Fighting Hard by Marysol James Read Free Book Online

to his feet. “Thanks, Mia. It was great talking to you.”
    She stood up. “You too. Thanks for your time.”
    She stretched up on her toes and Adam bent down to accept her kiss. As her sweet lips met Adam’s rough cheek, Nick seriously considered beating Adam over the head with Mia’s laptop.
    She sat down again. “So how did it go with Katie?”
    “It was fun, actually.”
    “Did you see any of the pictures?”
    “Yeah, she showed me on the camera. I think they’ll turn out OK.”
    “I’m sure they will.” Mia looked at the curve of his muscles, visible even through the material of his shirt, and knew they would look incredible in black and white. He’d be gorgeous.
    “So – what do we talk about?” Nick asked.
    Mia wrenched her eyes from his massive forearms. “You. We talk about you.”
    “Alright. Shoot.”
    **
    Adam looked at Katie’s face. She was seriously pissed off, he could tell, but he didn’t care.
    “Look, all I said was that this angle would be better. I think it’ll get better light. I don’t get why you’re so defensive about it.”
    “I am not defensive ,” she spat out. “I am, however, the photographer. You are the boxer.”
    “Oh. So, what? I don’t get to have an opinion? About my own damn photos?”
    Mia heard their raised voices and looked over at them.
    “Uh-oh,” she said. “Oh, no.”
    “What?” Nick asked.
    “Ummm. Hang on, OK? I think I’d better go over there for a minute.”
    Nick stood up. “What’s going on?”
    Mia didn’t answer him and he followed her across the gym to where Katie and Adam stood glaring at each other.
    “Hey, guys,” Mia said, her eyes resting on Katie anxiously. “Everything OK?”
    “Oh, sure,” Katie said. “Sure. Except for the fact that Adam here wants to tell me how to take photos.”
    “Come on,” Adam protested. “I made one suggestion about the light. One suggestion about one thing. That’s hardly taking over the fucking show.”
    “You know how many suggestions I want about the light from a non-photographer? Zero . That is exactly one less than one.”
    “Jesus Christ. OK, I think we’re done anyway, right? You got enough?”
    “I do.” Katie tossed her head. “ More than enough from you, thanks.”
    “Fine. It was very nice to meet you, Mia.” He turned to Katie. “You, not so much.”
    “Ditto,” Katie said. “Thank you, Nick. It was a real pleasure to work with you .”
    “You too.”
    Adam glared and went back to the boxing ring. Katie stalked towards the gym entrance and Nick was surprised that she looked about two seconds away from tears.
    “Um,” Mia said to Nick. “I guess we’ll have to finish the rest of your interview some other time…”
    “I guess so.”
    Their eyes met and they both started to laugh.
    “Wow,” Nick said. “I’m assuming those two won’t be best friends, huh?”
    “Nope.”
    “Do you think Katie’s OK?” Nick asked. “She looked pretty shaken up.”
    “Katie is – well, she needs to be in control. It’s important to her.”
    “Yeah. And I guess Adam is a bit of an Alpha male, you know… he likes to be the one calling the shots.”
    She glanced around at all the men hitting things. “I imagine this place is full of Alpha males, huh?”
    “Sometimes.”
    Their smiled at each other and Nick cleared his throat.
    “OK, so. Do you want to come back here tomorrow for the interview? Or… maybe…”
    “Maybe what?”
    “Maybe you want to come to my place tomorrow morning? For coffee?”
    Mia looked up at him. Is he asking me on kind of a date? Nah. I doubt it.
    “Actually, Nick. I was thinking: maybe you could come to my place tomorrow night, for dinner. I’d like to thank you properly for what you did for me.”
    “Mia. You don’t have to…”
    “I know I don’t. I want to.” She smiled. “You like Thai food?”
    “I do.”
    “Well, I make a mean Pad Thai, if you’re not allergic to shrimp.”
    “I’m not.” He swallowed. “That sounds