Page 23 of Fighting Conviction

“Hey!” Ellie yelled and delivered a good hook.

“Nice.” Dev caught it with the mitt. “Keep going.”

They began to spar and Devil made sure to use exaggerated movements to help Ellie learn where to block. Her strikes and blocks were already efficient, but after just a few sets they became fluid, only needing a couple adjustments.

“Tighten your neck muscles. Clench your jaw, and if you anticipate any hits to your stomach, tighten those muscles, too. Try to shift so the punch lands to your sides rather than somewhere vital.” She got too close again and Devil feinted to hit her with the mitt.

She growled and backed away, finally out of the danger zone—the area where Devil could hit her with his long arms, but she couldn’t reach him.

“Yes, exactly. Keep backing up when you can. You need to stay in the safe zone.” Ellie raised her eyebrow. “Where neither of us can strike the other.”

“Sounds familiar,” Ellie muttered.

Devil ignored whatever that meant. “Remember to strike when necessary, but every fighting strategy you have should center on escape. Let’s keep going. Just one more set.”

Her movements were growing slow, like she was tired already. Ellie nodded and blew blonde wisps out of her face while she tracked his body language.

“Do you have a bobby pin?”

“What?” She paused in her movements and looked up, still looking back and forth to his mitts.

“A bobby pin. Those little things for your hair?”

“Oh, um, not on me but I own them.”

“Start wearing them.”

“Excuse me?” Her face scrunched up cute and Dev resisted the urge to grin like a fool at her.

“They’re good for making sure your hair stays back. That way, when you kick someone’s ass, they can see your pretty face while you do it.” He dared a wink at her, knowing he was flirting with danger, and when she laughed it off, he continued. “Plus, it can help you unlock doors, break out of handcuffs, they’re really probably the best covert weapon a woman has at her fingertips.”

“Good to know,” Ellie muttered, getting back into stance.

Goddamn, her focus is hot.

They continued to go back and forth, this time with her actually managing to get some jabs at the mitts on his hands.

He hadn’t lied before. For how little she was, she packed some power, even when her stamina was waning. He’d always been impressed with her inner strength. Witnessing her physical strength was a new pleasure.

Emotions Devil had locked down were threatening to break free. He didn’t need to question why they were battling against their cage. He knew why.

It was the first time they’d had time alone together without the threat of people coming in and out. No BlackStone agent was at the facility. It was just them.

Him and Ellie.

The devil and his angel.

And damn, was that tempting.

Devil pushed the thought away when he noticed her posture slacking past the point of fatigue and her strikes slowing. After she missed a few attacks from the mitt to her face and body without any attempt of blocking, Devil called a break.

He tossed her a water bottle and watched as she swallowed, mesmerized by a single glistening bead of moisture on her neck as it dripped down to the valley between her breasts. It was that drop that made him realize her chest was heaving with each panting breath. A crinkle of the plastic water bottle drew his attention to her shaking hands and he registered, not for the first time, the prominent bags under her eyes.

“You okay, angel?”

She paused in her sips. “Uh, aside from the fact I’m getting beat up? Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Har har, very funny.”