by Josie Kerr
“Gonna make you go to sleep, Big Man,” Pierce growled in Colin’s ear.
“No way, asshole.” Colin elbowed Pierce, hard, once, twice, and Pierce loosened his hold on Colin’s neck for a split second.
And then Pierce arched his back, forcing Colin’s neck up, enabling Pierce to get into position for a rear naked choke.
“Tap, motherfucker.” Pierce tightened his grip. “You know you want to.” Pierce tightened his grip around Colin’s neck a little more, and then he felt Colin tap him on the arm.
Pierce immediately let Colin go, and the men rolled away from each other.
Pierce sat up, but Colin remained flat on the mat.
Laughing.
Junior came into the cage and stood over the fighters, looking back and forth between them.
“Good thing the two of you get along now. I’d hate to see what light sparring would be like otherwise.”
Pierce spit his mouthpiece out. “I told him I was going to make him go to sleep.”
“I told you he had control,” Junior said with a grin. “That’s a hundred now.”
Colin cursed. “You suckered me, Junior.”
“You fuckers bet on me?” Pierce scowled. “I want a cut.”
Colin barked a laugh. “Trust me, Pierce—you don’t want any part of this.”
“I think I do.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Aw, if he wants a cut, he can have a cut. Fifty-fifty split?” Junior grinned widely, and Pierce was immediately suspicious. Maybe he didn’t want a cut. He liked Junior, but he was glad he never had to face the big, bald boxer in the ring. He was even sneakier than Paddy.
“Maybe I need to reconsider.”
Colin barked a laugh and scrambled to his feet. He held out his hand to help Pierce up, and once they were both on their feet, he slapped Pierce on the back. “Man, you’re learning.”
“I bet Gordo that you’d make him submit. The loser has to make fitness shakes for two weeks.”
“God, I hate making the shakes.” Colin cracked his neck. “But that’s the price of betting a Maldonado.”
Junior slapped Pierce on the back. “Let Gordo make you a shake and then come find me. I wanna go over the schedule when I’m gone for the next few weeks.”
Pierce stopped. “Where are you going?”
“I gotta fighter who has a match in Buffalo. I’ve got to start his camp.”
“So you’re not my trainer anymore?” He looked between Colin and Junior. “What the fuck?”
“Told you that you should have told him earlier,” Colin muttered under his breath.
Junior shot Colin a scathing look and turned to Pierce. “Go cool down—”
“Fuck you, Maldonado. I wouldn’t need to cool down if—”
“For fuck’s sake, I meant you need to cool down, not calm down. Sheesh. Do your cool down routine and get a shake. Then come see me. We got things to talk about.”
“Sorry. I . . . got nothing. Sorry.” Pierce shrugged, and Colin patted him on the cheek.
“Let’s go, buddy.”
Colin jerked his head toward the kitchen, and Pierce gave an embarrassed chuckle as he followed him out of the cage.
Freshly showered, Pierce trotted down the stairs toward Junior’s office. He’d just heard from Annie, who had asked him if he would stay with her at her apartment again that night. Her voice didn’t have a hint of tentativeness to it, and she didn’t stammer or apologize once.
He definitely liked Confident Annie. Admittedly, he liked any sort of Annie, but Confident Annie?
Hell yeah.
But did she mean stay the night or stay the night?
Fuck.
He didn’t want to blow this by being presumptuous. Hell, she’d only been divorced a short while. She probably wasn’t anywhere near ready for something else.
But she had treated him to some heated looks. And that book? Holy hell, that was pornographic! Maybe she needed a little something-something.
Pierce saw light coming from Junior’s office as he rounded the corner, speeding up because the sooner he finished this conversation with Junior and Colin, the quicker he could pick Annie up from her office.
He skidded to a halt when he saw Junior and Ryan. Junior had one hand cupped protectively around Ryan’s neck and the other flat on Ryan’s chest like he was trying to feel Ryan’s heartbeat.
“Ryan, don’t be like this. Everyone is worried about you. I worry about you,” Pierce heard Junior say as he then stroked the cutman’s cheek with the back of his fingers.
