Before I met Gunner, I blew off steam by singing appallingly in the shower, using a shampoo bottle as a microphone. Don't ask why I'd sing that way; it just felt better when I did. But now? I find punching Neron in the face so much more relieving.

I giggled, but then the smile on my face quickly faded after seeing Neron in distress.

Shit, should I have done that?

I walked over to him as he rubbed his face. "Sorry. Gunner had just got done reminding me of that move, and I wanted to try it on someone. It felt good doing it, too," I admitted, trying to hide the smile that wanted to come out.

That hit felt damn good.

And the best part of hitting Neron is, I can't get in trouble with him for doing it.

Neron stopped rubbing his face, then looked at me. "It's quite alright. I'm the one who asked for this, so I can only imagine how much more you have for me to experience."

He's right about that.

"Alright, you two, I will sit on the bench and observe." Gunner pointed, then grinned. I know what that grin means; he's excited to watch me beat Neron. "Hopefully, she remembers everything I've taught her so far." Gunner said, chuckling as he walked away and climbed over the ring. He sat, then extended his hands towards Neron and me. "Alright, pretty lady, show me what you can do to Neron. Just whatever you do, don't hurt him; I need him next week."

I turned away from Gunner to face Neron. "So... what are we going to start with first?"

"First of all, you need to warm up."

"I already did that with her; she's all warmed up and ready for you," Gunner enlightened.

Neron nodded, then looked back at me, holding up his hands with his palms facing me. "Before we get started, I would like to feel how you punch. So punch my hands," he ordered, looking at my stance. "Wait... are you righty or lefty?"

"Lefty."

"Okay, you need the southpaw stance. Has Gunner explained that to you?"

I shook my head. "No. He's been teaching me self-defense. Not boxing."

He laughed.

"You'll need to learn some of those moves as well. Learning how to box will help with your self-defense learning because punching someone will come in handy when you cannot use any of the other moves you know. Which is something I can help you with. As for the southpaw stance, I need you to hold out your right hand and plant your right foot forward."

Gunner entered the ring, got behind me, and helped correct my stance. Then, with his body up against mine, he reached around, held my arms where they needed to be, explaining while showing me how to hit Neron's hands. "Lead with a right-handed jab, then quickly follow it with a left-handed cross right hook... like this," he showed, having me punch Neron's hands. "Got it?"

"I think so," I said, eyeing Neron. But, at the same time, I liked how Gunner was standing behind me, breathing on my neck while showing me how to punch correctly. Now I wanted him to stay with me, holding me like he was.

Stop it, Aria; they're teaching you how to protect yourself. So get sex off your mind, or you won't be learning a damn thing they're trying to teach.

Gunner lowered his mouth to my neck-something he shouldn't have done. Now I feel like a wet noodle that wants to collapse. "Now, show him what you can do," he said, patting my ass.

"Alright, are we ready?" Neron asked, punching his hands together.

"I'm ready," I assured, adjusting my form.

"Hit me," Neron demanded, "and not in the face, either. I want you to punch my hands."

I did what Neron wanted me to, then he urged me to do it again, but harder. Punching Neron's hands went on for about ten minutes, and he kept insisting that I punch harder every time he had me start over.

I was having fun, actually.

But now, I can't wait for the real fun to begin.

"Okay, now I want you to show me what Gunner has taught. I want to see what you remember after each situation I do to attack you. So first, I will come up from behind and act like I'm on the attack."

"Okay," I said, smiling behind my serious face.

This will be fun.

Neron came at me from behind, wrapped his arm around my waist, with his other hand tightly covering my mouth, then he picked me up. I tried dropping all of my weight like Gunner said I should do, but that didn't work, so I opened my mouth, then bit down on his fingers. Neron yelled, releasing his hand from my mouth.

I couldn't help it, but I laughed.

This is Neron's fault.

He wanted this, so he's getting what he asked for.

