by JB Salsbury
He swipes his lips across my forehead. “You think it’s something you can get used to?”
Killian has never been a confident guy, and with as much crap as I’ve been giving him, he’s earned the right to be proud of his accomplishments. He’s not just believing the hype. If he continues on like this, he’ll be an MMA legend. I wrap my arms around his neck and smile up at him. “As long as you can get used to me not needing you to hold me together anymore.”
“No joke.” He sets his eyes on mine and his smile falls. “I loved holding you together.”
“Now you hold my heart.” It thumps heavily in my chest. “Don’t break it.”
“No fucking problem.” His lips descend, and he takes my mouth in a gentle and slow kiss. He slides one hand down to the top of my ass, pulling me in deeper while his other hand cups my nape. My legs feel weak as he commands my body and possesses my mouth so beautifully it brings tears from my eyes. The saltiness mixes with our tongues, and he pulls back, pressing his forehead to mine.
“Don’t cry, Ax. It kills me when you cry.”
“I can’t help it. I’ve been walking around for hours, regretting everything I said after we’d made love. I thought I lost you.”
“Never. You can push, and I’ll gladly take your fears and be your punching bag, but I meant what I said at that press conference. As long as you want me, I’m not livin’ another day without you.”
“Good. Because I want you.” I press a soft kiss to his lips. “I have always wanted you, Killian.”
“I was wondering, with today being Valentine’s Day and all, if you’d let me take you to dinner.”
The buzz of reporters filters through the walls. “You think there’s a restaurant out there where we can find some privacy?”
He chews his lip then shakes his head. “Good point. How about my hotel, anything your gorgeous heart desires off the room-service menu, and we’ll rent movies? Just like the old days but with more kissing and fewer clothes.”
I sigh long and hard. “Now that sounds like the perfect Valentine’s Day.
Thirty-five
Killian
I wonder if it’s too late to change my mind about this morning’s plan.
After we made it back to my hotel room last night, we made love until we worked up an appetite that couldn’t be ignored. We ordered enough room service to last days then dialed up some romantic comedy she wanted to see. I tried to sway her to the blockbuster sci-fi movie, but all my best moves failed, and frankly, by the time I had my mouth all over her skin, I didn’t give a fuck what was on the TV anyway. Turns out, after we hit “play” and our naked bodies were tangled together, she didn’t care either.
It wasn’t until after she’d fallen asleep in my arms that I was plagued with visions of what the last year of her life had been like. I couldn’t lie there for another second without doing something, so I sent out the mass text with instructions to pass it on to anyone who might be interested.
It was enough to set my mind at ease so I could get some sleep.
This morning I woke up to a shit load of texts and was forced to peel my body away from hers and hit the shower. Thirty minutes until I’m supposed to be there and I’m finding it impossible to leave her.
Her legs shift beneath the single white sheet, kicking it further off her body so that the smooth, tanned skin of her hip is exposed to the light. I groan as she rolls from her side to her back, the full mounds of her breasts illuminated by the sun cascading through the window.
My shorts grow tight, and I make an adjustment so that I can cross to her without limping. Her thick black lashes flicker to life as I drop to the bed beside her.
“Good morning.”
A slow, lazy smile pulls her lips, and her blue eyes are brighter than I ever remember seeing them. “Morning.” Her voice is rough with sleep as her gaze rakes over me. She frowns. “You showered without me.”
I run a hand through her silken hair and down her neck to rest against her breastbone. Her pulse flutters beneath my palm. “I considered dragging you in there with me, but you were sleeping so hard I didn’t want to wake you.”
She stretches, arching her back, and unable to resist the invitation, I dip my head to suck on her nipple until it forms a firm peak. Her hands sift into my damp hair and hold me in place. I chuckle at her eagerness, but reluctantly pull back and cover her with the sheet. She gathers the covers to her chest then rolls to her side. “You have somewhere you have to be?”
