by Ciz, Alley
“Real love,” he scoffed. “Please god, tell me you aren’t referring to that Neanderthal?”
“You and Chad claim I’m pedestrian.” She massaged the tension she felt building under her brow. “Yet the two of you are so unoriginal in your insults. What makes him a Neanderthal? Because he’s an athlete? He makes his living fighting? His money isn’t as old as yours?” She was careful to not include herself when referring to her father's money. “It doesn’t matter where his money comes from, it’s just as green as yours.”
Her father’s cold eyes went molten at the challenge. He believed wholeheartedly that his money meant more, not because he had more, but because he could trace their family’s fortune back to before America was a country. The Vanderbuilts were a pharmaceutical empire now, but they were some of the oldest of the old when comparing old to new money.
“You listen to me.” He leaned forward, invading her personal space, and she retreated immediately. It didn’t matter how strong of a front she tried to put up, years of abuse had conditioned her.
“I am done with you acting like a petulant child. You will be in Connecticut in less than forty-eight hours, or I will ruin your little boyfriend.”
Her blood ran cold at the threat. She’d been handling her family’s threats and manipulations for twenty-three years, but Vince was off-limits.
“You have no power over Vince. And lord knows your fists are no match for his.”
“There are ways to break a person without laying a hand on them. It’s too bad he doesn’t have any pets.” He stroked his chin in thought.
Her blood turned to ice, and she swallowed down bile.
He was a monster, and she was done being scared.
“Vince isn’t a business you can take over. You have nothing he could possibly want. You can’t buy him off.”
“No, you’re right, I can’t buy him off.”
The easy acceptance made her skin crawl.
“But I can ruin him. I can destroy his career like that.” He snapped his fingers.
“How?” The question came out as a choked sob.
“The timing is very fortuitous. The drug test for his upcoming fight will show evidence of doping."
He wouldn’t.
“No fight. No purse. No funds for his little women’s shelter he wants to fund. What a shame.”
How did he know about Vince’s plans?
“Don’t look so surprised, Holly. I know everything about him.”
“It won’t work. He’ll get it cleared. It may delay things, but that’s it.”
“Yes, you are correct.” He buffed his nails on his suit jacket, eerily calm.
“But after the original tests keep him from fighting this fight, other documents will indicate that his family’s precious gym has been paying off officials to falsify records to show all their fighters have been clean, when in reality, they have been dirty for years.”
She gasped.
He wasn’t just planning on going after Vince, but his entire family and their livelihood. The worst part? He had the means to do it.
He knew he won.
“Clock starts now. Forty-eight hours.” He tapped his watch and reclined back in his seat like a king on the throne expecting his peasants to obey.
With a heavy heart, she exited the limo, already dreading what she knew she needed to do.
Chapter Forty
Holly was already thirty-plus hours into her forty-eight deadline. Lyle swore not to mention their surprise visitor, not even to Kyle. Thank god Maddey hadn’t been writing out of EP.
Until she figured out what to do, spending as much time as possible with Vince was the priority.
It was after hours when she keyed in the code to the gym to see him. The absence of the sound of weights clanking or fists hitting punching bags was eerie.
She hesitated at the white door of the locker room, not sure what she would find on the other side of it. Sure, it should be empty with the gym closed, but what girl wanted to accidentally come across a strange man with his trouser snake catching some air.
She navigated her way through the rows of lockers and padded benches to where the cedar door of the sauna was tucked away in the corner.
Again she hesitated before pushing the door open, unsure what she would say when she faced Vince.
Pulling on her big girl panties, she stepped inside the steam-filled room.
VINCE SETTLED INTO his usual spot on the middle bench inside the sauna. It was his last session inside the steam room before he had to leave for Manhattan. With all his promotional obligations for the fight, it was easier to spend the last days leading up to it there. His weight had been holding steady at two hundred and three pounds—two pounds under the requirement—now he was in maintenance mode.
The usual music wasn’t playing, so the only sound in the room was the hiss of steam as the water burned off the hot coals. His mind was preoccupied with Holly’s peculiar behavior the last couple of days.
The door to the sauna pushed open, and as if conjured by his thoughts, his gorgeous girlfriend stepped inside. It had been less than an hour since he left her baking at Espresso Patronum, but still he couldn’t get enough of her.
“Hey, Cupcake.” He shifted on the bench, his dick stirring to life at the way her purple 'I don’t always bake, oh wait… yes I do' v-neck dipped low enough to show off a generous amount of cleavage.
“Hey, Muffin.” She smiled at him, but the wattage wasn’t as high as normal.
He watched her kneel on the bench below him, her hands going to his knees as she shifted between them. His towel parted as he made room for her, the terry cloth barely remaining overlapped as he went from half-mast to fully erect when he caught a whiff of her sugary scent. He craved her more than the sweet treats he had been denying himself during camp.
But she was the treat he didn’t deny himself. Ever.