His arm tightened around me without warning, and his hand tightly wrapped around my mouth again. Remembering what Gunner taught me, I reached to the hand covering my mouth, and then I pulled on his index and middle finger, pulling them backward while using my other hand to pull his pinky and ring finger backward.

Neron yelled again, finally releasing me and stepping to the side of me.

"Damn, Gunner... she's got some serious strength for finger pulling! She'll definitely get away from her attacker using that move."

Gunner laughed loudly. "Keep it up, beautiful! You're doing great!"

"Oh, and she bites fucking hard, too!"

"I wouldn't know," Gunner responded, smiling proudly.

Neron walked in front of me, and after taking a deep breath, Neron said, "Alright, since you already showed that you know the heel palm strike, I would like to see what else you've learned if someone were to come at you from the front."

"Would you really like to see?" Gunner asked, looking amused.

It would've been nice if Gunner recorded this for me. I would have loved to have replayed this entire thing with Neron.

Neron came at me quickly, and I throat punched him out of reaction, knocking him to the ground.

Now that felt good.

I giggled, but damn it anyhow, my knuckles hurt.

I shook it off, then seeing Neron was still on the ground holding his neck, my stomach dropped.

Crap.

I hope he's okay.

I walked over to Neron, bent over, then looked at him, immediately feeling guilty after seeing he looked in a lot of pain. I didn't think I hit him that hard. But I must have.

Shit!

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry; I was only doing what Gunner taught me and what you asked me to do."

Big mistake.

He quickly reached for me, grabbed my ankle, and pulled, knocking me to the ground. He hovered over me while pinning me down on the mat. He lowered close to my face with a scowled look, causing my stomach to turn into knots. "Never check on the assailant you just attacked. That's the worst thing you can do, and it'll get you hurt or killed. Always walk away, or better yet, run," he demanded, extremely angry.

I should have known. I've seen enough horror films to know better. It always happens when the person walks over to check on the one trying to kill them, looking to see if they're dead, and then the attacker's eyes open. Suddenly, the victim finds themselves back to square one, or worse, dead.

"Now, if this happens and they've got you pinned as I do now, and there's no way you can get out of their grip. It would be best to knee them as hard as possible, right in the groin. They'll drop like a hot brick."

Shit.

Gunner said that area is off-limits. What do I do?

"I can't do that to you."

"Don't you dare do that to me," he nervously begged.

"Don't worry; I won't. But I can assure you, that's one of the things I would do."

He let out a sigh of relief, removed himself from me, then stood, looking at Gunner. "I think we're done for the night. I've taken enough beating, and I still need to recover from that throat punch."

Gunner bellowed a laugh straight from the pit of his belly. "Are you sure? There's still more she can do!"

Neron looked at me as if he was debating about having me do more and then shook his head. "Yeah, I'm sure. Maybe we can try this again later in the week. You still have some preparing to do this week." Neron looked back at me and raised an eyebrow. "Are you coming along to New York with us?"

Gunner rushed over to us, then helped me up. "I haven't talked to her about that yet."

"When do you leave?" I asked, surprised, looking at Gunner. This was the first I heard of him having to go anywhere outside of Washington.

"Next week. I was going to bring it up after we finished here."

What would I do with Walter? He would go nuts without me, especially since he's not fond of the other caretaker who takes over for me when it's my day off.

"You can go home now, Neron. I've got it from here," Gunner said as he picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder.

"What are we doing now?"

He chuckled, then smacked me on the ass. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

***

Gunner carried me into the weight lifting room, and then he locked the door after entering.

I think I know what he's got up his sleeve, and if it's what I think it is, I'm sure I'll like it.

"Are you planning on getting kinky with me or something?"

"Maybe."

Oh, this could be fun...

I think?

"We need to build you some muscle, and it makes me nervous that you're nothing but skin and bones," he informed as he set me on the bench press seat. Then he lifted my left arm and slid his hand along it. "Look at these. Where are your muscles?"

"They're in hiding," I teased.