“Unfortunately.” I smooth her hair back from her face. “Order breakfast. Take a long hot bath. I should be back by the time you’re done.”
She runs her teeth along her lower lip. “And then what?”
“As much as I’d love to spend the day in bed with you, I made plans for this afternoon.”
Clouds of doubt pass through her sky-blue eyes. “I can just go home. I need to get my car anyw—”
I press my thumb to her lips. “You haven’t even been up for five minutes and you’re already at it.” I run the pad of my finger along her lower lip. “Don’t waste your breath; you can’t push me away.”
“I’m not pushing you away. If you have plans, I’ll get out of your hair.”
“My plans include you, if you’re interested.”
Her brows drop low, but the unease in her eyes is gone. “They do? What are they?”
“Turns out I’m staying in Vegas and have no place to live so…”
“You want me to help you find a place?”
Nerves coil in my gut, but I promised her honesty and that’s what she’s going to get. “No, I want you to help find us a place.”
“You…” She blinks up at me. “You want me to move in with you?”
“I want you to marry me, but I figure living together is a good first step.”
“But—”
“I know what you’re thinking—this is me trying to take care of you—and your new empowered self can’t stomach that, but just hear me out okay?”
She presses her lips together and nods.
“You were right; we’ve both changed over the last year. I look at you and I love what I see. You’re making your own way, standing on your own two feet. I have no desire to get in the way of that.” I lean over her, bracing my weight on one arm. “But I will continue to do everything in my power to protect you. It’s in my nature. I can’t change that just as I can’t change my love for you.” I dip down and press a kiss to her lips. “I don’t want to smother you, Ax, but I can’t back off either. I hope you can understand that.”
“Hmm…” She chews her lip, and my skin prickles with worry. Shit, what if she tells me to go screw myself and leaves. Then you’ll chase her back down and make things right.
“Okay fine.” Her face breaks into a brilliant smile seconds before she throws herself into my chest, knocking the breath from my lungs. The sheet falls to her hips, and she pushes it away to crawl into my lap, and my arms wrap around her waist to hold her close. “Does this mean I get to be protective of you too?” Her hands cup my jaw, and she rests her forehead to mine. “Because I’m getting a little sick of watching women fall all over you, Kill.”
I laugh and blush simultaneously. “Depends, am I going to have to start a bank account for your future bail funds?”
She purses her lips. “Maybe.”
“Are you saying you’ll move in with me?”
“Only if we split all our expenses fifty-fifty.”
“I’ll pay the rent; we’ll split the expenses.”
“We’ll split the rent and the expenses.”
“Why don’t you just cut my dick off while you’re at it?”
Her nose wrinkles in the most adorable way. “Eww, no, I happen to really like your dick.”
“Then let me pay the rent so I can still call myself a man.”
“We’ll see.”
I groan and nuzzle her neck. “Stubborn. Sexy…but stubborn.” I breathe her in, allowing her scent to relax me. “We’re mak
ing a go of this. I’m serious. No more fighting the inevitable.”
She wraps herself around me. “I have everything I’ve ever wanted right here in my arms.”
“Great thing about having everything you ever wanted is having everything you ever wanted. Bad part is being afraid of—”
“Losing it.”
“Exactly.” I rub my palms all over her naked skin. “That won’t happen to us. I won’t allow it.”
“I won’t either.” She pulls back and makes a fist at her chest, using her thumb to cross an X at her heart. “Promise.”
When she brings her fist to her mouth to kiss it, I snag it and bring it to mine. “Me too.” The clock on the bedside table says if I don’t pull my ass away I’m going to be late. “Shit, I gotta go.” I pick her up off my lap and place her back on the bed, covering her up because walking away from the visual of her naked body is something I’m not strong enough to do. “I’ll be back in an hour or so.”
“Wait. Where are you going?”
