DEVOTED
THE MMA NEW ADULT ROMANCE SERIES
By Alycia Taylor
Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.
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Read Part 1 - Consumed (The MMA Romance Series - Book #1)
Read Part 2 - Devoured (The MMA Romance Series - Book #2)
Read Part 3 - Addicted (The MMA Romance Series - Book #3)
Read Part 4 – Damaged (The MMA Romance Series – Book #4)
Read Part 5 – Committed (The MMA Romance Series – Book #5)
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CHAPTER ONE
EMMI
Braxton was knocking on the bathroom door and I was standing with a ring box in my hand. Shit! On top of the fact that this was probably supposed to be a surprise, he was going to think I was rifling through his pockets. I’m not like that. A little too curious maybe, but I would never purposely invade his privacy. The ring was gorgeous though…and I was tempted to try it on.
Another knock. “Emmi, is everything okay?”
“Um…yeah, just a sec.” I shoved the box back in the pocket I took it out of and kicked the jeans over against the counter. It would just look like I kicked them out of my way. He should have put them in the hamper anyways. This was really his fault. I took a deep breath before I opened the door.
“Are you okay?” He was giving me a weird look.
“Yeah, I’m fine, why?”
“Your face is all red and you’re breathing like you just ran a marathon.”
“It was a vigorous shower,” I told him with a grin, trying to distract him from his questions.
He raised an eyebrow like he didn’t believe me, or he was thinking something dirty, but he didn’t say anything else. He bent down and picked up his jeans. I could tell by the way he was holding them tight around the box inside the pocket that he was trying to make sure the ring didn’t fall out.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” he told me. “I was just going to tell you that I have to go see Sam for a bit at the gym.”
“It’s okay,” I responded. “I was going to have breakfast with Zoe in a while.”
He leaned in to kiss me and I was more than happy to kiss him back. I always loved his kisses, but I had all kinds of energy I needed to get rid of and a passionate kiss was just the place. I kissed him hard, slipping my tongue into his mouth and running my hands across his soft hair. Guilt for going through his things and excitement about what I found may have fueled it a bit.
When we came up for air he said, “Damn! Maybe we should just go back to bed.” He had a sexy grin on his face and as he rubbed his hard body against me, it was hard to say no.
Smiling through my sexual frustration, I told him, “Zoe will be here in about five minutes.”
He grimaced but then said, “I could probably do it in less than five.”
Laughing, I said, “I doubt that first of all, second of all, if Zoe walked in on us I would be completely mortified.”
“Oh please, Zoe’s a big girl, I’m sure she’s seen it all before.”
I kissed him on the nose and said, “I love you, have a good day and I’ll see you tonight.”
“Save it for me, okay?”
I laughed and said, “Save it? Where do you think I’m going to put it between now and then?”
“I meant the energy, I know you’re saving that other stuff for me,” he said, kissing me again. “I’ll see you later.”
I went into my room and finished getting dressed, leaving him the bathroom to take his shower. Zoe was right on time and I made her wait just a bit while I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and put on just a little bit of makeup.
“Okay, good enough. Let’s go, I’m hungry.”
“Where’s Braxton?” Zoe asked.
“He’s in the shower, wait until I tell you what I found in there a while ago.”
“What?” she asked, instantly curious.
“I’ll tell you at breakfast, I don’t want Braxton to overhear us.”
When we got in the car, Zoe started it up and said, “Okay, tell me. Was it another girl’s phone number? A condom?”
I laughed. “No, why are you always so suspicious? It wasn’t anything bad. I’ll tell you about it when we get to breakfast, otherwise, we won’t have anything to talk about when we get there.”
“Fine, I’ll wait.”
To Zoe’s credit she did wait. Instead she chattered about school and a paper that she had due in sociology.
“What’s going on with Mike?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “I don’t know, nothing, I guess.”
“Is this still because you thought he might be gay?”
“No, I’m sure I was wrong about that. We’re just not really clicking, you know? I think neither of us has the heart to tell the other one, we’re both afraid of hurting feelings.”
“Aw, I’m sorry, Zoe.”
She shrugged again and said, “He’s not the only fish out there. When I work up the gumption to break up with him, I’ll find me another flounder.”
When we got to the Chicken and Waffles place that Zoe loved to have breakfast at, we both knew exactly what we wanted so we ordered straight away.
As soon as the waitress left Zoe insisted, “Okay, I was patient, now spill.”
I giggled. I had to agree with her. For Zoe, she had been patient.
“Okay, last night, after Braxton’s fight I told him that I loved him too.”
“I knew you loved him!” she said with a cheesy grin, pointing her finger at me. “It’s written all over your face every time you look at him or even talk about him.”
“I know, I know, you told me so,” I said, giving her the credit she deserved. “The reason I didn’t go to the party with you last night was because while we were at the house I saw that MMA contract I told you about. It was signed. I’m sorry I lied to you, but I just wasn’t in a party mood at that point.”
“Oh my God! He signed it? He told you he wasn’t going to…didn’t he?”
“Yeah, so after you left, I got myself all worked up and had a full-blown anxiety attack.”
