by Brooke May
“Will you two be quiet?” I hush them, never breaking my eyes from the fight. Chamberlain and Noah are guarded this time. Dancing around one another, they throw a few punches here and there, but otherwise, they’re calculating each other’s movements.
My fists are raised to my face as I hunch forward and begin to follow some of Chamberlain’s movements. I don’t care how it looks to the outside world; I’m transfixed by him and the dance he creates on the canvas.
“Get him, Chamberlain!” Beth cups her hands around her mouth and shouts at the top of her lungs, but she blends into the crowd’s cheers around us. My ears are certainly going to be ringing after tonight.
Round two ends, and we get back up to wipe Chamberlain off, check him over, and shoot him some more water. He’s exerting himself so much to protect his title and proving how he came to be the reigning champion. This is the fight of his life or at least for the time being it is. This time, I don’t say anything to him. I just give him the same nod from before when I get out of the ring.
When the bell rings, I watch Noah’s movements. He is still composed, but his heaving chest along with his mouth open just a hint is a clear sign that he is wearing down. Chamberlain is keeping his distance, which means he is getting ready to go in for the kill, so to speak. But his own labored breathing is just as noticeable as Noah’s. They are evenly matched.
Noah must sense that Chamberlain is ready to put an end to the fight because he moves in, arms swinging, to try to stop him. But it does nothing to heed him. Chamberlain connects with Noah’s side, halting his punches. With each hit, Chamberlain knocks Noah back more and more until he has him against the ropes. The referee gets Chamberlain to back off and checks on Noah before letting the fight continue. Only for Chamberlain to back Noah up against them again. By the time the round is over, Noah is hanging onto the ropes for dear life just to stay standing.
The fighting is over, but the winner still has to be announced since no one was knocked out. Scott hands Chamberlain a towel while Beth tosses him the water bottle and I take on the duty of taking his mouth guard. He tries to take it out for me with little to no drool on it, but he fails. I hold it out in the palm of my hand, laughing as it drips.
“Wonderful,” I beam up at him, teasingly.
He gets down in my face. “That’s not the first time you had some type of fluid from my body in your hand, baby.” I gasp at his vulgar comment just as he kisses me.
“Hey, enough of that.” Scott pulls me away from Chamberlain, earning himself an extremely nasty and deadly look from my sexy husband.
“Get. Your. Hands. Off. Franks.” He grunts each word, and delicious excitement grows in my body. I know that if his hands weren’t gloved, he would have grabbed me and pulled me away from his best friend by now. “You have your own.” Chamberlain jerks his chin in Beth’s direction.
Scott follows just as she bends over to pick something up with her back to us. He swallows noticeably but shakes his head and playfully pushes me back to Chamberlain. “I can only dream.”
“Ladies and gentlemen! If I can have your attention, please!” The emcee’s voice echoes through the venue. “Fighters, present yourselves.” Chamberlain looks down at me, making sure I will be by his side. I nod, and we move together back to the center of the ring. Noah is there with the help of Helena.
Chamberlain bumps gloves with Noah and gives him a friendly look before they both turn their attention to the emcee standing with the referee. “After careful observation and discussions, the winner is …”
I grip Chamberlain’s forearm tightly and pinch my eyes closed. “The winner and reigning champion, Chamberlain ‘The Predator’ Lawrence!”
Chamberlain stands stock-still when I open my eyes and jump up and down. “You won!” I sing to him, not sure if even he can hear me over the roar of the crowd. “Chamberlain!” I shout. “Did you hear me? You won!”
A slow, salacious smile crawls across his slightly swelling face. “I sure did.” He picks me up, his gloves pushing my bottom up. I have a feeling he’s not talking about the championship. He slides me down his body until my face is level with his. “And tomorrow night, I will finally have you in the bed I bought for us.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” I purr as I run my fingers up and down his bulging biceps. He lowers me to the ground, and I turn just as Noah and Helena walk over to us.
“Great fight,” Noah chortles at Chamberlain, no hard feelings whatsoever.
“Amazing.” Chamberlain bumps gloves with Noah again. “We are going to get the rest of our family if you guys would like to meet us for a late dinner.”
