A Fighter's Choice Read Free

and now I’m pissed I wasted time reading it.” She
frowned. “You live opposite me, right?”
    She hadn’t even noticed they were neighbors? Okay, his
ego was taking a serious beating now.
    “Yeah, I do.”
    “Whoa, watch the attitude.” She held her hands up in
surrender.
    What was with this woman?
    “I’m Amber,” she said, offering her hand.
    “Jasper.”
    “Love the name, neighbor.”
    “Do you really not recognize we’ve been living across
from each other for over a year?” he asked.
    She smiled and completely blew his mind. Amber was a
beauty and weird, completely weird. He saw something in her gaze, though. Something sweet that made her off limits to him.
    “I was yanking your chain or whatever. I know who you
are. Okay, I didn’t know your name, and you’ve got that whole scary thing going
on about you. I didn’t know if I’d come out one night and see you escorting
dead bodies or something.”
    He frowned. “What?”
    “You’re always covered in bruises, and you’re always
frowning.” She frowned back at him. “Like that, you’re pretty scary. I wanted
to make sure you weren’t going to kill me.”
    “You’re crazy.”
    “I know.” She placed her hands back in her lap. “It’s
nice to finally meet you, Jasper.”
    The spinner stopped, and she got to her feet to deal
with it. What the hell had just happened? More importantly, why was he so damn
happy she just spoke to him?
    ****
    Placing the clothes into the dryer, Amber glanced over
at Jasper to find him staring at her. He was a strange man, and she didn’t know
if it was a good strange or a bad strange. Either way, he confused her and
intrigued her. She’d never met a guy like him, which again was strange seeing
as she met a lot of guys. He was very secretive, never giving anything away.
She’d noticed him living across from her. Amber wasn’t stupid or blind. She knew
he was a hot piece, but he was a scary hot piece. She’d never liked her men to
come with the fear of being killed midway through sex.
    She took her seat next to him as her clothes started
drying.
    “You keep staring at me,” she said.
    “So?”
    “How did you get the bruises?” she asked, liking his
attitude and annoyed with him at the same time. He looked like the kind of man
who took what he wanted and didn’t give a shit about who he hurt in the
process.
    “What do you do at night?”
    “Work.” She answered without hesitation. Amber had noticed he arrived back to
the apartment block around the same time as she did.
    “Where?”
    She smiled. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
    “You’re not a whore, are you?”
    Amber burst out laughing. She really couldn’t control
herself.
    “What?” he asked, frowning again.
    Reaching out, she pressed a thumb to his forehead.
“You’ve got to stop frowning otherwise you’ll end up with wrinkles.”
    “No, seriously. Where do you work?”
    “The titty bar with the
glaring red and blue sign with the picture of a woman glowing on the window.”
She watched the shock appear on his face. It was so funny to see.
    “Wait, you work at the strip club?”
    “Yep.”
    The washing machine beeped. “You’re ready,” she said,
pointing at his washing machine.
    She watched his fine ass get up and start to do
exactly what she just did. Her own washing machine was still going with all of
her whites. Packing the paperback book into her bag, she smiled at his
expression. She’d caught him by surprise with her profession.
    Minutes passed, and she watched his thick arms load
the washing machine. The heat was getting to her, and she already felt the
perspiration sliding down her back. He was large and muscular. Those bruises
were not down to him being a coward or a wimp. There was something more to him.
She didn’t know what it was, only that he continued to intrigue her even though
he didn’t talk about himself.
    He joined her minutes later.
    His hair was messy like he didn’t brush it when he
rolled out of bed