Hunger Awakened

by Charlene Hartnady

  “Okie dokie!” Magg’s smile was far too bright for her liking.

  AdventurousSpirit

  Well hello, MissHopeful,

  Great name by the way since I’m a happy-go-lucky guy. I’d love to take you out for a burger and fries sometime. That or we could meet for a drink, or coffee. Would love to talk. You have amazing eyes and a great smile. I’d like to get to know both you and Oliver better.

  Hoping he’ll give me a chance :)

  “That’s really sweet,” Maggie gushed. “I love the Oliver reference.”

  “You date him then.” Vicky laughed.

  “You have to admit, he sounds charming,” Her PA gushed some more.

  “Yeah, he does.” Maybe a little too charming. “Let’s take a look at what LookingForLove has to say.”

  “Okay then.” With a few more flicks of the wrist, Maggie brought his message up.

  LookingForLove

  Good day, I'm also pragmatic and love the color blue. Was hoping we could meet up sometime. I'm free after 19h00 weekdays, from 14h00 on Saturday and all day on Sunday. Hope to hear from you.

  “Dull, dull, dull.” Maggie shook her head. “It’s up to you though. You can message your own guy. Pick one of these two or wait to see what else comes in.”

  It irritated Vicky how often she had thought about Talon during the course of this conversation. It was clear that he was stuck in the past. Even if he wasn’t, she wasn’t going there. Her rule was now firmly in place. It was time.

  What to do.

  What to do.

  “It’s not that big of a deal. I suggest you meet whoever you choose for a drink, you can always go to dinner if you like the guy or cut the date short if you’re not sure.”

  “Let me think about it.”

  Maggie narrowed her eyes at Vicky. “Like for the next six months to a year? You said you were ready.”

  “I am, but I need—”

  Maggie’s hands flew over the keyboard and before Vicky could say or do anything to stop her, she pushed send.

  “What did you do?” Vicky yelled. “What the hell did you just do?”

  “Relax.”

  “I will not relax.” Hyperventilate maybe. Relax, never.

  “Calm down. I sent AdventurousSpirit a message.”

  “You did what?” Maggie clapped a hand over her mouth.

  “I said hi and that I … you might be keen for a drink sometime. Look, I know you have a secret crush on Talon.”

  “No, I don’t!” More yelling, louder this time. “Take that back, he’s my client.”

  “It doesn’t matter who he is, I’ve noticed how you’ve started to look at him over the last few days. Come to think of it, since he moved in with you.”

  “He hasn’t moved in, I’m helping him out. It’s a short-term thing. Sure, Talon is really cute but it’s not like that.”

  “Just admit that you think he’s sexy and you’d love to jump him, and I’ll let it drop.”

  “It doesn’t matter if I think he’s sexy. I don’t want to jump anyone … Okay fine … I’m sure it would be great to jump him, but it isn’t going to happen. He’s my client and will never be anything more, now can we drop it?”

  Maggie smiled broadly. “I knew it!” She clapped her hands. “I don’t understand why you can’t just go out with the guy. He’s looking for love, you’re—”

  “Not looking for love … struggling to still believe in it. Not sure where my life is going. I’m a mess. Talon knows what he wants and I’m not it. That’s all. I need a rebound thing … at least, I think I do.”

  “Fine.” Maggie pointed at the screen. “You’ve already got a response from AdventurousSpirit.” Her friend hovered over the open tab, looking at her pointedly.

  “Open it already.” Vicky pretended to be mad, but she knew all of this came from a good place, so how could she be? Why was her heart beating so wildly?

  “He wants to meet you for a drink at The Blue Panda. It’s a funky bar and restaurant in the middle of town.”

  “I know it. Jeff and I used to go there sometimes.”

  “They make really good burgers and fries.” Maggie raised her brows. “Do you want to go?”

  Vicky swallowed. “I’m not sure.” There was this nagging feeling inside. That nagging feeling was Talon. “Wait … what—!” she yelled as Maggie’s fingers flew over the keyboard. With a flourish, she pushed the enter key.

