The Race

by Alice Ward

  Against my better judgement, I found myself wanting to shower her with anything I thought she might need. To go overboard to the extreme. I’d have to watch myself, so I didn’t give her the wrong idea and drive her away.

  This woman was obviously determined to make something of herself. I appreciated that drive and liked to think that same inner push toward success was what had turned my life in the direction I wanted. With any luck, maybe I could help her do the same while establishing a lucrative new branch of the business.

  I left my office and greeted her before she reached the locker rooms.

  Her eyebrows shot up when she saw me. “Hi, Caleb. Working out again today?”

  I’d been working out a lot more lately.

  I gave her my best cocky grin and flexed my bicep. “Gotta keep these guns primed.” Did I just say that? I was an idiot.

  Her eyes widened, and when they fell on my arm, her tongue came out and swept across her lower lip. “I, uh, have to get ready,” she said before nearly dashing into the protection of the women-only area.

  She certainly was a strange mix of confidence and wariness, but I found that interesting. I wondered if she’d had people try to take advantage of her or her family’s situation or do them wrong. I couldn’t exactly blame her for being cautious. Still, it was an interesting juxtaposition to see in someone I’d literally witnessed choke a full-grown man out with her thighs.

  Speaking of her thighs, they were something else. As was the rest of her. Somehow, she was the perfect mix of Amazonian muscle and the soft, cushiony curves of a woman. Her muscles were outlined clearly, but at the same time, curves swayed to the point of distraction.

  I shook my head. We could definitely use that to our advantage for ad campaigns in the future.

  Andre showed up ten minutes later, looking around the gym for his pupil.

  “She’s in the locker room,” I said, glad for something to distract me from what was bordering on obsession.

  “She’s early? That’s good. She hasn’t been late one time. Seems like she’s really committed to her training.”

  “That it does. If there’s one thing I don’t think we will have to worry about from Miss Bowers, it’s punctuality and commitment.”

  The coach nodded, his eyes scanning the busy gym once more before returning to me. “So, what’s your story in all this?”

  “Pardon me?” Guilt hit me in the gut, and I had to remind myself he was referring to my setting up Cherry and making sure everything went off without a hitch, not that I’d been lusting after her. I was just the wallet in this equation, not the stud.

  Andre’s scanned my face, which I kept carefully neutral. “I don’t mean that in a literal sense, I know who you and your family are. But what I wonder is how the young — possibly most eligible and affluent — bachelor in Louisville ends up sponsoring what has to be one of the most obvious illegal fighters I’ve ever trained?”

  “It’s that obvious, huh?”

  “She’s got a lot of bad habits that come from a fighter being forced to come up with their own tactics to beat the shit out of people twice their size. She’s easy to read. You’re the one I can’t quite place in this picture.”

  “If you know me, then you know I own a research and development company. This is a new business venture that I’m testing out for the company. I’m taking all the risk. If it’s viable, I’ll take it to the company and expand it, and we’ll have yet another branch of business.”

  “The way you talk about it makes it sound like you don’t care that it could also tank. Lots of things could happen when you’re relying on one person for the outcome.”

  “Money is money. You have it long enough, you just take the risk as a matter of course. But conquering… that’s always fun. And conquering is the reason I hired you.”

  Andre’s chest puffed out. “I’ll have her conquering, just gotta break her bad habits and build new ones first.”

  There were soft footsteps behind us, and a moment later, Cherry joined us. The pull between us was so real I wondered if Andre could feel it twanging in the air. “Ready to get started?” she asked with a polite smile, but she was already transitioning into her “game face.”

  Andrew let out a short laugh. “The question is, are you ready. I’ve gone easy on you up until now. Today we put everything into action that’s going to fix you.”

  One of her eyebrows shot up before she managed to bring her expression back to neutral. “Do I need a lot of fixing?”

  “Enough. Now head to the mats for warm-up.”

