Fighter in Lingerie

by Penelope Sky

  He sat across from me and ate quietly, scrolling through his phone. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy to check his social media pages, so he was probably looking through emails or whatever villains did.

  I had to admit that salmon didn’t go with coffee—at all.

  Without taking his eyes off his phone, he addressed me. “You look beautiful today.” The words rolled off his tongue so easily. His masculine voice naturally made my thighs clench under the table. Even if I had no idea what he looked like, I would get off just to the sound of his voice.

  “Thanks. You look beautiful every day.” The words flew out of my mouth automatically, like a bird that took flight for the sky. It happened so quickly, I couldn’t stop it, especially since it was over by the time I’d realized it happened.

  He slowly looked up, his gorgeous blue eyes meeting mine. He didn’t give me that smug smile that he wore when he won an argument. He held my gaze with pure sincerity, like those words meant something to him.

  It was one of those rare times when I couldn’t handle his intense stare, so I looked down at my food, embarrassed I’d said something so pathetic. It was impossible for me not to feel attracted to a man who looked the way he did, a handsome face with a perfect body to boot. If he were a normal man I’d met at a bar, I’d probably be so hung up on him. I’d probably imagine our life together before our second date.

  He finally turned his gaze back to his phone, giving me some reprieve from his suffocating presence.

  I kept eating my salmon, enjoying the taste but not loving it. “So, can I expect to eat fish every day for breakfast?”

  “Unless you cook something yourself.” He drank his coffee then licked his lips.

  “You really eat this every day?” I asked incredulously. “What about your cheat day?”

  He gave me a blank stare. “Does it look like I have cheat days?”

  No. It looked like he did nothing but work out and drink protein smoothies. “Well, I can’t live like that. I need some pancakes and bacon once in a while. Some cereal too. Chips and salsa. Spaghetti. Not fish or chicken and veggies all the time.”

  “Alright. Put it on the list on the fridge. My maid will pick it up for you.”

  I forgot that he had someone that cleaned up the penthouse in the middle of the day. I’d never seen her. “What’s she like?”

  “Who?”

  “The maid.”

  He shrugged. “She’s nice. I never see her.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “Because she purposely comes when I’m not here. I want this house clean and the fridge stocked, but I don’t want to make small talk with someone who works for me. When I’m home, I don’t want to be bothered.”

  I shouldn’t be surprised by his cold attitude toward his need for solitude. “I’ll put it on the list, then.”

  He finished his plate then drank his coffee slowly, leaning forward slightly, and his reflection was visible in the glass. The individual muscles of his back shifted and bunched at the slightest movement.

  “So, what is your schedule?”

  He stared at me blankly, like he had no idea what that meant.

  “You work late at the casino sometimes, but then you’re up early every morning. I don’t get it.”

  “I don’t sleep much,” he said simply. “I like to get my workouts done in the morning. If I don’t, I won’t complete them.”

  He had more discipline than an Olympic athlete. “I hate working out.”

  “You’re lucky you’re so damn beautiful that you don’t have to.”

  “Like you aren’t,” I countered, shoving my foot into my mouth.

  A smile crept over his lips.

  I looked away, wishing I would just shut my mouth and be quiet.

  2

  Bosco

  I sat in the back seat of the car while my driver took me to the casino. Carmen would be getting off work soon, but the crew of men I’d assigned to her would pick her up and take her back to my penthouse. If there was somewhere else she wanted to go, they would take her. If she wanted to go on a shopping spree with my cash, she could do that too.

  Whatever she wanted.

  When she saw those clothes in my closet, she became so angry. Visibly wounded and even a bit heartbroken, she died a little inside to think some other woman had my attention the way she did. She thought I had a more intense relationship with someone else, that I came inside a woman besides her. It ate her up inside, gnawed her to the bone.

  It made me smile every time I thought about it.

  She was jealous.

  Out-of-her-mind kind of jealous.

  Little did she know, I gave her size to my personal shopper and asked her to pick up cocktail dresses and gowns for her to wear to various events. I made appearances all over the city, not just at the casino.

  And Carmen thought they belonged to someone else…cute.

  Now, she was humbled by the truth, taking her hatred down a notch because of her humiliation. She seemed to open up to me a little more, trust me a lot more than she had before. Her mouth said things she regretted, that she thought I was a beautiful man.

  I couldn’t stop smirking.

  I kept my eyes out the window, thinking about the gorgeous woman who would be in my bed for the foreseeable future. She was complicated, deeply layered with so many different emotions that she was far from simple. That was why I found her fascinating—because she wasn’t brainless. Any other woman would have jumped for joy if I were obsessed with her like I was with Carmen. They would picture the life of power and luxury I could provide for them. They would make my properties into their castles. They would be proud of themselves for bagging a king.

  But Carmen was a queen of her own kingdom—a ruler who didn’t need a king.

  That made her the sexiest thing in the world—because she didn’t need me for anything.

