Read Brooklyn's Baddest: A Bad Boy Fighter Romance for Free Online Page A

She didn’t even look at him when she answered him. “I don’t ever discuss my private life with anyone I do business with.” It was short and simple, but more than that, direct. She hoped that it would be enough to dissuade his interest, though she doubted it.
    His eyes stayed on her and he leaned a little closer, lowering his voice slightly, speaking softly. “That’s too bad. You should talk about it, because you’re missing out.”
    She cleared her throat slightly, trying to swallow the small knot that had formed there when he drew nearer to her. “So what do you do when you aren’t at the gym or out street fighting?” she asked lightly, trying to change the subject and learn a little bit more about him.
    He sat back in his seat and looked out of the window. She was going to play hard to get. He could do it. He loved a challenge. “I’m a mechanic. I have a shop, and I fix cars.” He turned his head slightly toward her, eyeing her profile from head to toe. “What about you? How did a nice girl like you wind up working for a dojo? You don’t really seem like…” he paused, “the fighting type.”
    She glanced sidelong at him for a moment and the corner of her mouth turned up in the slightest smile. “Well, the owner wants competent people working there, I’m smart and he likes that, and I like to find good fighters and help them to become great fighters. I like seeing people do well and better their lives. So, really, it’s a perfect fit.” She was quiet a moment, thinking about just how she had come to the dojo and how important it was to her.
    “It’s never good to judge a book by its cover. Imagine what the dojo might be missing if I took one look at you and just assumed that you were a no good thug because of the way you present yourself. I have a feeling there’s a lot more to you than what meets the eye, and I have a feeling that the possibilities for your future are a lot better than what anyone might guess just by looking at you. Just because I have a professional look doesn’t mean that I don’t belong in a dojo; it just means I take my job seriously and I prefer to look like a professional when I’m working.” She gave him a meaningful look.
    He nodded silently, wondering what she dressed like when she wasn’t working, and he smiled a little to himself. His thoughts turned then to the deeper message that she was sharing with him, and Muldoon’s words came back to him as well. Her words echoed his, and the parallel between them made him think of his future and what might be ahead for him if things worked out.
    He told himself not to think of it, but as she pulled up to a massive building designed in a stunning Asian style, he couldn’t stop his heart from beating fast. Just the smallest bubble of hope rising up a little inside of him.
    The building was mostly hidden behind a tall wall with a carved wooden latticework atop it, and beyond the wall he could see the upper walls and roof of the building as well as the tops of several well-placed trees.
    Jake followed Lisa in through the huge thick wooden gates that were opened at the center and pushed back. There were two great stone dragons guarding the outside of the gates and he looked up at them as he walked by them, admiring them. As they went through the gate he walked a few feet and stopped in his tracks and stared, open-mouthed, at the grounds around him.
    Lisa stopped and turned to look at him. She smiled at his astonishment. He looked around at the delicately designed garden; the meticulously raked gravel, the trees trimmed with absolute precision, the reflecting pools filled with koi, and the small streams that ran from under small arched foot bridges. There was a squared arch before them that could have allowed a truck access, and beyond that he could see a courtyard where a gazebo stood in another garden, at the center of the building structure.
    “Are we still in Brooklyn?” he asked in amazement.
    Lisa chuckled and