by Nicola Jane
“Maybe, how good are you?”
“I’ve never had a dissatisfied customer yet,” I say.
“I can imagine you to be meticulous with every detail.” He talks like that’s a bad thing. “Almost anal.”
“Details are extremely important when arranging a wedding.” Keelan is staring between us with confusion. “Keelan, this is Tag, remember, the ass I told you about.”
“Ohhhh,” grins Keelan, “The fighter ass,” he adds.
“Come for a drink with me,” Tag finally says, “Please.”
“No,” I say it firmly but inside my inner girl is screaming yes.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to.”
“But that’s impossible, I mean, it’s never happened to me before, I don’t know how to handle it.” His tone is mocking and I almost give in and smile.
“Wow,” I laugh, “You’ve seriously never been told no have you?”
“Nope, only by my mother, if she counts.”
I sit behind my desk and open up my laptop, I’m playing it cool but my inner girl is kicking me for saying no. “You can leave now, I’m busy.”
“I’m not leaving until you agree to a drink with me. I feel like we got off to a bad start ten, I want to clear the air.”
“How did you know I would be here?”
“Say yes,” he repeats.
“I’m not going out with you.” I sigh when he takes a seat opposite me and folds his arms over his chest. His sleeves ride up his arms, revealing tattoos on both arms.
“Lucy, go for a coffee with the guy, stop being a bore,” says Keelan and I glare in his direction. He’s such a softy for a sob story. “I’ll cover Miss Grey’s appointment.”
“No, she’ll be upset if she thinks I’ve deserted her.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, the guy wants to say sorry.” Tag is nodding in agreement and I roll my eyes.
“I’m meeting Noah for lunch,” I say and Keelan screws his face up, he’s another hater of my boyfriend.
“I’ll have you back within half an hour, its hours until lunch,” promises Tag.
“One coffee,” I groan and my inner girl whoops and cheers as I scrape my chair back like a sulky teenager.
We step out onto the busy street, it’s rush hour and people are darting in and out of the crowds, making their way to work. Tag grabs a hold of my hand and before I can protest, he pulls me across the street towards a small coffee shop. Once inside, I pull my hand free. “You get a seat and I’ll get the coffee,” he says.
Tag brings me a latte. He looks so big in this small place. “So,” he smiles, “I’m Matteo Corallo.” He holds out his hand and I take it, we shake.
“I’m Lucy Clifford.”
“Lovely to meet you Lucy, although number ten has kind of stuck, I might keep calling you that.”
“What is the number thing all about?” I ask, sipping on my latte.
“Nothing important, it’s simply a way to keep an eye on numbers. If we over invite things can get messy,” he shrugs but I don’t buy it.
“Or it’s a way to remember girls, numbers instead of names?” I suggest and he laughs.
“No really, it’s nothing more than crowd control.”
“When’s your next fight?”
“This weekend, just a money maker, nothing big like the last one. Why don’t you come?”
“It’s not really my thing,” I mutter.
“Yeah your friend said you weren’t the partying kind.”
I stare for a moment, why would Tyra say something like that. I knew it wouldn’t be Bel, she wouldn’t bitch about me like that. “I love a good party, I just don’t care for violence.”
“Oh, then you’ll definitely hate this weekend, I’m fighting a gypsy king, they tend to make things messy.”
“What else do you do, apart from fight?”
“I have businesses, a jeweller’s among other things. All family owned and run.”
“So why fight if you have an income?”
“Because I love it. I was born to fight, my father used to say I had a rage inside of me from the second I was born and that only calms when I’ve fought. Who knows what I’d become without that.”
“Does your father fight?”
“My father is dead,” he says. It’s blunt and stony, like he doesn’t want to discuss it.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize.”
“Why would you, you don’t know me.”
A silence falls between us, I feel like I’ve crossed a line somehow but I was just making conversation. “Why do they call you Tag?” I ask.