  “There.” Her assistant smiled.

  “What have you done?”

  “You needed a push.” Maggie smiled.

  Oh shit! It was happening, and it was for the best.

  Chapter 14

  Talon put down his glass of juice. The look he gave her froze her in place. Wry with a good dose of sexy. He was too sexy for his own good. “We’re not going jogging this morning.” Then he threw her a casual half-smile. Those dimples of his popped out in full force. She was going out with another guy tonight. Nerves fluttered awake inside her. It was for the best, even if it terrified her.

  Vicky felt herself frown as she gave him the once-over. "You looked dressed to work out." She looked down at her clothes. "I'm dressed to work out."

  Talon nodded once. “I didn’t say we weren’t going to work out, just that we weren’t going jogging. It seemed stupid to keep doing something we weren’t enjoying.” He raised his brows as if challenging her to argue.

  "Okay," Vicky folded her arms, "what did you have in mind? I hope it gets the heart rate up."

  Sex maybe?

  No.

  Flip.

  Stop.

  He pretended to think on it. “Yes, it is guaranteed to get your heartrate right up.” His gorgeous eyes were bright. “You’ll work up a serious sweat and most importantly, I think you’ll have a ton of fun doing it. Make that, we’ll have a ton of fun doing it.”

  Her mind was still in the gutter. Every word bringing up images of them sweating and touching and ... “Sounds good.” Her voice was strained.

  “It will be. Follow me.” He started walking towards the door.

  “We’re leaving?”

  Talon choked out a laugh as he turned back to face her. He didn’t laugh very often. She liked hearing it. “Yes, we’re leaving.”

  “Okay. Are you going to give me a clue? Anything other than we’ll be getting hot and sweaty?” she asked as they walked out of her apartment.

  “Don’t forget the fun. Lots of fun,” he said as she locked the door.

  “That too.” They made their way to the elevator.

  Talon pushed the button.

  “You’re really not saying anything else, are you?” she asked as the doors closed. He on one side and she on the other.

  “Why do you need to know so badly?” He leaned back.

  “I don’t know. I guess I don’t like surprises.”

  “Some surprises are good.”

  “And some not so much, but I trust you.” She smiled, realizing that she did trust him.

  “Good.” They walked out of the elevator and out the front door to her apartment. An Uber was waiting. Talon walked over to the car and opened the door for her. “Ladies first.”

  Impressive. “You ordered us an Uber?”

  “I’m learning.”

  “You are,” she said as she got in.

  Talon walked around to the other side and got in next to her. “It’s a short drive.”

  “Okay.” She found herself smiling, excited to find out what he had planned.

  He hadn’t lied when he said the trip would be short. They drove into a more industrial part of town and minutes later, pulled up to the curb. The building was red brick with a tin roof. Even the big roller door was made from sheet metal. “Jimmy’s Boxing Hall.” Vicky sounded hesitant as she read the sign above the door. She wasn’t sure what to make of it.

  Talon thanked the driver and took her hand. He took her hand. Oh jeez. Why was she freaking out about such a simple thing? It wasn’t like that. It didn’t mean anything.
<
br />   It felt good though. His hand was warm and his touch firm. All too soon he was letting go. That’s when she realized they were inside. She’d been so hung up on his touch that she hadn’t paid attention to where they were heading.

  There were men everywhere. Guys hitting bags. Guys pounding padded things on other guys hands and guys pounding one another. The men were a wide range of ages and a wide range of fitness levels. There was one other lady, hitting a bag on the far side of the room. She wore shorts and an exercise bra.

  When Vicky looked at Talon, he was grinning. All out grinning. Nothing fake about that smile. His whole face radiated. “We’re going to have some fun.”

  She felt those words in the pit of her stomach. “Okay, if you say so.” She couldn’t help but feel a bit apprehensive, but at the same time, she couldn’t resist the urge to smile along with him. “Where do we start?”

