Paxton's Promise (Gloves Off #3)(9)

When morning arrived, I quietly got out of bed and threw on a pair of shorts and a tank top. Surely, he had a gym in his monstrosity of a house. Or better yet, some breakfast.

Sneaking out of the room, I tiptoed downstairs and into the kitchen. My stomach growled and I was thirsty as hell. He had a Keurig machine and it reminded me of how I wanted my pumpkin spice coffee. Maybe I could steal one of his many cars and go get some. Instead, I opted for a glass of orange juice and a bowl of corn flakes. It was interesting searching through his cabinets. There were the occasional bags of potato chips, but he also had some fruits and vegetables too. His aunt must’ve done his shopping.

What I wasn’t expecting while eating my cereal was what I found in the freezer. A corn flake went down the wrong way and I choked, hacking as if I was dying.

“Gabby, what the f*ck, are you okay?” Paxton shouted as he rushed into the kitchen.

My throat was burning, but I was fine. “Yeah, I’m okay. My cereal just went down the wrong way. I was just a little shocked when I opened the freezer.” That was when I got a good look at him. He was wearing a white tank top and jeans, all covered in grease. If I thought I couldn’t breathe before, I definitely couldn’t now. “Holy shitf*ck.” Wait, did I just say that out loud?

“I think my aunt went a little overboard,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. The tank top showed off both of his arms which were covered from shoulder to wrist in tattoos. On his tanned skin, it was sexy as hell.

Closing my gaping mouth, I cleared my throat and pointed to the freezer. “You think? I bet there’s two hundred dollars worth of Ben & Jerry’s in there.”

Chuckling, he walked over to the freezer and opened it up. “That doesn’t surprise me. Jackie didn’t know what flavor to get, so she got them all, and then some. All I told her was that you liked it.”

“And how did you know that?”

He snorted and shut the freezer door. “Every time you and Ashleigh were around each other you couldn’t get through a conversation without talking about it. Besides, Ryley told me Ashleigh was the same way.”

“Probably even more so now that she’s pregnant,” I said, laughing. “Anyway, thank you. It’ll make the stay definitely more enjoyable.”

“Well, f*ck, I was hoping I would make it more enjoyable.”

The smile on his face was contagious and I couldn’t help but return it even though I knew I shouldn’t. “How long have you been up?” I asked, taking a seat at the bar. I still needed to finish my cereal. Honestly, I didn’t think he’d be awake. It was still fairly early.

“A while. I’ve been out in my garage.”

“I can tell,” I replied, gazing up and down his body. “Doing what?”

“Why don’t you come and see? Do you need to meet your brother at the gym today?”

I shook my head. “No, he’s taking a few weeks off. I don’t have to go there.”

A wide grin spread across his face. “Well, now that we’re both taking off some time, we can actually enjoy life outside of a gym.”

I scoffed. “That’s what you think. Matt will kill me if I don’t work out during this time off. Surely, you have a gym in here somewhere.”

He narrowed his gaze skeptically. “You haven’t been looking around the house while I’ve been outside?”

I had a mouthful of cereal but I didn’t care. “I made it as far as the freezer. I mean really, I’m not going to go searching through your house. Furthermore, I thought you were still in bed. The last thing I wanted to do was walk in on you.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, smirking. “You wouldn’t want to accidentally see me in an indecent situation.”

Now I was thinking about him touching himself. Fucking great.

Turning on his heel, he headed for the door and called out over his shoulder. “If you want to know where the gym is, it’s above my garage. I’ll meet you out there.”

After the door shut, I hurried with my cereal and rushed upstairs to brush my teeth and wash my face. I really wanted to find his room, but knowing my luck, he’d walk in and find me. That was the last thing I needed. Once I put my tennis shoes on, I was ready to go. Paxton had two garages, one connected to his house, while the other was off to the side. It was much larger and had a second floor. From the music blaring, it had to be in that one.

The door was open, so I made my way in and walked past the covered cars toward the stairs. It smelled like oil and lubrication sprays. There were black stains all over the floor where Paxton must have been working. I had no idea he could work on vehicles. Sometimes it was hard to picture fighters doing anything other than fighting. Our schedules were always so demanding and there wasn’t ever time to do much of anything other than eat, sleep, train, and fight.

Heading up the stairs, I could see Paxton through the crack in the door, lifting his weights. He’s changed into a pair of shorts and his skin was shiny with sweat. Was it bad I wanted to lick him? What the hell. Get your shit together, woman. No, I didn’t want to lick him or do anything else that involved touching his body with mine. Fighters were off limits, especially him.

Standing up straight, I opened the door and waltzed in, getting the full view of the room. He had everything you could ever need to train, with one exception—a practice ring. He did, however, have a large mat that could suffice. I sat down on the mat and began to stretch, feeling the pull as the muscles lengthened.