by Tia Lewis
I nodded, feeling uncomfortable with the way she had said it. “Coffee. Didn’t get it.”
Her expression softened. “I bet you thought I was jumping from one bed to another.”
I had, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. “It’s fine if he’s, I just need to know who I’m sleeping with.” Besides, he looked more like her type. It would give me an out from this mess, to give me a reason to hate her. Right now, I was finding it hard to do so.
She laughed, not a funny ha-ha laugh but one more like the haughty did you really go there laugh. Shit. “Do you really think I could do something like that?”
Before I could answer, she was on her feet, shaking her head. “This, I have to go.”
Sarah turned toward the door, and I shot out of my chair, placing an arm on the door so she couldn’t open it. I didn’t want her to go. “Forget what I said.”
She let out a choked laugh. “You just accused me of sleeping around. I’m not likely going to let that one go.”
I leaned down and pressed a kiss on her neck, my nerves stretching thin. If she walked out now, I couldn’t handle it. I couldn’t handle anything in my life right now. “Please, I’m fucking sorry.”
She sighed and turned toward me, her eyes holding disappointment. Hell, I would have rather had tears. “I’m not sleeping around nor had I been sleeping with anyone until last night. Jack is a family friend, nothing more. He, he needed my help with something.” Sarah then arched a brow. “It was about you actually.”
My nostrils flared. “What about?”
She pulled out a piece of paper from her back pocket, handing it to me. “He’s got a reason to believe you are his half-brother.”
I snatched the paper out of her hands, finding the identical information on it as I had with the one he had given me yesterday. “He’s delusional.”
Sarah took a step forward, pointing to the information that was written on the bottom of the paper. “I think he’s telling the truth.”
I looked closer, feeling my jaw hit the floor at the information I was reading. That was my mom’s name and her account number. Shit. That was the amount she got each month. Double shit. That fucker was my brother. “What does he want?” He couldn’t be sharing the info for free. Did he want blackmail? Did he want us to keep it quiet? I could do that.
“He wants to get to know you,” she answered as I laid the paper down on the table. “You are related after all.”
I pushed the thought out of my mind for now. I didn’t want to think about it. I had bigger problems currently, and she was standing in front of me. “I should have trusted you.”
She nodded. “You’re going to have to if this is going anywhere, Paul. I’m not like that. I’m loyal to a fault.”
I hung my head, feeling like a jealous bastard. “I didn’t like the idea of him touching you.” Brother or no brother, I didn’t share.
“Why?”
“Because I want you for myself.” There. I said it. I knew I couldn’t keep her, but dammit I wanted to.
“I do have one question.”
I steeled myself against her question. Here it comes.
“There was some mention of a belt I must see?”
I chuckled and looked up at her. She was smiling, and I knew I had dodged a bullet with her. “You don’t want to see that.” Matt and his big mouth.
“Oh, but I do,” she answered, her eyes sparkling now, our earlier conversation all but forgotten. “It must be quite impressive.”
I shook my head, but pushed away from the door, motioning for her to follow me. I led her through the living room and into the small bedroom, walking to the closet where I kept the damn thing. There was no need to show it off. Hell, no one came over here, and I liked it that way. It was a reminder of my past, of where I had been and would probably never be again. Feeling with my hands at the top of the closet, I found the belt and slid it out of the dustbag I kept it in, the familiar warmth spreading through my body as I touched the gold plate with my name on it. That had been the best fucking day of my life.
Embarrassed, I turned toward her and handed it over, unable to stop from grinning when her eyes lit up. “Oh, wow,” she said, handling the belt carefully as she looked at the entire thing from tip to tip. “This is so cool, Paul. Look! It even has your name on it!”
“It’s nothing,” I said, attempting to stay modest. She was giving me a big head by her reaction. Besides, I wasn’t that guy anymore.
“Nothing?” she asked, arching a brow. “Come on now. This says middleweight champion. That’s a big deal in my book.”
I reached for the belt, embarrassed and slightly proud that she thought it was a big deal, but she grabbed it out of my reach, sticking out her tongue. “I want to try it on.”
Oh, hell. Sarah with my belt on? That was some naughty wet dream. “Fine, go on. Play dress up.”
She slid the belt around her waist, and I helped her fasten it, laughing as she turned around and held her arms over her head. “This thing is heavy.”
I stepped toward her, sliding my arms over the belt to pull her close. “Well, you look pretty damn good in it. Maybe we should start training you.”
She exploded into laughter. “I do not think so. I’m a cheerleader, not a fighter.”
I leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose, unable to help myself. “Fine, I’ll take a cheerleader then.”
Her breath caught as I moved my lips down to hers, capturing her mouth. After the stress of the day already, I was glad that she was here. No matter what she thought about my family or my apartment, she was here. That had to mean something.
Her arms slid around my neck, and she pulled me closer, the belt banging against my stomach as I deepened the kiss. She tasted of things I could never have, things I could never do. She tasted of a future I didn’t want to think about but did whenever she was around, and it was fucking killing me.
