by Ashley Hall
The muscles in my body relaxed somewhat. Only a year. So he’d made a mistake. Lots of athletes made mistakes, especially when they were just starting out.
“About three or four months after I was clean, I started really making it. Landing big fights, moving up the ranks. And, of course, Ivan took interest.” I hadn’t thought it was possible, but Griffin’s scowl deepened. “The more money I made, the more he demanded of me. Told me I owed him for making my career when he didn’t make shit. I never paid him a dime. Over the years, he popped in and out, made his demands and then left me alone for stretches of time. When he started trying to get the kids I work with hooked, I put my foot down. Had a tussle or two with his boys.
He got a little more serious after that.”
The look on Griffin’s face was all I needed to know about exactly how serious this Ivan had gotten.
“He started making threats against Riley, the gym, me. And I couldn’t abide by that. I wanted to nip things in the bud once and for all, make sure Ivan knew to back up. The night I left you, I was planning on having a discussion with Ivan” His grip on my hand tightened. “He escalated things. A few of his guys pulled pieces on me, threatened to do me in right there and then unless Ivan got his money. But the thing is, Sadie, this isn’t just about money.” Griffin shook his head slowly. “If I give in to Ivan once, he’ll just keep coming after me again and again until he thinks he owns me, and whatever else he wants. Of course, I told him I wasn’t giving him anything. That pissed him off. There were shots fired, one guy grabbed a hold of me and I…removed him. Violently. I didn’t mean to kill him, but that’s what happened. It was him or me.”
I raised a free hand to cover my mouth as shock seeped into me.
So he had done it. Griffin had killed a man by accident.
The set of Griffin’s mouth tightened further as he continued. “And I might as well tell you, Vlad, the guy who shot you at the beach house—he was Dimi’s brother—the guy who went down…he’s dead too.”
Jesus Christ.
I must have looked as overwhelmed as I felt because Griffin was leaning forward all at once, his expression softening as he took my opposite hand in his. “I’m sorry Sadie. This isn’t me. I’m not a fucking killer. But when I heard you scream…when I saw you lying there and I thought you were…” His voice trembled slightly before he fell silent. A brief moment passed before he cleared his throat. “I lost it. I lost my shit completely. And that’s what Vlad got. No one threatens me and mine, Sadie. No one.” Reaching up, he cupped my chin gently, his eyes searching mine, alert for any sign of fear or distress. “I swear to God, I’ll never let anyone hurt you again. I swear it.”
This was a Griffin none of the tabloids ever saw. One who wasn’t in MMA cages or in bar fights. This Griffin was mine and mine alone.
And when he told me he’d protect me, I believed him.
I was scared, most certainly I was scared. But now that I knew exactly what was up, there was no way I was leaving Griffin’s side until this whole thing had blown over. I needed to know he was safe—top fighter or not.
“Just…promise me you won’t go bare fisted against people with guns anymore.” My voice was surprisingly steady when I replied.
His face lit up like a kid at Christmas, and in that precise moment, his eyes gleaming and his smile huge, Griffin was the most beautiful thing in the cosmos. “No promises. They come near you, they’re going down.”
How could he show such bravado?
This man was absolutely nuts.
And I was falling for him. Hard.
Griffin
They released Sadie from the hospital the next day, but only after getting on my ass several times about my trying to climb in bed with her. I wasn’t planning on fucking her—she was hurt for God’s sake. I just wanted to feel her close to me.
To remind myself that she was still alive.
For the few hours I had slept in the hospital, I was fucking tormented with nightmares in which Sadie didn’t wake up. Where she stayed dead and I had to have it on my conscious for the rest of my life. What the hell would any sane man do after that? I needed to remind myself that my woman was still with me.
By the time she was discharged, the hospital was pissed as hell at me, but I couldn’t care less.
They promised that she’d be fine—the bullet caused only a minor flesh wound that would heal in a few weeks. That didn’t exactly keep me from feeling guilty every time I caught a glimpse of the bandage on her shoulder.
When we left the hospital, of course, the media had turned up full tilt. They demanded answers—what happened, where had we gone, all that shit—and I ignored the shit out of them. Instead of punching them into the dirt, I focused on getting Sadie to the car and the hell out of dodge. She, for her part, was far more collected than she’d been the first time reporters saw us together.
But, of course, she’d come a long way since then.
My sweet Sadie had changed, that much was evident to anyone who looked at her. She’d lost her timidity, all the excuses that kept her from being who she was. That didn’t mean she wasn’t afraid. Someone had tried to kill us. She’d be crazy not to be afraid. But she wasn’t running.
Like hell if I would.
We managed to leave the hospital with little incident, and Sadie merely leaned against the window, staring out at the city as we drove, her fingers tangled with mine. Ultimately, when we took the downtown ramp, she glanced at me for a split second before her lips curved upward into a small smile. “We going to your place?”
