Below the Belt (14 page)

“Long enough,” Cooper said. “Not that it makes any difference, but I’m serious about Jamie.”

Arthur’s face was set. “You think I haven’t heard that line before? She trusts you. She’s put her whole career in your hands, and you repay her by diddling her at the first opportunity?”

Cooper shuffled his feet.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have crossed the line and I know it. I’d already decided tonight to quit training her,” he said. “I can’t stand outside that ring and watch her take another beating. It’s doing my head in.”

He ran a hand through his hair, remembering again the urge he’d felt to stop the fight in its tracks and protect her. When he met Arthur’s eyes again, the old man’s expression was assessing.

“She needs a trainer more than she needs a boyfriend. Got them lined up around the block,” Arthur said.

Cooper shrugged. He felt the way he felt. And he’d already tried to pull back to being only Jamie’s trainer. It wasn’t going to happen.

“I’ll hook her up with someone. She’s got a record now, and the Sawyer name is bound to attract some interest,” he said.

“She won’t like trading on the name.”

But they both knew that horse had well and truly bolted.

“Does she know? About you not training her any more?” Arthur asked.

“No.”

Jamie was so driven, so intent on proving herself that there was no room in her life for doubt or other people’s mixed motives or feelings. He’d already tried to explain to her how much their sexual attraction compromised their professional relationship. She didn’t want to hear it.

Tonight she was going to have to listen.

He stared at the change room door. She would be angry. But there was no other way. He cared too much. He wanted her too badly.

The question was, once their working relationship was cleared up, would she acknowledge their personal one? Or was he going to have yet another battle on his hands?

J
AMIE STEPPED OUT
of the shower and pressed her face into her towel. She winced for the tenth time in as many minutes as she remembered the look on her grandfather’s face.

It was useless to pretend that him finding her buck naked and pink with afterglow was not cause for just a little bit of self-consciousness. But it had happened, and in a way she was glad.

The attraction she felt for Cooper was not going to go away with a few rolls in the hay. Despite their best intentions, they kept winding up naked and sweaty with each other.

It couldn’t last, of course. That kind of desire never did. Equally, it wasn’t fading of its own accord. The past few months had more than proven that.

Which left her and Cooper in a quandary. After tonight, more than ever, she knew she needed Cooper as her trainer. He’d grounded her when she’d been ready to walk, he’d focused her, he’d given her confidence. With him in her corner, she felt rock-solid.

There was only one solution: they needed to burn this thing out. Just go at it until they were bored or tired or over each other. A week, two weeks, a month. Whatever it took. She honestly couldn’t see any other way around it.

He would get on his high horse again, no doubt. He had some pretty old-fashioned views about the trust that should exist between a fighter and a trainer. She liked that about him a hell of a lot but it didn’t solve the problem of their mutual attraction. Only overexposure was going to do that. Once they’d sated each other’s desire, sex would be a nonissue and they could get back to what counted.

Jamie smoothed her hands down her slim-fit jeans and inspected her face. Her lower lip was puffy from Liana Nelson’s powerful left jab, and her right eye was starting to turn purple with a bruise.

God, she’d won.

She closed her eyes and relived the moment when the final bell had sounded. Just like last time, it had brought a heady rush. Winning was addictive. She wanted more of it—soon. Maybe she
was
her father’s daughter.

She pulled her hair into a ponytail then turned away from the mirror, her mouth tight. Her father had no place in any of this. She was annoyed with herself for thinking of him.

Stowing the rest of her gear in her gym bag, she prepared to face her grandfather. He would have things to say, no doubt, about her and Cooper. But she was a grown woman, and she was entitled to do what she wanted with whomever she wanted. Maybe it was the high from her win, but tonight she didn’t feel as though there was any problem that was insurmountable.

Both men were waiting for her in the corridor. Neither of them quite met her eye. Fine. A few beers and a good meal would take care of any awkwardness.

“Let’s go. There’s a pub within walking distance of the motel that looks like it has a good dinner menu,” she said.

She waited until they’d pulled up out the front of the pub before turning to face Cooper and her grandfather.

“Let’s get this out of the way so we can all have a good time, okay?” she said. She looked her grandfather in the eye. “Cooper and I like each other. It doesn’t mean anything. I’m sorry you had to find out like that, but there’s not much I can do about it now. Okay?”

Her grandfather eyed her steadily.

“Cooper’s your trainer, Jimmy. What you’re doing together messes things up. You need to be able to rely on each other.”

