Page 4 of Love Punch

“You’re going to wear a hole in the canvas, and my patience,” I said. Bradley only grunted in response. “Oh, and Jason says you need to work more on yourshoulder roll, whatever that means.”

“And where is Jason?” he spat. “He should be with me all day every day in the week leading up to a fight.”

“A doctor’s appointment. I’ve booked him a taxi and he should be here in the next twenty minutes.” I looked down at my phone, where Jason’s AirTag told me he was ten minutes away. But if I told Bradley twenty, then his patience would start running outaround the time Jason walked through the door. I’d learned to work with his quirks over the years.

“Well, he needs to hurry,” said Bradley, finally coming to a stop, then kneeling and resting his chin against the ropes. I looked into his eyes and tried to stop myself from laughing—unsuccessfully.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, I promise,” I tried.

“Arthur…”

“Bradley.” I fixed him with my sternest stare, which wasn’t particularly effective when my target was double my weight and had six inches on me in height.

“Tell me,” he implored.

I looked down at my phone again.Five minutes. Maybe it would help to distract him until then. “Fine. It’s just…when you stare like that, you go from big scary boxer to puppy dog eyes in about thirty seconds.”

Bradley ducked underneath the top rope and strode over to where I sat, towering over me. “Are you saying I’m not intimidating?”

I determinedly kept my eyes locked with his as I stood. I was still a whole head shorter than him, but his imposing ways didn’t scare me the same way they used to. Now, he had my heart racing for a whole other reason.

He leaned in, and I patted his arm in the most casual way possible. “I’m sure you’re a very scary boxer. But not to me.”.

“Still not scary?” he asked, lowering his voice to a growl. I just about managed to stop myself from whimpering. We were inches apart and even the smell of sweat wasn’t putting me off. Perversely, it seemed that was part of the attraction nowadays.

“Still not scary,” I whispered. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll get there. Gain another couple of kilos of muscle.”

Bradley pinched my arm. “You’re one to talk, lanky.”

“I’m…lean,” I protested. “Bet you I’m stronger than you per pound.”

Bradley laughed, leaning away from me at last and allowing me to breathe. He gestured toward the ring. “Go on then, let’s have a go.”

“Me with you? In the ring? No thanks. I might break you,” I said.

“You’ll…break me?” Bradley laughed. “Sure, Jan.”

“I regret ever teaching you that meme,” I said. “Anyway. I’m hardly dressed for boxing.”

“Why don’t you grab that exercise gear I know you keep in a locker to use the running machine before I turn up for the day?” Bradley smiled. “Let’s punch it out.”

“I…” I started, and was thankfully saved by the bell—quite literally. Jason was stood to one side of the room, jangling the rope and chain. “Bradley Tyler, I don’t see you training particularly hard considering we are four days away from your next fight. Now stop flirting and get to training.”

I wasn’t sure who was blushing harder as Bradley stepped away and climbed back under the ropes. Jason climbed in with him, but seemed to struggle with getting down low. For a man in his sixties, he was still pretty healthy but wasn’t moving as well as he did when I’d first started my job.

Brad wiped off his face with a towel and threw it in my general direction. I dodged it. “It’s not my job to deal with your sweaty towels!”

“It quite literally is,” he retorted.

“I’m hiring you a second assistant,” I muttered to myself.

“So long as their pay comes out of your wages.”

“On second thoughts, I’ll just adjust my own job description.” I pretended to type away on my phone, then a real notification popped up. “Your sports masseuse is booked in over lunch. Do you want me to shift lunch time, or cancel the appointment?”

“Shift lunch time; should give you more time to get lunch sorted, right?” Bradley asked.

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