Like something straight out of his fantasies, her hands skimmed along his thighs, burrowing underneath the towel and pushing it until the knot holding it together on his hip finally lost the battle and gave way.
A bead of sweat that had nothing to do with the heat of the sauna and everything to do with the hungry way she stared at his cock cut a path between his pecs and down to where that cock leaked pre-cum onto his belly.
“Babe?” he questioned, not all that sure what he was asking.
She didn’t say a word.
Her hands continued up his legs until they hooked around his hips, using them as an anchor, she pulled herself until she was in the narrowest part of his spread legs.
Her left hand continued north, over the bumps of his abs, up to his pecs, her fingers fanning out over the muscle so it sat inside her palm while the right one wrapped around the base of his dick.
He hissed through his teeth as she squeezed him. Slowly stroked him from base to tip and back down again.
Eyes on him, she lowered her head and her tongue licked the sensitive head, before swallowing him down her throat until she kissed his manscaped pubic hair.
“Mmm,” she moaned, the vibrations from the sound only serving to heighten the pleasure around his dick.
Without preamble, she bobbed her head up and down.
Up.
Down.
The squeeze of her throat as she swallowed around him.
The tease of release as she pulled back until only the very tip remained inside her mouth, her tongue licking across the small slit weeping constant pre-cum.
The bandana headband slipped loose when he tangled his fingers in her hair, holding on as she worked him to the brink.
Not wanting to finish in her mouth, he gave a gentle tug on her locks until she released him with a pop.
“Straddle me,” he growled.
She scrambled to do as he asked, rising from the bench and settling herself in his lap.
The position put him at eye level with her breasts, and he needed them in his mouth, his tongue stroking across the hard bud of her nipple as he suc
kled and teased the pillowy flesh.
He had her shirt and bra off and tossed to the side before she took her next breath, her hips rocking into him.
“Vince,” his name was a broken plea as he bit down on her nipple.
Another rock of her hips pushed on his dick trapped between his belly and the cotton of her leggings.
He needed inside her.
He needed inside her now.
He cupped her ass, following the seam of her pants until he found the perfect spot, tugging until the sound of ripping fabric filled the room as he tore the pants from her body.
Her head fell forward as a shocked gasp left her mouth at his caveman actions.
“Sorry, baby.” He adjusted so her center lined up with his erection. “I’ll give you some sweats.” He trailed a path of kisses across her collarbone. “I can’t wait. Ride me.”
Lust-drunk eyes met his before looking down. She took him in her hand, shifting until he was braced at her entrance, then lowered herself inch by inch until he was buried to the hilt inside her.
Heaven.
Sweet baby Jesus, he had died and gone to heaven.
HOLLY LOST THE ability to breathe as she lowered herself onto Vince. The all-consuming fullness made it impossible to process anything else except for how right it was to be with him like this. Him and only him.
She was so keyed up she was already on the verge of coming.
Hell, when he literally ripped her pants from her body, she swore she had a mini orgasm.
She needed a moment to adjust to the way his overwhelming size stretched her body.
“Fuck, you’re so tight,” he groaned into her neck. The whispered curses only intensified as she rocked in his lap.
She circled her hips then used the muscles of her thighs to lift and lower back down.
His large hands cupped her ass, squeezing to help guide her body up and down his length.
Faster and faster she rode him, breasts bouncing in his face from the force.
There was almost no gray to be seen when she locked eyes with him again, keeping eye contact as she swiveled her hips like a stripper giving the lap dance of her life.
If this was going to be the last time she could have him like this, it was going to be the best sex of either of their lives.
One hand rose to cradle the back of her head as he pulled her down for a kiss with so much passion she was surprised they didn’t burn the room down around them.
She poured everything she had into the kiss.
She had no idea how she was supposed to give this up.
This was so much more than sex.
It was more than their bodies coming together, it was a joining of their souls.
There wasn’t a part of her that didn’t love him.
Her heart.
Her mind.
Her body.
Her soul.
Every part of her claimed each of his.
Leaving him was going to do irreparable damage, but what choice did she have? She loved him too much to stay.
Faster.
Faster.
She slammed her body down on his cock one last time, exploding around him, her orgasm knocking the breath from her body. Sweat from more than the sauna coated her skin as she melted against him while his own orgasm ripped from his body.
He continued to pump inside her, the thrusts easing as they came down from the high of release.
She didn’t climb from his lap, soaking in every last second she could, branding herself with the memory of what it felt like to be in his arms.
“I love you, Cupcake.”
She choked back a sob as he whispered the words into her hair.
I love you too. So fucking much, Muffin.
She couldn’t bring herself to utter the words out loud though.
She couldn’t quantify how much she was going to miss him.
Chapter Forty-One
Vince shifted awake, automatically reaching for Holly since she wasn’t cuddled against him. Except as he stretched out all he found were sheets—cold sheets.
