Burned by Sarah Morgan

Author:Sarah Morgan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

It was an exasperating truth that the harder you tried to avoid someone, the more you saw of them.

I was determined to avoid Hunter as much as possible, so of course I bumped into him everywhere and it was very distracting. To be fair, the rest of the female members of staff were distracted, too.

I tried to work off my frustration in the gym. I took extra sessions and did extra workouts myself.

By Friday of the following week I was physically exhausted but nothing had dampened my sexual frustration.

I texted my sister, ‘Pick up batteries on your way home.’

She texted back, ‘Pick up Hunter instead.’

I ignored that, gritted my teeth and got on with my day. I avoided the changing room because that made things worse.

I did pretty well until late afternoon when I saw Hunter in one of the studios, hunkered down in front of a skinny boy of about nine. I didn’t recognize him.

‘He’s being bullied at school.’ Caroline’s voice came from behind me. ‘His mum came in earlier in the week and talked to Hunter about whether he should start karate.’

We stood together watching as Hunter talked quietly to the boy and then gave him a lesson, one-to-one.

I could see the confidence flowing from Hunter into the boy, just as it once had with me.

‘He’s good with kids.’ I didn’t realize I’d spoken aloud until Caroline agreed with me.

‘I guess it has something to do with his own upbringing. It’s really important to him to help kids who are in trouble at home. It’s kind of like a project for him. Probably because of his own background.’

I tried to remember what I knew about his background and realized it was very little. When we’d been together, we’d been so wrapped up in each other, so focused on ourselves, we’d rarely talked about other things. But as I stared at the tear-stained face of the boy—who was looking a lot happier now—I realized I’d been the same. Older. Probably less endearing. But just as vulnerable.

A project.

I remembered that day Hunter had come over to me and wondered if he’d seen me that way.

Was that why he’d found it so easy to walk away?

Caroline glanced at her watch. ‘We’re all going out again tonight. There’s a new club in Soho. Are you coming?’

I shook my head. I had to try and cure myself and the way to cure myself wasn’t to carry on immersing myself in the problem. And anyway, I’d had enough torture for one week.

Instead I put my client through his paces and then decided to find a quiet place to train. I needed to let off steam. We stayed open until ten on a Friday, so I changed quickly and found an empty studio. I didn’t bother turning the lights on. Instead I practised kicks.

I’m a black belt in karate—men don’t usually want to hear that—but I’d taken up Muay Thai only a few years ago. In Muay Thai we generally don’t kick with the foot.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.