  Her attitude was refreshing because it was real. She said contradictory things all the time, because she was so honest. She hated me at times, but then she wanted to fuck me harder than she ever had before. I could read her thoughts so easily, like I was sitting across from her at a poker match.

  I was grateful I’d happened to be passing that alleyway at that very moment.

  I hardly walked anywhere, so it almost seemed like fate.

  Maybe it was fate.

  I arrived at the casino, passed through the quiet floor since it was still too early for anyone to be there. The hardwood floors were sterile because the cleaning crew combed every single inch of the place to make sure a single chip hadn’t landed somewhere it shouldn’t have and everything was accounted for. The cages were empty of the strippers, and the music was off. All the lights were on, so the casino looked totally different from how it did in the evenings.

  Ronan’s back was to me as he spoke to a few guys on the security team. He was dressed down in jeans and a long-sleeve shirt since he wouldn’t be there later that evening.

  We hadn’t spoken since he’d stormed out of my office, and I knew the silence could last much longer. I approached him from behind, then dismissed the guys with a subtle wave of my hand.

  Ronan turned around, knowing I was there because I was the only person who could get rid of five men so quickly. He still wore that pissed-off expression, that serious scowl around his eyebrows. He slid his hands into his pockets and squared his shoulders, tensed for a fight rather than a conversation. He didn’t say anything, waiting for me to state what I wanted first.

  I didn’t even know where to begin. I’d never been good at these heart-to-heart conversations. Ronan was more sensitive than I was, slightly jealous that Mom and I had had a stronger connection than they did. I was the one who started this casino, and I was the reason Mom got to stop working as a dishwasher and a bartender. There was silent tension between us, something we’d both ignored for the last five years. “Everything you said was right, Ronan. I’ve never been the same.”

  We were the only people on that si
de of the casino, so no one could overhear us. He stared at me with the same startling blue eyes I possessed, both gifts from our mother. His attitude toward me hadn’t changed at all over the week.

  “You never truly appreciate something until it’s gone…” My mom worked hard most of her life to provide for us, and I don’t mean forty hours a week like most people. She worked two jobs and also made a home for us. She developed severe back problems from hunching over a sink for so long, in addition to anxiety and other issues. My biggest regret was she didn’t have more time to enjoy the luxurious life I gave her. She was in her early fifties when she passed away—way too young.

  Ronan stared at me, clearly unsure what I meant by that.

  “I’ve never gotten over her death, even though it’s been five years. I’m still bitter about it. If she’d gone to the doctor sooner, maybe things would have been different. What happened to her wasn’t fair, that all she ever did in her entire life was work.”

  Ronan’s anger started to dim like an extinguishing candle. I never spoke this way, so he knew I was being transparent with him.

  “I built a wall between us to mask the pain. I’ve shut down everything so I don’t have to think about it. This numbness has carried over to every other part of my life. I’ve felt dead inside every single day since her funeral.”

  He continued to listen.

  “You’re right, Ronan. I’m an asshole—but I shouldn’t be an asshole to you.” I held his gaze easily because we were the same height. It was like looking into a younger version of myself. He was two years younger than me, so we were practically the same age.

  Ronan crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his gaze toward the floor. He sighed deeply, taking his time as he considered what to say in response. “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting any of that. I figured you would just ignore what I said, and we would move on.”

  “How could I ignore that, Ronan?” Was I really that out of touch with reality? Was I really that cold?

  He shrugged. “You ignore a lot of things, Bosco. You're alive, but you’re barely living. You control every aspect of everything, and you’re so coldhearted about your decisions because you don’t actually feel anything.”

  Maybe he was right. “You want to go get a drink somewhere?” The second I asked the question, I realized I hadn’t tried to spend time with him once in the last five years. We didn’t even celebrate Christmas together. I just saw him at the casino…and that was it.

  “Yeah.” He looked me in the eye, his expression softening. “Let’s do it.”

  My men cleared out the few people hanging in the bar so we could have the place to ourselves. I frequented a few establishments in the area, so the businesses always knew how to handle my appearance. I always paid a service charge for the inconvenience they were causing to other customers, and since it was such a handsome price, the owners didn’t care.

  We sat at the bar, keeping an empty stool between us. I ordered a scotch. He ordered a Jack and Coke.

  The TVs were off, and the music in the background was dimmed to my preference. When I glanced at the time on my watch, I knew Carmen would be returning to the penthouse at any moment. I wondered if she would call me and ask where I was.

  Sometimes, she showed her jealousy. Sometimes, she showed her concern. Sometimes, she showed her strong attraction. In every instance, it made me feel more like a man than any other woman had.

  Ronan wiped his finger along the rim when he was drinking, his eyes watching his movements.

  Now that we were together, we should talk. It seemed like we were starting from the beginning, getting to know each other for the first time. “How’s Giada?”

  “That’s over,” he said quickly. “She could throw her legs behind her neck, but the sex went stale pretty quick.”

  Sex with Carmen wasn’t remotely close to being stale. It seemed like it’d just started. “Did she take it well?”

