Brooklyn's Baddest: A Bad Boy Fighter Romance (6 page)

Walking back to her office, Lisa couldn’t help but feel the excitement coursing through her. She had known that there was no way that Jake could have ever even touched Koichi, but she had allowed herself to hope for Jake that he could be accepted, and she was grateful to Masahiro that he had allowed it, and she was more than a little surprised about it, though she wasn’t going to say anything to Jake about it.

She walked into her office with him and went to the wooden cabinet again, opening it and pulling out a gi. For a split second she moved to hand it to him, but remembering the way he had touched her before his match, she turned and set it on the desk before her. He saw her as she did it, and they shared a knowing glance. A grin spread over his face and she walked around him and headed for the door. Looking back over her shoulder, she spoke seriously to him, though the hint of a smile still stayed at the corners of her mouth.

“I’ll wait for you in the front courtyard.” She told him with a businesslike tone. “Just close this door when you leave, please.” With that she turned and left him.

As she waited for him, she told herself over and again that the excitement she felt was for his success that day, and for the possibility of a strong future for him, and that none of it was because he was going to be around in the dojo every day. She almost had herself convinced of that when he strode out toward her, looking confident and excited. She looked away from the strong body that seemed to prowl as he moved, and she breathed deep, telling herself that she was making a difference in the life of someone who might not otherwise have ever had an opportunity like the one she had empowered him with.

Lisa and Jake got into her car and she followed his directions as she drove him home. He didn’t say anything to her on the drive to his house; he was too overwhelmed with emotion, but as they neared it, his gaze drifted back to her legs and the hem of her skirt, and he made no secret of it. When she parked in front of his house, he turned in his seat to look at her.

“This was a big day. Definitely the biggest day of my life,” he said in a quiet and velvety tone. His eyes met hers and her breath caught in her chest as she saw a fire glowing in his gaze. “This never would have happened without you. Come inside with me. Come and… celebrate.”

She shook her head and tried to glance away from him, tried to remember how to breathe. “I can’t. I’m… I never have interactions of any kind with the fighters at the dojo. It’s… this is just business. You have to understand that.” She looked back at him seriously. There was far too much at stake for her to even consider letting anything happen with him.

His voice dropped slightly and took on a seductive tone. He leaned closer to her and his nearness sent electric waves through her stomach. “Lisa… come in with me. Listen… we’re both going back to the dojo in the morning. I can see that you’re feeling just like I am…” his mouth curved into a smile as his eyes moved to her breasts and she realized how hard her nipples had become, pressing against the thin fabric of her blouse. She closed her eyes in frustration and looked away from him.

“Come in with me. Let me… thank you for what you gave to me today. I promise you’ll enjoy every moment of my… gratitude. Then we can both go in together tomorrow.” He spoke each word evenly, his voice sultry as he lifted his hand and ran his fingertip down the side of her arm, his eyes intent on her body and her face as he spoke.

She didn’t know how his finger was able to trace fire across her skin the way that it did, but she knew that she couldn’t possibly let herself feel any kind of heat for him at all. She had an obligation and a duty to herself, and to the dojo, and she had to put all of that first before anything.

Taking in an unsteady breath, she turned sharply to face him. “Jake, you can’t touch me like that. I’m here to help you, not to sleep with you, or whatever else you might have had in mind, now get out of my car, get some rest tonight, and get to the dojo first thing in the morning…. And Jake, you absolutely cannot come on to me like this again.

There’s no way this is going to be okay and there’s no way it’s ever going to happen. You come to the dojo, you train, and you fight. That’s it. That’s all there is. You need to understand that right now.” She hoped that she sounded as serious as she meant to, because her body didn’t feel half as certain about her words as her mind did.

He hesitated a moment and then smiled and shook his head. “Okay. I’ll see you in the morning, but I’ll be dreaming of you tonight.” He winked at her and stepped from the car, watching her as he closed the door and stepped back. He kept his gaze on her as she pulled away from the curb and drove away down the street until she was gone.

