Fighting the Fire (Warrior Fight Club #3) - Laura Kaye Page 0,3

death was the strongest reminder that being alone was apparently her lot in life.

Hopefully, the next two hours would at least help take her mind off of it.

“Bring it,” Sean said, giving her a wink.

Ignoring his head games, Dani got into position. Fists up, elbows close to her ribs, lead leg forward. In this drill, Sean as the kicker could only make offensive moves with his legs. While, as the puncher, she couldn’t use her legs at all. Which meant she had to get in close while defending against his kicks.

They circled. Feinted. Attacked.

Sean was strong as hell, but she was faster by a lot. Dani used that to her advantage. Blocking and dodging his kicks and then getting inside to attack his ribs and gut and kidneys in the spare seconds before he regained his footing.

Each punch she landed released a pressure valve somewhere deep in her brain. And that release was so fundamental that she barely felt the kicks that Sean landed. Not that she gave him much chance to get them in, because she kept him close, under pressure, and on the defense blocking her punches.

“Damn, woman,” he said, respect and wariness plain in his voice.

“You told me to bring it,” she said, looking for another in. He blocked a shot at his ribs and delivered a spinning side kick that landed on the side of her thigh.

“Someone has some aggression to work out today,” he said.

“Do you have to talk so much?” she asked, sweat curling down the side of her face as she attacked again. This time she drove forward, forcing him to retreat and not letting him get in a kick.

Sean blocked and covered and dodged until they were in a clinch, breathing hard and face to face with no room to punch or kick. And for no good reason, heat roared over Dani. Heat that almost incinerated her from the inside out. Maybe it was the bulk of his muscles or the slick slide of their sweat or his scent of clean soap from a recent shower that couldn’t quite remove the hint of fire from his skin and hair.

As if he sensed it, Sean’s dark eyes flashed hot and his jaw went tight. Breaking the rules, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her in close, letting her feel his erection for one spare moment before taking her to the mats in a controlled move that showed just how freaking strong he was. She expected to get the wind knocked out of her, but he’d more laid her out than knocked her down.

A whistle blew. “Switch up,” Colby called. “And follow the damn rules, Riddick. We’re not doing ground work right now.”

Everyone laughed.

But Dani and Sean were caught in a staring contest with their faces mere inches apart.

She wanted him inside her so bad that she nearly gave voice to it.

Her brain went immediately to that night.

How they’d circled each other throughout that whole damn party. How Sean had walked her to her car, parked right in front of his, which she’d begrudgingly thought sweet despite her insistence she didn’t need a damn chaperone. How they’d started bantering about something she couldn’t even remember now—because all she could remember was how desperately aroused she’d felt. How she’d teasingly punched him and he’d caught her arm and hauled her in against him. How the shock of his erection against her hip had made her look up at him. And how he’d claimed her mouth and she’d let him.

Oh, hell yeah, she’d let him do that and so much more…

And she wanted it again.

It was that thought that finally made her brain come back online. “Get. Off.”

His brow arched. Just the tiniest bit. “You can take your aggression out on me anytime.” He spoke in a rushed whisper, but the words impacted her like a body slam, pressing her back into the floor with some unseen force. Because she’d heard that tone in his voice before, when she’d straddled his lap on the big bench of his pick-up and finally taken him deep.

“Fucking hell, Dani. Take all of me.”

“Now,” Dani said, hoping he didn’t hear that her voice was affected, too.

In a move that seemed too lithe for someone his size, Sean hopped up then extended his hand to her.

Shook as she was, Dani accepted his help, then regretted it when he didn’t immediately release her hand but instead held her right in front of him—exactly like he had that night. “Just say