“Shit, Emmi, I’m sorry. Why didn’t you tell me? I would have stayed with you. That jerk.”
“I know you would have stayed. I didn’t want you to miss your party just to watch me have a meltdown. I would have felt worse. It worked out okay though. Braxton came home and found me on the floor, crumpled in a ball having a hard time breathing. I guess his mom used to have them and he knew just what to do and say in order to calm me down.”
“He better have known how to stop them since it was all his fault,” she said, angrily.
“Well, that was the other thing. He told me that he already told them no. He had just come back from having a beer with Sam and the MMA guy and he had told them both no, again, that he wasn’t going to do it.”
“Then why was the contract signed?”
“He said that he signed it for his own…satisfaction, I guess. It was about knowing he was good enough and all that. But he told them no and assured me that the championship fight coming up is his last one, no matter what the outcome is.”
“Whew,” Zoe said. “Well, that’s good. I thought I was going to have to kick his butt.” I laughed. “What? You don’t think I can take him?”
“I’m sure you could,” I said just to appease her. “There’s more though.”
The waitress brought our food before either one of us could say anything. When she left we slathered butter and syrup on our waffles.
“Do you think one of these days all of these calories will catch up to us and we’ll be fat, old maids?” she asked and took a bite.
Just to tease her I said, “Well, I might be fat, but Bra
xton’s already got a ring in his pocket that says I don’t have to be an old maid if I don’t want to be.”
Zoe choked on her waffle and started coughing. When she finally got it under control she said, “He’s got a what, where?”
“I stepped out of the shower this morning, onto his jeans. I felt something hard in the pocket and I got curious. Anyways, it was a ring box with an engagement ring in it. It was absolutely stunning.”
“Oh my God, he hasn’t said anything?”
“No, we have never talked about getting married. Our relationship hasn’t exactly been ‘traditional’ to begin with. We’ve talked about me opening a business someday and he alluded to the possibility of being the financial guy behind it…but that’s as far into the future as we have gone.”
“Wow, so what are you going to say?”
“Well, first of all I had to make my mind slow down and accept the fact that he hasn’t asked me yet, so there could be another explanation for the ring.”
“Like what? He’s going to propose to someone else? He loves you, Emmi, he wouldn’t do that. I never thought I would see the day with this guy.”
“Look who’s all of a sudden team Braxton,” I said with a grin.
“He’s changed; I’m the first one to admit it. No, actually from what you’ve told me and what I’ve seen, I think it’s not that he’s changed so much as that he was never really that guy to begin with. He was pretending to be the stud. This guy who you’re in love with, that’s the real guy.”
“I’m glad you see it that way, I do too. But still, the ring could have belonged to his mother, he could be holding it for a friend, I just don’t want to get too worked up about it.”
“Okay, hypothetically, if you went home today and he proposed…what would you say?”
“Yes,” I said, before I even thought about it. I grinned from ear to ear. “Oh my God, I would say yes. I love him...”
“I can tell. I can tell he loves you too. I’m glad that you’d say yes, I think you found the one that’s perfect for you. I hope it happens to me someday.”
“It will,” I told her. I wasn’t just trying to pacify her either. Zoe is an amazing person, and she’s beautiful. One day she would knock on a door like I did and her future will open it.
“So, did you try the ring on?”
“No, I refrained,” I said, trying to sound like I at least did one respectable thing. “Besides, he was knocking on the door so I had to put it back before I had time.”
“Is the rock huge?” she asked between bites of sausage.
I laughed. “It’s big enough.”
“That’s what women with diamond chips say,” she said with a grin.
I threw a package of syrup at her and said, “And that’s what girls without rings at all say.”
“Touché!”
CHAPTER TWO
BRAXTON
“Okay, we’re going to do some intensity workouts today. The guy that you’re fighting this week, this Gizmo guy…they say he’s really intense, and win or lose, he always goes three rounds.” Sam was in a serious mood today. I had a feeling I was going to be in a little bit of pain when I walked out of the building.
“Okay,” I agreed. “What am I doing?”
“You’re going to go for three minutes, hit the bag at fifty percent with a variety of punches. Rest one minute then up your power to full strength and launch jabs. Rest for a minute. Jab, throw a cross, rest one minute, repeat. Jab, cross, hook…repeat, rest…jab…”
“Okay, so wait, can you just call it out? I doubt I’m going to remember all that,” I told him.
“We’ve done all of this before, Brax. What’s going on?”
“Nothing, just call it out and I’ll do what you tell me to, okay?”
“Yeah, okay…ready?”
“Ready.”
He started calling out what I was supposed to do. The timer would ring and I would rest one minute and then we’d go again. “Jab, cross, hook, uppercut, body punch…repeat!” that was Sam’s last instruction and then the buzzer finally rang. Six rounds of that shit and I was wiped.
As I was wiping off my sweat and taking in some water, Sam said, “Okay now, kid. What’s going on in your head today? Maybe if we work on it now, you’ll have it out of your system by fight night.”
