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"So, was this your plan all along?" She teased, tracing the tattoos on my chest. "Tell me you wanted to train me in self defense so you could get into my pants?"

"It seems more likely that was your plan, considering you made the first move." I chuckled.

She playfully slapped my chest. "Whatever Az-hole, I'm not the one who has a stash of condoms in the gym."

"No, that would be Leighton. For which, I'm currently pretty grateful."

"Seriously?" She laughed, shifting so that she was propped up on her elbow. "I've literally never seen him in here. This seems more like you trying to cheat and claim winnings from our bet when you haven't even won yet."

She squealed as I hooked my arms around her and repositioned us to hover over her.

"Well, I suppose if you're so certain you're going to win your losing bet, we need to renegotiate the terms."

A wicked smile painted Victoria's face as she allowed her hands to roam freely over my tattoos.

"What sort of terms did you have in mind?"

"Dinner."

"Dinner?" she scoffed. "I eat dinner with you guys pretty much every night. How is that something that you want to wager over?"

"You really have no idea." I sighed, pushing myself into a seated position. "Princess, if things hadn't gone down the way they had at your Gala, I had every intention of asking you to let me take you to dinner before the night was out."

Victoria bolted upright, her arms crossed to cover herself as her shoulders curled inward. I couldn't help frowning at the apparent attempt to hide herself from me.

"Right. Because the chunky girl always lands the hot guys."

"Are you seriously downplaying my attraction to you after what just happened between us?" I asked, arching a brow at her.

"That.…"

"And what about Craig, and Joey, and Leighton?" I interrupted. "Do you really think any of us aren't wildly attracted to you, Princess?"

Her face flushed a furious red. "For all I know, you guys have some thing about getting the same girl into bed and I was just the most convenient."

I scrubbed my hands over my face in frustration. The entire time we'd been guarding Victoria, she'd portrayed herself as a confident woman with a blazing fury running through her veins. I wasn't sure what to make of the sudden shift in how she seemed to view herself.

"Do you remember the first time we ever met?" I asked when I finally dropped my hands back into my lap.

"Yeah. How can I forget, considering before the night was over I'd wrongly accused you of trying to kidnap me?"

"That wasn't the first time we met, Princess." I smiled softly, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "The first time we met was at the youth center."

"I don't remember that."

"Well, I do." I smiled. "My dad had just gotten sick and mom was struggling to make ends meet. I don't remember what was wrong with her that day. Everything seemed to go wrong all the time around that time in my life and I was too young to understand any of it. Anyway, she was really upset and frazzled when she dropped me off at the center before her shift. She hadn't even remembered to send me with lunch like she normally did. But there you were, this big grin missing a couple teeth, and a bouquet of weeds you'd picked from the play yard. You gave them to her, and she smiled for the first time in months."

"That sounds… really sweet, actually."

"It was until I got in trouble with Prudence for stealingyoursnacks." I laughed.

"So, you were always an Az-hole." She chuckled.

"Only sometimes."

Victoria sighed, her eyes studying me momentarily before she spoke again. "You never talk about your mom. Not since that day in the pool when Leighton mentioned her."

I pursed my lips and stood, moving to gather our clothes and dispose of the used condom. As unsure as I was about talking to Victoria about my mother, I was absolutely certain I didn't want to do so with us both naked. I pulled on my gym shorts and handed the Princess her clothes before snagging a couple of water bottles. She dressed in silence, watching me until I settled back onto the gym mats.