. I win with knockouts. Hard ones.
He stumbles backward and shakes his head before stepping in too soon and taking a hook. He closes his eyes and I suspect it’s because he’s seeing stars. “Had enoug
h yet, mate?”
He growls and charges, attempting to trap me in the clinch so I can’t throw a straight punch, but it’s me who pins his arms instead. The clinch isn’t a strong defense position for me because of my amputation. He knows this so he’s using it against me. He means to take me down in front of Bleu.
He uses his foot to sweep my prosthesis off balance. I go down hard and fast before he straddles me and begins punching. “Why do you always have to take everything I want? Every. Fucking. Time.” I have no idea what he’s talking about.
I have to defend myself so I flip him onto his back and land punch after punch against his face before Jamie grabs me beneath my arms and drags me away. “Stop!” he yells.
I stand and adjust my prosthesis so I can regain my balance. Bleu rushes to get between Leith and me, holding me at bay while looking at my nose. “That escalated quickly.”
I feel warmth oozing down my face. I put my glove under my shirt and wipe it away. It’s blood, as I suspected. “This is what we do when we have a problem.” I lean around Bleu and look at Leith. “Except for the part where my best mate uses my prosthesis as a way to drop me in front of a lass.” I wipe at the blood continuing to stream from my nose.
“She knows?” Jamie asks.
“If she didn’t, she would after that cheap shot.” I take my gloves off and pull my shirt over my head so I can use it to stop the bleeding. “By the way, Leith. Bleu won’t be back to work for you at the bar.”
“Why?” He looks at her. “Is he paying you to be his whore?”
Bleu spins around and the peacekeeper becomes the assailant. “Me and you. Gloves off.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not fighting you,” Leith says, laughing.
“You don’t mind insulting a woman but you’re too much of a gentleman to hit one?” I recognize the stance Bleu takes and laugh inwardly. Leith is in deep shit. He has no idea he needs to take the defensive against Bleu, but he’ll get no warning from me.
“Come on. You just saw what I’m capable of doing.”
“I wasn’t impressed.” Bleu delivers a short-straight punch to Leith’s chin, a hit he clearly wasn’t expecting based on his reaction. “You want to know why I chose Muay Thai over the other forms of martial arts and kickboxing?”