22
Sarah
There were many people that had made an impression on my life throughout the years, people who were kind and passionate, putting a stamp on my life without even realizing it. As I kissed Paul wearing this ridiculously heavy belt around my waist, I realized that he was one of those people. Whatever came out of this, whatever happened with us after the match, he was going to forever be in my heart. It was a beautiful, torturous thought.
Paul growled against my mouth, and I opened it, allowing him to sweep in and do wonderful things to my tongue. My body was tingling with anticipation, my senses filled with Paul and what we were going to do. I wasn’t going to leave until we did.
He pulled back and rested his forehead against mine, our harsh breathing mingling together. “I shouldn’t do this.”
“Why?” I asked, stroking the fine hair on the back of his neck.
“I don’t deserve this.”
The simple explanation nearly broke my heart. I pulled back until he could see my eyes, see the emotion written clear on my face. “This has nothing to do with what you deserve Paul. This has to do with what you want. Do you want this?”
He tried to look away, but I grabbed his chin, tired of playing around. Either he wanted this, or he didn’t. “Tell me.”
His eyes found mine, and I saw the heat in their depths. “I want you. God help me, I want you.”
“Good, because I want you, too,” I answered softly, leaning in to kiss him. “But first, can we take this belt off?”
He reached behind and unsnapped it, letting it fall to the floor. I reached for his t-shirt, and he helped me pull it over his head, revealing his toned torso. “What is this?” I asked, seeing a bloom of a dark bruise on his side.
Paul chuckled, looking down. “I guess Benji did some damage today.”
“Was this before or after the coffeehouse?” I still couldn’t believe he thought I had just jumped into Jack’s bed after the night we had experienced together. I wasn’t angry at him, the thought of him being jealous because of it another tick off that maybe this was more
than just a fling.
“After.”
I knelt, seeing his eyes widen as I pressed my lips to the bruise, my heart nearly bursting with feeling. “Well, you need to tell him to keep his hands to himself.”
He groaned, his hands going into my hair. “Please, don’t keep your hands to yourself.”
“I don’t intend to,” I said, blowing on his skin, my hand touching his toned abs before brushing over the front of his shorts. Immediately, I felt the length of him buck under my touch, a flood of warmth spreading over my body. Paul shifted forward, and I boldly cupped him in his shorts, stroking him lightly.
“Yes,” he hissed.
Feeling frisky, I rose and pushed at his shoulders until he fell onto the bed, tugging on his shorts until they slid down his muscular legs. His cock stood out against his body, and I felt my mouth go dry at the sight. He might not deserve me, but he sure as hell wanted me.
Sliding my own pants down my body, I stripped quickly before covering his body with mine, feeling him press against my center. “God, you’re beautiful,” Paul said, his hands covering my breasts and lightly squeezing them. I moaned as he tweaked my nipples, the electricity nearly consuming me alive. My hands found his chest, and I touched him, my center moving ever so close to his throbbing cock. I wanted him so badly.
Paul flipped me before I had a chance to think, covering my body with his as he captured my lips, drowning my groan with a kiss as his hand roamed down past my aching breasts to my wet center, slipping a finger into the very core. I gasped into his mouth, bucking against his hand. I wanted more.
“Shh,” he said against my lips. “Let me touch you.” His finger found my swollen nub, and I whimpered, my hands clinging to his upper arms, both urging him on and begging him to stop in the same breath. Paul chuckled and slid down my body, pressing kisses on my breasts and my stomach. My breath seized as he pressed a kiss at the top of my mound before his tongue drew a wet line to my clit, causing me to nearly buck off the bed as he lavished it slowly. His hands cupped my bottom end and brought me closer to his mouth, his tongue diving in and I convulsed around his mouth, screaming out as the orgasm took over.
Paul slid back up my body, grabbing something off the table over my head before I heard the rip of a wrapper and he was sliding into me, burying to the hilt. I moaned as my body stretched to accommodate him, wrapping my legs around his waist as he moved back and filled me again, his eyes on me. I saw a wealth of emotions in their depths as he started a slow pace, his hand coming up to grip mine as he took me to another world shattering orgasm, swallowing my scream with his mouth.
His pace quickened as he kissed me, my hand holding onto his tightly as the bed shook around us, our frenzied motions causing the headboard to hit the wall hard. “Yes,” he said, straightening. “That’s it, Sarah.”
I sobbed because I couldn’t do anything else and he groaned, swirling his hips before plunging into me once more, stiffening with a shout. I felt it all the way to my soul, my harsh breathing nothing compared to the ragged edges of my heart as my body floated back down to earth. I was in deep stuff with Paul Watts. I was, hell I was in love with him.
23
Paul
I was in deep shit. “Shit!” I said aloud, turning the controller to the right to keep my car from running off the road. “You are a horrible driver, woman.”
Sarah laughed beside me, easily jumping ahead with her own car and zooming away to the flag. “That’s three times in a row. Are you sure you want some more of this, Watts?”
I threw the controller down, glaring at her. “No, I’m done. Remind me to never play any other games with you.”
