Undeclared(84)

For two friends, the blows they exchanged seemed fierce. A flurry of punches, kicks, and parries followed, and a few of the blows elicited shouts of delight from the audience. Noah was on his back with Bo atop him, Noah’s legs snug around Bo’s torso.

With a quick movement, Noah rolled Bo onto his back, his arms around Bo’s neck and his legs around Bo’s arms. Bo tapped his hand to the side and Noah let go immediately. He rose easily and leaned down to help Bo to his feet. They hugged each other. When someone came to remove Noah’s helmet, I could see him grinning.

He said he fought for money, but it was clear by the expressions on both faces that they enjoyed this exertion of testosterone quite a bit.

Noah was breathing hard when he came to the edge of the ring. Leaning on the ropes, he motioned me over. I resisted the urge to look behind me, but I did see out of my periphery about a dozen heads swivel toward me. I have to admit the feeling that welled up inside me wasn’t pretty or nice. It was possessive with a tinge of pride. Yes, that guy up there all sweaty and gorgeous who just fought the crap out of the other guy? That guy was gesturing toward me.

Someone, I’m not sure who it was, gave me a boost at the same time Noah reached down to grab my hands. I stood on the outside with the ropes of the boxing ring between us. They were soft and springy.

“What’d you think?” Noah asked me, holding my arms so I didn’t fall backward. “Different from the other night?”

“I’m a little afraid of what I think,” I admitted.

“Oh,” he said, one eyebrow rising.

“It’s very primitive,” I said, “and evokes a primitive response.”

He laughed low, and I felt my stomach tighten in response. “I don’t think this is the place for the discussion I’d like to have. Let me shower and change, and we can get out of here.”

“Shower,” I said plaintively. I wanted to finger paint the sweat all over those defined muscles from his chest down to his low-riding gym shorts. His hands tightened on my arms, and I wondered if he was going to haul me over the ropes. He just looked at me, his nostrils flaring.

“Don’t push it, sister,” he said, growling a little. “Pull up on the top rope.” And he ducked under the raised rope and came out on my side. He jumped down and held up his arms for me. I leaned forward, and he effortlessly lifted me down.

“Why is your nose still unbroken? Or your face rarely bruised?” I patted his face.

“It’s the face masks, but sometimes I can get a bloody nose. Bo wasn’t aiming for that though.”

“Aiming?”

“Yeah,” Bo’s voice came from above us. He jumped down from the ring to land softly beside Noah and me. “Noah has a glass jaw, so I couldn’t hit him too hard, or I’d mess up his photo shoot.”

“I don’t like getting hit in the face, so I try to avoid it,” Noah admitted.

“Does that mean if you get hit in the face you’re knocked out?” I asked.

“Nah, it just means I can’t take too many of them. And I’ve developed very good duck and jab instincts.”

“So this is like the swimming thing,” I said to Noah. “Exposure is like an antidote.”

“You told her you were scared of the water?” Bo asked, surprised.

“He wrote to me about it,” I replied. Bo gave Noah a strange look and then slapped him on the back.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” he said and took Noah off to the locker room.

The mini high that I had been on faded, and discomfort set in as I looked around the room as it emptied. A big barrel-chested man who had been standing in Noah’s corner during most of the fight came over.

“Paulie,” he said, holding out a giant hand, which could have engulfed two of mine.

“Grace.” I watched as my hand was swallowed up. Where Noah was lean and muscled, this man’s physique screamed steroided body builder. I shrank away at the menace in his gaze, but he didn’t release my hand.

“My boy Noah’s got a chance to be a big name in this sport. You gonna help him or mess with his mind?”

“Um, I think Noah decides what he wants to do without much input from others.” Paulie must not have had a good understanding of Noah’s mentality if he thought I was going to influence Noah one way or another.

“There’re two kinds of girls for a kid like him: The hometown girl and the ring girl. One is going to do everything she can to propel her man up the ladder to the title.”

“I’m guessing I’m a hometown girl.” I tugged at my hand and he finally let it go.

“Yeah and you hometown girls have a lot of ideas about what your men should do. Uptight chick like you with money written all over her probably thinks she’s too good for this place. Maybe you should let go now and hook up with your own kind.”