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was.
    Chase found himself turned on for the first time in weeks. “Yeah. I caught it talking about my mom, so I had to beat the shit out of it.”
    “Remind me not to get on your bad side, then.” She crossed over to him and stuck out her hand, which was dwarfed by his when they shook. “Tess.”
    “Chase.” Chase smiled at her, a genuine smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Tess. Come here often?”
    She lifted an eyebrow at him. “Really? You’re using that line on me?”
    Chase laughed, and felt the pall of numbness receding. “It’s not a line, I swear. I don’t come here often, so I’m honestly wondering if you do.”
    “Uh-huh. Sure. It’s a pick-up line if I’ve ever heard one, but I’ll take the bait.” She rubbed her wrist across her forehead and shook her head to toss her braid away so it dangled down her back.  
    Chase found himself wanting to wrap that braid around his fist and use it to hold her in place while he drove himself into her from behind; faint shock rippled through him at the ferocity of the sudden desire. He felt a smile curl his lips, a feral, seductive smile. He felt satisfaction at the way Tess reacted, nostrils flaring, breasts swelling as she dragged in a deep, steadying breath. Her fingers tightened into the leather of the heavy bag, and her eyes narrowed. Chase took a few steps toward Tess until he loomed over her, staring down into her eyes. She didn’t back up, but he could tell she wanted to. Instead, she seemed to swell in presence, meeting his gaze head-on, the corners of her mouth lifting in a smile as hungry and feral as Chase’s.
    Without warning, she shoved the bag at him, hard, knocking him back. While he reeled, stumbling for balance, she snapped a kick at his stomach, which he didn’t quite block. He was knocked farther back, heaving in a breath. She didn’t relent, however, and closed in with him, curling in a pair of swift uppercuts to his ribs. She wasn’t trying to hurt him, he could tell, but she wasn’t holding back, either. Her eyes gleamed with adrenalized excitement, and even as she crushed her knee into his chest, her eyes betrayed her desire.  
    Chase slapped away a straight right punch with his wrist, then darted his own blow at her ribs, hard enough to let her know he wasn’t fooling around, but not enough to really hurt. He’d never sparred with a girl before, and it unnerved him. She was clearly skilled, more so than he was, Chase realized, but he still couldn’t bring himself to open up the way he would with Eric. Chase might not have had much good to say about his upbringing, but at least his old man had drilled into him a bone-deep respect for women, a refusal to ever strike a woman under any circumstances.  
    Tess was inviting him to come at her, though. She was dancing around him, having lured him into the ring, bouncing from one foot to the other, fists up, braid-end swaying in a serpentine rhythm. She was a tiny ball of energy, quick and fierce and wild. Chase snapped a kick at her, worried it was too hard. If he connected wrong, he could easily send her flying, injured. He need not have worried, though. She dodged it with ease, knocking his heel upward with a forearm and lunging in underneath it to crash into him with her body. She might have been small, but that body-blow had a huge amount of force behind it, her fae frame slamming into him hard enough to topple him backward. He landed on his back, winded once more, gasping for breath like a fish out of water.
    He felt a weight settle on him, blinked hard to clear his vision. Tess was above him, on top of him, green eyes glinting merrily, barely breathing hard. Her knee was in his groin, a subtle warning that nonetheless managed to be an erotic promise.
    “Yeah, I come here a lot,” she said, her face mere inches from his.  
    “I can tell,” Chase gasped.  
    He wrapped his fingers around her wrists next to his head, holding but not restraining. Tess tensed, eyes narrowed,