I tried to kick my legs, but his body was pure muscle, and with the way he was holding me, I might as well have been weighed down by steel.

“That was another dirty move,” I complained, breathing heavily.

“Sorry, but you can’t complain about dirty moves when you use them yourself. I tried giving you a helping hand and you exploited my kindness.” He tutted, shaking his head at me smugly.

I had no intention of giving in. “You do realise there are a number of much more efficient ways you could be restraining me right now, yet you pick the sexiest option.”

“Yep, I’m well aware of that.”

I grunted irritably, uncomfortably aware of the strength of his thighs locked around mine and the way our bodies were so conveniently aligned. Flicking my eyes up to his, I was sure he saw my frustration. There was a softness in his gaze, and I exhaled a breath when he loosened his grip and lowered his body so his entire weight rested on top of me. His pecs were hard planes, his abdomen a firm press against my stomach.

“What are you doing?” I whispered, conscious of every breath he took. The noise of other gym users and trashy workout music streaming from the overhead monitors was a distant reality. There were any number of ways that I could have gained the upper hand right then, but it didn’t feel like we were sparring anymore, and I couldn’t have moved a muscle even if I tried.

“You’re so fucking sexy,” Lee whispered back, his nose dipping to the spot below my ear.

“You need to get off me. Somebody might see,” I said, desperate.

“I love that about you,” Lee continued to whisper, still nuzzling me.

“What?”

“How you act all tough, but as soon as I touch you, you melt and go all shy. It’s gorgeous.”

I was momentarily glad that this wasn’t a cop gym, and that none of my coworkers had a membership here. I could just imagine the crap I’d have to deal with if anyone I knew saw me in my current clinch.

“You need to get off me now.” I repeated my plea, trying to make my voice hard and failing. There was way too much air in it.

“If you want me to get off you, I will,” said Lee, moving his hips slightly. I felt something firm press into me and knew he was hard. This was so many levels of wrong, I didn’t even know where to begin. “Do you want me to?”

I closed my eyes for a second and tried to breathe. I’d never felt so weak, and we both knew I didn’t want him off me, not even a tiny bit. What I wanted was for us to be magically transported somewhere private where he could show me exactly what he planned on doing with the stiff length in his pants.

When I didn’t reply, Lee continued talking. “I can’t get your taste out of my mouth.”

The smallest whimper escaped me, and I felt myself grow wet at his words. I wanted so many things right then. In the end I opened my eyes, and I was sure he recognised the defeat in my expression.

“You win.”

I hated to admit it, but the way he smiled in response was beautiful. “Does this mean I get to come over tomorrow?”

All I could do was nod reluctantly. Maybe Alexis would feel like doing me a favour and sticking around the flat while Lee was there, like a buffer. She’d hate it, but hey, it wasn’t like I hadn’t done favours for her in the past.

“Okay, so….” Lee’s voice dipped as his eyes travelled over my heaving chest. “I guess the only thing left for you to do is kiss the victor.”

That did it. I couldn’t take any more as I twisted my wrists out of his hold and used my hip bone to break the tenseness in his thighs. Within seconds I was out from under him, walking to the other side of the ring and searching for my towel. Once I found it, I dabbed my brow and slipped out between the ropes.

“Hey, Karla,” Lee called after me. I turned and waited for him to say something. “I know you could have done that any time.” He stopped, not saying any more because he didn’t have to. We both knew what he was inferring. I could have gotten out from under him, but I didn’t because I liked having him on me, and that was the scariest part of all.

***

Chicken noodles were my dreamboat. I tended to get crazy hungry when I was on a shift, so the sight of Tony walking into the station with a bag of Chinese takeaway was like music to my ears, or, I dunno, a beautiful artwork to my eyes.

I was manning the front desk and decided to eat while I worked because the station was a madhouse. Halfway through my dinner, and having dealt with a number of drunks, one prostitute, and a woman who’d had her handbag stolen on the tube, I had a call come in about an illegal rave going on in a warehouse down in Brixton. They needed extra backup because there were hundreds of people there, a lot thought to be underage, and apparently some dodgy drugs were being passed around. It was with a forlorn sigh that I said goodbye to my noodles and hopped in the patrol car with Tony.

“Okay, here’s one for ya,” he began, and I knew I was going to be hit with a brain teaser. Tony and I had a thing for trying to figure them out together. When you worked with someone day in and day out, you came up with ways to pass the time. “If it were two hours long, it’d be half as long until midnight as it would be if it were an hour later. What time is it now?”

I glanced at him, screwing my mouth up in concentration as I repeated the question to myself over and over. The problem was, the more I repeated it, the less sense it made. In the end I just gave up. “Ugh, I’ve got nothing. I’ll have to think about it some other time. Hey, so what’s the deal with these drugs at the warehouse?”