He shook his head, chuckled, then turned serious. "Lay down and grip onto the bar. I will start you off lightly, and then I'll work you up until you feel burning sensations in your arms. Doing this will help with your pectoral muscles, shoulders, and arms-areas I feel you need help with. Plus, it'll benefit you with your strength if you were ever to get attacked."

"Great. Not only will I be sore below, but I'll be sore on top also," I groaned, lying backward, and with my eyes glued to Gunner.

His leg lifted over the lower half of my body, and then, after sitting on my pelvis, he leaned forward, hovering over me. "I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't care. Because your life is my life, and I would like to be sure you could ward off an attacker if you're ever without me and with your friends or by yourself."

"I know," I perceived, lowering my hands from the bar and my arms wrapping around him. "I know it may sound like I'm complaining about it, but I understand what you're doing. It's just that I've never had to work my body in the ways you've been working it lately."

The corners of his lips twitched, then raised into a playful grin. He lowered his mouth and then sucked all the air from my lungs when he kissed me.

"Trust me when I say this, but this is for your best interest; you'll be thanking me later for doing this for you. Guaranteed."

Hopefully, after tonight, I'll be able to push the old man in his wheelchair. He was already teasing me today about how I was walking, so I could only imagine how he would be or what he would say if I couldn't do anything for him.

Gunner loaded the weight bar, adjusted the placement of my hands, then helped with lowering the bar.

"Bring the bar down to your chest, and then I want you to push up and hold for ten seconds. Do this ten times, okay?"

"Okay."

The first ten reps he had me do were nothing, so I laughed. "Are you trying to be funny?"

"No, why?" he asked with knitted eyebrows.

"I could have lifted this thing with my pinky. What did you put on, ten pounds?" I mocked.

His face brightened. "Are you ready for more?"

"Duh... if you want me to grow muscles, I can guarantee you; ten pounds won't do it."

He added more weights to each side of the bar, then grinned when he looked down at me. "Okay, smarty pants. Try it now," he said, lowering the bar. "Same as before. Ten reps and holding for ten seconds after each rep."

Again, this was nothing.

What did he do? Add five pounds only?

After finishing my reps, I laughed, then rolled my eyes up to him. "You say I'm a smarty pants? You're the fucking smart ass. If you're going to discipline me, fucking punish me."

Uh oh. Maybe that wasn't such a good thing to say to Gunner. Because after smarting off to him, his eyes lit up like the fourth of July, and the corners of his lips twitched.

Seeing his expression made my heart sink.

Now, he plans on torturing me.

I'm sure of it.

And now I wish I would have kept my mouth quiet like I used to.

I bit my bottom lip while watching him place weights on each bar end. Seeing the size of the weights makes me think he put more than how much I weigh. Finally, he leaned over the bar, wickedly grinning.

"I don't want to hear you say you cannot lift the weight. Just do it..."

Isn't that a Nike slogan?

I think I'd rather be doing something else-something more along the lines of doing horizontal refreshments.

Now it has me wondering when he'll allow me to taste him?

He stood back behind me, wrapped his hands around the weight bar, then looked down-grinning like he knew I wouldn't be able to lift the bar. Then he mocked, "Ready, my dear?"

"Let's get this over with," I sighed. "How many reps are you making me do this time?"

"All depends on how you can handle the weight," he winked.

Gunner lowered the bar, then as I started doing the reps, he stood back, observing everything I did like a hawk-surprising him and myself when I did ten reps with no flinching, no complaining, and no asking that he lighten the weights. I did it flawlessly. I guess I'm stronger than I thought I was.

Who knew? Because I sure as hell didn't.

Gunner looked more than amazed while cupping his chin. He was astonished. The look on his face tells me he's cooking up another plan.

A devilish smirk formed on his face, and then he held up his finger. "I'll be right back."

He is...

And the longer he's out of the room, looking for whatever he is, the more it has me wondering what he's about to do to me.

"Close your eyes," he demanded as he entered the room.

I closed my eyes, swallowing hard. Then Gunner lifted my head, and the next thing I felt was fabric resting over my eyes.

