The Ballerina & The Fighter (Book 1)

by Ursula Sinclair

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  At least she hadn’t let my hand go. I stepped right up into her space and lowered my head to her ear. “Your place.”

  I was so close to her, when she inhaled her chest touched my jacket covered arm and I felt it down to my bones.

  “One sec. I have to let Dante know I’m leaving.”

  She didn’t give me a chance to object, just pulled away from me, and I wasn’t going to as long as she took me home with her. And what the fuck was she doing there with Dante anyway? I stood there and watched her walk over to the bastard. Bi my ass, he was the cream between two girls. He stopped to listen to what Ivy had to say and he raised his head to stare at me. I just stood there with my arms folded across my chest. Even from the short distance that separated us, I saw his eyes narrow. I continued to stare at him until someone got in the way of our stare down. Then Ivy stood in front of me again.

  “Let’s go,” she said.

  I took her hand just like before without a word, left the club and flagged down a cab. I told the cab driver her address. We sat in the back of that cab, each of us looking out the window at the cityscape as the car whisked us back to her condo. I reached my hand out to the center of the seat until I barely touched her thigh, but didn’t turn my head in her direction, then I felt what I was waiting for. Her touch on my hand. She’d taken my hand in hers. Only then did I turn my head to find her staring at me. We remained that way, not saying a word, drinking each other in, sending silent signals back and forth. Once the cab pulled up to the curb in front of her building and came to a stop, I managed to tear my gaze away from her and pay the man.

  Still without exchanging a word we took the long ride in the elevator up to her floor. I don’t know why she didn’t say anything, but I know why I didn’t. I didn’t want to say anything stupid and screw this up. I needed her. I just needed her in my arms tonight. I deserved to know exactly what it was I was giving up. In truth, I wanted the memory.

  I stood behind her as she opened the door; she paused at the entryway and turned on the light switch on the wall. A floor lamp by the long black leather couch in the living room turned on. She moved aside for me to enter first, then shut the door before turning to face me. Ivy took my hand and led me to her room, shutting the door behind us, then moved over to stand beside her bed. She’d left the curtains open in her room and the lights from the buildings across the street provided scant illumination. I could see just enough in the dim light to make out her silhouette on a bed big enough for both of us. That’s all I noticed. I stood in front of her and removed my jacket and shirt, tossing them on the floor; uncaring that we might be putting on a show for anyone in the buildings across the street with binoculars. She raised her hand and ran it over my bare chest, my stomach muscles clenched as she traced the pattern of the tattoo I wore on my chest. It hadn’t been there the last time I’d bared myself to her. I’d gotten it years ago, when I first got to Japan, a reminder. It was the picture of a heart wrapped in ivy.

  Her eyes flew to mine. I hoped she understood the significance. “What’s this?”

  “Just what it looks like.” I couldn’t bring myself to say any more, but then again neither did she.

  She didn’t say another word, just lowered her hand, took off her jacket, tossed it past me, sat on the bed, then toed off her shoes. Scooting up onto the mattress, I placed one knee beside her and moved my hands to grab the edge of her shirt, pulling it up and over her head then tossing it over my shoulder in the direction I’d sent my shirt. I ran my hand from her collarbone down over her bra to her belly button and continued until I got to the snap on her jeans. One handed I opened her jeans and unzipped them. Getting off the bed I pulled them down her legs, until they pooled on the floor beneath her feet. I looked at her as she lay there in only her blue underwear.

  “Beautiful,” I said, running my hands down her thighs as I straightened. I took my boots off, undid my own jeans, and took my wallet outta my back pocket. I had two condoms in there; I took them both out and tossed them beside her on the bed. I pulled down both my jeans and underwear. My dick sprang free, straining toward her; I moved to place one knee beside her again. She raised her hand and wrapped it around my neck bringing my face down to hers. I covered her mouth and pushed my tongue into hers. Joining our bodies in one way, and anticipating how else I would join our bodies in another moment.