  “Here.” He pointed to a couple of hanging bags. There was a buff guy pounding on the one right on the end.

  “Hello.” An elderly man approached, he was medium height and although he carried some weight, Vicky could see that there was plenty of muscle there too. “You must be Talon.”

  “Yes, and this is Vicky.” He touched her lower back.

  The older guy took Talon’s hand in a shake, which ended in a grimace. “Wow. You have some grip. You fight?”

  Talon nodded. “Nothing formal, I like to play around,” he answered. Vague, just like she’d taught him.

  “What do you do?” He eyed Talon’s biceps, before looking him in the eyes.

  "Security." Another vague answer. "You said we could help ourselves for an hour or two?" Quick change of subject. He was getting there.

  “Yeah, you’re welcome. Let me know if you would like a match.” He pointed to the roped springboard platforms. There were several of them. Two in use. Guys hashing it out in gloves and mouth guards.

  “I will.” Talon nodded once. She was shocked at how well he had handled himself. He was learning the ropes quickly. It was time they went out again. Talon needed more interaction with women. Not just with her. It was how he was going to learn in the end. You could only teach someone so much in theory.

  She struggled to take that step though. What if he did end up sleeping with the next one? Sure, he’d said he wouldn’t go down that road. He seemed to still be mourning his wife, but he was a red-blooded guy, at the end of the day. She was jealous. Ridiculously so, and she had no right to be.

  She realized that Talon was talking to her. “Sorry, what did you say?”

  “I said that I can see you’re a little overwhelmed but don’t be. There is no reason to feel that way.”

  “I’m fine. Excited to be here.” One of the guys in the ring stumbled back, falling onto one knee. He was breathing heavily, bleeding from a cut under one of his eyes.

  “Do you want to try?” Talon said, drawing her attention back to him. He unzipped and shrugged off his sweatshirt.

  Talon was wearing a tank. A tank for darned sake. “Nice shirt.” Nice. Nice? The tank wasn’t just plain nice. It was unbelievable. “You went shopping?”

  It was white and fit him … well, it fit him just so. His biceps were amazing. She needed to stop looking, so she focused on two guys working out across the room.

  Talon shrugged. “Yes, I decided to go shopping for a couple of things of my own.” He unzipped his bag and threw her some gloves. “Like these.”

  She scrambled to catch them and failed. They fell to the right of her feet.

  Talon smiled. “Sorry, I should have said ‘catch’.”

  Vicky could see by his smirk that he was teasing her and that he wasn’t sorry in the least. “No problem.” She picked up the gloves, throwing them back at him without any warning.

  Talon moved quickly, seeming to snatch them from the air.

  Okay.

  Wow.

  No fair.

  She spotted a bottle of water on the table next to her and picked that up, throwing it hard and to his right. He caught that too, using just one hand. His eyes didn’t stray from hers either.

  Well, shit.

  “I have very good reflexes.” He looked away as he said it. Almost like he was embarrassed.

  “No kidding.” She laughed. “That was pretty impressive.

  “Let me help you with your gloves.”

  “That would be great.” Vicky shrugged out of her own sweatshirt, tossing it on Talon’s bag. It was cool in the gym, but she had no doubt that she’d work up a sweat in no time.

  He closed the distance between them, taking one of her hands in his. “Shove your hand into the glove. Then make a fist.” He held out one of the gloves with his other hand.

  She did as he said. “Are you sure I won’t get injured?”

  “No, I will look after you. Don’t worry.”

  Boy, but she liked the sound of that. A little too much. “Push your fisted hand as far into the glove as it will go.”

  Again, she complied. Talon pulled a strap and secured the Velcro. “Now for the other hand.” They went through the motions a second time.

  He took a step back so that he could check out his handiwork. Talon nodded. “Ready?”

  “I guess.”

  “You’re going to enjoy this.” He gestured to the punching bag. “We’ll keep it simple.”

  She sucked in a deep breath and widened her eyes. “Please do. Simple sounds good right now.” Vicky positioned herself in front of the black, overstuffed bag. “Do I just hit it?”