Ryan wrested away from Junior. “Don’t, okay? Just don’t. It’s hard enough being around you. Well, not hard . . . never mind.”
“Mano, I don’t know what to say.”
“There isn’t anything to say.” He sucked in air through his nose, shrugged a shoulder, and then pressed his lips against Junior’s. Junior let Ryan kiss him for a long moment, but then Ryan stepped back and left the office, head lowered and walking fast down the hallway the in opposite direction from where Pierce stood.
“Ryan!” Junior hung out the door. “Ry—” He snapped his mouth shut, and his shoulders slumped. Then he noticed Pierce.
“Just . . . it’s complicated.”
Pierce held up his hands. “None of my business.”
“But it is mine. And this . . . whatever you two have got going on is affecting my business, my fight club.” Colin glowered at Junior. “We need to talk about this. Now.”
Junior shook his head. “Absolutely not. Don’t push me—I’m about five misspoken words from punching someone out. I don’t want it to be you. Now, let’s deal with this so I can deal with Ryan, okay?”
Colin grunted but pushed past Junior to go into Junior’s office, and Pierce followed closely behind. Junior sat on the edge of his desk, arms folded over his chest, while Colin flopped onto a large leather couch and glowered at his trainer. Pierce stood awkwardly in the middle of the office, his fists clenched. He had no idea what to expect from this conversation. Was this going to be like Raptor Pryde all over again? Was he going to get dumped to the bottom of the roster? His mind raced with possibilities, none of them positive.
“For fuck’s sake, Junior, put this guy out of his misery.” Colin scrubbed his face with his hands.
“Okay, this is what I want you to be working on for the next few weeks.” Junior handed a daily schedule to Pierce, who cursorily scanned it.
Pierce’s face scrunched in a frown. “Dude. Not that I’m complaining, but this looks like a pre-camp workout regime.” He looked from Junior to Colin. “You two know something I don’t?”
Junior cleared his throat. “It’s always good to be prepared. That’s all I’m saying.”
Pierce cut his eyes toward Colin, but C’s face remained devoid of expression.
Humph.
Junior and Pierce went over the schedule in more detail, with Colin piping up every now and then. Finally, when Junior seemed satisfied with the small tweaks, he made a copy of the adjusted schedule and handed Pierce and Colin each a copy.
“Okay, guys, I gotta go see a certain corpsman before I head back to Jersey.” Junior cracked his neck. “C, I’ll report in with the results of that particular shit show of a conversation soon. Pierce, good luck with this fucker. Give the modified schedule to Paddy, and I’ll contact you in a few days. Now, get the fuck out of my office.”
Pierce snorted. “Man, did Colin learn his social skills from you or the other way around?”
That got a barked laugh out of Junior, and with a handshake, Pierce and Colin headed out.
Colin caught Pierce’s shoulder. “Hold up for a sec.”
Pierce groaned. He was never going to get out of here.
“I won’t keep you away from Little Miss Skittish for long.” Colin snickered at Pierce’s pained expression but then grew serious. “What can I do to support you?”
Pierce shook his head. “Not a thing. I got Annie covered. You and Bailey need to keep your eyes
peeled. Andrea’s got a big grudge against both of you. I’d hate for either of you to get hurt.”
“Pierce, I appreciate that. Truly I do. And I know you have Annie covered, but you gotta watch out for yourself—”
“C, I got this. I’ve spent most of my life looking out for number one, and where has that gotten me? Absolutely nowhere. It’s time for me to stop being a selfish bastard. But thanks. I do appreciate it. I really do.”
Colin blew out a frustrated breath but nodded his head. “Don’t hesitate to ask anything of me, anything at all. And don’t be so hard on yourself. Just know that you are not alone. You’re with DS Fight Club now, and that means you’re family. And you don’t say no to family. Raptor was a damn fool for taking advantage of you.”
“Raptor wasn’t who canned me, but I totally get why Pryde did it. Hell, I knew he was justified even as I was trying to save my place on the roster.”
“Raptor should have done more.”