I nodded curtly. “Cops everywhere. I can keep you safe. I want you close to me.” I raised her wrist to my mouth to bite at it for emphasis and she shivered. “Problem?”
She shook her head and my heart stuttered in my chest. Sweet Sadie all to myself—almost as ideal as the vacation we’d almost taken.
This woman was going to drive me crazy. I’d never been so possessive. Never needed anyone so badly. Ivan would pay for what he’d done; I’d make sure of it. But not right now. Now, I needed to take care of my wounded tigress.
Security at the apartment building kept the media at least thirty feet away from the building so we were able to make it up to my penthouse in relative peace. When we got here, however, I found myself suddenly… I don’t know. Shy? Embarrassed?
For the love of fucking Christ, I’d gotten the woman shot for God’s sake. It wasn’t like I could just jump all over her like I usually did.
That wasn’t to say that I didn’t want to.
Sadie looked divine in her jeans and t-shirt, her hair pulled into a messy knot atop her head. I wanted nothing more than to carry her off to my bed and make her come until she forgot the events of the past few days.
But that wouldn’t be the adult thing to do. And if I wanted Sadie, really wanted her, I wasn’t idiotic enough to think there wouldn’t have to be some compromises.
“So…” I set her bag down in the living room, unable to meet her honey colored gaze. “Are you alright? Your pain meds working? Do you need some water or something?”
My sudden scrambling obviously amused her and her lips quirked upwards. “I’m fine, Griffin. I’m not in pain. You don’t have to treat me like I’m made of glass, you know.”
I knew she was all too human; all those very real curves were going to drive me out of my mind with want. “Tell me what you need,” I returned, forcing myself to look her in the eye.
The affection I caught there was humbling, so much so that I was tempted to do something ridiculous…like take her to bed…just to watch her sleep. To know she was safe beside me.
“Well…” She shifted slightly, attempting to take her sweater off around the sling her arm was in. I immediately helped her extract her arm before tossing her sweater on the kitchen counter. “Actually…there is one thing…”
She looked at me hopefully, and a bit nervously. When she did that I could see the flecks of gold in her eyes and I swallowed a groan. “Tell me.”
<
br /> “A bath,” she replied, reddening slightly. “I haven’t had a chance to clean up since the beach house and I…well, I got a look at your bathtub.”
It was a massive thing that was empty most of the time. I wasn’t one to lounge around doing nothing; I took quick showers and only lingered if my muscles were especially store. “You got it,” I affirmed with a nod before swallowing thickly. “Do you want…help?”
A flush raised from the V of her breasts to bloom outwards from the center of her face and she cleared her throat before answering. “Yes. Please.”
How the hell could I resist when Sadie begged?
There was no way.
I wiped dust out of the tub before filling it—Christ, it really was fucking massive—and I even rooted around under the sinks to find some Epsom salts some doctor had once given me to soothe taut muscles. I didn’t really believe in that bullshit, but maybe it would help Sadie to relax. While the bath ran, she sat on the edge of my bed, watching me through the entryway to the bathroom. I felt the warmth of her gaze on me and swallowed my lust.
She just wanted help bathing, that didn’t mean she wanted me on top of her.
“Come here.” I turned off the water when it was about two feet deep before beckoning her. She came without hesitation, stepping up in front of me, a mischievous glint in her gaze. As I reached down to begin undoing her pants, I frowned down at her. “Don’t look at me like that.”
Fuck her skin was so soft. My fingers skimmed over her lower belly before I peeled her jeans down her legs so she could step out of them. “Like what?”
She knew damn well what.
I straightened slowly, resisting the urge to stay in a kneeling position and bury my face between her thighs. It felt like an eternity since I’d tasted her. “Like you want me to ream you into the wall.” I worked her shirt off over her shoulders before removing her sling and popping the fastenings on her bra. When her creamy breasts were freed to the cool air, her nipples hardened and a tic worked in my jaw. When my gaze rose to hers once again, I found she was gazing up at me expectantly, her lips slightly parted.
I scowled, wrapping my hands around her waist to lift her into the bathtub. “You wanted help in the bath. That’s all.”
It took everything I had to let her go. To take her shoulder and help her lower herself into the hot water and listen to the near orgasmic sigh that left her as she did so. She leaned back against the edge of the tub, her breasts bobbing atop the water as her eyes slid closed, and I cursed softly.
She was trying to kill me. “So help me,” she mused, cracking one eye open. “Where’s the soap?”
Fuck that.
I was out of my clothes in under a minute, grabbing the bottle of liquid soap from the shower before I stepped into the tub. With a soft laugh, Sadie moved to make room for me and I grunted as I sank into the hot water.
