Love Tap (21 page)

“You hit me!”

He gives me a look conveying I’m being ridiculous.

“It was a love tap. Shake it off and show me what you got,” he waves me on.

I glower at him and charge him. Putting him into a Clench Hold. Wrapping my arms around his body, I hold him.

Using his free arms, he wraps them around my head, grappling for control.

“If you wanted to press your body against mine, you could have just asked,” his voice husky, it takes everything I have to not be turned on.

His hand skims along my breast, and goosebumps race up my arms. My body swaying into him on its own accord.

My eyes flick to his, wondering if he noticed. His eyes flash knowingly, and his hands skim down my back, grabbing my ass aggressively.

I want to give into him so bad, but he could be testing me. My panties are fucking wet as hell, my heart beating with aggression and passion I have to close my eyes and push through the storm my body is battling.

I give a one, two punch combo to his ribs and he lets go. “You hit like a girl, you know that,” he groans with pain. His discomfort is my drive to deliver more. I wrap my leg across his, and I take him to the ground. Quickly I climb on top of him.

“Good. I hear they’re better fighters than men anyway,” I reply back.

He chuckles, before surprising me and rolling us. Grabbing my arms he pins them above my head. His wild eyes search my face. My stomach fills with butterflies as he stares at me with such passion. Slowly he lowers his head, and my insides twist, desperately wanting him to close the gap and kiss me senseless.

“You gotta be kidding me,” a disappointed voice quips from outside the ring. Quickly Camden jumps off me, and I crawl to my feet.

Debs and Thomas are both standing by the ropes, their faces not pleased.

“How stupid can you be boy?” Thomas scolds and I can’t help but take offense.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Camden tilts his head to the side, his shoulders tensing with aggression.

“You can’t keep your mind in the game if you’re thinking about pussy, that’s what. We talked about this, no attachments,” Thomas voices and I blanche from his statement.

“This goes for you too Tate,” Debs tries to act hard, but she fails. She just doesn’t have it in her voice like Thomas does.

“It’s none of your business Thomas, and it sure as hell ain’t yours,” he points at Debs.

“What are you doing in the ring with her anyway?” Debs asks and I tense. I wonder if she’ll be pissed I’m training with him. Shit, maybe I should have checked with her first.

“I’m going to help train her,” Camden states matter of factly.

“Excuse me?” Her eyes bug out. “I took her on when nobody else wanted her, now that you all see she has some talent under that skin and bones you think you can cut in and take my future paycheck?”

“Nice,” sarcasm drips from my voice.

“Don’t act like I’m a monster Tate, none of you are anything but a paycheck.” Debs puts her hands on her hips, eyeing me like I’m clueless.

“I thought I could help train, because you suck as a trainer Debs. In fact if it weren’t for Thomas screwing you, you’d be out of a job, I’m sure.” Camden doesn’t hold back, he clearly doesn’t care if he upsets her. I can’t say that I do either at this point.

“You’re an asshole! You’re a washed up has been. You know that!” Debs jabs her index finger in the air with every syllable.

My fists clench and Camden’s body goes rigid.

“Hey now! Everyone shut up!” Thomas demands, but Camden doesn’t back down.

“This is how it’s going to be Debs. You have the contacts, how I have no fucking clue but you do, so you can set up fights and what have you. As for getting paid, you can keep your paycheck too, me training Tate isn’t about money,” Camden informs, glancing sideways at me. I can’t help the fuzzy feelings running through my body at his statement and look down.

They all go quiet, the silence making me shift on my feet.

“Like a team, I can do that,” Thomas breaks the silence.

“Alright, fine, less work for me,” Debs huffs, throwing her hands up in defeat. She really is a piece of work.

“I don’t want to see any more of that lovey shit, Camden. You got it?” Thomas points at Camden, then me. My cheeks blush, knowing he saw us.

“Got it.” Camden pushes the words through gritted teeth, clearly not amused they walked in on such a private moment. I agree, one more second and I would have been lip locked with him. After four years, our lips would have finally been reunited, and everything in the world would have been lost in the background.

Turning around, Camden smacks his hands together and says, “Let’s keep going. I saw you do a rear naked choke that day you were in the ring, but you messed it up.”

“No I didn’t?” I protest with furrowed brows. I have been doing that move since I was a kid.

“You did, try it on me.”

Stepping up behind him, he lowers himself so I can reach. I wrap my right arm around his neck as my hand rests right behind his head. Using my left elbow I place it on his left shoulder, my hand sitting on his head.

I squeeze his neck with my arm and he reaches up, tearing my arm free.

“See, I shouldn’t be able to do that so easy,” he points out.

“Okay, so what did I do wrong?”

“You wore panties. You shouldn’t wear any panties.”

I freeze, narrowing my brows. He’s fucking with me.

“Do the move again, only tuck your left hand behind my head to where it’s touching your shoulder instead of sitting on my head, and then push your head against mine. This way it locks your hands in to where I can’t pull them down.”

I do as he instructed, and when he tries to pull my arms, it’s unsuccessful.

“See. It works. But if you don’t wear panties that would distract me too.” He winks and my thighs clench wanting so much to grant his wish.

For the next two hours he teaches me how to do a few basic moves. How to duck and weave, and keep my foot work more firm and not so loose. Of course they are all laced with suggestive comments that has me ready to explode.

Camden Steel is like a snake in the ring. Quick and unpredictable. I, on the other hand, am about to pass out from lack of oxygen. I really have to get my endurance up.

Sitting down to take a break, he hands me a bottle of cold water.

“You’re a natural Tate.” He sits down next me. I look down, not good with compliments.

“I don’t know about that,” I chuckle, looking at the plastic bottle. “Sometimes I think I should just stick with boxing instead of attempting MMA.”