“Yeah, he should have, but what can you do? That was then and this is now.” Pierce averted his eyes from Colin’s icy blue gaze. He took a few deep breaths and got his emotions under control before he spoke again. “Thank you. For giving me another chance. For giving a shit. Not many people have done that.”
“I got that impression. And I know someone else who cares about you, so you need to go get that skittish woman and bring her home. Make sure she’s safe. Make sure she knows she’s loved. So go on, get out of here. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Pierce managed a weak smile. “Thanks, C.”
As Pierce jogged up the stairs to his room to grab a duffel filled with some extra clothes and his Dopp kit, he texted Annie to tell her he was on his way. He tossed the necessities into his duffel and headed out to pick up Annie, determined to take Colin’s advice to heart.
Chapter Nineteen
Annie’s eyes darted from Ashley to Pierce. Ashley had greeted Pierce coolly as Pierce sat sprawled on a leather couch in the lobby of Standings Real Estate. On the surface, the big fighter seemed relaxed, but Annie could tell he was agitated by the way he tapped his fingers on the back of the couch.
“I’m ready, Pierce.” Oh boy, I am so not ready.
“Sure, babe.”
He called me ‘babe.’ Ohhh boy, I am definitely not ready for this.
But Annie smiled bravely as Pierce opened the door for her after taking her tote bag from her. Then he opened her car door for her.
Maybe I’m ready for this?
They drove to Annie’s apartment in silence. Annie jiggled her knee. Pierce tapped some more. She sneaked a look at his profile. Well, actually she didn’t sneak, she looked right at him, and Pierce chuckled nervously. Annie thought she could see the faintest hint of a blush on Pierce’s neck, but surely she didn’t? Damon Pierce? Nervous? Anxious? He couldn’t be.
Annie wiped her hands on her slacks. “Um, I thought I’d cook tonight. You know, if you’d like. I got lean steak, and some sweet potatoes, and some other stuff. Or I can do lasagna. Or meatballs, though it’s probably too late to make a decent sauce, at least if we want to eat before nine or so.” She tried to take a calming breath, but she couldn’t seem to inhale very deeply. Oh gosh.
Her head snapped to the left when Pierce squeezed her knee. “Annie, whatever you want to do. We can go out. We can order in. Hell, I can cook for you. We can cook together. I’m good, period.”
“Cook together?”
He glanced at her and then blessed her with a small smile. “Sure. That’d be great.” He squeezed her knee again and then gave it a little pat before returning his hand to the steering wheel.
When they got to her apartment, Annie stammered that she was going to change and fled to the bedroom. She changed into a pair of jogger pants and a long-sleeved tee and then sank down onto the bed.
A man was going to spend the night in her apartment. She’d asked a man to spend the night in her apartment. No, he wasn’t going to spend the night, spend the night, but still.
Oh Lord. What if he expected that he was going to spend the night?
Yeah, she really wasn’t ready for this. So much for being brave.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Annie, you okay in there?”
“Yeah, just a moment, Pierce.”
You can do this, Annie. Just take it minute by minute.
She breathed in and exhaled out. Then she walked out into the living room, where she saw Pierce sitting on the couch, and he was so breathtakingly handsome she thought she might throw up. Although she could tell he had freshly shaved his face and head down to the skin, there was already a faint, dark shadow on his jaw, which made his dark eyebrows and his long eyelashes that much more prominent.
One side of his mouth quirked up in a half grin, and he jerked his chin up and gave her a wink.
“Ready to get our grub on?” He was still on the couch, the picture of relaxation, but he tap, tap, tapped on the back of the couch.
Annie smiled and bobbed her head a little. “Sure.”
Pierce launched himself off the couch and followed Annie into the small galley kitchen. Amazingly enough, they didn’t knock into each other or get in each other’s way while they prepared their dinner. In fact, the whole procedure went so smoothly that they were back on the couch in fifteen minutes, waiting for the sweet potatoes to finish roasting.
“So . . . ,” they each said at the same time. Annie grinned at Pierce, and Pierce rumbled a laugh.
“You shaved.”
Pierce nodded. “That, I did.” He ran his hand over the back of his head and gave her a little smile.