  Without releasing her mouth I rolled her a little so I could get to her back and unhook her bra. She shifted until I helped her get it off, and sweet Jesus the burn when we were finally flesh against flesh, but still not enough. My cock surged against her mons, desperately seeking entrance to her haven. I lowered my hand; I was impatient and ripped her underwear off. She gigged.

  “In a hurry?” she panted against my lips.

  “Hell ya,” I moaned.

  Grabbing her around the waist, I guided her until she lay full length on the bed and then I covered her. My naked body over hers. “Heaven,” I whispered, as I kissed her ear. “I’m almost there.”

  “So, are you a poet now?” she asked.

  I would be anything she needed me to be. “Only for you.” I looked upon the face of this woman whom I could never quite forget. No matter what I was doing or how far apart we’d been over the years, she was always there. That day on the beach, all those years ago she’d worked her way inside of me and there was no letting go. Part of me would always be hers, even while part of me would belong to the Triad and could never claim her. Sadness overwhelmed me and I buried my face in the side of her neck, inhaling her scent, taking it into my body. The scent of coconut and lime calmed me; she’d worn that fragrance years ago, too. I kissed her neck and moved down to her breast. My mouth captured one plump nipple. I moved my other hand until it enclosed her other breast, and let my thumb rub back and forth over one nipple while I suckled from the other. Her breasts weren’t overly large, they fit in my hand with room to spare, but they were the perfect size for me and I worshiped them.

  I continued kissing and licking my way down her body, but kept one hand on her breast, the other I moved to caress her thigh. My lips and tongue continued to sturdily move downward until I reached her wet core. I opened my mouth and covered her center, creating a suction that had her trying to lift off the bed, and the sweet cries of her moans filled my ears.

  Beneath me, her body shook, then suddenly went ridged just before she wrapped those dancer thighs around my head and clenched her ass as she gushed like a river into my waiting mouth. I lapped up all of her before lifting my head. Twisting, I searched for one of the condoms I’d tossed to the bed. Finding one I tore it open and pushed it over my swollen throbbing cock. Turning back to her, I crawled up her body and wrapped one hand under her head bringing her lips to mine as I positioned myself at her entrance.

  I entered her slowly; I wanted this to last for us both. I wanted her to remember me whether her eyes were open or closed. I eased just the crown in first and God she was tight, then I eased in some more of me, it was then I encounter an obstruction. “Holy shit!”

  My eyes grew wide as I stared into her pain filled ones, I started to withdraw but my Ivy had other ideas. She wrapped her legs around my waist and tilted, taking me back inside her.

  “Baby, hold up,” I panted. I had questions; I raised myself up to look upon her beautiful face. She stared back at me and smiled; all traces of pain gone from her features.

  “I waited for you.”

  That simple statement answered them all. Nothing would stop me from claiming her then. I surged forward.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ivy

  I had never felt these kinds of emotions with anyone else. Only Maze, even all those years ago it’d always been Maze. He alone touched the depths I needed. Looking into his eyes when I’d seen him at the club and he’d called to me—well nothing was going to stop me from going to him. I needed to know he was all right, that he hadn’t been the one hurt the other night. It might
have been crazy to take him back to my place, but I really didn’t care. I knew what I was going to do. What I wanted him to do.

  By the time he slipped into me I was so wet and ready for him, I thought I’d combust. When he pierced my membrane I felt only a moment of pain, and then his fullness stretched me, filled me. I must have cried out because he froze again. Pushing my hair off my face, he looked into my eyes. I smiled up at him, “I’m fine. Keep going.” I was fine; I’d never known such pleasure. Not even while dancing.

  He lowered his head and covered my mouth with his, pushing his tongue inside to dance a duet with mine. I forgot about the pain and only the pleasure of having him inside of me, consuming me, making me his. Then after a moment, he began to move and lowered his head to the side of my neck. He kept one arm wrapped around my waist the other hand he entwined our fingers and held it on the bed at our sides while he moved even faster in and out of me. I caught his rhythm and moved with him, stroke for stroke. A fire built in my core, threatening to erupt my breathing as it raced away from me, matching that of Maze. I felt I was doing a pirouette out of control, unable and unwilling to stop because the faster I spun I knew I’d eventually fly.

