He tried to get himself under control, but when had he last so enjoyed himself? “Only because, if you did, it would be my favorite ass-kicking ever.”
Tara narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re still making fun of me.”
He held up his hands. “No, ma’am. I’m telling you the God’s honest truth. Always. Remember?”
Her expression was full of skepticism, and it was fucking cute. It really was. “You want me to kick your ass?”
Jesse turned toward her and leaned in. “No, Tara, but I sure as hell would enjoy you trying.”
Her eyes went wide and she licked her lips. And, Jesus, her gaze dropped to his mouth. It took everything he had not to act on the need both of them clearly felt. But for now, he took great satisfaction in knowing he wasn’t alone in feeling it. “Oh,” she whispered.
“Yeah.”
“So, um, we should, uh, go in. Now.”
He nodded. “You lead, I’ll follow.”
“Right,” she said, a sexy breathiness to her voice. She got out, retrieved her gym bag from the back seat, and came around to join him on the sidewalk that ran along the side of a big yellow-brick building—Full Contact MMA Training Center. They walked in silence all the way to the lobby, where a shiny steel reception counter filled one whole wall. She signed him in as a guest, and then they went down a flight of steps to a large rectangular gym space, open on one side, and housing two eight-sided cages on the other. “Let me introduce you to Coach Mack, and then I gotta go change.”
There were about a dozen people already there, and he and Tara had barely started across the gym before the other club members started calling out greetings to her. A woman with long black hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail jogged over.
“Hey, Tara. I’m glad you made it back in time.”
“Hey. Yeah, me too. It was close though; we came directly from work.” She gestured to Jesse. “Dani, this is one of my co-workers, Jesse Anderson. He’s prior navy EOD. Jesse, this is Daniela England. She was an army nurse and works at University Hospital now. And she’s an all-around badass.”
“I should have you do all my introductions,” Daniela joked, extending her hand. “Hey, Jesse. Welcome.”
“Hi, Daniela. Thanks.”
“I’ll see you out on the floor in a minute,” Tara said to the other woman. “I’m gonna introduce Jesse to Coach.” Dani gave them a wave, but they didn’t quite make it to the benches before one of the men came to give Tara a hug.
“Hi, Tara. Dani said you might not make it,” the man said. Tall with dark hair, the guy had some scars on the side of his face close to his ear.
She smiled at him, and it was clear just in these first few interactions what good friends everyone was. “Hi. Made it by the skin of my teeth. Noah, this is Jesse Anderson. We work together. Jesse, Noah’s the marine EOD I was telling you about.”
“Noah, how are you?” Jesse asked, shaking the man’s hand. And damn if him being EOD didn’t give his scars a whole new meaning.
“Good. Welcome, Jesse. You were EOD, too?”
“Yeah. Navy, though. But we worked with you guys often enough.”
Noah nodded. “Yeah, we did. Good to have you, man. If you need anything or have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. Tara and I are the relative newbies in the bunch, but we’ve been here long enough to help you find your way around.”
“Appreciate that,” Jesse said.
Finally, they made it to where three men were congregated close to the benches. The oldest of them held a clipboard and was giving out assignments to the other two.
“Coach Mack?” Tara asked when there was a pause in the men’s conversation. The coach was maybe ten years older than Jesse and wore full tattoo sleeves down both arms. “Jesse’s a friend of mine and potentially interested in joining.”
The man turned to him. “Welcome, Jesse. I’m John McPherson, but everyone calls me Mack.”
Tara excused herself as Jesse returned the man’s shake. “Glad to be here.”
“Let me introduce you to our assistant coaches.” Coach Mack waved the other two men closer. “Jesse, this is Leo Hawkins and Colby Richmond. You need anything, feel free to ask any of us.” Leo had longish blond hair and solid black bands of ink around both biceps, and Colby had light brown skin and eyes, with close-cropped black hair.
“Will do,” Jesse said, digging how welcoming everyone was. He wasn’t even a part of this yet, but he already got the sense that this was more than a club. It felt more like a community. Given how distant he’d become with his mom and sister, Willa, that had always been one of his favorite things about the military, and it seemed they had it here, too.
Coach Mack glanced at his watch. “Hawk, Colby, why don’t you handle warm-ups while I get Jesse squared away?”