“We would love that.”
“Predator, Iron Man, a picture, please?” A photographer presents a camera to them. Helena and I step aside, allowing the two get a picture snapped.
“I’ll text you where we are going,” I yell over the crowd to Helena. She nods at me and helps her husband leave.
“I think I went a little far on him.” Chamberlain’s arm coats my shoulders, pushing us through the crowd that formed around us. We dodge cameras and reporters on our way to the locker room. Scott and Beth are already at the doors. We get in, and they shut the world out behind us.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Katie
“YOU HAVE AN interview in fifteen minutes, so you’d better hurry u—” Chamberlain drops his gloves and barrels into me, taking my attention from my phone, and slams me against the panels of the lockers. His lips latch onto the nape of my neck.
“Chamberlain …” I whimper and wiggle my legs to allow him to nestle between them. Once my legs lock around his waist, one of his fists slams into the locker next to my head. My mouth drops open at the violent move. I run my hands up and down his sweaty chest before rounding over his shoulders and digging into the hair at the base of his neck.
His other hand trails up my tight, scorching skin as he goes under my dress and runs a single piercing hot finger along the fabric of my satin panties. His lips punish mine, forcing my mouth open again with his tongue. My tongue graciously accepts his, lapping and rolling in sync. A faint taste of metal greets my taste buds, and I barely acknowledge that one of Noah’s punches hit him hard enough to make him bleed.
“Fucking soaked.” He grabs my bottom lip, dragging it away from me as he pulls back. “You ready to have me buried in you, Katie?”
“Y-yes,” I pant. His calloused hand slips into my panties and runs along my seam.
“Let me see those beautiful blues,” he rasps. I blink my eyes open for him. His eyes are still dark like they were before his fight. Only his mind isn’t on the championship now; he got that. He’s now focused on claiming me. My eyes start to close again as he slowly sinks his finger into me. “Open them.” On his command, I snap them back to him.
Moaning, I keep my half-closed eyes on him while his finger drags out of me and back in at the same slow pace. “Cham—” His thumb lazily circles my clit before pressing up on it as he pulls out.
“You feel incredible wrapped around my finger.” He leans in and rubs his nose along my cheek. “You close, baby?” I tighten around him and drop my head back. I shouldn’t be this close so soon, but with Chamberlain, it is possible. “I need your words, Katie.” He growls, stopping his torture.
“Yes.” I release a growl of my own. “Please.” I tilt my hips, sliding his finger deep inside me again. He pulls out, and this time, when he thrusts back in, he keeps the pressure on my clit and moves faster while moving his finger around. I’m reeling and biting back my release.
“Give it to me,” he commands. And like my body is a servant to him, my orgasm washes over me. Chamberlain pulls his finger out of me and jerks us around until his compression shorts and shorts are gone. He sets us on the bench beside us, leaving me straddling him.
I feel fluid, mushy, and completely relaxed. “Don’t be falling asleep on me, Katie. I’m not done with you yet,” he rumbles at me. “This is going to be fast; we only have a few minu
tes left, and I’m about ready to bust.”
“Mmm.” I’m yanked from my heavy eyes falling lower and lower when he spears into me, fast, hot, and punishing. “Oh, God!” I wail and tighten my hold on him, afraid he is going to buck me off.
“No, it’s me, baby.” I don’t know how he is managing to talk at his pace. I’m moving up and down him at an unbelievable rhythm. “But I don’t mind being your god.” He nips at my shoulder while slamming into me; his erection reaching deeper into me almost to the point of pain.
“Oow!” My head drops and bobs as we continue to move. With each thrust, he moves into me; I grind into him, which causes a deep vibrating groan to emit from his chest. “Cha-Cham-berlain.” I try to chant his name only to have the air knocked from my lungs.
“Come. On.” He grunts. “Give. It. To. Me.” He roars, slamming into me one last time while stiffening.
“Chamberlain!” I scream his name, my nails digging into his shoulders, but I couldn’t care less if he starts bleeding. He pulsates inside me. I’m now covered with a coat of sweat, and where we are linked is a pool of mixed bodily fluids.