  “Open your eyes.” Maze’s voice reached me and my eyes flew open, but he became my anchor. Out of control. Yes, but so was he.

  “I want to watch you come. Come for me,” he said.

  I could not look away, I was lost in his gaze in the sensation of pleasure he rung from my body. He mastered it in a way no other could. The pressure from inside me rushed to the surface and like a lightning strike across the night sky my body crackled and I came. I fought to keep my eyes open but it was too much. My hips lifted off the bed and he struck deeper inside me. Even as my body trembled, I felt his cock pulse and he cried out my name, the only thing stopping his eruption from mingling with mine was the sliver of latex between us. My eyes popped open, I’m not even sure when I’d closed them. His lashes partially covered his eyes, but still I could see the intensity within their depths and I watched the look of ultimate pleasure flash across his beloved face. It was a picture I would always carry with me.

  At some point we both finally stopped moving but we couldn’t bear to separate. I loved the feel of our damp hot flesh fused against each other. The fullness inside me began to shrink. I kept my legs locked around his trim waist and he had his arms now wrapped around my shoulders and his head rested next to mine.

  “I’m probably too heavy,” he rasped.

  “No. Don’t move.”

  He rose a little so he no longer crushed my breasts, not that I minded.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  I smiled. “Yes. I’m fine.” I felt the fullness give way a little more and he shifted.

  “I need to take care of this condom and clean you up. Hold still.”

  He moved one hand from around me and eased it between our bodies. I could feel him gripping himself and slowly withdrawing from my sex. Cool air replaced his heat and emptiness consumed me. He rolled off me still holding onto his sex, then he got off the bed and made his way to my bathroom. I was grateful that both bedrooms in the condo had their own bathrooms. His back was a study of art for the perfect form and the front was just as good. That dragon tattoo did go down the side of his hip and wrapped around his thigh, with the tip of the tail ending just at the base of his cock. A naked Maze was not a view I was willing to share with my roommate or any other.

  I heard the faucet turn on and I smiled as I lay stretched out on the bed. Now that he was no longer inside of me I felt the soreness between my legs. I glanced up as he walked back into the room; he carried a washcloth with him. He sat down beside my hip, my thighs were still spread and he began to gently wipe the blood off me. The evidence of my virginity.

  “How’s that?” he asked, looking at me as he wiped me off.

  “Heaven.” It was, the cool washcloth felt good against my swollen flesh.

  When Maze was done he went back to the bathroom then returned to the bed. I faced him and opened my arms. He pulled the blue and brown scrolled coverlet out from under me and had me get under it before joining me there and wrapping me in his arms. I made a mental note to toss the coverlet in the washing machine in the morning. I placed my head on his chest and I could feel the thumping of his heart beat slow down as his body returned to normal. He sighed one of contentment and I watched the rise and fall of his chest as I traced my finger across the tattoo on the other side of his heart. I could barely make it out from our positions on the bed. But earlier when he’d been standing up and taken his shirt off, I could see from the little light in the room it was of a heart surrounded by a vine, my heart told me the vine was ivy. My lips curved into a smile and I closed my eyes.

  It was still dark when I opened my eyes again and the stinging between my legs told me of what I’d done before slumber, but I couldn’t regret it. At some point Maze and I must have changed position, because I was now faced away from him, and I could feel his warmth and hardness snuggled against my back. One hand rested over my breast, but that’s not what woke me up. It was that brick nudging me in my backside. The fingers surrounding my breast closed. A feather like kiss brushed against the side of my neck.

  “Are you awake?” Maze’s voice was husky like he’d just awoken from sleep and even in sleep he had to touch me.

  I turned my head and grinned. “I am now.”

  “Sore?”

  “A little.”

  He squeezed my breast more at my admission.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, and kissed my shoulder. I felt the soft stubble of hair along his jaw. The sensation adding another level of pleasure to our intimacy.

  “Don’t be. I’m not.” I flipped onto my back and he rolled on top of me.