He adjusted himself a little, shaking his head at having to go to bed alone as hard as he was for her. He’d have to step up his game with her, he promised himself that she was going to wind up in his bed sooner, rather than later.

Lisa rolled her window down and wished she could drown herself in fresh cool evening air, trying to still her body and temper the heat that had risen in her. She cursed her physiological reaction to his come-one, wishing with everything in her that she could have hidden the telltale arousal of her breasts, and she wished with everything in her that he hadn’t seen it.

She told herself that it was only because it had been so long since a man had touched her or been close to her. She promised herself that things would be fine at the dojo. She would be in her office or off premises working, and Koichi would have Jake in training all the time, so there was no chance of them having to meet and her feeling so flustered again. It wasn’t going to happen. She had far too much at stake to let a hot and wild man weave his way into her arms and risk destroying any of it.

She picked up her phone and was thankful that Bonnie answered it so quickly. “Hey Lisa, what are you up to?” she asked cheerfully.

Lisa couldn’t hold back the frustrated sigh that gushed from her. “Ugh!” she groaned, “I just need to vent! I found this guy; he’s a fighter. He’s a street fighter. He’s good, but he doesn’t really know much, and I thought that maybe he could come to the dojo to train and fight for us. I took him in and he sparred with Koichi, and he was accepted.”

Bonnie spoke with a confused voice. “So… what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that he keeps coming on to me, and I mean in a huge way, like he’s just bent on it, and I can’t… I can’t have that!” Lisa frowned and gripped her steering wheel a little tighter.

Bonnie giggled. “Is he hot?”

“Bonnie!” Lisa snapped at her best friend.

“What? Is he hot? He must be. You never get worked up over any of the guys there. That’s always been a mystery to me. I don’t understand that. Rooms full of hot, fit, martial arts fighters, and you never ever go for them.” Bonnie wasn’t going to let it go.

“Bonnie! I can’t do that! You know better than anyone that I have an obligation and duty to that place, and to my family! I have no business doing anything… other than business there! I can’t do that! Plus…” she shook her head, not allowing herself to even think of it, “plus this guy is trouble. Or at least… he seems like he could be.

I have this gut feeling that I should just back off and let him train and fight and just not… ever… never. Never! It wouldn’t be good. He just… god, he comes on so strong! I’m going to have to just make it very clear to him that there’s no chance, no way at all, ever, that anything can happen between us.” She nodded her head resolutely. That was exactly what she was going to do.

“So, are you trying to convince me, or yourself? Because… I think he must be pretty hot, and I think that you wouldn’t be so upset if you didn’t feel something back for him. He must have flipped your switch, honey, or you’d never be so worked up. In fact, I can’t remember the last time you got so worked up over a guy just after meeting him.” She chuckled softly. “Can’t you just… play around a little with him? Can’t you just… have a good time and leave it at that? Friends with benefits or something? Come on… girl, it’s been so long for you, I wonder if you’ve forgotten how to-” Bonnie was cut short.

“I have not forgotten anything, I just have a good head on my shoulders and I never get involved with the guys at the dojo, and I have to stay focused. I’m not interested in him, not at all. I’m just mad because he wouldn’t quit hitting on me. That’s all it is. That’s it.” Lisa waved her hand in the air and shook her head emphatically, promising herself that she wasn’t at all interested in Jake. No matter what he looked like and no matter how he made her feel.

“Uh huh.” Bonnie teased her. “Well, you do whatever you have to do. Just… don’t wipe him completely off the chart if there’s a spark there, okay? Don’t take that away from yourself.”

“I’m not going to mix business and pleasure, Bonnie. No way,” she vowed with a sigh.

She pulled into her driveway and up to the large home at the end of it. As she got out of her car, she changed the subject, asking Bonnie how she was, and listening to her friend tell her all about things that had nothing in the world to do with Jake. By the time they got off the phone, she was in her pajamas and sipping wine on her bed with a book cradled in her hand.