He's blindfolding me.

He lowered my head, grabbed my hands, and raised them to the bar. "Wrap your hands around the bar, then grip tightly."

"What are you doing, Gunner?"

"Testing you," he replied.

"Haven't you done enough testing me?"

"Nope," he admitted. And if I knew any better, he said it with the biggest grin on his face. "Now lift the bar, please."

I lifted the bar but immediately noticed he added more weight and couldn't lift it any higher than I did before.

Now I know why.

He lowered all his weight to the bar, making it harder for me to lift. "Get off the bar, Gunner. You're too fucking heavy," I whined.

He laughed boisterously. He put the bar back into its resting place, then grabbed my wrist. The next thing I felt was a rope or something similar wrapping around my wrist, then securing it to the weight bar, repeating with my other wrist.

"I knew that would get you to complain," he said amusingly. Then I felt the heat of his breath over my mouth before his lips softly slid along mine. "But you didn't complain enough for me to stop."

My lips curved upward. "I complained when you lowered your body on the bar, but it wasn't enough punishment for me to beg you to stop."

"Is that right?" he asked enthusiastically, shivers running up my spine as he softly traced my jawline with the tip of his finger. "We can fix that."

Now I'm really asking for it by mocking his way of torturing me today. But what do I have to lose? He has me blindfolded, with my wrists tied to the weight bar. And because of that, my mind is thinking dirty, naughty thoughts.

"How are you going to fix that? What's your plan now?" I may not be able to see him, but I can tell he's grinning from ear to ear.

And now I'm smiling too because I think he's about to do something that has to do with BDSM.

"Would you really like to know?"

"Yes," I panted after feeling his hand on my pussy.

"Tell me, Aria. What would you like to happen?"

"Honestly?" I answered while smiling.

"Yes. That's why I asked."

"Well," I began saying, then stopped to find the right words.

I didn't want to sound desperate. But the truth is. I am desperate to see what Gunner has in store for me. For us... I may be sore from him already, but I'm fucking desperate to feel him inside me again.

And this? Blindfolded and tied up?

I'm actually feeling excited about trying something new.

Butter my butt and call me a biscuit. Gunner created a monster out of me.

"Tell me, Aria. What would you like to happen?"

Fuck it. Just tell him what you want, Aria.

Ask, and you shall receive. Right?

"I want you to fuck me while I'm tied up and blindfolded, where I have no control over myself-experiencing something new that will excite me sexually, especially since I cannot see. I want to experience those arousing sexual feelings with someone I trust. And that's you."

"If that's what you want, then that's what you'll get."

My heart started beating faster when he began removing my spandex shorts and panties. Then my heart raced further when he unzipped my top and raised it above my head, pushing it up along my arms and towards my wrists.

Suddenly I felt cold and alone.

I couldn't see, but I could hear.

I closed my eyes tight, thinking it would help me hear better. And what I heard were sounds of weights being set down on the ground near me. Next, Gunner spread my legs and secured both ankles-tied and restrained to those weights on either side of me.

Shit.

What Gunner is doing might be a little too kinky for me.

Then again, I asked for it.

My mind raced while lying on the bench, waiting for him to start doing what I begged him to do. Now I wasn't sure what that even was. Well, I did. But the more I thought about it; I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue playing this game.

What if someone were to walk in on us?

Someone meaning Neron? Or Gunner's trainers?

Here I am, naked, blindfolded, and with my wrists and ankles tied up. And is Gunner naked or fully clothed? Thinking this way, I wasn't so sure I wanted to do this here anymore.

Quit being a wimp, Aria.

Free your mind, Gunner once said.

Let your body experience something you never allowed your body to feel before, he also said.

Just as I allowed my mind to go free, I giggled after feeling the bottoms of my feet were being tickled. At first, I thought it was Gunner's tongue, but the more he tickled the soles of my feet, the more I realized it was something else, but still couldn't make out what it was.

All I knew was whatever he was using, fucking tickled.

I squirmed and laughed harder the more he titillated me.