“It’s just a stage name but it stuck and now everyone calls me that. Only my mother calls me Matteo. She’s American, she moved here years ago and met my father. He came up with the name saying it stood for The Angry Gangster.” We laugh and then fall silent again. I feel a strange pull to him, and I wonder if he is feeling it too. I’ve never felt it before, not even with Noah and all I can think about is stripping this man naked and fucking his brains out. I shift in my seat and then glance out of the window just in time to see Noah entering my shop across the street. I stand, my chair hitting the customer sitting behind me.
“Oh shit, I have to go. Sorry Tag, it was nice to see you again.” He follows me from the cafe, firing questions about my sudden departure. As I get to the door of my shop, Noah is coming back out. He scowls when he sees Tag.
“I came to cancel lunch but I see you’re already occupied,” he says coldly.
I glance back to Tag and then smile at Noah, “Oh, this is just Tag, he’s thinking of hiring me for his wedding to…” I trail off and Tag steps forward.
“To Ella,” he says and I breathe a sigh of relief.
“Right,” says Noah, eyeing us suspiciously. “Well I have a lunch appointment with Emma that I forgot about. I’ll also be late home, if I even make it. We have a huge case to start working on, we might pull an all-nighter.” He takes my hand and strokes it with his thumb, “Sorry Boo.”
I hide my disappointment; these late nights and business lunches are becoming too regular. “Not to worry. I’ll find something to keep me busy.”
He kisses me on the forehead and smiles down at me, “Maybe you can work on Taylor’s little wedding, you like a good project.”
I nod, his condescending tone pissing me off, I don’t bother to correct his mistake of calling Tag, Taylor. “Have a good night.” I watch him saunter back down the road to his offices. Ass.
Tag follows me into the shop, “Well, I see why none of your friends like him,” he says.
“Who said they didn’t like him?” I snap.
Keelan keeps his head down and stares intently at his computer screen likes he’s suddenly busy. “Tyra and Bel,” Tag says.
“Whatever, they’re both single so their opinion doesn’t count. Who’s Ella?” I add.
“Jealous?” he asks and I glare. As if.
“Who even kisses a girl on the head like that, unless they’re eighty,” continues Tag. I hear Keelan snort. “What time do you close up?”
“None of your business.”
“Around four,” says Keelan.
“I’ll pick you up, what size are you and I’ll bring you some gym gear.”
“What?” I almost screech but he’s out the door before I can protest.
“Oh my god, you didn’t say he was so hot,” snaps Keelan, fanning himself.
“You think every man over five foot is hot, especially if he has tattoos!”
“And you turned him down, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“I’m in a relationship!” I remind him.
Tag
I drive to Anton’s with a smile on my face. When I arrive, he’s outside with his huge black Doberman. He’s training the crazy dog but he’d have more luck training his sister than that unruly beast. I step from my car and lean back against it, folding my arms across my chest. “Is Ella around?”
“Why? You haven’t won the bet
yet.”
I snort a laugh because we all know I will. “I need to borrow some gym gear from her, I’m taking Ten on a date.”
Anton looks up sharply, “What? How the hell did you manage that?”
“It’s my good looks and charm,” I wink as I pass him and head inside.
I take the stairs two at a time until I reach the second floor. Ella’s room is at the end of the hall, I know because I’ve managed to sneak in there a few times. I tap lightly on the door before walking in. Ella is laying on her stomach, kicking her feet against her ass as she looks down at a text-book. She’s always got her nose in a book studying; I love that about her. She smiles at me and drops the pen that she was chewing on. “Hey, does Ant know you’re in here?”
I throw myself onto her bed so that I’m lying beside her. “Do you care?”
“Yes, he’ll make my life hell.”
I slap her perky ass and she hisses; I can’t wait to show her all the things I’ve been fantasizing about for the last few years. “Kiss me,” I mutter, rolling onto my back.