  “No,” he said with a sigh. “Most of them don’t.”

  I drank from my glass. “When you tell them it’s never gonna go anywhere, it seems to make them want you more.”

  “Unfortunately. So, what about your woman?” He lifted his gaze and looked at me.

  I had told him about the other women I’d screwed, but sharing the details of Carmen’s perfect body seemed wrong. Confiding our intimate moments, like her dirty talk and the way she was so wet for me seemed like a huge invasion of privacy. I never considered myself to be a gentleman, but I wanted to be a gentleman for her. “I’m still seeing her.”

  “How long has it been?”

  “A month.”

  “Wow.” He raised his left eyebrow. “That’s a really long time.”

  Not really. But for me, that was practically an eternity. “It’s strange because it seems like it’s only been a week.”

  The corner of his mouth rose in a smile. “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

  It’d definitely been flying.

  “So what is this?” he asked. “You said it was just a fling, but it doesn’t seem like it.”

  I wanted to shut down the conversation because this wasn’t a subject I was excited to share. But since I had a lot of making up to do, I had to start somewhere. Carmen wanted to draft that stupid contract to ensure her freedom, so Ronan would have to be aware of the relationship at that point anyway. “It’s more than a fling. But not much more.”

  Ronan stared at me like he wanted me to elaborate. “She must be incredible to keep your attention this long.”

  “She is incredible.” I blurted out the truth without missing a beat. “One hell of a woman. She tells me off one minute, then she’s all over me the next. She’s got a fiery attitude that makes her innately alluring. She doesn’t put up with bullshit—not even from me.”

  Ronan raised an eyebrow as he looked at me.

  “What?” I asked, unsure why he was surprised by my words.

  “It’s interesting…”

  “What?”

  “Not once did you describe her physical attributes. All you said was she was an amazing woman because of who she is…” His smile widened. “Definitely seems like more than a fling now.”

  I didn’t even notice the way I described her until he pointed it out. “I respect her. I’m not ashamed to admit that. She’s different from the other women I meet. Instead of being obsessed with my money and power, she’s indifferent to it. She’s independent and self-sufficient. She doesn’t need a man for anything because she can provide everything herself. It’s…sexy.”

  “That is sexy,” Ronan said in agreement. “I haven’t met a woman like that. Well, besides Mom.”

  Our mom had been the same way, hustling to give us a better life. She worked her ass off to make sure we had what we needed. She paid all the bills, got us through school, and she never needed a man for help.

  I’d never noticed the similarities until now.

  Maybe that was why I was drawn to Carmen so much—because she had my mother’s spirit.

  “But she hates you?” Ronan asked.

  “She did. I don’t think she does anymore. She was just using me for sex in the beginning. Now everything is more intense.” I persuaded her to be mine for the next three months, but if she really wanted to be free, she would have fought harder. I knew it, and she knew it. “We’ve actually negotiated an agreement…”

  “What kind of agreement?”

  “She’s mine for the next three months. After she does her time, I’ll let her go.”

  “Let her go?” he asked, an eyebrow raised. “That sounds sinister.”

  “Well, you know me…”

  “What does that mean? You’re forcing her?”

  “No, not at all.” When I ignored her, she couldn’t stand it. She called me in the middle of the night because she missed me. “She just doesn’t want anything serious to happen because I’m not right for her. She wants to find a husband and have a family. So she wants to walk away when the three months are over.”
r />   “Sounds like she wants to make sure she doesn’t fall in love with you.”

  He hit the nail right on the head. I saw the way she fell into me, but then abruptly pulled back because she got too close. She put up her walls, and sometimes they came down slowly. But when she realized they were missing, she quickly built new ones. She was stubborn in her decision that I wasn’t the right man for her. She wouldn’t change her mind, so she needed an escape plan. That’s what the contract was really about. I lifted my glass and nodded to him. “Exactly.”

  I came home a couple weeks later around midnight, expecting Carmen to be asleep since she worked early in the morning. I wasn’t down at the casino all the time, but now it felt like an eternity when there was a beautiful woman living in my penthouse.

  The elevator doors opened, and I stepped inside, shedding my black coat and hanging it on the coatrack along the wall. My tie was already undone, and the buttons of my suit were unfastened. I smelled like strippers, cigars, and booze. My clothes were always dry-cleaned after I wore them so the smell wouldn’t carry over into my home.

  When I stepped farther inside, I noticed the glow of the TV hitting the couch. The sound was so quiet, it was practically on mute. Looking like the sexiest thing in the world was Carmen, wearing one of my gray t-shirts as she lay on the cushions. Her knees were bent toward her body, making her shirt rise up and reveal her perky ass and amazing thighs.

  I watched her for a moment before I slowly walked toward her, making sure my shoes didn’t tap too loudly against the hardwood floor.

  She must have only partially been asleep, because her eyes opened and immediately darted to my face. Instead of being frightened by my frame leaning over her, she slowly sat up and pulled her hair out of her face.