Her Only Defense Read online

  Her Only Defense

  Kami Larke

  Her Only Defense © 2017 by Kami Larke

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any written, electronic, recorded, or photocopied format without the express permission from the author or publisher as allowed under the terms and conditions with which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution, circulation or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s rights, and those responsible may be liable under law accordingly. Thank you for respecting the work of this author.

  Her Only Defense is a work of fiction. All names, characters, events, and places found therein are either from the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to persons alive or dead, actual events, locations, or organizations is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  For information, contact the publisher, Salem Crystal Studios.

  www.alabamawordsmith.wixsite.com/home

  Editing: Salem Crystal Studios

  Cover Designer: K.M. Keeton

  Interior Designer: Salem Crystal Studios

  Cover Photography by: Salem Crystal Studios

  Cover Model: Shane Woodham

  Copyright ©2017 EYKE

  All rights reserved

  Also by Kami Larke

  Blindsided

  Writing as Kathleen Eyke

  Family Fortune

  Family Lessons

  Family Values

  Dedication

  To AD for encouraging me to step way outside my comfort zone,

  Sue for helping me take that first step

  and Jade for inspiring me.

  Chapter 1 ~ abby

  “So, who is this new gym coach you have?” Jade Townsend bugged her friend as they pulled their gym bags out of the car. Abby Taylor rolled her eyes at her friend as she slung her gym bag over her shoulder.

  “Not a coach, a personal fitness trainer and self-defense instructor. My publicist said I need to get into better shape and learn some self-defense.” Abby corrected her.

  “And sex sells at those author events, huh?” Jade wiggled her brows suggestively at her friend.

  Abby grimaced at the truth of her friend’s words. With the wacked-out fan mail she had been getting lately, she was finally caving to her PA’s pleas to at least take some self-defense courses. Now she had an appointment at a gym in an iffy part of town. Hence why she asked her friend Jade, an off-duty cop, to come with her.

  Spring rain had washed the parking lot clean, but no amount of rain or soap for that matter would wash the grit from this part of Columbus, Georgia. Clicking the fob for her car, she waited to hear the reassuring double beep of the alarm setting.

  “I don’t know where Crissy found this guy,” Abby groused to Jade. Jade raised a brow. Crissy Long was one of Abby’s oldest friends who now made a living as a personal assistant promoting authors and musicians. Abby was fortunate enough to be one of her clients, since Crissy was in such high demand. Days like today made her wonder why she was still friends with the woman, though.

  “You never know with her. But come on, time to face the music.” Jade grinned at Abby, who groaned. As they reached the glass double doors to the front of the gym, Abby could feel the music pulsating from inside.

  Shaking her head, she pushed the doors open. She hadn’t been expecting much, considering the location of the gym. The parking lot had seen better days, and the gym itself was in one of the poorer parts of town. Not exactly crime-controlled, but not somewhere you wanted to be caught after dark.

  To Abby’s surprise, the inside was clean and well lit. She glanced at Jade out of the corner of her eye.

  “You’ll be fine,” the woman whispered before she moved off toward the front desk. Abby followed reluctantly. She had spent limited time in gyms in the past, preferring to hide her fat rather than try to sweat it off. In her experience, people who inhabited gyms were masochists, and she could not fathom their reasons for torturing themselves. They tended to either be so self-absorbed they couldn’t be bothered to notice the new fat girl, or so judgmental she ended up quitting within hours of joining. Glancing at some of the people working out, she did have to admit the end results were drool worthy.

  She wasn’t paying attention where she was going and crashed into a wall. At least she thought it was a wall until two very large, very warm hands came up to steady her.

  “Easy there, tiger,” an amused male voice said. Abby blinked and looked up. Starbursts of laugh lines radiated out from brown eyes that seemed to be laughing at her. The man’s close-cropped dirty blond hair did little to detract from his beauty.

  Abby was a little surprised she had to look up to see the guy’s face. Meeting someone taller than her normally made her a little excited. Somehow, she had a bad feeling this was going to be her new torture master.

  “Um, sorry,” she muttered, stepping back a bit. “I um, I was looking for the registration desk.”

  “Right here,” the man said, gesturing to the counter he was now leaning against. Abby felt a little thread of irritation run through her. He was laughing at her, she was sure of it.

  “I’m supposed to meet someone here today. Rob, umm, Rob,” she fumbled. Damn it, what a time for my memory to fail me.

  “Rob Edwards?” the girl behind the counter asked. Abby was almost grateful. She’d rather deal with the too-perky girl with the too perfect body behind the counter than the laughing giant she had run into. Her name tag said Helen. The girl was beautiful, her coffee-colored skin taut over a body Abby would kill for. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her outfit left little to the imagination. Her smile showed even white teeth, and Abby couldn’t help but smile back at her friendly face.

  “I, yes. I guess so. My PA set it up. He’s supposed to be my personal trainer?” Abby’s face scrunched up in a grimace. She really wasn’t thrilled at this idea, and she was going to make sure Crissy knew it too.

  “Pleased to meet you, miss…?” the giant said, letting his voice trail off as he held his hand out.

