by Alexa Riley
Del pulled her jeans back on and shoved her feet into her boots. “If I hurry I can get back to my room in time to change.”
He frowned at her rush to get out of his T-shirt. “You don’t want them to know you watched a fight?”
She paused in the act of making sure she had everything and that her clothes were covering everything they were supposed to cover. “I feel like one of my best friends seeing me in a T-shirt with your name on it would lead to a whole lot of questions I don’t want to answer.”
He didn’t even want to imagine Kate and Brittany’s reaction to finding out their best friend had spent the night with the guy who’d broken her heart. Of course theirs had been the shoulders she’d cried on, and they wouldn’t easily forgive him the hurt he’d inflicted on Del. “I get that.”
“Can I ask you a personal question before I go?”
Brendan arched an eyebrow at her. “There’s probably a standard for how many times you’ve been naked with a person before you stop asking if you can ask a personal question. I don’t know what it is, but I’m pretty sure we’ve blown by it.”
“That’s true. Janie said you stay on the local MMA circuit and don’t chase after big fights, even when you have a win. How come you don’t try to move up the ranks?”
It wasn’t something he usually talked about. Eric and Jonathan knew, of course, and they rarely pressured him to change his mind, but very few other people knew. But this was Del, so he braced himself and told her the truth. “I was working toward that goal. I was saving money and trying to decide which of the big city gym trainers I wanted to work with when Garrett spun out on black ice and didn’t make it. That was two years ago.”
Even though he expected it, her gasp and the way she covered her mouth with her hand still unnerved him. One of the reasons he rarely talked about his brother was because he ended up not knowing what to say to comfort other people and that seemed weird to him. “I’m sorry, Brendan. I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t.” She’d spent some time with his parents, but she hadn’t known Garrett well. They’d only met a couple of times, mostly in passing. “He’d been helping Dad run the company, so I had to step in there. And I definitely couldn’t leave my mom because she was devastated, of course, so here I am. Two years later, the company’s doing well, my parents are okay and I get to fight when I feel like it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about your brother when I asked you about your family last night?”
“I didn’t want to talk about my family. I wanted to talk about you.” He pushed her hair back from her face, trying to smooth it out a little. “If you don’t want Brittany asking questions, you should go.”
“I really should. And you should go let your people take care of you. Promise?”
“I promise. Text me tomorrow,” he said.
“I will.” She kissed him on the side of his mouth, avoiding the split he barely noticed on the other side, and then she was gone.
After the door closed behind Del, he leaned forward and rested his forehead against the steel. He needed to rejoin the others and let Eric check him out. It was a big win for all of them and he shouldn’t have skipped out on the celebration, but his heart wasn’t really in it.
His heart was with the woman who’d just left and even though he was going to have to say goodbye to her tomorrow, he let himself hope that this time he’d be stepping into the possibility of a future with her and not away from it.
Chapter Five
Del got to her room just in time to strip off the Brendan Quinn T-shirt and jeans—shoving them into her laundry bag—and pull on the bathrobe before there was a knock on the door at the same time her phone chimed.
It’s me.
She still looked through the peephole out of habit, and then flipped the security bar to let Brittany in. “You made it!”
They hugged and then Del stepped back to get a good look at her friend. Night owl or not, Brittany looked tired, but other than that she looked great. She was a brunette like Del, but she kept her hair short. She was thin like Kate, though having twin daughters had left her with a few more pounds than she’d weighed in college. Del thought it looked good on her and, according to Brittany, so did her husband.
“How are the girls?” she asked as Brittany made herself comfortable, sitting cross-legged on the bed.
“Great. Growing like crazy right now. I can’t believe they’re going to be three in a couple of months.”
“I know. When you texted me that picture of them last week, I almost checked to make sure it wasn’t a wrong number. But they look so much like you, I knew it had to be them.”
“And they act too much like their daddy. I’ve never seen two children more fearless. And speaking of fearless, did you do anything fun today?”
Besides watching her ex-boyfriend win an MMA fight and then having sex up against his door? “No, not really.”
“You didn’t go shopping, did you?”
She laughed. “Of course not. And it wasn’t easy, either. There are some great stores here.”
Because she felt awkward in the bathrobe, Del went to her suitcase and pulled out the flannel pajamas. She hadn’t bothered taking the tags off before packing, so she had to rummage around for her manicure set so she could use the cuticle scissors.
“Wait a minute.” Del paused, looking up from the tag she was trying to snip off the pajama top. “I talked to Kate after she talked to you yesterday and she said you bought new pajamas for the weekend.”
She held up the top, the tag obvious in her hand. “Yeah, I did.”
“She said you were dying to put them on and watch movies, but they’re still creased and you’re just now cutting the tags off.”
“You’re quite a detective.” She snipped the tag off and shook out the top before doing the same for the bottoms.
“So what did you wear to bed last night?”
Nothing. Del hoped her face didn’t look as hot as it felt. “I, uh...put on the bathrobe after I took a shower and then I got to watching TV and fell asleep like that.”
