We spent ten minutes with Tex testing my defenses, then she moved on to combat, knocking me on my ass more times than I could count, but toward the end, I’d knocked her down a few times too.
We took a water break, both of us breathless. James had watched us without commentary, but now he said, “What do you think, Tex? Can she hold her own?”
“Depends on who she’s dealing with. Is she ready to enter a cage match? Not a chance. Can she deal with someone bigger than her? Hard to say since we’re so evenly matched in height. But I’d say she has a pretty good chance. I’d suggest having her fight someone bigger. Someone as big as you.”
“I’m not fightin’ today,” he said.
She laughed. “Not you any day. She needs someone who’s not afraid to hurt her.”
“I never said I was afraid to hurt her,” he said in a deep voice.
“You didn’t have to,” she said, her hands on her hips. “But she still needs to work with someone else who’s bigger than her.”
James gave me an indecisive look.
“That sounds great,” I said, wiping sweat off my face with a towel. “But we’ll have to schedule that for another time. We have plans tonight.”
Her gaze shifted from me to James, then back again. “Hence the sparring brush-up.”
“What makes you think Harper needs to brush up on her fighting skills for a date?” James asked good-naturedly.
“Please…” she drawled. “I’ve seen some of your dates, Skeeter.”
I shot James an amused look. “That’s a story I want to hear.”
“Maybe another time,” James growled. “It’s time to head out.”
Tex watched us both, taking in our conversation. I suspected not much got by her. Then she turned to me and said, “You weren’t half bad. A little rusty in the beginning, but it came back.”
“You taught me a few things I didn’t know before and helped refresh what I did know. Thanks.”
She walked over to me, holding out her still-wrapped hand, knuckles out. “If you need a sparring partner in the future, give me a call.”
I bumped my fist into hers. “Thanks. And maybe you can tell me about what happened on James’s previous dates.”
Surprise filled her eyes when I called him James, but she quickly hid it, mischief dancing across her face. “You’ve got it.”
Chapter 19
I took a quick shower to wash the sweat off my body, dressed in my old clothes, and then we headed back to the hotel. Since we hadn’t taken our car, we parked at a garage down the street, then carried the packages to the back door of the hotel. We waited for someone to walk out the back so we could walk in without using our key card.
Now, more than before, we needed to be cautious. For all we knew, Knox hadn’t yet realized we were in Little Rock. But given the people we’d talked to, he’d definitely know soon enough. By the time we reached the door to our room, James was dragging. I took the keycard from him and opened the door, dropping my packages on the floor inside the room so I could take his.
“You need a nap.”
“I’m not a damned baby,” he grunted.
“Trust me, that’s the last thing I’d accuse you of being, but you’re still recovering and you need to rest.”
He reluctantly headed over to the freshly made bed. “What are you gonna do?”
“Look into Razor. You got a legal name for him?”
“Timothy Ransor.”
I cocked a brow. “Timothy?”
He chuckled. “Why do you think he goes by Razor?”