Jamie opened her mouth to tell her grandfather that sex was nothing but a bunch of body parts rubbing together and that it wouldn’t mess up anything. She closed it again without saying a word. She might be a grown woman, but there was no way she could have that conversation with her grandfather.

“Cooper and I understand each other,” she said. “Don’t worry about it.”

Her grandfather shot Cooper a look. She suspected he’d been giving Cooper a hard time while she changed. Cooper was a big boy, he could handle it.

“Come on. I’m thirsty,” she said.

She led the way inside. The Royal Standard was a classic Australian country pub with a long wooden counter along one wall, booths along another and a collection of tables and chairs filling the bulk of the floor space. Local memorabilia served as decoration, and in one corner a television showed highlights from the day’s football matches. The menu was written in colored chalk on a blackboard behind the bar.

Jamie marched straight up to the counter and ordered three beers. Technically, champagne was probably called for, but she’d always been more of a beer girl and she was willing to bet Cooper and her grandfather were the same.

She carried three frosty glasses back to the table Cooper had chosen, sliding a beer toward each of them and raising her own glass.

“To laying Nelson out,” she said.

The wary look left her grandfather’s eyes as he remembered the fight.

“That sure was a beautiful shot you popped her,” he said wistfully.

They all took a drink, then Cooper raised his glass.

“To Jamie, for fighting like a champion against the odds. You did great,” he said.

Warmth filled her chest at the approval, respect and admiration she saw in his face.

Talk became more natural after that as they rehashed the fight. Her grandfather crowed over the look on Kyle Vandenburg’s face when Liana had gone down.

“Wish I’d had a camera,” he said with a rueful shake of his head. “A-hole.”

They ordered another round of beers and a meal each. By the time they’d pushed their plates away, the mood was mellow.

Jamie was confident that any awkwardness had been dealt with. There was still some residual tension with Cooper, but they would sort that out. This time, they’d do it her way, and not his. Abstinence was not a viable prospect between the two of them. Cooper was going to have to face the fact, get over it and move on.

“Well, I think that’s it for me,” her grandfather said, pushing himself back from the table. “These old bones are calling for bed.”

Jamie checked the clock on the wall. It was barely ten o’clock.

“You’re kidding, right? We’re just getting started.”

Her grandfather shot Cooper a meaningful look. “I’m tired. It was a big day. And I’m sure you two have things to talk about.”

Kissing her on the cheek, he headed for the door. She followed him with her eyes until the door swung shut on him. She turned to Cooper.

“What was that supposed to mean?”

Cooper turned his glass around and around on his beer mat. Then he looked her in the eye.

“I’m not going to train you anymore, Jamie.”

She’d been half expecting this. She rolled her eyes.

“Honestly, you and my grandfather should go polish your suits of armor together. It’s just sex, Cooper. You haven’t exploited me or taken advantage of me or let me down. Quitting as my trainer would be letting me down.”

She leaned across the table and slid a hand behind his neck. Pulling him close, she angled her mouth over his and kissed him long and slow. His eyes were smoky with desire when she pulled away.

Damn, but this man did it for her.

“We have great sexual chemistry, and that’s been a distraction. We just need to get it out of our systems, burn it out,” she said. “A few weeks of letting nature take its course and it won’t be an issue anymore.”

She curled her fingers into his hair and leaned closer for another kiss. This time Cooper pulled away.

“You’re not listening to me. I can’t train you anymore. I should never have taken you on in the first place when I was so hot for you. I’ll find you someone else—Bob Godfrey, Gary Bedford. Either of them would be great for you.”

She frowned. Why was he so hell bent on being Mr. Bloody Honorable over this?

“Cooper, I don’t blame you, if that’s what you’re worried about. We both did this. And we’re both adults. Sleeping with each other is not the end of the world.”

“Jesus, Jamie. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me watching you in that ring tonight? I was nervous for you, I was damned near sick for you. I wanted to rip Vandenburg’s head off and slap Liana Nelson down and step into that ring and save your ass.”

“My ass doesn’t need to be saved,” she said.

“I get that. And I get that you don’t want to hear that I have feelings for you, and that you think sex is just sex and all that bull. But here’s the thing, Jamie—I like you. A lot. I think about you, I dream about you, I want more from you than mindless humping. I want to see what else there might be between us other than great sex.”

Just like last night, her back came up. She didn’t want to hear this from him. She didn’t want him to feel anything for her. Scowling, she knocked back more of her beer.

“I don’t do relationships,” she said.

“I’m not Vandenburg,” he said. “I’m not going to screw you over, Jamie.”

She flinched. She hated that he knew about her weak past.

“If I have to choose between having sex with you and having you as a trainer, I choose the trainer,” she said.