“Sounds comfy.” Brittany got up to pour herself a glass of water. “What did you watch?”
Even though she suspected Brittany was just making conversation because she hated silence, Del felt herself mentally squirming, as though her friend was shining an interrogation spotlight in her eyes. “I don’t even remember. Something stupid, I guess.”
“Stupid and forgettable, but engaging enough to make you forget you brought new pajamas?” Del turned and glared at Brittany, who smiled. “Did you think I would miss the giant posters with Brendan Quinn’s name and face on them?”
Del sighed and sank onto the chair, clutching the pajama bottoms in her hands. “I was hoping they would have them taken down by the time you got here. Or that you’d go straight to the elevators and not see them.”
“I probably would have gone straight upstairs but I had a wicked craving for a doughnut. I didn’t end up finding one, but I did see the advertisement for the fight tonight.” Brittany took a sip of her water, watching her over the rim of the glass. “I read somewhere that athletes aren’t supposed to have sex before they compete. I guess the buildup makes them more aggressive or something.”
“Brendan not only won, but he won by knockout in the second round.” Del snorted. “I guess that’s your sneaky way of asking if we had sex without asking me?”
“It’s more fun to trick it out of you, really.” Her friend’s smile faded. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“I was thinking about how much I had loved him and how much I’d missed him and still wanted him and how incredibly sexy he is. And I was thinking about the fact that I’m a grown woman who wanted to have sex, so I did.”
“With the guy who broke your heart over the phone.”
; “He thought he was doing the right thing because my family didn’t like him.”
Brittany’s expression left no doubt what she thought of that, but she didn’t say whatever uncomplimentary words were floating through her head. “So...what’s going on?”
“I don’t know. He’s checking out tomorrow, so he wants me to text him in the morning when I can meet him for a few minutes to say goodbye.”
“And then?”
“I don’t know that, either.” The thought of trusting Brendan with her heart again was terrifying, but Del wasn’t sure she had a choice. It wasn’t a matter of falling in love with him again. She’d never really stopped loving him at all. “I do know I want to put these pajamas on.”
“They’re cute, with the monkeys. They’re very you.”
“Don’t text Kate while I’m in the bathroom. I’m not in the mood for a pile-on tonight, so you can tell her all about it when she gets here in the morning.”
Brittany smiled and held up her phone. “It says it’s been two hours since the last time she was on Facebook, which means she already went to bed.”
“Good.” Gathering up her cute pajamas, Del headed for the bathroom. Tomorrow she would have to say goodbye to Brendan while trying to figure out what—if anything—would happen next. She’d thought a quick fling with him would bring her closure and some great sex and then she’d move on with her life. Instead, she feared her life would feel even more incomplete without him than it had before. She thought he felt the same, but they needed time to sit and talk about it and that they hadn’t had.
Meanwhile, tomorrow was also going to bring her two best friends asking her a lot of hard questions she didn’t know the answers to. So much for a carefree, fun-filled weekend.
As the bathroom door swung closed with a thump, she remembered the feel of Brendan’s door against her back and smiled.
So maybe it had been a little fun-filled after all.
* * *
The adrenaline rush was definitely long gone by morning and everything hurt. Brendan raised his hand in the direction of the bottle of ibuprofen on the dresser, but it didn’t magically levitate its way to him. It hadn’t worked when he was a dumb kid in a Darth Vader mask and it didn’t work now.
Chuckling at his own stupidity, he took his time rolling to a sitting position on the edge of the bed. His face was sore. His head ached a little. His ribs hurt like hell, though none enough to be cracked or broken. And he didn’t even have words for his left thigh, other than being thankful his truck was an automatic, because there was no way he could have pushed in a clutch enough times to even get him out of Connecticut, never mind to the family camp in Maine.
He knew from experience the ibuprofen and a hot shower would make him feel human enough to get moving. And once he was moving, the muscles and tendons would warm up and not feel so tight. His truck had heated seats, so as long as he didn’t go too long without stopping to stretch, the drive to the cabin shouldn’t be so bad.
Wincing, he pushed himself to his feet and made his way to the coffeemaker. The thigh was pretty bad and he had a definite limp, but he’d live. Especially once the coffee finished brewing. After glancing at the clock and seeing it was almost nine, he checked his phone to make sure he hadn’t missed a text from Del.
Nothing.
Checkout was at eleven, so hopefully she’d text soon. Although, at the rate he was moving, he’d be lucky if he was out of the shower by then. If it came right down to it, he could have them bring his truck out so he could throw his bag in it, and then he could move it to one of the casino’s day lots. He wasn’t leaving without saying goodbye to Del.
After letting the hottest water the system allowed beat on his body for ten minutes and downing a second cup of coffee, Brendan mustered up the ambition to throw everything in his oversized duffel bag. There was still no text from Del, though one had come through from Jonathan while he was in the shower.
I’d like to sit down with you after the holidays. Keep it in mind.
