“You’re a bit early, aren’t you, sunshine?” Danny barked.

“Umm…” I scrambled to explain my presence at the gym. I swear that Danny was like a disapproving parent. He only had to scowl at me in a certain way, and I knew that I was in trouble.

“I thought I’d get an early start tonight and someone offered me a lift. So...” I felt like I needed to keep talking, because when I stopped, he stared at me with his arms crossed while a cigarette dangled precariously from his lips.

“And I’m a feckin’ monkey’s uncle,” he said after what felt like forever. He sighed like I was the biggest pain in the arse in the world.

“Con,” he practically shouted, “get your lazy arse up. You two get ten minutes then I want you back here with your head in the game, understand?”

“Sure, boss,” O’Connell agreed happily, as he grabbed me and started walking. I could hear Danny muttering about how he’d never get anything good out of O’Connell now that I was here.

He pulled me into the office and shut the door behind us. Before I could even say hello, he pressed me up against it, and his lips were on mine. He groaned into my mouth as he moved his hands around to my backside and lifted me to wrap my legs around his hips. His hardness against my achy core had me rubbing up against him, trying to find some relief.

“Fuck!” he hissed out loud, and I flinched at his tone.

“Sorry, baby,” he whispered, as he pressed his forehead against mine. “I didn’t mean to scare you but having you like this is just about the sexiest fucking thing ever. I’d give anything to be balls deep inside you right now.”

“Aww,” I replied giggling, “you say the sweetest things.”

He didn’t reply but pressed against me harder. I stopped giggling and groaned as the ache became worse. If I’d been any other girl I’d have given him the relief that we both needed, but I wasn’t that brave, so this was as much as he was getting. Tommy probably had his ear to the door anyway. O’Connell bent his head toward me and breathed deeply, as we both tried to calm down. After a minute or two, he released me and walked over to the chair. He sat down and pulled me onto his lap, nuzzling his head into the crook of my neck.

“Mmm. You smell beautiful, sunshine.” I sighed, trying to stop myself from squirming around. I was so turned on that the need to ask him to touch me was almost unbearable.

“This gets harder every time we see each other, doesn’t it,” I told him.

He groaned. “If it gets any harder, it’s likely to snap.” I laughed but immediately felt bad, because O’Connell really looked as though he was in pain.

“You know, if you were with any other girl you wouldn’t have to wait.” He knew exactly what I meant, and he didn’t like it.

“If I was with any other girl, baby, it wouldn’t be hard.”

I frowned. Of course, it wouldn’t be hard. Sex with anyone else would be a walk in the park. Most girls probably didn’t even wear underwear around O’Connell to emphasize just how easy it was.

“No, sunshine,” he chastised, reading my thoughts by the look on my face. He grabbed my hand and, bold as brass, placed it on his cock. “With any other girl, it wouldn’t be hard.”

“Oh, my God! I can’t believe I did that,” I squeaked, pulling my hand away and burying my head into his chest with embarrassment. He chuckled and hugged me against him.

“Sorry, love,” he apologised. “It just got even harder.”

THE NEXT FEW WEEKS at the gym were absolutely crazy. Every day that O’Connell trained, we could feel magic in the air. It was as though we were all part of something really special. O’Connell had so much fight and endless determination that it made us better just to be around him. For nine hours a day, six days a week, O’Connell trained RELENTLESSLY. Not once did Danny give him so much as an inch, and not once did O’Connell complain about it. If Danny said ten more sit-ups then that was exactly what he did. If Danny said that push-ups were to be one-handed, even when O’Connell was dead on his feet, then that was exactly what he did. Danny demanded, and O’Connell delivered. By the time that fight week arrived, O’Connell was sparring for ten rounds then combining half bag with half mitt work. Danny had been tapering that off as the week went on, ostensibly to allow O’Connell’s body to recuperate before the fight. Today was Thursday and weigh-in day. I didn’t get to go to the gym where it was taking place. Danny told me that it was because he was paying me good money to be working tonight and not skiving. I thought it was mean, enough that I poked my tongue out at him when he left the room. Still, I wasn’t brave enough to argue to his face. Secretly, I suspected that he didn’t want me somewhere where I would be so deeply out of my element. I couldn’t say that being left behind was any better, though. Walking through the gym was creepy. Usually bustling with life and energy, the speedballs were still and the bags hung lifelessly from the ceiling. Nearly all of the guys were at the weigh-in as a show of support for O’Connell. A few of the younger guys, that Danny wouldn’t let follow him, were allocated menial tasks around the place, and Mac had stayed to supervise. It was patently obvious that the bunch of fifteen-year-olds currently cleaning the shower room didn’t need Mac’s level of supervision. After his fifth time of checking on me in two hours, it became clear who he was really babysitting. Danny’s sense of chivalry was working overtime again, it seemed. He was out of luck, though, if he thought he was getting his money’s worth from me. I’d been like a cat on a hot tin roof all night, and it was only the weigh-in. There was absolutely no way that he was keeping me away from the fight tomorrow. A knock on my door pulled me back down to earth. Mac opened it and popped his head around. If he asked me if I needed anything one more time, I was going to throw something at him.

“They’re back.” He grinned.

I pushed my chair back from the desk, stood up, and raced around the door as he pushed it open further for me. O’Connell, Kieran, Tommy, and most of the older guys were stood around laughing and shooting the breeze.

“How did it go?” I asked them all, still hyped up from the anticipation of waiting for them for half the night.

“Two hundred and twenty pounds, exactly,” O’Connell replied with a grin, as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side.