Dangerous Nights: Tall Dark Defender / Undercover Wife. Merline Lovelace
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startled her. Had she learned nothing in her marriage to Walt? She’d been physically attracted to Walt when they married. He’d been especially handsome in his military dress uniform the day they wed. But all the sexual chemistry in the world didn’t outweigh the suffering he’d put her through in later years.
Yet she couldn’t help but stare at Jonah’s toned and powerful physique, his smooth style as he moved around the ring. With practiced skill, he ducked a swing and landed a solid hook to his opponent’s pad-protected jaw.
Shocked out of her gawk-fest by his potent punch, Annie gasped.
Jonah’s gaze darted to her.
In that split second of his distraction, his opponent struck back with a blow to Jonah’s ribs.
Annie felt the blow as surely as if she’d taken the hit herself. The air whooshed from her lungs, and tension screwed her muscles tight. Clapping a hand over her mouth, she fell back another step.
“Devereaux, what the hell are you doing?” the silver-haired man by the ropes shouted. “You gotta keep your eyes in the ring!”
Grinning through a grimace, Jonah raised his boxing gloves. “Time. I’ve got company.”
She sidled toward Jonah as he climbed through the ropes and jumped down to meet her.
“You came.” Equal measures of pleasure and surprise colored his tone.
She nodded tightly and gave the activity in the room a meaningful glance. “If I’d known what kind of gym you meant, I don’t know that I would have.”
His dark eyebrows drew together. “Why?”
Eyeing the muscle-bound giant battering a small punching bag beside her, she inched closer to Jonah. “I’m … rather out of place, wouldn’t you say?”
A warm grin lifted a corner of his mouth. “Hey, I know these guys look pretty rough, but I assure you, you’re perfectly safe here.”
He rubbed his ribs and winced.
“Are you all right?” She knew more than she cared to about the sting of fist-imposed injuries.
He glanced down at his chest. “It’s nothing. Just a reminder that when you’re in the ring, you gotta stay focused on your opponent, not be distracted by what’s happening outside the ring.”
The older man who’d been coaching winked at her. “Even if the distraction is mighty pretty.”
Jonah tossed a towel at the other man. “Down, boy.”
Annie frowned. “I’m sorry if I—”
“No, no.” He waved off her apology. “My fault. I’m just glad you came.” To the silver-haired coach, he said, “Frank, I think I’m done for the day. Same time tomorrow?”
Frank nodded. “Sure.” To the kid in the ring he called, “Okay, Billy. Hit the showers.”
Jonah bit the lace on one glove and pulled it with his teeth, then moved on to the second.
Annie fidgeted with her purse strap. “I can’t stay long. My kids—”
“Pull?” He lifted his hands toward her.
Annie blinked her surprise.
“Please,” he added with a lopsided grin.
Unaccustomed to refusing any man’s request, she awkwardly grasped one bulky glove and tugged. It didn’t budge.
“Harder. You gotta really muscle ‘em off.”
Annie hesitated, jitters dancing in her gut. She slid her purse from her shoulder and set it on the concrete floor. Grabbing Jonah’s boxing glove with both hands, she pulled. Hard. As he freed each hand, Jonah shook his arms and flexed his fingers.
“Thanks.” He took the gloves from her and tossed them next to a duffel bag on the floor at the edge of the ring. Hitching his head toward the locker room, he said, “Give me five minutes to grab a shower, and we’ll get started.”
Annie sent another uncomfortable glance around the gym and bit her lip. “I should probably just get home. Maybe this was a mistake.”
Furrowing his brow, he took her hand in his. His touch sent another flash of tingling heat over her skin.
He ducked his head to meet her gaze and squeezed her fingers gently. “Don’t go. Just five minutes. I need to talk to you, but right now I smell like a goat.”
His farm-animal comparison earned a half grin from her. And her concession. She nodded. “Five minutes.”
With another handsome smile, he snatched up the gym bag and headed toward the locker room.
“Jonah?”
He turned.
“Do you have a cell phone I can borrow? I need to call my babysitter and tell her I’ll be late.”
“Sure.” He fished in his duffel and extracted a small flip phone. “Catch.” He tossed the phone toward her, and, caught off guard, she barely snagged the cell before it hit the concrete.
While she waited for Jonah, Annie found a corner where she was out of the way and called her apartment. She filled Rani in on her delay, then talked to Haley, who bubbled with excitement over a new lost tooth.
“I saved it to show you, Mommy. And Rani says if I put it under my pillow, the tooth fairy will give me money!”
Annie smiled, loving the joy in her daughter’s voice and trying to recall if she had any change in her wallet to hide under Haley’s pillow.
“Hey, Mommy, maybe you could put your teeth under your pillow and get some money from the tooth fairy, too!”
Annie sputtered a laugh. “My teeth?”
“Yeah, then maybe you wouldn’t have to go to work at the diner all the time and could stay home and play with me and Ben.”
Remorse stabbed Annie, cutting her to the quick. “I don’t know, sugar. I think the tooth fairy only wants kids’ teeth.”
“Oh.”
The disappointment in her daughter’s tone wrenched Annie’s heart. “I’m supposed to have this Saturday off, though, and I promise we’ll do something fun. Just you, me and Ben. Maybe go to the park? Okay?”
“Okay.”
But Haley sounded skeptical. Too skeptical for a five-year-old. Knowing how many times she’d had to cancel plans with Haley when she had to work extra hours at the diner flooded Annie with fresh guilt.
Jonah emerged from the locker room, wearing a clean T-shirt and jeans, his wet hair combed back from his face. His gaze swept the room looking for her, and when he spotted her, a smile softened the hard planes of his face.
Annie’s pulse missed a beat.
Jonah wasn’t handsome in the classical sense. So why was he suddenly stirring this schoolgirl reaction in her?
She chastized herself. She was too busy making ends meet, fighting for her survival and reeling from her last devastating relationship to be in the market for a man. She had no business looking at Jonah as anything other than a regular customer at the diner. A mysterious man who’d rescued her from her attacker. The person who’d offered to show her techniques to protect herself and her family from further abuse.
“Haley, sugar, I have to go now. Be sweet for Rani and eat all of your dinner. Okay?” Annie watched Jonah cross the gym floor, his loose-limbed stride confident and relaxed. Her breath hung in her lungs.
Haley grumbled an unintelligible response as Jonah reached her.
“I’ll be home soon, sugar. B’bye.” She closed the phone and held it out to Jonah. “Thanks.”
Taking the cell from her,