"Gunner, stop!" I squealed.

He laughed quietly.

"Nope. You asked for this. So let me have my fun."

Now I felt his tongue on my skin, and he was moving it up and down my leg. Then he switched to my other leg, repeating until he got to my red wagon and stopped. Next, I felt a cool yet warm breeze blow against my clean-shaven cat. I squirmed and moaned, "Gunner."

The breeze stopped, then I felt his tongue take a soft, gentle swipe at my clit, tickling it simultaneously as he flicked his tongue against it a couple of times, causing my back to arch and a loud, deep moan to escape my lips.

I lowered my back to the bench when his tongue moved from my clit up to my navel. He circled it softly before trailing his tongue up to my breasts.

Here we go...

Nipple torture again.

Surprisingly, he didn't. He just teased my erected nipples with his tongue-flicking his tongue against them, softly nibbling, licking, and sucking, before dragging his tongue up to my collarbone, neck, and mouth.

I can handle this.

I whimpered when his tongue entered my mouth. He tasted so damn good, and the smell pouring off him really hit my senses. The masculine fragrance coming out of his pores was rich-musky, sexy as vanilla, and woodsy as in sandalwood.

And I was melting from it.

His kiss deepened, and all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around him. But couldn't. Then his lips stopped moving, and with them still hooked to mine, I felt his lips form into a smile.

Gunner knew what I wanted to do, and he found it amusing I was restricted to doing so.

"Did you forget something?"

"No," I lied. "I just want to feel you inside me now."

He leaned into my ear. "Patience," he whispered, causing my nipples to erect more significantly and harder.

"I don't want to be tied up anymore. I just want to feel you and your skin rubbing against mine."

He ignored my request. Suddenly, I felt cold again.

I tried listening to hear what he was up to.

I heard him wrestling with something, and then I felt a warm breeze blow against my red wagon. As he blew his hot air at my moistened flesh, a finger entered me below, feeling as if he were scavenging hunting. Then, not finding anything with one finger, a second finger entered, helping him with his hunt.

"Gunner, swap your fingers for something even better," I desperately begged. My back quickly arched, and I squealed when I felt his tongue doing exercises with my clit.

My arms and legs wrestled the restraints, trying to escape. And when that didn't work, my hips bucked up and down. Then Gunner restrained my hips with his hands, holding them firmly to continue feasting off me.

I moaned, groaned, purred, and whimpered.

My body was experiencing sensations I'd never felt before, and it had me sweating. The heat of my body was rising, and I felt if Gunner were to check my temperature, the thermometer would burst-again.

I was on fire.

Literally on fire.

I needed a cool-down.

His teeth formed around my swollen bud, and then he surprised me when he gently pulled.

Does he not want me to use the safeword?

Because he's been extremely gentle tonight, and it's confusing me.

He swapped his fingers for his tongue, where it explored and tickled my sensitive walls. I screamed, twisted, jerked, and twitched until I orgasmed.

That still wasn't enough to put out the flames. Instead, my insides ignited like dynamite, and to put out the fire, it needed more than Gunner's mouth to do so.

He must have heard my mind crying out for him. Because his body lowered on top of me. And when his mouth crashed hard on mine, his cock instantly sunk into me.

I was finally in bliss-seventh heaven. I felt high and as if we were soaring free through the clouds. And the longer his mouth covered mine and was obstructing the air I needed to breathe, the higher I was feeling.

It almost felt I was being sexually asphyxiated. The only difference was Gunner wasn't choking me. Instead, he was sucking every ounce of air my lungs had out.

And the orgasm I was having right now? It wasn't just fucking amazing; it was fucking incredible.

Gunner's thrusts not only got faster, but they became harder, too. As a result, his grunting and panting got heavier and louder. Then he stopped pumping, shoved himself as far into me as possible, and used his hose to extinguish the flames.

His hands roamed from either side of my face to my eyes and removed the blindfold.

Seeing his smile, I smiled, then said, "Checkmate?"

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!❤❤