I’m turned on by that. I want more of him. I drop my body against him. Chamberlain recovers and peels my face off his shoulder. The color in his eyes is starting to come back as he looks at both of mine. “I love you so much, Katie.” He kisses me sweetly, a complete opposite from the ones he was just giving me. “And if you didn’t have that fucking birth control in you right now, you could be carrying my baby.”
I pretend to throw him a leer as I peel the rest of me off him and wince at him pulling out of me. “It will be taken care of soon enough.” I poke him in the abs and grab a towel to clean us both off. I do my best to pull my dress down and put everything back in the right places. I pick up my phone while Chamberlain gets a pair of jeans, a tight T-shirt, and his boots on, topping it off with his Quik Punch baseball hat on backward. “We have three minutes,” I mutter to him, flushed and still trying to recover.
“Just in time.” His chuckle leaves me rolling my eyes. He picks up his bag and grabs my hand. “Let’s go get this over with and get our family for dinner.”
XOXO
INTERVIEWS WERE DONE and Fiona and Marissa picked up, so we are heading to the N9NE Steakhouse to enjoy great food and time with our friends and family. Once we were seated, the guys started going over the fight while the rest of us talked about babies, and Beth continued to question Helena about different things with women’s boxing.
“Mommy?” Marissa tugs on my arm from her spot on her daddy’s lap.
“Yes?” I turn to her. “What is it, Marissa?”
“When we going home?” She yawns; this is the latest she has ever been out. We are going to have to head back to the hotel soon.
“We are going to leave tomorrow sometime. Daddy can’t wait to show us our new home.”
“We not wive with Aunt Jackie and Aunt Karmin?”
“No, baby, we are going to live with Daddy in Boston in the home he has for us.” I run a hand down her soft cheek. “Isn’t that exciting?”
“Yyyyeeessss.” She yawns again.
I look up at Chamberlain, finding him watching us while Scott and Noah continue to talk. “We’d better get going.”
“Yeah,” he agrees.
“See you next season, Noah?” Chamberlain shakes hands with Noah and kisses Helena on the cheek after settling the bill.
“Of course, I’m going to get you next time.”
I step up and hug Noah and do the same with Helena after she hugs Beth. “Stay in touch.”
“Of course, you two are great gals.” She looks at both Beth and me. “I think we are going to be great friends.”
“We are the best couple of besties you could ask for,” Beth beams.
We finish our good-byes and head back to the hotel. Marissa crashes on us halfway back, and Chamberlain carries her into the villa and puts her in bed. I quickly change her and wake her long enough to brush her hair and teeth.
I do my usual nighttime routine; remove my contacts, brush my teeth and hair, and pull one of Chamberlain’s shirts on before I crawl into bed. Tomorrow, we go home. The home we will share as a family. Not just Marissa, Chamberlain, and I, but Scott, Beth, and Fiona as well.
XOXO
I CAN’T KEEP the bundle of nerves at bay at the airport both in Las Vegas and after we touch down in Boston. I haven’t set foot in Boston in four years, and to me, nothing has changed. Chamberlain already has a couple of cabs waiting for us when we get through the airport and have our bags.
This city holds so many memories for me; both good and bad. I was raised by parents who never really loved me, but I was really raised by a wonderful woman who I wish could have been my mom. I met the love of my life and lost him here. My daughter was conceived here, and the rest of my life will be here from this point on.
“No one will touch you here, Katie.” Chamberlain’s hand envelops mine in a way to calm me, but the nerves won’t go away.
I watch out the window on the drive, my free hand rubbing Marissa’s back as she snoozes from her makeshift bed on my and Chamberlain’s lap. I watch the city I once knew fly by, and soon, we are pulling up in front of a brick building.
“We’re home,” Chamberlain whispers to me before he rouses Marissa. “Princess, we are home.”
“Hmm.” She wakes and looks up with drool in the corner of her mouth.
“Ready to see our home?” I fix her hair as she moves completely onto my lap.
“Yes.” Her blue eyes glisten as she looks out the window.
