007

Holding up her hand, breathing hard as she leaned on the ropes, Kaitlynn Stryfe licked the blood off her lips and spoke in a hoarse voice. "Give me..." she huffed and puffed, trying to get her breath back, "fifteen seconds. I just need to get my..." she paused, swallowing hard, "air back."

They'd been working on drills and moves all morning. It was late afternoon and she was still running the gauntlet of the rookies at Fight or Flight in Florida. Come hell or high water, she wanted to get a pinfall or submission on each and every one of them before she moved on to the next. So far, so good. She'd managed to find and exploit a weakness in all of the students she'd faced already.

Lowering her head, she rested her forehead against the top turnbuckle, feeling the sweat pouring down her face. Idly she wondered if Scarlett Kincaid had been working this hard to get back into fighting shape since her injury. In her mind, this was a make-or-break moment in her career. If she lost to Scarlett once again, it would be like the last few months hadn't meant a damn thing. It would be like the past had been rolled back to zero hour. That was something she just could not cope with the prospect of.

The last rookie rolled out of the ring, in obvious pain as she walked away. She gave a strange look to the next person to head for the ring. He held up a finger to his lips as if to tell her to be quiet as he climbed up onto the apron and stepped through. Dressed in his ring gear and tank top, he peeled the shirt off and threw it on the floor and began bouncing in place with a bit of a grin on his face. The man in question was Christian Kincaid, and to say he was far from a rookie was an understatement. He winked to some of the students watching from the floor, whom had previously fallen victim to the veteran. And with a clap of his hands to get her attention, the grin on his face was unmistakable.

Kitty lifted her head, looking across the ring. As her eyes lit on Christian, her scowl melted away, replaced with a somewhat tired smile. "What...?" the question trailed off as she stared at him in confusion.

"You should have told me you were going to come by today, though I do like surprises." He glanced back to the other students. "Most of you know Kaitlynn Stryfe, she's been making you tap and get pinned most of the afternoon apparently!" A few of them gave nods of agreement as Christian looked back to her. "I figured I'd give them a break, let you beat me up for a little while if you still needed to."

The smile definitely became a smirk as she took a few steps towards him. "Is that right, Mr. Kincaid? You want to let a poor, exhausted girl beat you up?"

"Unless you had a better idea," he gave her a wink and took a couple steps forward. "Knowing you, you could take me down. I'm pretty positive you could get on top of me without too much trouble, either." Looking around the ring as more of his students had lined up to surround it, he remarked. "All these people want to see it— even the ones you made quit in your warm ups; I'm all yours."

"Your funeral," she quipped in response, rolling her shoulders and turning her head side to side to loosen up her neck. Before she made a move towards him, she let her eyes drift over the students that had gathered, feeling that familiar surge of adrenaline. It was always better with an audience. Grinning, she charged at him and leapt, hitting him with a high crossbody block.

Christian hit the mat with a thud as Kitty rolled off of him. And as he got to his hands and knees, she caught him with a baseball slide that sent him into the ropes. Nodding his head, he got to his feet before she launched herself into a shoulder block that took him back down again. Stopping to catch her breath as the sweat poured off her face, she saw him getting back up before rebounding off the far ropes, leaving her feet and wrapping her legs around his head in preparation for a hurricanrana. Christian murmured something to her about being here before as she flipped and drove his head into the mat. And this time, he didn't get up so quickly.

Lifting a finger in the air, she pretended to test the wind currents before springing off the second rope and nailing him with a springboard knee drop before rolling over to pin him. She rested her weight across his body, smirking down at him. "Gotcha, stud."

Gaining his wits about him, he nodded and rolled her up into a crucifix style pin, with his arms holding one of hers and his legs wrapped around the other. "What can I say, you got me all tangled up in you!" He managed to finish the statement before she escaped out of the pin. "For someone tired, you damn sure hide it well..." He said, nipping to his feet.