I rub the back of my neck. “It’s nothing, just something I need to do.” I grab a keycard to the hotel room and head to the door. “I’ll explain when I get back.” Before I pass through the door, I turn around and grin because how the fuck did my life become perfect overnight? “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
~~~
The cab driver drops me off at the address Ryder texted me last night. I make a note to get my damn Jeep out of storage ASAP because relying on a taxi to cart my ass around is getting old.
Standing out in front of a rundown apartment complex are enough UFL fighters to make any man piss himself. I jog toward them, and they all turn to me as I approach.
Jonah, Rex, Blake, Mason, Wade, Caleb, Ryder, and Cameron.
“Thanks for coming on short notice.”
“You send out a text at midnight, saying you want to rally the troops for my daughter. No fucking way I’m gonna miss it.” Blake reaches out a hand to shake mine. “I appreciate you steppin’ up.”
I shake his hand. “I fucked up by leaving—”
“No, leaving was the right thing. I love my girl, but she needed to figure some shit out, and having you here wouldn’t have done her any favors.”
Caleb smacks me on the back. “He’s right. You had to invest some time into your career. Now you’re right where you need to be.”
“We gonna sit around strokin’ the man’s balls or are we gonna do this?” Cameron’s words don’t match the proud, and subtle, grin on his face.
I lift my chin towards Ryder. “You know the place?”
“Yeah, number thirty-two.” He motions to the building closest to us. “It’s just around the corner from this one here.”
“We gonna need to call in a favor so we don’t go down for something or are you just here to send a message?” Jonah tilts his head, studying me through dark glasses. “I’m cool either way. I fucking hate this scumbag.”
“Just won Ax back, and I promised her I wouldn’t fuck us up, so…no, nothing to clean up. Just sending a message.”
“Damn,” Rex mumbles.
“I was kinda looking forward to getting a shot in myself.” Ryder swings his gaze around the circle of fighters staring at him in disbelief. “What? Oh, just because I don’t look like some WWF knockoff like the rest of you, doesn’t mean I can’t hold my own in a fight.”
Cam claps his son on the back. “He’s a pint-sized badass.”
“No, if it comes to blows, his ass is mine.” I don’t tell them that I secretly hope it does. I wasn’t kidding about not messing things up with Axelle, but if he throws the first punch, I can’t be held accountable for defending myself.
“I got dibs on second,” Blake holds up a hand to mark his place in line.
Jonah next. “Third.”
“Fuck that. I get third.” Ryder raises his hand.
Rex grins and lifts a hand. “Fourth.”
“At this rate, we’ll kill the poor bastard.” Mason chuckles.
Jonah growls. “He deserves no less for what he put Axelle through.” He glares at Ryder. “Third.”
For a moment, I just sit back and watch as this group of men argue over who gets to exact retribution on the dickwad that put Axelle through hell, and it hits me that, although the two men who meant the most in her life left her, they’ve been replaced by this renegade team of fighters who would gladly get arrested for her. My heart swells at the show of support, and I wish I could capture it on video and show her just how loved she is.
“Mind if we do this before noon, boys? I’ve got a woman at home with two kids who all speak the same language, and I could’ve sworn they were plotting against me this morning.” Mason narrows his eyes. “Either that or they were planning to go to the park. My Russian is mediocre at best.”
“Here’s the deal. I go in first and drop the warning; you guys back me up and keep me from doing anything stupid.”
They all agree, and like a wave of menace, we descend on the apartment complex. Blake pulls up beside me. “Think he had to move here after I had my buddy at the LVPD pull a search warrant on his house. Turns out his roommate was selling crack. Ole Cliff weaseled out of any charges by squealing on his buddy, which pissed me off. I was hoping we could get the piece of trash locked up for a while.”
I scan the door numbers in search of the right one. “She told me what he did, Blake. How could you keep from killing him?”
“I wanted to; trust me. But when you’ve got people who depend on you, you have to consider them too. Getting locked up won’t do my family any good, ya know?”