We get out, and I go to get our bags, but Chamberlain stops me. “Scott will get them; I want to give you two a tour.”
“Okay?” He takes my hand and pulls Marissa and me around the corner of the building and leads us to a garage door. He opens the door next to it and holds it open for us.
“We’ll start here.” He follows us in. The room lights up to reveal loads of vehicles. There are three cars, an SUV, a truck, and a motorcycle, and all of them are black and white.
“Wow.” I meander, looking at each vehicle until I come to the last one by the elevator. I gasp and cover my mouth. It looks just like his old car, just newer. “Chamberlain?” I find him running his thumb over his bottom lip, regarding me closely. “Is this ...?” I point at the car.
“The passenger door opens now.”
“Wow.” I look back at the car. Chamberlain took my advice and fixed up his dad’s 1971 Challenger. Long gone is the rust, replaced with a shiny black and white striped paint job. It’s beautiful.
“Come here, princess,” Chamberlain calls to Marissa. “It’s unlocked, panda.” Chamberlain talks to me.
Out of curiosity, I open the passenger door and admire the new leather seats—black and white—as well as the rest of the new interior. “It’s like a completely different car.”
“There’s one more thing for you to see.” Chamberlain directs me to the back. I come around and fall into complete disbelief when I see the word PANDA across the back of the car.
“Chamberlain …”
“I did it, Katie, just like you suggested.” Tears come to my eyes, but Chamberlain pulls me to the elevator. “There’s more, come on.”
“What more could you have done?” The car is a complete surprise. I never really thought he would fix it up. We ride in the elevator up to the first floor and exit to a huge gym.
“This is my own gym. After I had come into the public eye, it became too much to train anywhere else,” Chamberlain explains as he drags us in. “And over here … I had this set up for the two of you when we were in Orlando.” Chamberlain gestures to a corner where a hardwood floor with a barre set-up and mirrors along with a stereo system. “Now you two can dance whenever you want in the safety of our home.”
“Willy?” Marissa squeals, bouncing over to take a look.
“Really.” Chamberlain laughs. “We aren’t done, Marissa.” He calls to her. “Don’t you want to see y
our room?”
“YES!” She sprints back to us, and we climb back into the elevator.
“The second floor is Scott, Fiona, and now Beth’s,” Chamberlain says as he hits the button for the third floor. “The top is all ours.”
“This is all so incredible,” I muse.
“I hope you like what I did with the upstairs.” Chamberlain runs a hand down my back, sounding nervous.
“I know I will.” The elevator doors open, and once more, we are out. Our bags are sitting right there as everything opens. The massive living room is in warm earth tones, and everywhere I look, I see pictures of Chamberlain and me. Some are black and white, and some are in color. He has his trophies over a stone fireplace and his belts in a case by a massive television along with everything a typical guy would have in his home.
The furniture is matching dark tan suede material. I cringe at the thought of Marissa spilling something on it since suede stains so easily. But it is beautiful nevertheless. “Incredible.” I stroll through to the open kitchen. Everything is stainless steel and amazing. “Do you even cook in here?”
“Sometimes.” He shrugs. “Down the hallway is three bedrooms, one with its own bathroom and the other two have a linked one.”
“Where my room, Daddy?”
“Down there.” Chamberlain guides us down the hallways and hooo-ly pink! The first bedroom is nothing but pink and princess stuff. The bed is a canopy bed with pink drapes and fluffy bedding. There is a castle in one corner big enough for Marissa to play in.
“WOW!” Marissa’s excited eyes don’t know what to settle on first.
“A room fit for my princess.” Chamberlain bends down to look at her. “Why don’t you look around while I show Mommy our room?”
“Otay.”
“We will be just out in the living room up some stairs.” Chamberlain stands at full height and leads me back out to the living room. “Those other rooms will be for future kids.” He throws me a devious grin over his shoulder.
We climb a flight of stairs and find an open room; there are no doors except for two. One to our bathroom and another to a closet, I think. The bed is the biggest I have ever seen. Everything up here matches the overall theme of the house, and I love it. It is warm and comfortable.
