"Because you're—" She doesn't finish the sentence.
"Yeah. Because I'm barely holding on here."
She swallows hard. Takes a small step back. It's the smart thing to do. The right thing.
I immediately miss her warmth.
"Thank you," she says. "For letting me help."
"Thank you for helping."
She backs toward the door, putting distance between us.
"I'll see you around?" she asks.
"I'm here most fight nights."
"Right. Of course." She fumbles for the door handle behind her. "Take care of those hands, Danny."
"I will."
She opens the door, and the noise from the warehouse floods in. Reality crashing back. She slips out quickly, and I'm alone in the storage room that still smells like strawberries.
I sit there for another minute. Maybe two. Letting my body calm down. Letting my heart rate return to something approaching normal.
Then I look at my hands. At the way she cleaned and bandaged them. At the evidence that someone in this world thinks I'm worth taking care of.
And I realize I'm in serious trouble.
Because Joanna with her tired blue eyes and her gentle hands and her strawberry-scented hair has gotten under my skin in a way I don't know how to handle.
In a way that makes me want things I have no right wanting.
I stand, run my hand over my head, and try to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do now.
The answer doesn't come.
I head for the door, back to the warehouse, back to reality. But as I step out, I catch a glimpse of her across the room. She's got her mop and bucket, working on cleaning the Pit, head down.
She glances up. Our eyes meet across the distance.
She smiles. Small. Quick. Just for me.
Then she goes back to work.
And I stand there like an idiot, watching her, knowing I should walk away.
Knowing I won't.
Chapter 6 - Joanna
I can't stop shaking.
Not from fear this time. From something else entirely. Something that has my heart racing and my skin flushed and my body responding in ways I haven't felt in so long I almost forgot what it was like.
The mop handle is slippery in my palms as I work, muscle memory taking over because my brain is absolutely useless right now. All I can think about is Danny in that storage room. The way he'd looked at me. The way his voice had gone rough when he said I smelled like strawberries.
The way I'd seen his cock straining against those thin shorts.