I had to admit, it was nice. The water covering every inch of you instead of just sluicing off. Not that I could sit still like this for long, but if Sadie’s smooth, water slick skin was going to rub against me like that, I might just be willing to make a few allowances. I set the soap on the edge of the tub before I turned to her, taking hold of her hip to lift her onto my lap. I was already half-hard, and her ass sliding against my cock didn’t help much, but I managed to settle her between my legs so she was kneeling in front of me.
Looking down at me, she arched a brow, her wet blonde hair dripping all over her magnificent tits. “I thought the bath was for me. Why are you laying down?”
She made a good point. I’d intended to wash her from that particular angle, but the truth of our positions slipped from my mouth. “I want to look at you.”
She smiled, her cheeks coloring slightly. “You look at me all the time.”
Reaching out, I ran a hand up her damp abdomen, northward between her breaths, to stroke over the long, elegant line of her throat. I looked. And looked some more. “Not enough.”
She let me touch her, her breath hitching in anticipation as my fingertips ghosted over her collarbone. I stroked downward, back the way that I’d come, but this time my thumbs brushed over pebbled, sweet nipples and I remembered the way the felt against my eager tongue. I moved lower, over her flat belly to the downy, small thatch of blonde curls between her legs. Sadie’s eyes never left my face as she watched me touch her. When I parted her lower lips and found her already wet for me, I groaned low in my throat.
How long had she been like this?
Because I’d been hard for at least the last ten minutes.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I murmured lowly, even as I stroked gently over her rapidly swelling clit.
“You won’t,” she replied almost instantly, her hips arching into my caress as her eyes fluttered shut. “Please, Griffin. I need you inside me.”
The plea went straight to my cock.
I glanced at the bandage wrapped around her upper arm, gritting my teeth a moment before I forced myself to take a breath.
Reaching out, I wrapped my fingers around her waist to resituate her straddling me, so the slick cleft of her slid torturously against my cock. I resisted the urge to thrust deep, instead watching her face for any signs of discomfort. “You okay to be on top, sweet thing?”
Sadie laughed softly, breathlessly, as she braced her good hand against my chest. Without a word, she sank slowly onto me, taking me into her clenching, tight wetness inch by glorious inch. “Fuuuuuck…” The word hissed from me as my fingers curled into her behind. “Christ, yes, Sadie.”
When she was finally situated atop me, I forced my eyes to open so I could look up at her. She was concentrated on the place where we were joined and the sight of her staring at it so intently was enough to make my cock twitch inside of her. “Look at me.” The demand left me impulsively, but she followed my directions, her heated, honed gaze rising to meet mine. “Look at me, Sadie,” I repeated, shifting ever so slightly so I could arch my hips up against hers, driving deeper.
She gasped, but her gaze never left mine.
My grip on her firm, I worked my cock into her in a steady mind-blowing rhythm that was completely unlike any experience I’d ever had. I was used to getting things in fast and dirty, to finding my release again and again, but this time, it wouldn’t be like that. I needed to make sure Sadie found her pleasure—enough to dull her pain.
I wanted to see her as she came, needed to see her. I brought her that pleasure, and I wanted to be the first and the last. She moaned my name, her grip slipping up to my shoulder to squeeze tightly. She began to move her hips against mine, the water sloshing around us. We were going to soak the carpet, the floor, and everything beyond, but I didn’t give two shits. All I cared about was how amazing she felt around me, how she was everything I’d ever fucking wanted.
Sadie could look at me and see me. Not the fighter or the cash cow. Not the sugar daddy or the bad-boy bruiser. She knew me.
I watched her as her breath stuttered, as the muscles in her shoulders and abdomen tightened and her eyes finally fluttered shut. She came in a long serious of contractions around my cock that had me gripping the sides of the bathtub for dear life.
Sadie worried her full lower lip as she came down, her head sagging forward. Her blonde hair curtained around us as she caught her breath, and she opened her eyes so I could see the gleam of satisfaction in them. I raised my head to press my mouth to hers and kissed her slowly, tasting every inch of her mouth, tugging at her lower lip in the way I knew drive her wild. And while I kissed her, I started to move again, catching her little gasping moans against my mouth as I started working on her again.
I’d hurt her, and even if I never meant to do it again, that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to make up for it.
All night, if need be.
Sadie
The next few days were a pleasant distraction from the real world. Griffin refused to let me out of his sight, which I allowed for the simple reason that I didn’t want him out of mine, and, for
most of the time, we lounged around in bed. He told me about his parents, his past, and how he decided to become a fighter just as much to continue Riley’s legacy as to build his own. I told him about my upbringing, my very vanilla parents, and the path that led me to work at Grind.
“Quit.” When I admitted to him that I wasn’t quite sure why I still stuck around, Griffin, as always, had a very blunt answer. “I’ll pay you to write whatever you want. You can sell to travel magazines, newspapers, whatever the hell you feel like.” Even as my heart swelled, I forced myself not to jump on the opportunity. I was already falling for the man more and more every day—I needed to keep a clear head at least until this business with Ivan blew over.