  Oh God no, please let this be a joke. Abby closed her eyes and slowly opened one to peek out. Sure enough, the blond giant was grinning at her.

  “Abby Taylor,” she replied, ignoring the hand he extended to her. After a second he let it drop, as if nothing had happened.

  “Nice to meet you. Why don’t we take this to my office?” Rob gestured for Abby to follow him.

  Feeling like she had been sent to the principal’s office, Abby meekly followed along behind him. He showed her into a small, cramped room and shut the door. Offering her a bottle of water, he took one from the fridge for himself before sitting down.

  “So, what can I do for you today?” he asked.

  Abby fidgeted with her purse as she shifted on the hard, plastic seat. “I need to lose weight,” she blurted out.

  Rob nodded. “Okay, why?”

  Abby looked at him, stunned. Couldn’t he see why? She was a tub of lard. “Because I’m fat, that’s why.” Her face screwed up with a puzzled frown. If the guy really couldn’t see that she needed to lose weight, she wasn’t sure he was going to be able to help her.

  Rob shook his head. “No, why do you want to lose weight?”

  “Because I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired,” she said, as if she were explaining it to someone who wasn’t quite bright.

  He asked her some more standard questions, filling out a form as they went along.

  “Is there anything else you want to accomplish?” Rob asked after a moment, tapping his pen against the clipboard on his desk.

  Abby heaved a puff of air. “Obviously my PA has told you some things. I need some basic self-defens
e training. I don’t want to be Jackie Chan by any stretch of the imagination, but I need to be able to ward off rabid fans.”

  “Rabid fans?” Rob asked, brows raised.

  “Never mind,” Abby said, ducking her head in embarrassment.

  Rob studied her face for a moment then turned back to the paper he was filling out for her. “It looks like we are about done with this form. I do need you to get a release signed by your doctor before we can begin any kind of routine. Once I get that, I’ll be able to help you design a plan to help you to reach your weight loss goals in a healthy time frame.”

  He shuffled some papers and pulled a stapled set from a folder on his desk. “I want you to look at this and read it carefully. Exercise is only part of what you must change to lose weight and keep it off. You have to make sure you are eating a healthy, well-balanced diet too.”

  Abby reluctantly took the papers from him. She hated dieting; it never worked. When she told him that, he gave a small smile.

  “Not if you think of it as a temporary thing, no it won’t work. If you change to lose weight and then go back to the unhealthy ways as soon as you reach your goals, the weight will come back on. You should look at it as a lifestyle change. If you are serious about being healthy, you will make the change.”

  Abby sat quietly as the truth of what he was saying sank in. Finally, she nodded. “I see your point. Can I look at this later?”

  “Sure. In fact, if you want I can give you a brief tour of the gym and show you the equipment I want to start you on. I’m assuming you are looking to slim down, not bulk up and enter a body builder contest?” Rob let out a bark of laughter at the appalled look that crossed Abby’s face.

  “Okay, just slimming down exercises for you, then.” Rising, he gestured for Abby to follow him.

  “I have some questions for you, though,” she said as they started the tour.

  “Fire away,” he invited.

  “What are your qualifications?”

  “I’m a certified fitness instructor, and a licensed dietitian. I retired after being a professional MMA fighter for over five years.”

  “MMA?” Abby’s brow furrowed in confusion.

  “Mixed Martial Arts.” Rob stopped next to some complicated-looking equipment. “Here we have most of the leg equipment, abduction machine, leg curl, extension, and press.” He pointed to each in turn.

  Moving, he pointed to more apparatuses and named them for her. “Over here we can work your upper back and arms. The basic bench press, the incline bench press, our hammer machines”—he chuckled, probably at how wide her eyes got looking at the complex machine—“the lat pulldown, and free weights.”

  Abby gazed at the different items in turn. “There’s more over there.” She pointed out as he started to walk her back to the office.

  “Yeah, but your eyes were starting to glaze over. I thought you had reached info overload for the day.” Rob appeared to be struggling not to laugh.

  Abby gave a rueful smile. “Yeah, I kinda have. I’m not expected to know what each of these does, am I?”

  “Maybe not right at first, but you will learn. We have a circuit training area where we have a timer set up and you use the machine at each station for a set period of time. I’d like to start you off with cardio on either a treadmill, elliptical, or bike, and then we can focus on one area of the body. On days I can’t work out with you, I’d like you to do the circuit. If nothing else, it will help you become more familiar with the different pieces of equipment.”

  Abby nodded. She was really starting to feel a little overwhelmed. Jade chose that moment to walk up to them.

  “How’s our girl doing?” she asked, wiping her brow.

  “I think I’ve scared her enough for one day.” Rob chuckled. Abby shot him a dirty look

  “She doesn’t scare easily,” Jade told him, giving Abby a sideways glance. “But if you guys are done, so am I, and I’m ready to head home and relax.”

  Rob nodded his head. “Yep, all done here. I can’t do more till I get the papers from her doctor. That should only take a couple days.”

  Jade nodded. “Well, chickee-poo, say goodbye and we can hit the road.”

