Bad Boy's Honor: An MMA Bad Boy Romance by Jessica Ashe

all your knowledge onto one person and really make them into a fighter.”
    It sounded horrible, but slightly less horrible than teaching a group of women desperate to get me into bed. At least this way there might only be one woman at time begging me to wrestle them to the ground.
    “I guess I don’t have much choice,” I admitted. Whoever he or she was, she must be loaded if she could pay enough to convince Duke to turn away twenty people per class. I still wouldn’t bother learning her name though.
    “Excellent. She’ll be here bright and early tomorrow morning for her next lesson.”
    “You’ve already signed someone up?”
    “Yep. Don’t worry, you two will get on just fine. Not too well, mind you. She is my daughter after all.”
    “Nora?” I exclaimed loudly. “You want me to teach Nora how to fight?”  
    “Yes, is that so hard to believe? She should be able to defend herself, and I don’t know anyone who I’d rather teach her.”
    There was no way in hell I could spend hours alone with Nora. She hadn’t said a word to me since she’d started coming to the gym, and whenever she did look at me it was with a glare that could freeze fire.
    “She won’t go for it,” I said. “She hates me.”
    Duke rolled his eyes and sighed in a highly exaggerated fashion. “You two are as bad as each other. Look, she’s cool with it, and I know you’re going to be cool with it, because Nora will at least try to learn, which is more than I can say about most of the women taking your class.”
    “Can’t she just join one of the group classes?”
    Duke shook his head. “She won’t go for that. She’s after really intensive training. Look, I’ll level with you. I had to offer her the chance to train with you because she was about to stop hanging around here. Truth be told, I’ve gotten used to having her around the place.”
    Duke didn’t usually wear his heart on his sleeve. He might just be saying that to make me agree to his little plan, but I didn’t think so. Duke and Nora had spent a lot of time together, and the old man had definitely warmed to her.  
    I still struggled to imagine him as a father. I was the closest thing he had to a son, but the two of us could barely keep it civil most of the time.  
    “I’ll do it for a week,” I agreed. “She won’t want to carry on for longer than that anyway.”
    “She wants two months’ worth of training,” Duke insisted. “That takes her up to when she starts her new job.”
    I groaned loudly and tensed my muscles. It wasn’t a show to intimidate Duke, it just helped get the blood pumping.  
    “I’ll teach her for a month,” I bargained. “That’s all I’m doing.”
    Duke sighed. “She’ll be disappointed, but fine, if a month is the best you can do, we’ll live with that.”
    Duke turned and walked off, but not before I caught a slight grin spread across his face. I had the distinct feeling I’d been played again.  
    Personal training with Nora. Was that really better than teaching group classes? I could make it fun. If Nora wanted to be pushed to the limit, I could certainly do that. She wouldn’t last a week, let alone a month.
    -*-
    “Left. Right. Left. Left.”  
    Nora slammed her tiny fists into the mats on my hands in response to my shouts.  
    “Right. Right. Right.”  
    She was exhausted now. Each punch was becoming noticeably weaker, but we’d been training solidly for nearly an hour. I’d made it my mission to break her down, but it had been a hell of a lot tougher than expected.  
    How much further should I push her? I could already tell Nora wouldn’t ask to stop. She’d keep going until she collapsed or I called an end to it. Whichever came first.
    “Right,” I said again.  
    Nora swung her right arm, but she missed the pad on my hand and drove her fist into my chest instead. I caught her as she stumbled forward, and told her to take a breather.
    Other than me barking instructions at her, we’d