“You don’t get that option anymore, it’s off the table.”

She stared at him. He was dead serious about this. Then she remembered her grandfather. Cooper respected her grandfather. This was obviously a bout of self-flagellation after being caught with his pants down.

“If this is because my grandfather caught us, it doesn’t matter,” she said. “He’ll get over it.”

Cooper leaned forward, his body tense.

“Listen to what I’m saying and stop trying to make it about something else. I care about you, Jamie Sawyer. That’s why I can’t be your trainer anymore. I care too much to watch you get hurt.”

“I don’t want you to care. I don’t want any of this,” she said. She sounded like a scared kid, but she couldn’t take the words back.

Cooper reached out, his hands cupping her face with infinite tenderness. He drew her close for a kiss. His lips brushed hers gently, delicately. Then he slid his tongue into her mouth. She could taste the desire in him, the sincerity, the emotion. Something deep inside her rose up in response. She found herself reaching for him, clutching at his shoulders as she lost control for a few seconds.

He was a good man, an honest man. He’d always been straight with her. She loved the way he made her laugh, and the way he ran his gym and spoke to his staff, and she admired the hell out of his grit and determination and self-respect. He had an amazing body, and sometimes when he touched her she felt so beautiful and desirable it made her soul ache….

She gasped and pushed him away.

The last time she’d been stupid enough to fall in love, Kyle Vandenburg had screwed her over and tossed her aside. She could still remember the day she’d gone to his house with the letters from the debt collectors, trying to find some explanation for what had happened other than that he’d let her down. He hadn’t even let her past the doorstep. He’d simply told her he couldn’t help her. Shit happened, he’d said. Investments fall through, people are unreliable. She’d started to cry, unable to fully comprehend that this was the same man who had shared her bed for over a year and held her at night when she anguished over her father. To her shame, she’d even begged him to tell her why he was doing this to her.

She should have known the answer: because he could. Because he was a professional fighter, a predator, and his need to conquer extended outside the ring to everything in his life. He’d had her, he’d grown bored of her. Her financial affairs had become messy and embarrassing. It was time to move on.

Cooper wasn’t like Kyle. Her heart knew that, as well as her gut. But she never wanted to feel that vulnerable again. Because people
were
unreliable. Kyle. Her father.

Something heavy and dark pressed down on her chest. She blinked rapidly. She looked after herself now, relying on no one. The only person she trusted was her grandfather.

“This is about more than sex,” Cooper said. He reached for her, but she flinched away from him.

“I don’t want to have feelings for you. Don’t you get that?” she asked. “I don’t want to care.”

“It’s too late, Jamie. We’re already friends. We’re lovers. We care about each other. When I kiss you, I know it’s more than sex that’s driving us. I can feel it.” He tapped his chest with two fingers.

She stared at him. “Since when did you become the expert on emotions? I bet you’ve never had a long-term relationship in your life. I bet you’ve screwed your way across the States and all the way around Australia,” she said.

“Yep. Just like I bet you’ve slept with men when you wanted sex, too,” he countered. “That’s why I know this is real. That it counts for something. That it’s worth exploring.”

It was true. She’d never felt this way with any of the other men she allowed into her bed. Not the hot, insatiable desire, not the need to be with him, not the thrill when their glances caught, not the warmth that spread through her chest and belly when she heard him laugh or he threw a word of praise her way. That was all for Cooper, only for Cooper.

She shoved her chair away from the table, distancing herself from him.

“Fine. You’re not my trainer anymore,” she said, sitting back and crossing her arms. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me so far. Thanks for a good time. Have a nice life.”

There was a long silence as he stared at her. She raised her eyebrows and stared back.

“What were you expecting to hear? I’m not going to say I have feelings for you, Cooper. I like having sex with you. You have a great body and a beautiful cock. End of story. If I had the choice again, I’d say no to the sex and keep you as a trainer.”

Cooper stood and reached for his wallet. Without a word, he threw money down for the tab and slid his wallet into his back pocket. Then he turned and headed for the door.

She forced herself to watch him go. Only when he’d disappeared from sight did she realize that she had a white-knuckle hold on the edge of the table.

She took a deep breath and released her grip. She couldn’t quite believe that he’d walked away from her. Even right up until the last few moments, she’d hoped that she could talk him around.

She’d just been hitting her stride. She’d found her training groove, understood what he expected from her, what they were aiming for together. She liked his sense of humor, the succinct way he offered criticism and suggestions for improvements to her technique. They’d won tonight against a fighter with vastly more experience. They made a good team.