  “Put one leg in front of the other like this.” Talon demonstrated.

  “Okay.” She copied him.

  “Bend your knees a little, like this.”

  “Okay.”

  “Hold your hands up in front of yourself, chin slightly down, eyes over your gloves so that you can see your opponent.”

  She snort-laughed. “It’s not like I’m actually going to fight someone.”

  “We’re sparring at the end of our session.”

  Butterflies went nuts inside her stomach.

  “Don’t look so worried, I’ll go easy on you.” Talon bumped shoulders with her, practically knocking her over. He gripped her upper arms. “I’ll go really easy on you.” He smiled.

  “Gee thanks! I’m not worried in the least.”

  “Maybe you should be … just a little.”

  Too much like flirting. Vicky nodded.

  “Hands up to protect yourself.” Talon demonstrated for her. He wasn’t wearing gloves. “The key is to stay relaxed.”

  She laughed, shaking her head.

  “No really, you’ll hit harder if you do. When you punch, you should exhale. Rotate your hand like this.” He did a slow-mo punch into the bag, not really hitting it. “One, two.” He punched twice, slow and easy. “Three.” He punched with his other hand. “You try. Legs apart. One a bit more forward than … yes, that’s it,” he encouraged. “Hands up in the defensive position.”

  She pulled her hands up, like he had shown her and tried to hit left. It felt like her knuckles cracked a little as she hit the bag.

  “Relax,” Talon said. “Breathe out as you hit.”

  She tried again.

  “That’s it. One, two, three.”

  She hit with the other hand.

  “Good. That’s it. Keep going.”

  Within half a minute she was completely out of breath. “You weren’t lying when you said this was a workout.” She felt hot.

  “Now try this. Upward jabs. One, one, one, alternating hands.” He jabbed into the bag, again going slowly so she could see exactly what he was doing.

  She tried to emulate him.

  “Almost. Your hands should be almost palms up … that’s it, better.”

  Good thing was, that although she was punching, she seemed to be using different muscles. It didn’t take long for her to tire.

  “Great, now for the hook.”

  “The hook?”

  “Yup. If you were going to break your opponent
’s jaw, this is the punch you would use.”

  “Break his jaw?” She shouldn’t be turned on. It was pathetic and quite frankly, a little sick. There was something wrong with her and this picture.

  “Yes.” Talon was completely deadpan.

  “Have you actually broken someone’s jaw before?” Her voice was a touch breathless.

  Talon nodded. “Several times.” So matter a fact. “I’ve broken many ribs, arms, even a couple of legs.”

  Her nipples really should not be tightening. She was a sad and sorry case.

  Vicky cleared her throat. “Go ahead and show me, why don’t you?” She pointed at the bag, using her gloved hand.

  He swung sideways instead of head-on, coming in at an arc that would land on an opponent’s face. She could picture it. “You try,” he said.

  Vicky took up the fighting stance. One leg in front of the other as he’d shown her. She swung in, trying to do it in the same way Talon had done.

  “Good, only …” He came in behind her. Although he wasn’t touching her, she could feel him at her back. There, right there. He gripped her left elbow, lifting it. “Your defensive arm dips every time you hit right, creating an opening.”

  “Oh. I see.” More than a touch breathless now.

  “Your swing is also a bit wide. You need to try to keep it tighter, more concise.”

  It was like he was talking dirty or something because she was certainly reacting. At least, her body was. “Okay, how’s this?”

  He gripped her elbow as she hit right. “You’re still dropping your left.”

  “I’ll have to work on it.”

  “Now you can work on each one, or put them together like this.” He did a series of punches, combining all three techniques. “I think you should first practice them individually though.”

  “I think so too.”

  “Let me know when you’re ready to add in some kicks.”

  “Kicks?” Righto, this was getting interesting.

  Talon’s eyes sparkled, and the edges of his mouth twitched. “I’m sure you want a full body workout. Not just your upper?”