Ella kisses me on the cheek and I groan with frustration. She giggles before leaning in for a deeper kiss. I push my hand under her stomach and then lift her so that she rolls on top of me. Her legs fall to each side of my hips and she places her hands on my chest for balance. Her tongue sweeps into my mouth and I squeeze her thighs gently. She pushes herself to sit up, still astride me. She must feel the hardness in my pants but she doesn’t say anything, instead she blushes. I love how innocent she is.
“I’ve made a deal with your brother,” I say quietly. “We have a kind of bet going. If I win, then he has to back me up when it comes to me claiming you. Your father is more likely to accept it with Anton’s backing.”
“And if you lose?”
“I won’t,” I say with confidence. “I’m gonna buy you a huge house. We’re gonna have babies, you’ll hardly ever not be pregnant,” I grin and she laughs.
“All you think about is sex,” she says. I take her hands in mine, locking our fingers and then placing my hands above my head so that she has to lean closer to me. I steal another kiss and wriggle beneath her so that my erection rubs against her panties. Her face flushes further and I keep moving, the denim of my jeans causing enough friction to make her breathless. She pants and I release one of her hands so that I can grope her breast through her top. I roll her nipple between my finger and thumb and she moans aloud, slamming her lips closed tight with embarrassment. “Don’t be embarrassed baby, I like that I make you feel good.” I tug at her t-shirt until her Bra-less breast is visible and then I suck it into my mouth. She can’t control her rocking motion and I lay still, letting her take what she needs. “I’m the only man that’s gonna ever see you like this,” I whisper and she nods, closing her eyes and rocking faster.
“Ella!” We both freeze, it’s Connors voice. He’ll put a bullet in my head if he sees us like this. Ella scrambles to get off me and I stand quickly.
“Yes?” she shouts back.
“Come to my study, I need you to look at some of these figures for me, I can’t make sense of them.”
“Okay, I’ll be a minute,” she answers. She straightens her hair and clothes. “You need to go,” she whispers.
“I need some gym clothes; I’m meeting my friend for a work out and she forgot her kit from home.”
“A female friend?” asks Ella suspiciously. I nod, pulling her towards me and kissing her hard. “I hate that.”
“Baby, it’s only you, you know this.” I rub her breast through her top again, her kiss sending me wild. She grips my hands, halting my groping.
“There’s loads of stuff in my wardrobe,” she mutters and then she leaves the room.
I walk into Ella’s huge wardrobe and rummage around until I find some workout leggings and a short-cropped top. There are also loads of pairs of new trainers across one rack. I take a couple of pairs, Ten has small feet like Ella, one of these will fit her.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Lucy
I spend the rest of the day anxious about Tag turning up again. I can’t go out with him tonight; Noah would be so pissed. Keelan has spent the day annoying me, telling me how Tag is so much better than Noah. I hate that my friends hate him so much.
At exactly four o’clock the door swings open and Tag enters holding two bags. “Let’s go.”
“Go where?” I ask, standing.
“For a workout,” he says, throwing a bag towards me. It lands at my feet and I pick it up gingerly. “Quickly,” he huffs.
I follow him from the shop, Keelan happily agreed to lock up for me if I went with Tag and didn’t cause a fuss. “I don’t work out,” I confess.
“Well there’s a first for everything.”
“How often do you work out?” I ask, almost running to catch up with his long strides.
“Every day, two or three times.”
We reach the gym after a brisk ten-minute walk. I’m out of breath and my legs ache already. “Maybe I’d be better watching you, I’m no good at this sort of thing.”
“If you continue to eat pastries every day, you’ll spend your thirties paying for it,” he says, pushing the glass door open.
The receptionist smiles when she spots Tag, they high five each other and Tag signs us in. “This is a guest of mine Jo,” he says.
She grins at me. “Good luck, he’ll work you hard,” she says and I groan. I don’t like the sound of this.
