Perfect, Perfect, PERFECTTTT.

I had Dante wrapped around my finger. He brought me to his boxing club, and I memorized all the routes perfectly. I could later write a detailed report to the boss once I finished. But somehow, I felt guilty. Looking at Dante with his loving eyes made me feel terrible. I had promised myself not to fall for him, which was proving difficult because every time he got closer, my body responded automatically, drawn to him. I sighed. "Rose, pull yourself together and focus on the mission ahead, no matter how hard it is."

As I entered the boxing club, I felt nauseous. The smell of old socks, spoiled food, blood, feces, and urine hung in the air. I had to hold myself together to avoid vomiting. The chilling part? There were only damn men here. Not a single woman, what the hell. I followed Nicolas, who was wearing a tight black tank top and gray sweatpants. He is a mix of korean and russian.

He was broad-shouldered, muscular, and scarred, with sweat soaking his body and clothes. His dark black hair was clinging to his forehead. He turned to me and gestured for me to enter a room, which I did. It reminded me of a Japanese setup, with martial arts materials hanging on the walls. The only good thing about the room was that it didn't stink as much, and I could breathe a sigh of relief.

Nicolas looked me up and down, puzzled, and asked, "Do you want to train like this?"

 I glanced at myself and only now remembered that I was wearing a dress! I grinned at him. "Do you have spare clothes?"

 He sighed and said, "Yes, wait." 

He went over to a closet, opened it, and took out some T-shirts and sweatpants. He handed them to me and said, "I'll leave now, and you can change in peace."

 I smiled at him and said, "Thank you." 

He left the room, sliding the door shut behind him.

I took off my coat, unzipped the back of my dress, and wiggled a bit until it came off. The damn dress was too tight, but I managed to get it down to my waist. Suddenly, someone opened the sliding door. I looked at him, and he looked at me. 

Dante stared at me wide-eyed before quickly slamming the door shut and cursing behind it. "DAMN IT ALL."

 I quickly took off the dress and put on the sweatpants and T-shirt. The shirt definitely belonged to a man. I opened the door and saw him standing there, looking at the ground and scratching the back of his head. I kicked his shin, and he sharply inhaled. 

I grabbed his tie and pulled him toward me, grinning ironically. "Do you want to die?"

 He looked at me with a wide grin and raised both arms in protest, saying, "Fair enough."

 I sighed and let go of his tie. I walked into the room, and he followed me. Internally, I wanted to explode. Damn, how embarrassing. He saw me in my bra. How uncomfortable!

I turned around to face him in the room and tied my hair into a ponytail. He took off his suit jacket and cracked his fingers, neck, and back. He went to the drawer and grabbed his clothes. Suddenly, he slowly took off his shirt, revealing his well-built chest. He definitely had a sleeper build. There was a giant dragon tattoo on his left chest that extended down to his abs. 

My face turned red, and I turned around, annoyed. "Isn't it enough for you to see me naked? Now you want to assault my eyes too!"

 He scoffed and said, "I've seen everything on a woman already, so don't act up."

Suddenly, I felt a nagging pang in my heart. What was this feeling?

 I scoffed back, "Oh yeah? Well, I've seen everything necessary on a man too." 

Suddenly, his voice deepened and sounded more dangerous and dark. "Oh yeah?" 

Suddenly, he turned me by the shoulder, placed a foot behind my leg, grabbed my shoulder with one hand, and pushed me down to the ground.

 He whispered seductive in my ear, "Rule number one, never turn your back on your enemy, Sofia." 

I got goosebumps. His voice made me nervous, and my heart beat faster. Why did my body always react like this when I talked to him, touched him, or saw him? One of his arms was against my throat, his chest touched mine, and he definitely felt my breasts, one of his legs was between mine, and he pressed his knee on that specific spot that made my knees weak. He was doing it on purpose.

 He looked at me but in his look there was a flicker of something dangerous and dark. 

His dark brown locks fell on my face, tickling me. I felt his warm breath, and he grinned at me so attractively.

 "What's wrong, Sofia? I thought you could defeat me?" 

I grinned back. In the FBI, I was a professional combat athlete. Few could match me. But I couldn't show him my skills. 

I said, grinning, "I could kick you in the balls."

 He widened his eyes, amused, and pressed harder with his body against mine. The closeness between us was so extreme that it didn't feel like a fight but more like foreplay before sex.

My hormones were driving me crazy, or rather, he was driving me crazy. Was it just me getting hot, or was the room getting warmer? I tried to muster the strength of my left leg, which was free, to maneuver and turned with all my might. Now, our positions changed. He was beneath me, and I was sitting on his fucking dick. Out of breath, a few strands of hair fell down, and I quickly leaned forward, grabbed his arms, and held them tightly. Our faces were only inches apart.

 He looked at me amusedly, "Well, look at you, you've got some skills." 

I smiled back at him innocently.

 But then he said sternly, "But that's not enough." 

I looked at him confusedly before he sat up with his upper body, and I felt like a little ant clinging to him. I looked at him with wide eyes and didn't even have time to react as he broke free from my grip and let me fall to the ground. I landed on my butt but quickly rolled to the side and stood up. 

He clapped his hands, "Very good." 

Then he eyed me as if devouring me and said, "By the way, my t-shirt looks good on you."

 I blushed; that was his damn t-shirt, and only then did I notice he was wearing a black compression shirt with loose white sweatpants. His muscles were literally flexing, and I stared a bit too long, which he noticed. 

"You're looking at me quite interestingly, Sofia." 

I snapped back to reality and pretended to be clueless, "I don't know what you mean."

 He shook his head, laughing.

He went to the wall and grabbed a fake knife made of rubber material. He tossed one over to me, and I caught it. I immediately took a fighting stance, and so did he. He attacked first, holding the knife with the tip pointed towards me. He held his hand holding the knife up near his forehead and made a fist with the other hand, also near his head. His right leg slightly bent forward and his left leg slightly bent back. He leaned forward with his body like a cobra, quickly moving the knife in a downward motion from above. I dodged backward. Suddenly, he tossed the knife into the air, caught it, and was in front of me, touching my neck, solar plexus, temple, and short rib. It was so fast that I had no time to react. 

He stepped away from me and said seriously, "And dead." 

I sighed and dropped the knife. 

He then repeatedly threw the knife into the air, walking around the room, and said, "You have the potential to become very good, but you need to work on your finesse for attacking." 

He caught the knife and aimed it at me, the knife brushing past my cheek as he approached me.

 "You need to move away from the American style of knife fighting and adopt the Japanese or Korean style; it's better," he said. 

I looked at him in astonishment; this was a new side of him that I didn't know. A gentle but also serious side. A side that I could never experience with James or my absent father. He was everything I wished for in a man.

My heart was racing, and I placed my hand on my chest where my heart was as I looked at him. Did I like him, or was it something else? A series of events flashed through my mind, imagining a happy future with him, but everything shattered with the thought that it was just a mission. 

He looked at me slightly concerned, "Is something wrong?"

 I shook my head in relief, "It's all good."