"What can I say?" she giggled, circling him again, "the competition excites me." This time she feinted right, telegraphing a clothesline before transitioning into a roundhouse kick that drove him back into the ropes. Christian hit the ropes as she grabbed his head and drove it into the mat with a running bulldog. Immediately floating over and straddling his back, she pulled his head up and applied a camel clutch. Christian swept a leg out from under her, taking her off balance and immediately getting to his feet before falling straight backwards onto the mat with her under him. That broke her grip as he spun around, looking down at her. "Scarlett and I don't really have similar styles, but I love to get sweaty with you anyway."

"Too bad we have the audience," she murmured to him, keeping her voice low enough that the students couldn't really make out her words. "And Scarlett is in for a world of hurt unlike anything I have ever unleashed." Her voice grew in volume as she launched herself at him again, hitting him with a few knife-edge chops before planting a kiss on his lips. This she follows with her signature uppercut and then backs up a few steps, springing off the middle rope to catch him in the chest with a knee strike.

He hit the mat like a sack of bricks as she climbed back onto him, and at that point, he decided that was enough. Laying flat on the mat, he tried to get his vision focused. "I....I think you're ready now. Wow, there's like three of you right now! This is turning into a fantasy at this rate..." Some of the students laughed as he looked to Kitty, clapping his hands. "Very nicely done!"

Despite the fact that he had already conceded defeat, she dropped down and hooked his leg. Whispering to herself, she counted to three, keeping herself pressed to him long after those seconds had passed. Finally, she rolled away, landing on her back a few inches from him, clearly out of breath yet again.

Christian pushed up to his feet, heading towards the ropes and sitting down on them for her. "Ladies first. I think you've had enough matches today. You beat up my students, and I...let you get a three count on me. So you're good." He gave a wink at the part about the three count. "I wish I had known you were coming, I'd have gotten here sooner."

Rolling to her knees, she got up slowly, clearly exhausted. "I should have told you," she agreed with him, nodding as she moved towards where he held the ropes open for her, "but I wanted it to be a surprise. I didn't really want you to see me like this." Resting her hands on his shoulders for a brief second, she moved between the ropes to the apron and then hopped down to the floor.

"Well surprise you did. Take the rest of the day off, I think you've earned it. I just came by to get something out of my office. You want to talk?" He asked, heading towards the far side of the gym and opening the door for her after pulling the blinds on the huge window that overlooked the gym.

She joined him inside the room and then walked over to sit on the edge of his desk while he closed the door. "Talk?" She threw her head back and laughed with sheer amusement, "that's a hell of an offer," she grinned at him, that smile showing just how much she enjoyed his company.

"Well what do you expect? You want me to pull your clothes off in front of the students and take you on the mat?" He moved in towards her, placing his hands on her hips. "I got the rest of the day free, if you want to spend it with me." He offered, leaning forward to kiss her. "Or do you want to go beat me up some more?"

"I'd love to spend it with you," her green eyes glowed with a mischievous spark, "beating you up does sound like a lot of fun, though." She chuckled softly and kissed him back, nipping at his bottom lip. It was clear that she was still riding high on the adrenaline of their impromptu wrestling match as her fingers splayed against his abs before sliding around to his sides to draw him closer against her. "You think any of those kids are gonna listen at the door, or can I pin you again in here?"

"It wouldn't be anything they probably haven't heard before." He slid his arms around her, hugging her tightly against him and engaging her in another kiss. "I was going to invite you to dinner, but if you keep this up, we may work up an appetite before we get there."

CLICK!

Another kiss shared between the two, with Christian shoving a few things off his desk to give her a bit more room.

CLICK!

The kiss broke as he pulled her sports bra off over her head, reconnecting with another kiss as their bodies pressed back against one another.

CLICK!

The cell phone camera outside the door just a few feet away captured image after image as the man shook his head, clicking his tongue in mock reprisal. "He always forgets the blinds on the door." A clear shot of Kaitlynn's upper body was taken between kisses as he looked down at his phone. "May keep that one for myself." Heading towards the door, the man pulled the phone to his ear.

"Hey. James. Let Gambini know. I got some pictures he is going to love...."