“I’m starting to understand that, yeah.” Because as much as I hate Clifford, I love Axelle more. Leaving her for any reason is no longer an option. I nod toward the door in front of me. “There it is.”
“Good.” His lips pull back from his teeth. “Now let’s have some fun.”
I close my fist and bang on the door. The heat of fighters at my back floods me with power, but more than that with security. There’s no doubt they’ll keep me from doing something I’d regret.
The door swings open to reveal Clifford in nothing but a pair of jeans. His eyes narrow on me, but then widen as he scans the wall of muscle behind me.
“What’s up, Cliff.” I push past him and into his pad. “Long time no see.”
“Hey, wait. You guys can’t just come in here.”
Jonah knocks into Clifford’s shoulder, accidentally on purpose, sending the guy back a few steps. “Sure we can, kid. We just did.”
The cramped living room is littered with fast-food trash and empty pizza boxes. Beer cans and overflowing ashtrays cover the coffee table and the place stinks. Remorse turns my stomach to think of Axelle and a baby living here. For a year, I imagined them making house, but never considered it would be like this. I have to believe Blake would’ve never allowed it.
“I’ll call the cops.” Clifford grabs his phone off the couch only to have it snagged from his hand by Wade.
“Not so fast, Clit.” He shoves the phone in his pocket.
“It’s not Clit.” Rex shakes his head. “It’s Clifford, bro.”
“Oh, my bad. Listen, Clitford, we’re not gonna hurt you.”
“Unless you want us to.” Rex smiles wickedly.
“You guys come here to jump me? Is that it?” Cliff’s fake bravery is so pathetic I almost feel sorry for him. Almost. “That’s how you assholes fight, huh? Six against one.”
Jonah pops out his bottom lip. “Aww, don’t hurt him, guys. He can’t count.” His face turns damn near homicidal. “There are nine of us, and if you so much as raise your voice, we will fuck you up.”
“Oh, nine against one. Freakin’ cowards.”
“Says the cocksucker who bullied a girl half his size.” I close in. “Tripped her when she was…” I bite my tongue and growl. I don’t have to finish the sentence. I can see that Clifford gets me.
“You can’t do this; you can’t break into my house—”
>
“I remember being invited over.” Wade holds up Clifford’s cellphone with an outgoing text that reads, Come on over for a circle jerk. Let yourselves in. “Kinky, but no thanks.”
Clifford’s eyes bounce between Blake and me. “I can’t believe all this is about her. I was just fuckin’ around, man.”
I step into his space. “I’ll give you credit for not saying her name, because you know if you did, I’d destroy you.”
His eyes narrow, but I don’t miss the way his dilated pupils dart back and forth in fear. “What do you want?”
“I want you to promise, right here and now in front of these witnesses, that you will never come near my woman again.”
He laughs awkwardly. “Dude, she has a restraining order against me. Pretty sure that’s already been settled. You’d have known that if you weren’t busy banging bitches in Europe.”
My arm flinches, but a firm hand steadies me. “I don’t mean stay away from her because of the restraining order. I mean for the rest of your sad pathetic life. I mean if you ever run into her, five, ten, fifteen years from now, you turn and walk the other way. I mean if she comes home and says, ‘You’ll never believe who I saw at the grocery store…’ we come back to pay you a visit.”
“That’s impossible! We live in the same city.”
“Move.” The single word comes from behind me, and I realize it must be Blake who steadied my arm.
“Don’t care what you have to do or where you have to go, but know that if I find out you so much as pass her car in a parking lot, I will come back for you.”
“Fine.” His hand shakes as he pulls a smoke from the pack in his pocket. “You done here?”
“Not yet.” Ryder steps up along with Caleb and Cam. “We delivered the message, but we need some insurance.”
I stare at the boys, having no idea what they have in store but enjoying the idea anyway.
Cam pushes up to Clifford, intimidating him with his size, and the guy shifts on his feet like a little kid who needs to hit the bathroom and fast. “Seems you took some questionable photos of our girl without her permission.”