“Oh boy, dimples.”
That got a full-bellied laugh out of him. “You like these?” He dug a thick finger into his dimples, like an old-time starlet.
“Oh yeah.” Annie sucked in a breath when Pierce caught the ends of a strand of her hair in his fingers. “Hi.”
“Hello, Annie.”
She giggled and slapped her hand over her mouth. Pierce didn’t let go of her hair. As a matter of fact, she felt him cup the back of her head in his hand and tangle those thick fingers in her hair. He shifted a little bit closer to her.
The timer sounded, and Pierce huffed a small laugh and shrugged.
Pierce was rinsing out the large roasting pan when Annie, distracted by the glint of soap bubbles on Pierce’s hairy forearms, got tangled up in her own feet and knocked into Pierce, who sloshed three quarts of soapy water all over her front.
Annie burst out into laughter at Pierce’s surprised face, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open.
“Oh, shit. I’m so sorry, Annie.” He grabbed a towel and then stopped cold before he began wiping her chest.
Annie plucked the towel out of his hand and began to wipe off the soap suds. “I guess now we’re even, huh?”
She looked up at him, and he was staring intensely at her. No, he was staring at her mouth. She swallowed hard. “Pierce?”
“Annie.” Pierce stepped into her space and tangled his fingers in her hair. “Annie.”
“Yes, Pierce?” she whispered, leaning into him just a bit, her head tilted up.
Pierce bent and pressed his lips to hers. He tasted like sweet potato and butter, and Annie sighed and relaxed against him.
“Annie,” he whispered in her ear.
Annie slipped her arms around Pierce’s neck, and then Pierce pulled her to him, bending down to her. Annie lifted up onto her toes.
Holy Good Kisser, Batman.
They began to move toward the living room, the wet shirt forgotten, lips still locked. Annie was walking backward. She felt her calves hit the edge of the couch, and Pierce cupped her rump in one big hand before he lifted her to place her flat on her back on the sectional.
Once prone, Annie went a little wild, tightening her arms around Pierce’s big shoulders and balancing her feet on his wide thighs. She could feel his lips curl into a smile against hers.
“Annie,” he whispered again as he slipped a hand under her
ass and ground into her.
He was so big, so much bigger than she was, and even as she reveled in Pierce’s attention, a little voice in her head told her this was wrong.
When he slipped both hands under her ass and tilted her hips up into him, she snapped. She broke the kiss and began to struggle, but the moment she pushed on his chest, Pierce pulled away.
He was breathing heavily. “Sorry, I thought . . . sorry.” He wiped his mouth with his hand and blew out a breath. “Annie, I’m so sorry.”
Annie had moved into the corner of the sectional. She drew her feet up and made herself as small as she could and braced herself for his ire. She shouldn’t have started anything if she wasn’t willing to finish it.
She felt Pierce’s calloused fingers on her face and screwed her eyes shut tighter.
“Annie, sweetheart, open your eyes. Will you look at me?” he whispered.
When he continued to just lightly stroke her face, she risked cracking one eye open. Pierce wore a serious, concerned expression, his eyes searching her face. When he noticed her peek at him, he offered her a small smile.
“You okay?”
He still sat very close to her but wasn’t pressuring her. He wasn’t even touching her except for one rough hand that cradled her face.
“Annie, are you okay?” he asked again.
She nodded. “Yeah. I’m sorry, Pierce. I’m sorry.”
He shook his head at her. “Honey, what in the world do you have to be sorry for?”
She scoffed, halfway angry that he was going to make her admit she was a tease. She hadn’t meant to be a tease. She never did.
“For, you know.”
Pierce shook his head. “Darlin’, you don’t have a thing to be sorry for. If anything, I’m the one who should be sorry. My God, I’m the one who practically forced myself into your apartment and manhandled you. Jesus Christ, you’ve been divorced, what, two, three months? You don’t need a big jackass like me groping at you and sticking my tongue in your mouth. God. I’m so sorry.”
She shrugged a shoulder. “I was being a tease. And besides, I kind of owe you.”