He pushed himself up onto an elbow and looked at the empty spot on her side of the bed. As a baker, it was pretty common for her to be up and out before him, but she hadn’t woken him up to kiss him goodbye before she left. What was up with that?
Left to right, he dropped an ear to each shoulder, neck cracking with the movement, his sleepy mind trying to remember if she said she was going in to work that morning.
He was leaving for Manhattan in a couple of hours and needed to get his butt in gear and out of bed.
He caught a flash of hot pink, the bright color at odds with his spider web sheets. Reaching out, he lifted the object, realizing it was a sticky note attached to a phone—Holly’s phone.
Brow creased, he took in the familiar cartoon drawing of a cupcake on the back of the case, before flipping it back over to read the note written out in her bubbly writing. “Watch me,” was all it said.
He slid his thumb across the screen to unlock it, hitting play on the video already queued up. His lips twitched as her beautiful face filled the screen, but he frowned at the sadness on it and the red rimming her eyes as if she’d been crying. His pulse thumped like a speed bag as scenarios for why she would be upset sped through his mind.
“Hey, Muffin.” She tried to smile but it missed its mark.
“I don’t even know where to start.”
Then don’t. His mind screamed as he scanned the area behind her, trying to determine where she filmed the video. From the limited amount he could see, he guessed she used the stairwell of their apartment building based on the plain white wall behind her and the slight echo of her voice.
Her shoulders rose as she pulled in a deep breath.
“I need you to watch this entire message before you react. Please, Vince, don’t hit stop until the end.”
Another deep inhale.
“By the time you watch this I’ll already be back in Connecticut.”
The fuck?! How had her family gotten to her? He was going to kill Chad.
“Now I need you to take a breath and calm down. I wasn’t kidnapped, this isn’t a ransom note or anything. Can I say I wanted to leave?” She shook her head. “No, I can’t say that. But I was the one who made the decision to leave.”
He watched as a tear fell from her eye, cutting a path down her cheek. Nothing she said made sense. If she didn’t want to leave, then why did she?
“I need you to promise you will not come after me. You have to go to the city for your fight. Please, please, focus on winning the title you’ve worked your whole life toward and don’t come looking for me.”
Was she crazy? How the hell did she think the title was more important than her? Had he not done enough to prove how much she meant to him?
“I mean it, Vin. Go. To. Your. Fight. Do. Your. Job. I—”
Her words cut off as a sob broke free.
“I love you too damn much to have you throw away your life’s work.”
His heart turned over inside his chest. She loved him. It was the first time she said the words out loud. Why the hell did it have to be as she was saying goodbye?
“I’m sorry I was too scared to tell you before, but I’ve loved you for so long. And even though I have to give you up, which”—she looked up as if struggling to get the words out—“is harder than I imagined, I’m grateful I was able to experience what real love was, even if it was for such a short time.”
It didn’t have to be a short time. They didn’t have to be over. He would get her back and prove it to her. She was crazy if she thought he was just going to give her up without a fight.
“I love you so much and I’m pretty sure I’ll never stop, but I need you to let me go.”
The tears were now pouring down her face in a steady stream.
“Go to your fight. Win your fight. Use the money to fund the shelter. Forget about me. Live your life and be happy.”
How the fuck did she think he cou
ld be happy without her?
When he got her back, he was tying her to his bed and he wasn’t letting her out of it until any thought of him being able to “live” without her was permanently erased from her mind.
“I love you, Vince. You will forever be my Stud Muffin. Now go kick some ass and become the Light Heavyweight Champion of the UFC.”
The video ended, Holly’s tear-stained face frozen on the screen.
He was out of his bed in a flash. There wasn’t a chance in hell that he wasn’t going after her. She was the only thing that mattered.
Not training.
Not the million promotional engagements Jordan and Skye had lined up.
Not the fight.
Not the belt.
Not even funding the women’s shelter.
Nothing.
Nothing mattered except bringing Holly home.
Home with him, in New Jersey, not in some mansion in Connecticut with douchewaffle Chad.
He was about to piss off so many people but he’d deal with it after he got his girl back.
He was grabbing his keys from the rack by the door when it pushed open, and his sister stepped in. From the expression on her face, he had a feeling she already knew what he had planned.
“No.” Rocky’s tone was commanding and left no room for argument. Steel gray eyes met his as she stared him down—hard. He might be the professional fighter in the family, but his sister was the true badass.
“I’m going.” He tried to go around her, but she sidestepped, using her body to block his exit.
“No, you’re not.” She crossed her arms, resting her forearms on the growing swell of her belly. “Didn’t you listen to what she said to you?”
“I don’t care, Rock.” He ran a hand through his hair, pulling on the strands in frustration. “I love her.”
Her eyes softened as she looked at him. “I know you do, Vin. But she wants you to go to the city and do your job.”
“So what? You’re saying forget about her. Ignore how my heart is breaking and go out and fight like it’s not? Like the thought of her even spending one second around that real-life Ken doll isn’t tearing at my insides?”