I sighed. I didn’t really want to tell anyone yet, but I kind of felt like I had to. I was ready to explode. I had bought the ring already and now I was obsessing over whether or not asking her was the right thing to do.
“I’m thinking about asking Emmi to marry me.” Sam’s eyebrows went up, but he didn’t say anything. After a few moments of silence I said, “Come on, Sam. Say something. Tell me what you think.”
“Why would you want to know what I think?” he asked me. “I’ve been married three times and none of them worked out. I’m no expert on how to make a woman happy, that’s for sure.”
“You’re like…the only father figure I have, Sam. Are you not an advocate of marriage; is that what you’re saying?”
“No, obviously I believe in it since I’ve done it three times. I married some lookers too, let me tell you. I screwed all three of them up, bad.” He paused, looking like he was thinking back. “It would be different for you though, kid. You’re a better man than me.” I laughed and he said, “I’m serious, kid. I was a crappy husband. I wasn’t mean to my wives, I was just…absent. I didn’t give them the time that they needed or deserved. The first one, she wanted babies real bad. I didn’t want kids…then. She told me that I cared only about myself and she was right. I’m selfish, and this,” he said, holding out his arms wide, “is my life. That’s not you though. You were smart enough already at your age to realize that this wasn’t what you wanted. You can have a real life with a home and a wife and kids if you want them. I can see when I look at you how you feel about this girl. I think she’ll be lucky to have you.”
I smiled, that was a lot for Sam to say on the subject of feelings. I was impressed. “I’m the lucky one,” I told him.
Proving he was still in fact the Sam I knew and loved, he said, “You’re gonna be lucky if you don’t get your ass kicked by Gizmo. Now get those gloves tightened up and step back into that bag.”
I grinned and did as I was told.
“Now lead with your nondominant leg. Position your feet, no, wider…there you go. Now, align the toe of your right foot with the heel of the left one. Keep your head, shoulders and hips in line and bend your knees.” I knew all of this, most of it was fighting 101, but the thing about Sam that made him a great trainer was that he recognized repetition as being the key to making what you needed to do second nature.
“Now, step forward with your lead foot and extend your left arm so that everything from your shoulder down is in alignment. Okay, bring it back, now throw the blow. Good! That ought to knock the son of a bitch’s head off. Just make sure the punch and the foot land at the same time. Then, follow with a cross and come back to your original stance. Now…connect the punches, repeat the sequence and shadowbox for three minutes…go!” We did three sets, increasing power with each set and resting one minute in between each. When we finally finished and I went over to get my water, Sam said, “Hey, kid…You should talk to her father first.”
“Really? People still do that?”
“Is she close to him?”
“Yeah…I mean, I guess. I can tell she respects him a lot. She’s a typical girl, you know…Daddy’s girl.” I had never met her father. I was just basing all of this on what I’d heard Emmi say about him.
“Then talk to him. If he likes you and respects you, then he’s going to put in a word for you. Get his blessing and it’s in the bag. That’s not to say she wouldn’t marry you anyways, but a little extra insurance never hurt.”
I was nodding, it made sense. “Okay, I will, Sam. Thanks.”
“Okay,” he said in his gruff voice. “Enough of the lovey-dovey, warm and fuzzy crap. Shadow-boxing…Left jab, left jab, right
cross, right cross, left jab, right uppercut.”
“Call it out for me, Sam,” I said.
He sighed and shook his head. “Damn teenage hormones,” he said, but he was smiling. I didn’t remind him that I hadn’t been a teenager for three years.
When I got home in the afternoon, Emmi was still out. She left me a note saying she had come back from breakfast with Zoe, but headed over to the school paper office. I had an idea about how to get ahold of her dad without her finding out. I went over to my desk and got out her residential application. I remembered that she’d listed her mom and dad’s cell phone numbers as emergency contacts. I found her dad’s number and with trembling hands and huge knots in my stomach, I dialed it.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Mr. Sadler?”
“Yes, who is this?”
“This is Braxton Gibbs, Emmi’s friend, um…boyfriend. I hope I’m not bothering you?” I hoped she told him she had a boyfriend.
“No, Braxton, you’re not disturbing me at all. I have a day off work today, I’m out running some errands but you caught me sitting with a cup of coffee. I’ve actually heard a great deal about you from my daughter and my wife and I’ve been looking forward to meeting you myself. Emmi’s okay, right?”
“She’s fine, sir. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you. She went to the newspaper office.”
“You don’t have to call me sir, Braxton. Call me Ed.”
I didn’t think I could do that, but I didn’t want to argue with him, so I said, “Okay, thanks.”
“So, Emmi’s okay, is there something I can do for you?”
“Um, I was just hoping that we could get to know each other,” I told him, the first sign that I was chickening out. I didn’t really want to ask him on the phone. Maybe I should have driven to their house.
“Emmi tells me you do some mixed-martial-arts fighting?” Her dad was going with the idea of us getting to know each other it seemed.
“Something like that. I did get offered a contract with the professional MMA league though, recently. That was flattering.”
“I’ll bet that was exciting. Are you going to accept it?”
Devoted Page 1