  The two of them headed for the warm-up area, and I found a place against the wall to watch. I had plenty of things I needed to do, and it wasn’t like my presence would be helpful, but I still wanted to stick around. What I didn’t want to do was examine the reason I wanted to stay — because I was inexplicably drawn to the woman. I didn’t get inexplicably drawn to women. I inexplicably drew them to me.

  It wasn’t that I disrespected women, or thought they were lesser, as so many corporate sons seemed to. It was more that they were humans, and I didn’t trust humans at all. I didn’t have relationships with women. If I liked a woman well enough, I might spend a couple of hot nights in the sheets. When I was done, I always sent a gift to soften my abrupt exit, but never let myself feel anything more than simple lust.

  Perhaps it was a pessimistic view, but for most of my life I’d seen how people flocked to my father with hands out, only trying to get close to him in the hopes that he would give them whatever it was they were after. That trend had continued and bled into my own life as I grew older, and I developed a healthy suspicion by the time I hit high school of anyone who wanted to befriend me. So I stuck with Hunter as my best friend and a bevy of beautiful women as bedmates, but nothing else. Besides, I had a responsibility to my sister and couldn’t risk my energy being sapped by any other woman.

  “Straighten your back,” Andre ordered, cutting through my thoughts.

  “I am straightening my back,” Cherry snapped.

  I couldn’t keep the smirk from my lips. There was that fire that I’d spotted the moment I saw her. It seemed that, even when she was on her best behavior, her passion and fiery personality came through.

  I was sure she would be a wild one in bed, and that whoever she deigned good enough to fuck her would be in for the night of their li—

  That was not an appropriate thought. I needed to stop having these thoughts about Cherry.

  Sure, the beautiful woman wasn’t my employee, per se, but we were in a business relationship together, and I did not mix work with play. I had seen too many corporations and men in those companies find their downfalls in combining the two, and I had plenty of women who wanted to sleep with me who weren’t receiving money from me personally.

  A grunt and thump echoed through the room, and I realized they had already moved on to punching bags. Cherry really was a sleek, sexy dynamo, punishing the sack with the furor of a storm. I wondered idly what her childhood was like to have created such a woman, one with walls so high that they were practically impenetrable, and a penchant for throwing mean right hooks.

  I wasn’t naïve. I was well aware that she was underprivileged, I’d known long before I saw her house. If it wasn’t obvious from her worn shoes, her secondhand workout clothes, even her generic and patched workout bag, her demeanor more than indicated that money had never been plentiful in her life. The caution in trusting someone new, the hesitance to take risks, the wary eye she kept on those around her. Those were all traits of someone who had learned the lesson firsthand that a single misstep could ruin everything.

  That thought stuck with me throughout the rest of her training. As I watched, I tried to neatly puzzle her out and put her in her place, but she refused to be contained. Even red-faced and covered in sweat, worked over by her coach, she still kept that same sort of noble defiance to her.

  It was a solid two hours before Andre called to me that he was done and told Cherry to go th
rough a cool down before hitting the shower. The small crowd of gym members who had formed a makeshift audience started to disperse. I would have cleared them out had Cherry shown any signs that they’d bothered her, but she’d been so focused I didn’t even think she noticed. The members amounted to free publicity and word of mouth would be nothing but good.

  By the time I finished talking with one of the regulars, Cherry was just heading to the locker room. I debated going to my office downtown but found a reason to poke around and finish up some work emails until she came out later, freshly showered and in her street clothes.

  She poked her head in my office door. God, she looked good. Glistening and refreshed from the hot spray, she looked surprisingly modelesque. Her long, lean legs would be spectacular in high heels and would bring her even with my height. Once more, I found myself staring far too long.

  I gestured for her to come inside, and with just one step forward, her scent hit me, a sweet floral mixed with citrus and musk. Dear god.

  “So, do you always hang around here during the middle of the day, or are you just making sure that your investment is worth the money?”

