Mike told Colin he should take over the boxing with Gemma.
“Mike,” Colin said, “you know that all I can do is pick up weight and put it down.”
“Come on, Frazier,” Mike said, “are you afraid of her?”
“Scared to death,” Colin answered, his eyes on Gemma.
Mike put the big leather hand pads on Colin, then held Gemma’s gloves while she pushed her hands in their gel wraps inside. “Now, you two have each other, so I’m going to do my own workout.”
Gemma and Colin looked at each other for a moment, then he raised the pads. “Give me what you got,” he said.
She hesitated. If it was true that he’d never trained in boxing, he wouldn’t know how to deflect her punches, and besides, she didn’t want to hurt him. He was strong, but everyone’s skin bruised. Her first hits were light but strong enough to make the sound of leather slapping against leather that all boxers so loved.
Stepping back, Colin looked at her in disgust. “That’s it? What about kicking? Did you forget how to do that?” He lowered his voice. “You’re going to be nice to a man who forgot all about you after a quickie?” He winked at her.
She knew he was trying to goad her into hitting him—and it worked. “Put the side pad on,” she said seriously.
“Too much trouble.” He smiled in a taunting way. “How could little you hurt me?”
She didn’t think about what she did, but twirled to put a spinning back kick hard into his stomach. She faked a front kick to distract him, then did a spinning backhand to his jaw, putting her whole body behind the punch. She’d never done the moves on a person before, just on a bag, but when she’d seen it done in a ring, the recipient always went down.
Colin staggered backward, bent forward, his hands on his knees, and tried to keep breathing.
Mike, who had watched the whole thing, began to laugh. “You better not ever make her angry.”
“I can see that,” Colin said as he stood up and flexed his jaw.
“I’m—” Gemma began.
“If you say you’re sorry I’ll take your pens away from you,” Colin said.
She didn’t smile. “I’ve never done that to a person before, and . . .” She took a step back as Colin was coming toward her. She’d never survive one of his punches!
When he reached her, he looked down at her in what could be called a menacing way, then he suddenly picked her up and lifted her up in an overhead press. In seconds, she was squealing in laughter as he twirled her around.
Just at that moment, Luke and Ramsey came in the front door.
When Rams saw Gemma high above Colin’s head, he turned back to the door. “I’m outta here.”
Luke grabbed his cousin’s arm. “I thought you wanted to box with Gemma.”
Colin set Gemma to the floor. “Come on, guys, let’s put you two to work.”
It was another hour before Gemma and Colin left the gym, and she felt good.
“Are you okay?” he asked when they got to her car.
“The question is whether you are.” Reaching up, she touched his jaw, which was already showing a bruise. “Think kisses would make it feel better?” she asked softly, looking up at him. If it weren’t daylight and in the middle of town, she would have pulled him into the backseat of her car and had her way with him. The loo
k in her eyes made him take a step forward, but she put her hand on his chest. “I think we should go home.”
He stepped back. “You’re right. We need to shower and change. See you at church at ten?”
“Church?” she asked.
He was smiling. “Yeah, church. You are going with me, aren’t you?”
“I thought we were going to keep us a secret.”