I go into the change room and peek inside the bag. There’s a pair of workout leggings and a tight fitted Lycra sports bra. There’re two pairs of trainers, both look new. I slip on the smaller pair, they fit perfectly. The door opens and Tag comes in, “Hey!” I screech, “This is the girls room.”
He stands before me and looks me up and down, “You’ll do,” he says and then grabs my hand and leads me out of the changing room.
The gym is busy. It’s filled with men almost as big and sexy as Tag, and I wonder if all women know about this cave of sexiness because surely if they did, we’d all be queuing up for a peek. “Close your mouth Ten, you’re drooling,” he smirks.
Tag leads me to the boxing ring in the center of the gym. “We’ll have a workout and then we can spar in this,” he says and I gasp and shake my head.
“Oh god no, I can’t do that.”
“Of course you can, I’ll show you.”
Jo wasn’t exaggerating when she said that Tag would work me hard. In the past, whenever I’ve hit the gym; which isn’t often at all, I’ve just had a quick run on the treadmill and maybe a go on the rower. But Tag, he makes me use every machine. And once I’m on a machine he makes me stay on it and talks about reps and counts me down. My muscles are shaking in protest and I feel slightly nauseous. He doesn’t stand over me, which I first thought was a blessing. When he left me to get on with my sit ups I breathed a sigh of relief but then he yelled at me from where he lifted weights. “Another twenty.”
The guys around the gym smirked at my pleas for mercy. When he finally said, “Right that’s it Ten.” I could have cried with happiness.
I glug down a glass of water from the machine. Tag didn’t head for the exit like I expected, instead he climbed up into the boxing ring in the center of the gym. My eyes bug out of my head, “Are you shitting me, I am so exhausted I could cry.”
“Aw come on Ten, you’re gonna pass up the opportunity to hit me?”
“I’m more worried about what will happen when you hit me!”
Tag frowns and then shrugs, “I don’t hit girls Ten,” he says, like that’s obvious. It feels personal, like he’s saying it because secretly he knows what happens between myself and Noah. “Now get in here.”
I hold onto the bottom rope and pull myself up. There’s nothing glamorous about the way I fall into the ring and I wonder how the ring girls climb in with such grace and sexiness. “Well that’s harder than it looks,” I mumble, brushing off my knees as I stand. Tag pushes my hands into some black boxing gloves
and secures them with the Velcro strap. He picks up some thick pads and holds them in front of his body.
“Okay, show me what you’ve got,” he says, changing his stance slightly.
“You just want me to hit the pad?” I ask warily and he nods his head. “Are you sure, what if I miss and hit your face?”
“I can take it, I get hit all the time.” I take a deep breath and then throw my hardest punch. It hits the pad which is a bonus, but Tag doesn’t move; not even an inch. “That was a good hit, again.”
“You didn’t even budge, how do I hit you hard enough to get someone out of my face?” I ask.
Tag eyes me for a second and then drops the pads to the floor. “It’s in your stance, the way you hold yourself and protect yourself will help. You can’t just hit someone to get them out of your face. If you want protection, you need to hit them hard enough to put them on their ass, that gives you a chance to get away.”
“Okay, well show me how I do that.”
Tag walks around and stops behind me. He places his hands on my hips and angles my body so that I’m almost side on. I don’t hear his words because my mind is too focused on the heat of his touch and how good it feels. He taps one of my legs just behind the knee and positions it so that it’s in front of my other leg. “You need to balance, if you get hit, you’ll take the weight of the punch on this leg.”
“I don’t want to get hit, that’s the whole point.”
“In a ring, you’re gonna get hit, it’s kind of a given no matter how good you are. You have to learn to take the hits too.”
“What about outside of the ring?” I ask. Tag moves back around until he’s in front of me again and gives me a curious look.
“I don’t understand Ten.”
“What if I’m out, say in a bar, and someone starts trouble with me, how do I protect myself?”
“You talk, use words. They are much more powerful than fists. I can show you how to throw a punch in the ring and how to protect yourself but outside of that, you’re better off with self-defence classes.”