  It seemed her mouth was just as quick as her punches. I liked the banter, as much as I wasn’t used to it. Most people were either too intimidated to mouth off to me or too busy kissing my ass, hoping to get what they wanted. But not Cherry.

  “It’s more curiosity than anything else. I’ve always been a fan of the MMA and fighting world, but I’ve never been able to watch the creation of a pro fighter from the very get-go.”

  She snorted. “I’m sure you’ve heard about what curiosity does to the cat.”

  “I have.” It took everything inside of me not to move closer to her. “But most people forget the second part of that phrase.”

  Her eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “Bullshit. There is no second part.”

  Damn, she was delicious. “Curiosity killed the cat…” I couldn’t help the way my voice dipped into a lower tone, “but satisfaction brought it back.”

  She tilted her head and studied me. “We all know satisfaction isn’t that easy to get.”

  I didn’t know what possessed me to continue speaking. Maybe it was the slight smile on her full lips as she looked at me. Maybe it was because this was the first non-business-related conversation we ever had. Maybe it was because she didn’t seem to care about who I was or how much money I had. For whatever reason, I found myself leaning against the desk and giving her a pointed look. “I don’t know. I suppose that would all depend on the technique used. Satisfaction is easily obtainable if you take the time to do things right.”

  Her cheeks immediately went red and her mouth opened, but no words came out. For a second, I wondered if I had crossed a line, but then she recovered enough to answer. “It’s much easier for some people to find their satisfaction than others. I suppose the most important thing is whether you help, uh, those around you find their own.”

  “How right you are,” I agreed, meeting her eyes, the desire I felt for her reflected back at me.

  “Hey,” a familiar voice said from down the hall, “so this is where you’ve been disappearing to every day.” It was damn Hunter.

  I wanted to throttle him. Whatever was going on between me and this beautiful creature shattered as she went ramrod straight.

  “Is this that whole secret project you’ve been—” He froze when he saw her standing just inside the door. “Oh, hello there.” He offered his hand for a shake.

  Cherry hesitated, then probably knowing how impolite it would be to refuse, gave him a polite half shake before stepping toward the door. “Guess I better go catch my bus. Since our schedule changed, I haven’t changed things with him. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Cherry had quit her job at the pizza place to focus on training.

  “Wait, wha—”

  I sent Hunter a pointed look to shut up and stood, going after her. “I’ll call the driver, let him know you’re ready. There’s no need for you to take a long bus ride.”

  She headed for the front door without even breaking her stride. “No, I’m fine.”

  Instead of chasing after her, I stopped, saving myself from looking like a desperate fool.

  “So,” my best friend said, coming up behind me. “Is that who I think it is?”

  “It is.” I turned on my heel, deciding that maybe I could use a little workout myself. I had this strange sort of energy building in my middle, and it was making me irritable. Nothing like a good sweat to get myself focused and back on the business track.

  “Um, why is there an illegal fighter that you happened to lose three grand on in your gym, and why were you going to call her a driver?” He crossed his arms, his astute gaze penetrating me. “What exactly is going on here?”

  I shrugged. “I’m sponsoring her to go professional. If the investment goes south, it’s only my capital involved.” Hunter and I had an agreement that we would discuss any potential investment before acting. I’d broken that in my scramble to acquire her. I’d only spent my money though, none of the company’s. “If it works out, I’d like to consider backing fighters as an investment for the company.”

  His jaw sagged. “What, are you kidding me?”

  “When do I ever kid about investments?”

  He shook his head, clicking his tongue at me. I hated when he did that, and he knew it, which meant he did it all the time. “Damn, Caleb, what have you gotten yourself into?”

  I turned my back to him, heading for my office. “Hopefully a new line of business to further diversify our company’s portfolio.”

