Prologue

“Julio, you’ve got to pull that jab back quicker or a better fighter is going to be feeding you leather,” Mike shouted as he studied the two fighters in the ring. “Don’t make me come in there to prove it to you.”

Mike was the instructor and the night manager of The Power House, a gym for boxers and those serious about fitness and improving their bodies. He’d had a reasonably successful amateur career, but when he indicated that he wanted to turn pro, Gus, his trainer and good friend, had urged him to reconsider.

“Mike, you’re pretty good,” he said, “Probably the best student of boxing that I’ve ever trained; but you don’t have the intensity and the tools you need to fight at the pro level. I like you too much to see you become a palooka. You’d be better off as an instructor. Teach those that have the tools and the desire to be a pro fighter; you give them the skills they need.”

“Mike, telephone,” Angie, the owner’s daughter, shouted from the doorway of the shabby business office as she hung the handset with the long stretched-out cord on a nail just to the right of the door.

“Yea, this is Mike.”

“Mike, this is Jake. That woman you asked me to keep an eye out for is here in my gym.”

Momentarily, Mike was confused, but then he remembered who Jake was talking about. It had been nearly two years since he had last seen her and he had assumed that she had left the area.

“Jake, keep her there; I’ll be there in about ten minutes. Don’t let her leave.”

“I don’t think there’s a guy in this gym that can keep her from doing what she wants to do; if she wants to leave, I for one will not stand in her way. If you want to see her you’d better hurry; she’s already gone through two sparring partners, and I believe there are only two more who have signed up for her tryout.”

Mike practically ran into the office and hung up the phone.

“Angie, I’ve got to go out for a couple of hours, I’ll be back to close up this evening.” He ran out of the office before she could mount an argument and got into his car. As he drove across town his thoughts drifted back to the first time he had met her...

It had been a long day, he was tired and all he wanted was to close up for the night. The gym was deserted; he was just cleaning up a little before he locked up for the evening when she walked in.

“I’m sorry you can’t work out...”

“Don’t tell me I can’t work out here, I have every right to work out here. What are you a male chauvinist pig or something? I’ve been boxing for years and I could probably kick the asses of most of the guys that train here.”

“Listen lady, I don’t care how long you’ve been boxing; it’s late, I’m tired, and I just want to close up. And besides, I’ve yet to meet the woman that can beat a man in the ring.”

“No you listen, Bubba; why don’t we settle this in the ring. If I win I get to work out for an hour, if you win I pick up my stuff and leave.”

Without waiting for his answer she took off her jacket, removed a pair of gloves and wraps from her bag, and climbed between the ropes.

Mike was certainly impressed by her athletic body. At about five feet ten inches she was two inches taller than him, and probably weighed in at around one hundred fifty pounds. She was real easy on the eyes. If she wasn’t so obnoxious he would have asked her to join him for a drink. Instead, knowing that he had no other choice than to indulge her in the ring, he grabbed a pair of gloves and wraps, and climbed in after her.

He set the alarm for two-minute rounds and waited for the sound of the bell. He would take it easy on her, not wishing to hurt her and run the risk of legal trouble down the road. By the end of the first round, however, he had changed his mind about her abilities. She was no creampuff. She had hit him with several solid shots and had him in trouble near the end of the first round.

By the end of the second round, if the fight was being judged, he would be ahead on points. But she had taken his best punches and had kept pressing forward. As he gazed across the ring, admiring the female warrior resting her arms on the top rope, he became aware that he was becoming erect, and his gym shorts failed to hide his obvious arousal.

Chapter 1 »