Below the Belt. Sarah Mayberry

asked.

      “Did he? Yeah, I’ve seen a few rounds,” Arthur said with a shrug. He kept his focus on the two fighters warming up in the ring and didn’t offer up anything more.

      Taciturn old bugger.

      Cooper switched his attention back to the ring.

      “Okay, let’s get into it,” he ordered.

      Jamie and Mick met in the center and tapped gloves before falling into orthodox stances and starting to circle one another. True to form, Jamie was the first to move in, feinting with her right before hitting Mick’s torso with a left cross. Mick let her get a few shots in before he began to work her over. None of the hits were hard or intended to hurt, but both fighters had worked up a sweat within minutes and it didn’t take long for Jamie’s footwork to become compromised as she began to feel the pressure.

      Cooper let them fight for a few more minutes before calling a halt.

      “Thanks, Mick. Nice work. Jamie, my office,” he said.

      Grabbing the video camera from Jason, he led the way to his domain.

      By the time Jamie followed a minute later, towel in hand and without her gloves and head gear, he had the camera hooked up to the TV and the tape ready to play.

      Jamie’s expression was wary as he gestured her toward a chair opposite his own.

      “Make yourself comfortable,” he said.

      “You didn’t tell me you were going to film us,” she said.

      “Didn’t I?”

      She was still breathing heavily. In the enclosed space of his office he was very aware of her scent—something fresh and bright that he guessed was her deodorant.

      Instead of taking a chair, she leaned against his desk, her butt propped on the edge. He had to force his gaze away from her long legs as she crossed her ankles and leaned back on her arms.

      For a fleeting second, he allowed himself to wonder what those thighs would feel like clenched around him as he pounded into her.

      “Well, go on,” she said.

      He hit the play button and they both watched the opening few skirmishes. As Mick picked up the pace, the first of Jamie’s hesitations appeared.

      “Kick,” Cooper said, just in case she hadn’t seen it. “And another one, and another one. You don’t actually throw them, of course, but they’re there. You want to fight with your feet so bad it hurts.”

      Her mouth and face grew tight as she watched herself make the same mistake over and over. Finally she called a halt.

      “Okay. I get it. You’ve made your point.”

      He switched the television off.

      “You’ve got some bad habits we need to break.”

      She nodded. “Yep. How?”

      “I’ve got a few ideas.”

      He outlined them to her as she patted the sweat off her face and chest. He followed her movements with his eyes, imagining what her breasts would look like naked, how heavy and smooth they’d feel in his hands. A bead of sweat raced down her belly and he barely resisted the urge to lean forward and trace its path with his tongue. She’d taste sweet and salty at the same time, he bet…

      Registering that he had a hard-on, he rolled his chair closer to the desk. He had to stop thinking like this.

      “It’s not going to be easy,” he concluded. “It’s going to take time and effort.”

      “I’ve got time. I’ve got effort,” she said, straightening from her slouching position against his desk.

      Once again, he struggled to keep his gaze on her face.

      “Okay. Let’s get started,” he said.

      She opened the door and hovered, waiting for him to join her.

      “I’ve got to make a quick phone call,” he lied. “You start in on the speedball.”

      She exited and he ran a hand through his hair.

      His possessiveness where she was concerned, his hyperawareness of her physically, his constant slide into sexual fantasy, the huge freakin’ boner in his pants—it all had to stop. She had come to him for one purpose. She was his fighter now, not an object of lust.

      He was her trainer, her mentor, her guide, and she was officially off-limits.

      Man, but this was going to be one hell of a test of his willpower.

      

      BY THE TIME SHE was heading into the change rooms after her first session with Cooper, Jamie knew that he was a far better trainer than she’d ever imagined. She also knew that he was the most sexually desirable man she’d ever known.

      It was his attitude, the feeling she got when she was around him, as much as his body—although that was pretty damned impressive all on its own. Even though she’d taken pains to disguise her interest, she’d been unable to stop herself from watching him as he moved around the gym in between giving her instructions. His arms alone were enough to make her knees weak—solid, round with muscle, strong. When he demon-strated a technique on the speedball to one of the younger fighters, she’d paused in her own workout to watch the muscles of his back and arms in action. Nice. Very nice.

      Then there was his butt. Simply watching it flex as he walked made her fingers curl. She knew from watching his fights that he had a broad chest with well-defined pecs and abdominal muscles, and she closed her eyes as she stood beneath the shower, imagining how it would feel to have her breasts pressed up against all that masculine hardness. As the water pounded down on her, she slid her hands over her soapy breasts and down between her thighs, imagining it was his fingers finding her damp and ready for him.

      Abruptly she became aware of what she was doing—eroticizing her hard-won trainer on day one. She switched the water to full cold.

      She knew herself well enough to understand that the simmering desire she was feeling wasn’t going to evaporate. She either had to learn to control it and ignore it, or she had to neutralize it.

      As she dressed, her thoughts flew to the handful of men she could call on for casual sex if and when she wanted it. She’d never been sentimental about sleeping with the opposite sex—not for a long time, anyway—and it was a mindset that had always served her well. Human beings had needs—food, shelter, sex. Not necessarily in that order, depending on what else was going on in a person’s life. Right now, for whatever reason, she needed sex. Since she couldn’t get it from Cooper, for a variety of very sensible and rational reasons, she would look else-where.

      She grabbed her phone from her workout bag and called Dean, her most recent lover. He was flatteringly pleased to hear from her, but couldn’t hook up until Thursday night.

      Today was Monday. She frowned. She felt distinctly edgy at the prospect of having to wait that long until she could feel a man’s naked body pressed against her own.

      “Are you still there, Jimmy?” Dean asked when the silence between them had stretched too long.

      “Sure, I’m here. And Thursday is fine,” she assured him quickly. Honestly, how hard up was she, anyway? “I’ll come to your place, okay?”

      The one down side to living with her grandfather was that it made entertaining at her place next to impossible. Not that she was keen to inflict her dumpy little dive on any of her lovers. When she remembered the way things used to be, the beautiful things her mother had collected, the sumptuous furniture her father had insisted on…

      She zipped her bag shut with a firm hand. The world had moved on, and she was in the process of clawing back some of what had been lost. There was no point in dwelling on the past.

      Steeling herself for one last encounter with Cooper before she could escape for the day, Jamie