  Abby nodded. “It’s been… interesting… meeting you,” she told Rob as Jade grabbed her hand and towed her away. They stopped in the locker room to collect Jade’s bag and by Rob’s office to get hers and were gone in a couple of minutes.

  “Told you it wouldn’t be that bad,” Jade told her as they made their way out to the car.

  “I didn’t even use the stuff I brought today. Boy, did I feel foolish having all this when he said he wasn’t going to put me through my paces until he got a form back from the doctor.” She looked at Jade over the top of the car.

  “Did you have to do that too?”

  “Yep. He’s really careful. I guess it’s to cut down on liability and everything, but from what Helen said, he makes everyone do one.” Jade shrugged.

  “Helen? The girl at the front desk?” Abby asked as she slid into the car and cranked it.

  “That’s the one. She’s also a trained fitness trainer and one of the aerobics instructors. Her classes are great, you should consider signing up for one.”

  “Yeah, I’ll think about it,” Abby said distantly as she fastened her seatbelt and started to back the car out of the space.

  Chapter 2 ~ rob

  “Rob, do you know who that was?” Helen asked excitedly as Rob approached the front desk.

  “Who who was?” he asked absently, his mind still on the curvy Abby. He couldn’t believe she wanted to get rid of those lush curves, but if that was what she wanted, he would help her do it.

  “Abby Taylor, aka K. L. Boyd.” Helen stressed the name as if it was supposed to mean something to Rob.

  He shook his head. “I don’t follow you.”

  Helen sighed and pulled a book out from under the counter and waved it under Rob’s nose. “The K. L. Boyd, author of super thrillers and chillers, my all-time favorite author!”

  “So, she’s kind of a big deal, eh?” He gazed thoughtfully at the now closed front doors to the gym, wondering where Abby had gone.

  “Duh. She’s only like the most amazing author there is.”

  “She didn’t seem all that articulate to me,” Rob said. Helen gasped in shock.

  “She was just out of her element. I’ve read every interview she’s ever done, and all her books. I can’t wait for her next book in her Predators series.”

  “What’s it about,” Rob asked, only half-interested in the woman’s work. He was definitely more interested in the woman. From the long dark-brown hair to her hazel eyes, hell even her height made her attractive to him. She was going to be an interesting client, that was for sure. He couldn’t help but notice how similar she was to his deceased wife. The height, hair color, even her self-consciousness about her weight, it all was just like Amy.

  “I’m playing with you. I remember you trying to get me hooked on her books.” Rob shook his head.

  “Do you want me to bring you some?” Helen asked, eager to help him join the fan club.

  “I think I can manage on my own.”

  “I can bring you the first book. It’s really no problem. But, I’d watch it if I were you, the woman knows how to kill a person and make it look like an accident.” Helen laughed.

  “All right, I’ll take it easy on her, but not too easy. I’m not here to be her friend. I’m here to help her get in shape. And you aren’t here to fan-girl over her. You’re here to help her attain her fitness goals.”

  “I hope she signs up for one of my classes. Aerobic exercise will help her so much,” Helen said as she hopped down from the stool she had been sitting on. “Speaking of which, it’s almost time for my next one. See ya, boss.” Helen fluttered her fingers over her shoulder at him as she made her way to one of the exercise rooms where her students were already gathering.

  Rob shook his head. He rarely looked at what someone did when they fille
d out their forms for him. Figuring there was no time like the present, he glanced over the paper still attached to his clip board. Abby listed author as her profession. His lips quirked a little. Amy had been a painter. They were both creative people, maybe that was why he say so much of Amy in her.

  He was a little surprised at the listed age. Abby didn’t look anywhere near her listed age of 39. With some work, she could be a supermodel, but he didn’t think that was really what she was aiming for.

  He continued to read. Aerobic exercise and self-defense training were listed as things she wanted to do. He chuckled softly. He knew she was serious about the weight loss, but he didn’t know if she realized just what it would entail. Circling the front desk, he sat down on the stool Helen had vacated. The rest of the details on her sheet were pretty standard. She wanted to lose the rolls of fat under her buttocks. Easy enough, he could get her started on mule kicks. That would knock those out in no time. Leg presses would help too.

  For some reason, the thought of the tall woman laying on her back, feet apart, pushing her feet away from him was suddenly erotic. Shifting uncomfortably, he almost fell off the stool, catching himself on the low counter of the work side of the desk.

  The book Helen had waved under his nose was still sitting on the counter. Glancing around, he turned to where he had left off in the book. He started reading, and soon he was sucked back into the world of Bron Tucker, superspy.

  Chapter 3 ~ abby

  Abby dropped Jade off at her house and drove home to her luxury apartment at Madison Way. The former hotel had been renovated a few years before and was now home to several floors of penthouse-style apartments. Abby counted herself blessed to have snagged one on the fifth floor for herself. She had a view of Chattahoochee River and was within easy distance of shopping and downtown.

  Stepping out of the elevator, she fumbled for her keys. Her heavy gym bag kept slipping off her shoulder, making unlocking her door a challenge. Finally able to twist the knob and enter, she slung the offending bag onto the floor and absently locked the door behind herself. Kicking the bag to the side in disgust, she made her way to the kitchen.