He shakes his head in disagreement, taking a sip of his sports drink. The way his lips curve around it makes mine pout, wanting to be on the receiving end. Fuck Thomas and Debs.

“Stop looking at me like that.” He doesn’t even look at me; he can just feel me looking at him. Quickly I look down and bite my lip to keep from blushing.

“It takes a lot to premeditate your next move, to be able to use your whole body like you do. You need to use it.”

The door rings as a tall slender woman walks in. She has dark short hair and is tanned an amazing brown. She has an off the shoulder shirt exposing her skin and has on some very revealing shorts.

“I think she might be lost,” I tilt the bottle of water in her direction.

Her eyes gaze over the gym before landing on us, shining with recognition at Camden.

She beams with a cheesy smile and sashays toward us.

“Camden baby!” she coos and my stomach drops. I eye Camden, curious if he’s going to introduce me.
Is this his girlfriend?

“Tate, why don’t you go clean up?” Camden suggests standing up. My chest fumes with anger. Is he fucking serious?

I can’t keep my mouth from parting in disbelief.

Not giving me a chance to cuss him out he walks toward her.

Pursing my lips in anger, my mind runs with violent thoughts as I get up and walk to the other side of the ring. But I don’t leave. I’m curious who this woman is and if Camden won’t tell me... I’ll find out for myself.

They whisper to each other to where I can’t hear a word that is being said, and she touches his face in an alluring matter. I can literally feel my nostrils flare with jealousy. They are intimately close, that’s for sure.

The hair on my arms stands straight as I watch her flirt with him. She’s really pretty. Her makeup is done flawlessly, her legs long and model worthy. I can’t help the urge to grab her by the hair and smash her pretty little face into the side of the ring.

I turn away from them, the mirror throwing my reflection back at me. My hair is in a messy bun. I have no makeup on and I’m covered in sweat. I hate that I don’t feel comfortable in dresses, that I can’t wear makeup and feel flawless.

I never feel insecure, but I do now. Closing my eyes, I look away from the mirror and back at the horror show happening before me.

The woman’s eyes furrow with an unreadable look and she walks away, her arm outstretched like she just can’t let him go. I want to strike her in the face bad. Most importantly, I want to break Camden’s jaw for toying with my heart.

“Who was that?” I can’t help the anger dripping from the question.

“Nobody,” Camden replies turning toward me. “It’s about time to go, you want to hit the showers?”

“No, I don’t,” I quip, my eyebrows rising.

“Okay… let’s practice a few moves I taught you,” he suggests, getting in form.

I can’t believe this; he’s just going to act like his girlfriend didn’t just walk in here.

This is where slutty kitty and I differ. I won’t be a Camden Steel play toy. No matter how much I want to be with him again.

He gets into stance and I take a jab at him, my fist making a whoosh sound from the amount of anger behind it. The power in my strike doesn’t go unnoticed as his eyes flash with a look of concern.

“Easy,” he warns. I scoff.

I jab, this time hitting him in the gut. He lowers his fists, ready to scold me and I do a basic leg take down throwing him to the ground with a thud.

“What the hell Tate?” He glares at me pissed. He takes control, slipping from my hold and maneuvering on top of me with ease. His body straddling mine.

“Sorry, if you wanted it easy you should have asked your girlfriend to get in the ring with you!” My head rises off the floor, getting right in his face.

“That is what this is about?” He looks amused, and it makes me angry. Using my hips I buck them, trying to throw him off.

Sweat trickles down my back from the amount of rage pouring through me.

“Fuck you!” I spit with frustration.

He sits up, resting his hands on his knees. He opens his mouth to speak, and I grab his arm by the wrist, locking my left leg around his left shoulder, and squeezing his shoulder with my right leg.

“Damn it, Tate, don’t do it.” He knows I’m about to do an arm bar. He doesn’t try to stop me though, he’s testing me. Seeing if I’ll obey. I’ve never fully done one before, so hopefully I don’t screw this up.

I don’t listen, I flip my right leg next to my left, his arm positioned between the two, and lift my hips. The movement straining his arm to the point it feels like it will pull from its socket.

He groans and taps my thigh. He tapped out.

Being one to follow code, I release him. Reluctantly.

Quickly he recovers, climbing on top of me.

He slams his hands down next to my head, his nostrils flaring.

“Goddamnit!” His face inches from mine as he glares at me with frustration. He fists me by the hair, bringing my face inches from his.

“You want to be a fucking brat?”

“Screw you! You’re such an asshole!” I struggle in his hold. His wild eyes stare daggers into mine, his grip tightening on my hair.

I can’t believe he thinks I would be okay with this. The suggestive comments, the flirting, I’m not a toy! My lips curl, nostrils flaring, I slap him in the face and his head whips to the side. Slowly he brings his eyes to mine, and his hand in my hair tightens into a whole other level. I wince and my body comes alive. His chest rises as his eyes flash with desire.

You want to know why I didn’t fuck some surfer on a surfboard back in LA? Camden and I speak a language in the bedroom that nobody else would understand. I like it rough, and Camden takes as well as he delivers.

Nobody could replace what we have. I would have been torturing myself trying to find a second best.

Without a second thought he slams his mouth against mine hard. The impact bruising my lips. Finally the buildup and tension breaks from the skin contact, and I moan into his lips.

His tongue flicks my top lip, wanting me to open up and I part my mouth. His tongue eagerly sweeps in, tasting me. The fruity taste of red Gatorade fills my mouth, and I kiss him harder.

My lungs burn with the need to breathe, but I don’t pull back. I’ve waited so long for this, a kiss I never thought would happen again. His teeth suddenly clamp down on my bottom lip, and I whimper.