A patient and enticing man. A man who was more dangerous to her than the one she’d met in that alley. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to lower her guard and let him in, and it scared the hell out of her. That would make her vulnerable on a whole different level. She hadn’t allowed a man close to her since Randy put her in the hospital.
Ella opened the door to Coolier and stepped inside. She immediately glanced around to check if Lance was there. Yesterday, he’d been thirty minutes late. She was tempted to ask him where he was when he ran late, but a part of her didn’t want to know. If he skirted around the question, then she’d know for certain he was involved in something bad. They had no association outside this gym, and she didn’t want to ruin her training time in here with worries about what he was into.
Thankfully, today he was on time, standing with Amber. The excited energy she’d dealt with all morning intensified to all-out zaps. She took a small calming breath, hoping beyond hope she didn’t look like a googly-eyed teenager. It was a new feeling, something she hadn’t dealt with in years, and she’d be lying if she said she didn’t find it thrilling, if not completely terrifying.
As she walked up to them, Lance gave her one of his charming smiles, and those zaps went nuts again, low in her belly. Dressed in bright blue and black fight shorts and a sleeveless white logo shirt that displayed his tattooed arm proudly, the man was simply yummy to look at.
“Kelsey.”
“Hey,” she said, stopping beside him.
“I had an idea. Wanted to run it by you.”
“What’s up?”
“I’ve been talking to Amber. She has a lot of experience with focus pad drills. It’s what got her started in wanting to pursue a career in MMA. I thought maybe you two could do a drill session together. I’d like to see if your reaction is the same.”
Her shoulders slumped, but she quickly covered her disappointment with a forced smile. She didn’t want to train with Amber. She wanted to train with Lance, but considering he was trying to help, she couldn’t come across as unappreciative. “I’m willing to give it a try.”
“Excellent. Go on and gear up.”
After she grabbed a pair of fingerless gloves and entered the ring, she faced Amber. Immediately, Ella noticed the difference in how she felt. Lance himself didn’t actually intimidate her, but when she squared off with him there was always a feeling of hesitation, of tension. Then, the minute he exhibited any dominance that challenged hers, the past came roaring back as if it had happened yesterday instead of four years ago.
With Amber, she felt confident. She knew she could easily defeat the other woman.
“Ready?” Amber asked.
Ella nodded.
Amber lifted a mitt, and Ella immediately jabbed. After a few warm-ups, the other woman increased the speed of her calls. Ella met each one without hesitation then ducked under a swipe to her head. As the other woman became more aggressive, she met the hits of Ella’s gloves with hard slaps back and closed the distance between them.
At being put on the defensive and forced to back up, enthralling energy filled Ella. A stinging smack landed hard on her shoulder. Even though the hit was much harder than Lance’s ever were, nothing in her reacted negatively. She simply returned a hard uppercut that knocked Amber back a step so she could catch the punch with the mitt. Ella didn’t stop in her aggressive pursuit and kept punching until she had the other woman against the ropes.
“That’s enough,” Lance yelled.
She immediately dropped guard and relaxed.
Amber tugged off the mitts, held her hand up in the air and said, “That was freaking awesome!”
Ella returned the high-five. That had been awesome. Most of the focus pad drills she’d done had been with smaller guys who always kept it about her working on her punches, not her defense strategy. Amber had given her one hell of a defensive workout. She’d just proven something to herself, too. She could take a hit and respond to it without freezing. It just had to be from someone she considered an equal. At least that was a move in the right direction.
“You were pretty awesome yourself,” she said.
“Anytime you need a focus partner, count me in.”
“You’ve got it.” She turned to Lance. The admiration shining back from him caused her heart to stutter, and it took everything in her not to exit the ring and throw her arms around him. She settled for mouthing, “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.” He slid under the third rope then strode toward her, holding out his hand. Amber passed the mitts to him, and he slipped them on. “We now know you can take a hit. Let’s see what happens when you go up against me.”
And just like that, the hesitation crept in, the muscles in her shoulders tensed. One second she was thrilled with her performance, the next she was right back to square one. The most frustrating part was, she was no more scared of Lance than she was of Amber. Hell, Amber’s hit had stung way worse than any of Lance’s taps. The only thing different was his build.
After Amber climbed out of the ring, Ella circled Lance. His bulging bicep muscles flexed as he brought the mitt up, causing the dark lines on his one arm to move.