Setting the phone down, she opened the book and tried to read where she had left off, but she couldn’t get Jake from her mind, and she couldn’t get past the page she had been on. After fifteen minutes, she gave up and put the book back on her nightstand with an aggravated sigh. Turning off the light, she curled up against her pillow, and her last thought was the sound of Jake’s voice, telling her that he was going to dream of her that night.

Chapter3

“Evan… you aren’t going to believe this,” Jake said excitedly as he poured himself a cup of hot coffee the next morning. It was shortly after sunrise, but he hadn’t been able to sleep hardly at all.

There was a loud yawn on the other end of the line, and with a sleepy voice, Evan responded. “Yeah? Wassup?” he mumbled almost incoherently.

Jake walked to the window and looked out of the old mini blinds at the street in front of his rented house. “Well, you know what you were saying about change not falling in my lap? Yesterday it fell into my lap. I was at the gym and this… god, she’s hot… this woman came in and she was watching me fight. When I was done, she told me she wanted to take me to this place for pro fighters, except she didn’t say where it was. I didn’t know until we got there.”

“Is this something that you can wait to tell me all about until a decent hour?” Evan moaned into the phone.

Jake ignored him. “Evan! She took me to the Hayashi dojo! They’re looking for fighters and she wanted me to try out there to be one of their fighters!” He still couldn’t make himself believe it, and saying it out loud only made it sound more surreal to him.

There was silence for a moment on the other end of the line and then there was fumbling, and Evan spoke more clearly. “What? What did you say?”

“The Hayashi dojo. Evan… I made it in. I start training today to compete in professional martial arts competitions.” Jake grinned and raked his fingers through his sandy golden hair.

He heard Evan stutter slightly. “The… the Hayashi dojo? Seriously? You’re kidding me. You’re kidding… Jake, this is a hell of a joke to play on me at the crack of dawn. What the hell are you doing this to me for?”

“I go in at nine this morning to start,” Jake said, his grin barely containing his happiness.

“You are serious. Holy… wow. How in the…?” he began to laugh a little then. “That’s so cool, brother. I’m so happy for you. That’s the best.”

“Thanks, Evan. I’m not going to be able to be around too much, between the garage at night and the training during the day, but I’ll see you whenever I can, right?” Jake asked, letting hope begin to move through him finally, in small undulating waves.

“Yeah, sure… of course. The dojo is a huge priority. Go do it! I’ll come to your fights! I’m always at the fights. I’ll drop by the garage too. You’re going to kick some real ass now! I’m proud of you, Jake. You deserve this. You do.” Evan sounded as happy as Jake felt, and for once it finally seemed to Jake that things might just be going his way.

They talked a little while and then Jake finally let Evan off the phone so he could go back to sleep. Jake washed out his coffee mug and left his house, locking the door behind him. Heading to the dojo, his mind was on two things; the future he had ahead of him as a fighter for Hayashi, and getting Lisa where he wanted her. He parked at the end of the parking lot at the dojo and went to her office.

She was sitting at her desk when he walked in, and the moment their eyes met, his mouth curved into a grin and she felt her cheeks flush at the memory of how she had reacted to him the night before in her car.

“Good morning, Jake.” She spoke to him in a cool tone, before anything could go where it shouldn’t between them. She motioned to one of the chairs in front of her desk. “Please, have a seat.”  He sat, keeping his eyes on her. She opened a desk drawer and took a file out of it.

Spreading pages before him, she explained what each one was and showed him where he needed to sign them. As she spoke, she kept her eyes on the paperwork, but she could feel him watching her, and it took everything in her to stay focused on what she was talking about. Finished explaining finally, she looked up at him and found his eyes lingering on her mouth.

Clearing her throat, she handed the pen in her hand to him and lifted her chin confidently. “Please get these signed and then you can begin your training with Koichi.”