She smiled triumphantly as she placed the controller back in the cradle, looking like a cat who had just been into the cream. Well, that was more me than her, but still, I was glad to see that she was having fun. After our romp in the bed, we had eaten our cold food before she had spied my gaming system, the one thing I had spent a ton of money on. I had sat here for the better part of the hour as she had kicked my ass in every game that could take two players, worse than Matt ever did on his best day. It was a conspiracy. Or maybe it had to do with the way she looked wearing nothing but her panties and one of my t-shirts. I could have been slightly distracted by that fact. My cock twitched, and I reached for her, grinning as she squealed with laughter and tumbled on the couch with me.
“Stop it!” she laughed as I nuzzled her neck. “I can’t, we can’t.”
I sighed and pressed a kiss to her neck instead, holding her against me lightly. It was my fault. I had run out of condoms and was not about to take that chance bareback. If we were both other people, the thought of Sarah pregnant with my kid would be quite nice. But she was who she was, and I was, well, not good enough for the likes of her. “Fine, but I’m keeping count.”
She stroked my arm wrapped around her midsection, her warm body doing things to mine, lots of things. “You better buy stock in those things.”
My grin faded, wishing that it was going to be the case. What Sarah didn’t know was that no matter how fucking happy I was at this moment, I couldn’t let this continue. We were from two different sides of the track, not meant to even be friends, much less anything else. Besides she was making me into a jealous bastard with a touch of sainthood, something I was nowhere near being. In her eyes, I was something different, but it stopped with her. I was nothing but an asshole fighter who was about to break her heart. It sucked but that was life, and I was going to be a cold fucking person without her in my life. “Sarah.”
“Oh, crap. What time is it?” she asked suddenly, scrambling off me. “We have to go.”
I sat up. “Go?”
She nodded. “I promised my father that I would bring you over to dinner. He wants to meet you.”
I frowned. “I don’t do dinner.” Especially not with parents. Never with parents.
She stopped and looked at me, her eyes narrowing. “But I promised him.”
I shrugged, climbing off the couch. “You’re gonna have to cancel it.” I wanted to say that she could stay the night, the need to have her one more time, one more moment where I could pretend I was happy and all was right with the world. I knew I was putting it off, this breaking up thing, but I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to see the disappointment on her face.
She laughed, walking back to the bedroom to gather up her clothes. “One does not cancel on my father. Besides, he’s where your money is coming from. I’m not telling you what to do, but you wouldn’t want to make him mad.”
It was on the verge of my tongue that I wanted to tell him to fuck off. But I needed that money, badly. If today with my brother was any indication, he needed those drugs. “Fine, but I’m not wearing a tie.”
She stuck her head around the doorframe. “No, you’re not. I won’t be able to keep my hands off you if you do.”
I shook my head as she disappeared again, wondering how I was going to let her go. She had brought something unexpected to my life, something I hadn’t known I needed. There were feelings there, but not enough for this to work.
I tried to act like it was no big deal as we drove up to a stately home on Chicago’s ritzier neighborhoods, waiting for the gates to open before continuing forward. The house was awash with lights, and I shut off the engine behind a few BMW’s and a Lexus, wishing I had talked Sarah into not doing this tonight. I was way out of my element.
“Come on,” Sarah said, climbing out of my car. I swallowed hard and followed her lead, walking up the steps to the brick house. The interior was filled with that music that was often played in the elevator, the smell of something great in the air. Sarah reached for my arm, sliding hers in the crook of it. “You’ll be fine,” she whispered as we walked through the foyer. “Just be yourself.”
That was what I was worried bout. I couldn’t be myself around this. Someone stepped out into the hall, and I sighed inwardly as I recognized the brother, my opponent. Just fucking great. “Jarred,” Sarah said
, dropping my arm to embrace her brother. He didn’t return her embrace, his eyes on me.
“What’s he doing here?”
“I brought him because daddy wanted to meet him,” she said, stepping away. “And you are not going to start anything tonight. Save it for the cage.”
Jarred looked from me to his sister, whose cheeks were flushed already. Shit. Any idiot could see she had that glow. “You’re sleeping with him?”
I stepped forward, reigning in my anger. “Your sister’s business is her own. Have some respect.”
I had to give it to him, he wasn’t backing down. Jarred took a step toward me, his eyes flashing angrily. “I’m going to tear you limb from limb, Watts. You fucking touched my sister.”
“She didn’t complain,” I growled back. I heard Sarah’s gasp but ignored it, clenching my hands into fists, ready for a fight. Why not add more fuel to the fire? I did well under pressure.
“Stop it!” Sarah shouted, pushing at us until she could get in between us. “If I didn’t have two charities betting on the money you are going to raise, I would call the infernal thing off.”
“He started it,” I said, not backing down.
Jarred’s gaze narrowed before he took a step back, mainly because his sister was pushing at him so hard he had no choice but to. “I’ll be seeing you.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
He nodded and walked back inside, leaving me with an angry Sarah. “Can you just not provoke him?” she asked angrily, poking me in the chest. “I need for you to wait until the match.”
I looked down at her, giving her a grin. “I can’t help it.”
She rolled her eyes and grabbed my hand, tugging me toward the door. “Come on. My father is waiting.”
I walked into the house and tried not look surprised at the expensive ass nature of it. The entryway was bigger than my damn apartment.
