Focus. She’s here to train, not flirt.
This was a new feeling for him. The women he’d worked with since he started this job had tried the flirting thing, but he’d never had any interest in encouraging them. He wanted to encourage Kelsey, wanted to toss more words back and forth with her.
“I thought we’d warm up today on the heavy bag. Mac said Billy started you off there yesterday and was impressed. I want to see what you have.”
“Prepare to be awed.” She whipped the boxing gloves over her shoulder and let them hang from the hook of her finger. As she passed by him, she said, “I love bag work.”
“Show me what you’ve got, hot stuff.”
The words just slipped out and he could’ve punched himself in the face for it. If the arching of her brow was any indication, she was as surprised by the comment as he was.
“Hot stuff?” She pursed her lips in consideration. “Been a while since someone said something like that to me.”
He highly doubted that. There was no way this woman didn’t have men panting at her heels as she passed by.
“Just get to it,” he said.
After she wrapped her hands—which was the hottest thing he’d seen in a long time—and strapped on her boxing gloves, she positioned herself in front of one of the black, sand-filled bags. “What am I doing here? Just arms, or do you want me to throw in some kicks as well?”
Oh, he would love to see that. “You do what feels right. I want to see how you handle it.”
Nodding, she brought her gloves to her chin then exploded on the bag with powerful punches that sent the thing spinning high into the air. Unlike most heavy bag novices, she didn’t wait for the bag to stop moving before hitting it again. She aggressively attacked the bag without stopping, adding in high and low kicks here and there.
Daaaaaaaamn.
That word kept repeating in Lance’s head with every landed hit. His gaze trailed over her, soaking in the erotic picture she made. There was something extremely sexy about a woman going apeshit on a bag. The small muscles of her arms and back flexed, just starting to glisten with sweat. Her delicate jawline was clenched in fierce concentration, and her expression said she knew she was making that bag her bitch. That excited current exploded into an all-out inferno. So. Fucking. Hot.
He couldn’t handle anymore. “Time.”
Breathing heavily, she lowered her arms and faced him. “How was that?”
As she tried to catch her breath, he had the hardest time looking away from her heaving breasts. “You’re one badass bitch.”
Pleasure brightened her face, and that look was sexier than the fierce one. Fuck, he was in trouble. “Well, hell, I like that comment better than ‘hot stuff.’”
A laugh shot out of his throat.
“How about we take this to the ring and do some focus pad work? I’d like to see how much power you really have behind those punches.”
She didn’t say anything as she ripped the gloves off her hands and strolled past him. The vanilla scent of her perfume teased him, and he clenched his fist against his heightened awareness of this woman. Everything about her, he was aware of.
Maybe a great pad session was what he needed to refocus. It would be hard to notice anything sexy about her while having to concentrate on her punches.
Kelsey tossed her gloves down, picked up the fingerless pair, then slid under the bottom rope into the ring. Lance grabbed the focus mitts and did the same thing.
“What kind of focus training have you had?” he asked.
“After watching me whup that bag’s ass, you’re really asking that question?”
“Hold up, Wonder Woman,” he said, chuckling. “I have no doubt you’ve had extensive training. My question is have your holders simply allowed you to work on your punches or do they also work on your defensive response?”
As she eyed him, her lips pursed in approval. His gaze dropped and held there. Jesus Christ. Swallowing, he forced his attention back to her.
“Mostly the former. Holders have swiped at my head after combinations, but they’ve always been slow, gave me too much time to react instead of making it instinct. I want to make it instinct.”
Her knowledge of MMA training and her desire to learn were a huge turn-on.
Lance slipped the mitts onto his hands. “We’re going to make it instinct. Let’s see how well you do with cues.”
He held up one mitt. Immediately, a strong jab knocked his hand back. Now they were talking. As he held up both mitts, she landed a jab-straight combination instantly. Lance grinned. “Excellent. Let’s just warm up and get a feel for each other first, okay?”