That was Jonathan-speak for Brendan had won a big fight he wasn’t expected to and it would be a great time to rededicate himself to his MMA career. It wasn’t going to happen. Not only because of his parents, but because Brendan knew his tolerance for having the crap beat out of him—win or lose—was waning.
Sure. We can touch base in January and talk. Whether they talked about maintaining the status quo or about Brendan retiring from the cage, he didn’t know yet. He had a few weeks to figure it out.
Turning the phone over and over in his hand, he pushed Jonathan to the back of his mind and thought about the drive ahead of him. Hours behind the wheel. And then days at the remote cabin in the Maine woods, with no telephone and no internet. That was usually part of its appeal, but right now all it meant was days without being able to talk to Del.
He almost dropped the phone when it chimed in his hand, and his pulse kicked up a notch when he saw that it was a text message from her.
We’re on our way to the same coffee shop you and I went to because I told them about the cookies. Do you have a few minutes?
Did he have a few minutes to say goodbye to her? Absolutely. But just the thought of saying the words made his stomach hurt. They hadn’t had enough time together yet, and he was afraid if he left now, it would be too easy to lose touch. Especially since it would be days before he had a chance to call her again.
I’ll be right down.
After replying to Del, he called down to the desk and arranged to stay another night. He was going to have to move to another, smaller room because they were waiting to clean his for an impending arrival, but he didn’t mind. He’d already thrown everything in his bag anyway.
After doing a sweep of the place to make sure he hadn’t missed anything, Brendan grabbed the bag and took the elevator down to the lobby level. As soon as he stepped out of the elevator bank, he heard Del’s laugh and spotted the three women.
They were walking with their shoulders close and their hands moving as they talked, and the memory of spotting them at the campus party he’d crashed years ago made him smile. The moment had been almost the same. A laugh that turned his head. Three beautiful women, but only one that made his heart race.
He was trying to decide if he should let them go inside and then text Del that he was there, just in case she hadn’t told them about him. But then she saw him and waved, so he met them in front of the coffee shop. Her friends didn’t look surprised to see him, nor did they look particularly happy about it.
Then Kate extended her hand, which he shook. “Hi, Brendan. It’s been a while.”
“A very long while,” Brittany added.
“Too long,” he said, giving them what he hoped was a winning smile. “Do you mind if I borrow Del for a few minutes?”
“Sure,” Kate said. “We’ll go order drinks and check out the cookie selection.”
“Such a hardship,” Brittany added, giving him a tight smile before following the future bride into the coffee shop.
“You’re limping a little,” Del said when they were gone. “Is your thigh really bad?”
“It’s not great, but I’ll live. I should be one hundred percent by the time I show up at my mom’s for Christmas.” He glanced at the window and saw her friends staring at him through the glass. “I guess Kate and Brittany aren’t my biggest fans.”
“Of course not. They’re my best friends, so they’re one hundred percent Team Del.” She shrugged. “Trust me, I got an earful this morning about why it’s a bad idea to even talk to you. But just now they smiled and didn’t object to giving us some privacy, which comes back around to them being my friends. They want me to be smart, but they also want me to be happy.”
This wasn’t his idea of privacy, so he laced his fingers through hers and moved away from the window. “I want you to be happy, too.”
She smiled at him, squeezing his hand. “I’ve been very happy this weekend.”
He had been, too. Happier than he’d ever thought he’d be again. “I wish we weren’t standing in a lobby right now so I could kiss you.”
“It’s dumb because I’m here to have fun with Kate and Brittany, but I wish you didn’t have to go yet.”
“Yeah, about that. I know you’re here for a weekend with your friends, but I extended my stay another night.” He lifted the bag in his other hand. “I’m moving to a different room, but I wanted to see you before I go to the desk and get the new key card.”
“Really?” She smiled, leaning closer to him. “You’re not expecting me to fake a headache or some other excuse to hide in my room with you, are you?”
“Of course not. But maybe you can sneak away once in a while for a kiss.”
“You’re changing your plans and paying for an extra night in this place for a few kisses?”
“From you, yes.” He laughed and then ducked his head to kiss her. Brendan meant for it to be soft and fleeting for her sake, but she opened her mouth to him, her fingernails biting into his back. He kissed her until somebody walking by cleared her throat in a very pointed way, and Del stepped back.
“Kate and Brittany are both hoping to be on the road by six tomorrow evening. Even though I have to work Monday morning, I can stay a little later and have dinner with you if you want.”
That was going to put his arrival at the cabin—the one with no power or heat other than a woodstove—sometime in the middle of the night, so he was going to freeze his balls off, but he didn’t care. “I want.”
“Good.” She gave him a quick kiss. “They’re waiting for me. I’ll text you if I can sneak in a kiss, okay?”
“Definitely.” He watched her walk into the coffee shop, unable to keep the stupid grin off of his face.
Once Del was out of sight, Brendan joined the line in the check-in area. He probably could have gotten them to simply bring him a key card and change the room number in the computer, but he had time to kill. He’d drop his bag in the new room, call his dad and maybe watch some television to give his leg some rest.