  He followed with more tongue clicking, and I was the closest I had ever been to decking my friend since college. “Please, you don’t think I saw how you looked at her that entire fight? Your eyes were glued to her like she was an angel instead of an illegal fighter, and then you rushed to meet her after the fight. If I didn’t know better, I would think you have a crush.”

  “Crushes are for prepubescent school boys and girls,” I shot back.

  “Wait, did all this go down right after the fight?” When I didn’t answer, his eyes got big, and a grin swallowed his face. “You’re hooked on her.”

  I reached my office, stepped in and promptly shut the door in his face. Heading to where I kept my workout clothes, I felt my phone buzz and took it out, seeing it was Hunter. The persistent bastard.

  I hope it works out for you. If not, can I take her on a date?

  I rolled my eyes and gritted my teeth before shutting off my phone. Hunter was only messing with me, but I didn’t know why him joking about a date with Cherry would make me want to pummel something to a pulp.

  It was imperative that I got this whole situation out of my system, and now.

  But even as I hit the weights and worked up a nasty sweat, my mind returned to the beautiful, powerful woman I was now investing quite a bit of time and money in. While I had been interested in MMA and boxing for years, I hadn’t been inspired until I saw Cherry fight. There had been something about her that just wouldn’t let me sit idle, and the next thing I knew, I was meeting her in her prep room.

  It didn’t matter now, what was done was done. Hopefully, my strange fixation would ease with time, and I would soon be back to normal.

  I added more weight until the memory of her graceful figure was pushed to the back of my mind by the burn in my muscles. My interest was just a result of making sure this new investment worked out.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Cherry

  I sighed as I collapsed into bed, my entire body throbbing in protest. I’d always been proud of how in shape I was, but apparently, I wasn’t nearly as buff as I thought.

  I hadn’t even gotten into the ring yet, and Andre was already handing me my ass. I had never done so many lunges, jab-jab-crosses, and kicks in my life.

  It was fairly well known in my circle that I never really had the best blows, it was just my speed and relentlessness that had opponents worried. Most of my hi
ts were just distractions so I could get my opponent into a hold. That was where I really shined. Whether it was an armbar between my thighs or an unexpected choke hold, very rarely did I ever have someone escape one of my holds.

  But Andre had promptly informed me that my impressive floor game didn’t mean jack diddley-shit if I couldn’t punch my opponent’s lights out. I disagreed, but I guessed that’s why I was the unprofessional fighter and he was the coach getting paid six figures to fix all the terrible habits I’d picked up.

  I sighed and rubbed the sides of my head. I knew it would all come with time, but I just wanted it now. The whole situation still seemed so surreal to me that I felt like I might wake up any minute and realize I was dreaming.

  Oh well, I’d deposited my second paycheck of three thousand yesterday. No matter what happened, I had that to be grateful for. It felt good to financially breathe and to get caught up on the needs of my siblings. Maybe buy Mama something special.

  “Alright, Cherry. Grace will kill you if you don’t fill her in,” I grumbled to myself. I was going to go out and celebrate with my best friend because I’d earned it.

  I sat up, and a wave of soreness rolled through me so hard that I groaned, the sound ringing around the small room.

  “Maybe after a nap though. I earned that too.”

  Flopping back, I pulled up the covers that felt like they weighed a million pounds to my post-workout arms, and then I quickly slipped into sleep.

  Hot water bubbled all around me, smelling of chlorine, but I didn’t mind. The heat felt great on my sore muscles, and I sank down into the bliss of the hot tub.

  “I was waiting for you. You should have told me you were already getting in.”

  My eyes flew open, heart leaping into my throat. Standing just at the side of the tub, dressed in only a pair of swim trunks, was Caleb. He was just as carved as I thought he would be, every muscle in his body ripped to absolute perfection. His skin was shiny, as if he had been oiled up.

  “I didn’t know you were waiting for me.” The bubbles floating on the top of the water hid my skin from his view, but my body still responded just because I knew only that thin layer of bubbles and my suit stood between my skin and his gaze.