  “Hmm…I can make it feel a little better.” He bent his head and sucked on my lower lip.

  I parted my mouth and groaned. “I’m not sure I can take any more.” He was pretty big, even I knew that. I’d seen porn.

  He lowered his body until he stared at my chest. He kissed first one nipple then the other. “I think you can take this,” he said, as he kissed his way down my stomach. He reached my mounds and kissed me there. All the while he never took his eyes off me; he used his body to spread my legs wider.

  I don’t think I could have blinked, I didn’t want to miss a thing. Sticking out his tongue he lowered his head and licked my vulva, from bottom to top then back again. I felt my juices creaming right then and there, my stomach muscles clenched. He blew on me then pushed his tongue into me. I planted my feet on the bed and he placed his hands on my hips pulling me closer to his magical mouth. I pushed my head back into the pillow and closed my eyes for a moment on the erotic scene unfolding before my eyes. It was the only way to stop myself from flooding his mouth. This sensation was different from when he’d filled me with his penis, but still able to bring me to that edge of forever. In moments he had me going over it as I grabbed his head and shoved his face into my vagina. My body erupting twice in less than five hours. I felt him sucking my labia, and licking up my liquids that didn’t seem to want to stop. But finally my neurons ceased firing. Maze crawled over me, stopping to plant his knees on either side of my waist; he hovered over my stomach and lowered his head.

  “You are incredible,” he said, and he kissed me. I tasted myself on his lips, and something that was Maze, a unique flavor I’d come to associate with him. He rolled us onto our sides and stopped kissing me. “Sleep,” he said.

  I woke up the next morning in a fog; my arms were wrapped around a pillow. I turned my head expecting to see Maze, but the bed was empty. I thought perhaps he was in the bathroom, but the door was open and no one was in there. I sat up and felt the pillow next to me, touching the indentation where his head had rested. It was cool, so he’d been gone for a bit. Still I didn’t begin to worry, at least not yet. I got out of bed and grabbed my phone that had fallen to the floor, thinking maybe he left me a text. Nothing. I noticed my clothes
that he’d taken off the night before on a chair but his clothes were gone. So I got out of bed and grabbed my robe, sticking my head out of my bedroom door, I didn’t see anyone in the living room area. I stepped out and saw Dante’s door closed, I walked over to look into the kitchen and it was empty. Now I began to worry.

  I returned to my room and went into the bathroom to take a quick shower. After I got out I checked my phone again. Nothing. By the time I returned to the kitchen, Dante was there, he popped a bagel into the toaster.

  “Morning,” he said. “How things go last night with Maze?”

  I walked over to the kettle and turned it on before responding to Dante, “I’m not sure.”

  He turned around and leaned against the counter to face me. “What happened? Did you find out about him and those thugs?”

  I busied myself getting my tea mug out of the cabinet. I’d always confided in Dante, since Shelly’s death, I hadn’t been close to anyone else. Dante had become my confidant and best friend, but for some reason I wasn’t sure I wanted to share everything that happened between Maze and me with him. Dante didn’t even know I was a virgin. I mean, come on, how many twenty-one year old virgins were there?

  “Unfortunately we never got around to talking about the other night, he seemed fine.” More than fine I thought, but then I frowned. “Did you by chance see him leave?”

  Dante raised his eyebrows. “No. Did he spend the night?”

  I knew a blush creep up my cheeks. “Yeah, but he left sometime this morning. I glanced at the clock over the stove. It was almost ten. Dante and I would have to leave for class soon. I checked my phone and sent Maze a text, not understanding why he left without a word or what the hell was going on with him.

  Me: Where are you? What happened?

  Chapter Fifteen

  Maze

  I stepped out of the ring and headed straight for the showers. At least today, Joe was happy with my performance. But underneath it all was a deep-seated unhappiness for us both, because we’d choreographed some moves for my defeat. When the other four Triad heads had offered Joe this out, he’d refused. But then they brought the proposal to me, unbeknownst to Joe, a chance for the Tong he led to break away from the Triad without bloodshed. How could I refuse?