Stand Of Honor by Cathryn Williams Read Free Book Online Page A

quick to speak your mind. I can see you getting under his skin. I know he would never hurt you, but he’s been holding so much in. Hours with you may affect him more than he knows.” Nick had experience with Melanie; she would stop at nothing until she got her way. “This might actually be good for him, but you need to be prepared. He’s been disappointed his whole life and doesn’t believe in anyone. I haven’t been able to pull him out of his shell, though maybe you can.”
    Melanie had been so focused on herself that she really hadn’t tried to look at Zane as a whole. She had recently been thinking of him as a means to an end. As she thought back to the night at the club, she recalled seeing the surprise in his eyes when they’d stopped kissing. She realized that he had let himself get out of control and had been just as shocked as she was at how quickly they’d responded to each other. She wasn’t going to mention that to Nick, though. She didn’t want him to know about that night at the club. Zane had said that there wasn’t going to be anything personal between them if he trained her, therefore she saw no need in Nick knowing about something that wasn’t going to happen again.
    “I can handle it. You know I can,” Melanie replied. She was never one to back down.
    “I know. I wish I had the time to work with you, but I know Zane will do an excellent job of helping you reach the goals you’ve set for yourself.”
    “He better, or I’m going to tell him that you’ll kick his ass.”
    Nick grinned. “I feel sorry for him already.”

    Chapter 8
     
    Melanie was practically skipping down the sidewalk. She had just come from class and was on the way to Zane’s gym. It was less than a mile from campus, so she’d decided to walk to their first session together to give her time to settle her nerves. She knew she was attracted to him and that she had to get a grip on her emotions. She was there to train, not make out—no matter how much she wanted to jump him.
    Even with that thought, she looked at herself in the glass of a shop before she reached the front door of the gym. She was wearing an emerald green fitness tank and black capris leggings. She was glad that she had a natural tan; the tank and her coloring brought out her green eyes. She wished she could do more than just a ponytail with her hair, but she didn’t want him to realize that she was trying to look good for him. She reminded herself again that she was there to train.
    She took a deep breath and opened the door. “Hi, Lincoln,” she greeted the man behind the counter.
    “Hi , Mel. How was class?” Melanie had met Lincoln a couple times in the past at Nick’s fights. He was funny, always making people laugh.
    “Good . Just ready to graduate. I’m also getting ready to take the GRE so that I can apply for PT school.” Melanie smiled with the thought of becoming a physical therapist.
    While she was talking to Lincoln, she caught sight of Zane in one of the rings. His back was to her so he had not seen her enter the gym. It gave her time to observe him in action without him knowing.
    He was wearing fitted black shorts , and she was glad to see he wasn’t wearing a shirt; she could see the muscles across his back and that he was literally glistening with sweat.
    He was letting the other man throw punches at him , easily dodging each one of them. They moved around in a circle, and she could now see what she’d pictured under his shirt that night at the club. It was even better than what she had imagined in her thoughts. Every muscle was perfectly defined.
    Her eyes took in his rippling abs along with h is dark, tousled hair and his face full of concentration. As she openly gawked at him, all of sudden, he went into offense. He moved closer to his opponent, who was a head shorter than him, and was able to slip in an upper cut. Zane quickly swept the man’s legs out from under him as the man stumbled back from the unexpected punch. In a