He didn’t look away from her as his hand closed over hers, his fingers slowly brushing her skin as he took his time taking the pen from her. She drew in a subtle breath and let go of the pen, withdrawing her hand quickly. She had hoped he hadn’t seen her reaction, but judging from the half grin on his face and the wicked glint in his eyes, she knew he had.

Lisa rose up from her desk and walked toward the small table at the corner of her office where a pitcher of ice water stood. She poured herself a glass and drank it slowly, willing her heart to slow and her body to cool down.

She was so intent on calming herself that she didn’t hear him get out of his chair and walk to her. She didn’t realize he was near her until she felt him immediately behind her, and everything in her caught fire and froze at the same time. She turned where she stood and found herself almost chest to chest with him. She could smell the fresh scent of soap on his skin and feel the heat from his body as he smiled down at her.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done to help me with this,” he said in a soft velvet voice. “I appreciate it.” He let his eyes fall from their connection with hers to her lips, and as he stared at them, he opened his mouth just a little as if he was thinking of taking a bite of her; tasting her, and then he raised his eyes slowly and shared a gaze with her. She could not speak or breathe.

“I hope you let me thank you properly soon…” He smiled a little as he stared right into her eyes. She was sure that her heart was going to pound itself out of her chest. He chuckled a little and gave his head a shake before turning and walking toward the door.

“I’d love to stay in here with you and get to know you much better, and I will at some point in the very near future, but for now, I better go see Koichi. Do you know where he is?” he asked with a mischievous light in his steel blue eyes.

She struggled to draw in a breath and maintain some semblance of her composure. “He’s in the water garden to the left when you walk out of the door,” she answered him in an even voice. She had no idea where the calmness in her tone had come from. She was anything but calm, but she was also grateful that somehow her brain had managed to override her body and act as though he hadn’t had the effect on her that he had. She prayed with everything in her that he hadn’t been aware of it at all, but there was a part of her, deep in her, that felt as if he knew far more about what was going on inside of her than she wanted him to know. She was beginning to wonder if there was anything she could really keep from him.

He left and she turned back to the water in front of her. She swallowed half a glassful of the cool water, wishing that she could wash the whole inside of her body with it and ease the heat in her. She stalked over to her desk and sat down again, covering her face with her hands. She told herself that she had to get a grip on herself and on her emotions and thoughts. She absolutely could not let a man like him affect her the way that he did.

He was a student and a fighter there at the dojo, and she was one of the staff. That was the extent of their relationship, and that was all that there ever could be between them. She was determined to make sure of it. He had potential, and she was there to encourage him and help him reach it, and nothing else. She had to put the dojo and the competitions first. There was no other way around it.

Jake found Koichi sitting on a mat on a small wooden deck before the shallow end of a pool of water that was part of a large water garden. The pool grew deeper at the far end, and at symmetrically placed intervals throughout the pool, there were stands of reeds growing out of wooded pots, and water lilies floated on the surface in places. There were two waterfalls; one constructed of bamboo, and one constructed of stone, and water quietly bubbled and streamed over and through them both, creating a relaxing and peaceful sound.

Koichi was not moving. He was deep in meditation, and even the sound of Jake’s arrival had not stirred him, though Jake was certain that the older man knew he was there. Jake waited silently near him until the older man finally opened his eyes and turned his head to look at Jake.

“Good morning.” He said simply. Jake wasn’t sure if he should nod or bow, and wanting to make a good impression, he decided on a bow. Koichi rose up in the same fluid motion that he had moved in the day before. He bowed in return, and took a deep breath.

“Before we begin, there are things that need to be discussed.” Koichi said calmly.

Jake nodded silently.

Koichi pointed to the wooden beam near them, which was holding up part of the canopy over the walkway beside the building. “You are like the beam of wood; no longer a tree, but not carved into anything more than a simple square. You are a basic form. It will take time for you to carve your own self into the future that you want. Right now there is much anger in you. Much anger…” he repeated, lowering one brow slightly in concern.

