Half a dozen men in boxing shorts, their bare chests gleaming with perspiration, greeted him and stared at her with open curiosity. She halted just inside the door. “Maybe this was a bad idea,” she said, though she had to admit to a certain fascination.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Jason said with a grin. “You’re not backing out on us now. Just try to keep your eyes off all the other men.” He turned toward the grizzled old man who was working with a gigantic black man. “Hey, Johnny, since we’re short on ladies’ dressing rooms around here, do you mind if my friend uses your office to change?”
“It’s okay with me, as long as she doesn’t try to tidy up.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Dana declared, though she had cause to reconsider when she saw the mess the office was in.
Apparently paperwork was not Johnny’s forte. Stacks of it, most with yellowed corners and faded type, were piled on what was most likely a dining room table. Nothing that looked remotely like a file cabinet existed, though there were a dozen or so boxes scattered on the floor. It seemed as though someone had once made a haphazard attempt to turn those boxes into a filing system. They were lettered A-F, G-I and so on. Most contained boxing gloves and what looked to be bottles of liniment. Dana itched to make order out of chaos, but settled for changing into shorts and a T-shirt.
It took a certain amount of courage to step back out into a room filled with sweaty, macho men in what suddenly seemed to be fairly revealing attire. She quickly realized, though, that Jason seemed to be the only one paying much attention to her legs. The look in his eyes made her pulse race. At this rate she wouldn’t have to bother with aerobics to get her heart rate up—the sight of Jason’s bare chest, with its whorl of golden blond hairs, was enough to do that. She’d never expected to discover such well-developed muscles under those sedate clothes he seemed born to wear.
He provided her and Sammy with boxing gloves, then led them to a punching bag. He demonstrated in slow motion, then gestured for them to try it. Dana drew back and slammed her fist into the bag. She felt the shock all the way up her arm. Determinedly she punched again.
“Get a rhythm going,” Jason suggested to Sammy, who seemed intent on knocking the bag from its mooring in the ceiling. “This is all about finesse, not just brute strength.”
Sammy’s attention kept straying toward the ring in the center of the room. “When do you and me get to fight?” he asked Jason with what Dana thought was an entirely too bloodthirsty tone.
“When you know what you’re doing,” Jason said. “You haven’t even worked up a good sweat yet.”
Dana, however, was dripping from the effort. She’d had no idea how out of shape she was. With her schedule there was no time for running, much less the money for an expensive health club and the forms of exercise available there.
Breathless, she grabbed a towel and sank down onto a chair just outside of Johnny’s office. Jason followed her.
“You okay?”
“I’m okay now. Something tells me tomorrow will be a different story.”
“A nice hot shower will do you good.”
Something in his tone brought her head up. “Here?”
“You’ll catch cold if you go back outside without changing into dry clothes.”
“But you said there wasn’t a women’s dressing room.”
“I could come in and keep the place clear for a few minutes.”
“Why don’t I think that’s an entirely benevolent offer?”
He grinned. “Because you understand me too well. However, I’m unlikely to try to ravish you or even join you in the shower with so many witnesses, including your brother. You’ll be safe enough.”
Dana had to admit that a steaming shower sounded like heaven. “Are you sure the guys won’t mind?”
“They’ll wait.”
“I’ll get my clothes,” she said.
At the door to the locker room, she experienced another moment of doubt. Going into a male domain struck her as being on the cutting edge of a danger she wasn’t sure she wanted to experience. Then again, Jason was going to be there to see that no one bothered her. For all of his teasing and innuendoes, she knew from his support at the school today and from what he was now doing for Sammy, that she could trust him with her life. She’d never before known a man who could inspire that kind of trust.
“Five minutes,” she promised.
“Take your time.” He stationed himself protectively in the doorway.
“You did check inside, right? No one’s in there?”
“I guarantee it. Believe me, if I’m stuck out here, no one else is going to share that shower with you.”
Dana couldn’t resist patting his cheek. “You are so noble.”
“No,” he said softly, “I’m not. Remember that.”
The low warning with its hint of intimacy doubled the temperature in the shower. Dana wasn’t sure whether the steam arose from the water or her thoughts. Whichever it was, she decided she didn’t dare linger. The sooner she got outside, where the cold air could snap her back to reality, the better off she’d be.
She toweled herself dry, tugged on her clothes and exited the locker room to discover that Johnny was posted as guard.
“Where’s Jason?” she asked the old man, who grinned at her.
“Over there.” He pointed toward the ring.
Jason was in the center squared off with a man who had a good twenty pounds and
