“I never said I was bored!”
“Um…you didn’t have to.” She swatted her hand in the air dismissing my claim. “Anyway, Anthony offered to show us some boxing moves!” She juggled her weight from one foot to another as she punched the air.
I raised an eyebrow at my sister, even Anthony looked at her funny, before we both looked at one another, a small smile teasing his lips.
“Fine,” I said softly.
“Good, let’s go get the two of you some gloves,” he said, staring at me.
Nikki smiled widely at me, wiggling her eyebrows as she took a step back giving me the go ahead to walk ahead of her and follow Anthony. I leaned close to her and whispered. “You’re dead.”
“You can thank me later,” she whispered back, slapping my ass and walking alongside of me. When did my little sister become so spunky?
We followed Anthony to the front desk where he got each of us a pair of boxing gloves. Our hands were small enough to fit into the children’s sized gloves. He started to tape my hands expertly, when Nikki spoke up from behind me.
“Oh, dammit! I’m going to take a rain check,” she huffed, not sounding the least bit remorseful. I snatched my hands from Anthony after he slid the gloves onto them and turned abruptly to Nikki.
“What? Where are you going?”
“Rico’s outside waiting for me,” she explained, giving me a shrug and then pretending to punch the air again. “Knock ‘em dead sis!”
“I hate you,” I growled as she reached up and kissed Anthony on the cheek before heading towards the front door.
Now what?
“We don’t have to do this,” Anthony leaned close and whispered against my ear. The hair on the back of my neck prickling at the husky tone of his voice.
Like hell we didn’t.
I punch one gloved fist into the palm of my other gloved hand and turn around, my eyes meeting his.
“Show me what you got, Bianci.”
He bit the inside of his cheek, holding back a smile as his eyes traveled down my body. I cleared my throat when they focused on my chest. He lifted his eyes back to mine, a cocky grin firmly in place on his mouth and gave me a slight nod.
He walked me to the heavy bag, got down on one knee, his hands skimming down my legs until he closed his hands around my ankles and shoved them apart. His touch had me throbbing with need, his words were lost to me.
“Footwork is the key in boxing,” he explained in a whisper. Slowly rising to his full height, he moved behind me, positioning my arms correctly. Anthony walked to the bag next to the one I was going to use and began to teach me the different combination punches. I desperately tried to focus but all I could concentrate on was the way his body moved so fluidly and how turned on I was getting. At one point, I lost my stance and crossed one leg over the other to relieve the tension between them. I kept looking away from him because he knew my body better than anyone. He could read me better than anyone, one look at me and he’d know I was ready to combust.
“Jab, cross, upper cut, cross!” He ground out, demonstrating the moves as he spoke of them.
I tried to mimic him, to keep his pace, but I looked ridiculous. My footing was all wrong, and I punched the bag too hard and it spun around in circles from the chain it was suspended from.
“Double jab, cross, step hook to the right,” he barked, his feet light as he swung hard distracting me, confusing my left with my right, I collided with his hard body.
“Shit, you okay?” He asked, turning me around to face him. Sweat dripped from his face making him look so much more rugged. I swallowed, unable to speak and nodded my head.
“More,” I croaked.
“You sure? You look beat,” he stated, brushing away the hair that was sticking to my face from perspiration.
“I said more,” I pulled back my hand and punched his chest urging him to continue.
His gaze traveled to my mouth, so I spoke, dragging out each word.
“Give. Me. More.” His eyes piercing mine. I could see it, the struggle, the desire, the burning. Everything I was feeling he was too, it was comforting to know that a workout regime could make him as crazy as it made me.
Chapter Twenty-Four: 2015
I was in my bathroom giving my face one last drag of the razor when I spotted Mikey walk up behind me in the mirror. I rinsed the blade under the water before glancing back up to find him standing still as a statue as he stared at the tattoo that covered my back. I sometimes forgot about the ink that marked my skin and wished I had placed it somewhere more visible. I had designed the tattoo as a reminder of how much I had lost by the foolish decisions I made in my life. The tattoo was more than just that though, when I was away it was a piece of Adrianna on my skin, just a little slice of her I could never lose. I should’ve had the tattoo put over my heart since she forever owned that piece of me.