“You are using your anger and frustration to fight, and that will always lead to loss; loss of a competition, loss of self, loss of future. You cannot center yourself around anger and hatred. There is no seed that can grow in fire. Fire destroys; it does not foster growth. You must learn to find peace and serenity at the center of yourself, and when you find that, you will have balance, and your martial arts will no longer be an act of war, but rather a form of self, of expression, and of defense.

When you are balanced, you will find that your competitions will be much easier won. You will have focus, and you can see your competitor, you can see the way to overcome each one of them, and you will find the success that you seek.” He looked sharply at Jake then. “There is no other way. Do you understand?”

Jake nodded. He pressed his lips together in a tight line. He didn’t understand. The fires of anger and frustration in him had always helped him to win his battles. He knew that was the way he would be able to go forward. As he looked at Koichi watching his eyes, he knew that the older man fully expected him to give that up, and he didn’t know how to do it. Fear twisted in his stomach.

“But… how will I-” he began, but Koichi’s face darkened.

“You will call me Master Koichi.”

Jake took a breath and nodded. “Master Koichi, how will I win if I have to let go of the only way I know how to fight? I win all of my fights now, and I do that with all the anger inside of me.”

Koichi watched him silently for a long moment. “You must unlearn everything that you think you know. You must let everything in your past go and focus on your future with a clean and fresh start, and you must not bring any of your anger or hatred or frustration with you, or you will not succeed.” Koichi took a step toward him.

“You must let go of all of that right now, or you must turn and walk out of that gate and not return.” Koichi’s voice was as steady as it had been all along, but Jake knew that he was giving him an ultimatum. He knew he had no choice. Let it go or leave.

“Yes, Master,” he said quietly, clenching his teeth as he wondered what he would do in a fight with no anger, and how he could ever expect to win.

Koichi lifted his chin and clasped his hands behind his back. “Take off your shoes and socks.”

Jake, who had put his gi on and worn it to the dojo from his house, had not bothered to take his shoes off. He did as he was told. A minute later he was standing barefoot before Koichi.

“Walk into the water beside this wooden platform.” Koichi told him as he walked up onto the wood. Jake blinked and looked at the older man in surprise before sighing, with a shrug, and walking into the calf-deep water. The surface he was standing on was soft like sand, and he felt himself sink slightly with each step.

Koichi turned to face him. “Today you will learn the kata, and you will follow my movements as I teach it to you, while you stand in the water.”

Jake frowned and looked at the wooden platform that Koichi was standing on. “Master Koichi… shouldn’t I be standing on the platform with you?” he asked in confusion.

Koichi spread his feet and looked out over the top of Jake’s head. “You will do kata in the water, and you will follow as I teach it to you. Watch closely, and do as I do.”

Jake nodded and bowed to Koichi, who bowed back, and Koichi began to move slowly; so slowly that Jake had a difficult time keeping his balance. Every time he moved, the sand beneath him shifted, and he struggled to keep from falling. Every time his balance was lost, he reflexively lowered both feet to remain standing, and every time he did it, he splashed water clumsily.

Koichi continued to move, and Jake continued to try to follow him, feeling more and more like a baby trying to learn to walk than a skilled warrior learning to fight. He frowned in frustration and Koichi eyed him sternly.

“You must let go of your anger. There is a reason that you are training in water. You are like a wildfire… out of control, and that was why you didn’t get a hit in on me when we sparred. It’s why you never touched me. You have no control and focus.” Koichi moved with a serene fluidity that Jake could not seem to match, no matter what he did to try, but he gritted his teeth and continued to parallel Koichi’s moves.

Koichi spoke calmly. “You are fire right now, and I am water. Water douses fire. Your anger and hatred is the fire that is consuming you, and with it, you have no control; you have no future. You must let go of your anger and hatred. It is the past, and the past is nothing more than shadows. You must become like water. Water always finds a way.”

They continued the kata training, repeating it over and over until Koichi could see that Jake had learned it, and then Koichi bowed to him slightly and turned to step down from the wooden platform. Jake began to follow him, leaving the water and Koichi turned to face him and shook his head.