“You’re pretty awesome, aren’t you?” I said as I admired his shelf of accomplishments.
He shrugged it off, but any man with this many accolades had to be a pretty badass fighter. I wanted to see him in action, all sinewy muscles and graceful lunges. I pictured it in my head. He was probably as graceful in that huge bed. Why would someone need a bed that big? How many people does he have in it?
Cut it out, Lexi. How many women he puts in his bed is none of your business.
I jumped on his bed face first and buried my head into the pillows. The bed was fantastic. It smelled just like him. I stilled when Ryder’s hand touched my ankle. He slid it down and removed my black pump. My body heated up as he did the same with the other shoe.
“You want to take off your dress?”
Hell yeah!
My head snapped up, and I looked over my shoulder at him. “Are we going to have sex?” I asked as I got up on my knees and began to pull my dress up my thighs.
He smiled and shook his head. He walked over to the closet, pulled the door open, and took a T-shirt off a stack of perfectly folded clothes and threw it at me.
“Put this on. I’ll be right back.”
He was really killing the bad-boy image with the extremely neat apartment, well-organized closet, and then turning down my drunken advances. I pulled my dress over my head and put on his shirt. It was huge on me but way more comfortable than sleeping in my dress.
By time he came back, I was drifting off. He tapped on my shoulder and handed me a bottle of water and two pills.
“Take these. It will help with your hangover in the morning.” I tried to reach for them, but my stomach clenched. I jumped off his bed and raced into the bathroom. I threw up everything I’d consumed, plus some. As I made friends with the toilet, Ryder’s hands gently pulled back my hair. I wasn’t too drunk to be embarrassed. I was going to hate myself in the morning for letting him see me like this.
“You okay?” he asked after several silent minutes with me hovering over the toilet. I was too exhausted to pull my head up. I probably looked like I passed out in there.
“I’m fine,” I mumbled as I forced myself up with Ryder’s help. If I were alone, I would’ve slept on the bathroom floor. I rinsed my mouth out at the sink, then trotted back into his room, grabbed the pills, and threw them into my mouth. I tilted the bottle of water to my lips and drank them down.
“I’ll be on the couch if you need me.”
“What? Why? There’s plenty of space for you to sleep here. Four people could sleep here and not touch.”
He looked at me like he was going to argue, but I gave him an incredulous look and he sighed in resignation. He swiftly pulled his shirt over his head and took my breath away. His body was a work of art. Intricate artwork inked from his wrist, up his arm, and over his shoulder. On the other side, the tattoo didn’t run down his whole arm, it stopped over his bicep. He also had a small tattoo on his lower abdomen that was mostly covered by his jeans. But more beautiful than the tattoos was his body. Every muscle was prominently outlined underneath his tattoos, well defined under his smooth skin.
He loosened his belt, unzipped his jeans, and pulled them down over his hips. His thighs were thick and strong with a light dusting of dark hair. His boxer briefs hugged his body, and the thick bulge between his legs caused moisture to pool between mine.
How much will he take off?
Unfortunately, he stopped there.
He positioned himself at the far end of the bed, but it made no difference. My body was so aware of him that he may as well have been on top of me.
Chapter Nine
Ryder
Alexis Cole…
That name haunted me for years. I watched as she slept, sprawled out across my bed, and I knew I’d just bought myself a shitload of trouble. What I felt for her was lust, but it was laced with something so intense I was almost afraid to pursue anything physical with her. I was pretty sure I was going to fuck her. I just knew I shouldn’t.
I’d been here before, and it didn’t end well. I didn’t do well in relationships. I wouldn’t allow myself to get to the point where a woman could cause my world to crumble. No matter how sexy she was and no matter how much my dick wanted to claim her. She moaned softly and cuddled deeper into my pillows. Her shirt had ridden up to her hips, exposing the soft swell of her ass. The tiny black panties she was wearing barely covered anything, but my hand itched to grab them and rip them off.
I jumped off the bed and decided a shower was in order before my morning workout. The cold water spraying out of the showerhead hit my skin like sharp icicles. The frigid torture did nothing to cool the fire ignited by the beautiful creature in my bed.
I should’ve known better than to get close to the one woman who made me feel more than lust. The moment she approached me at the bar, I knew I was in trouble. The way she pushed her soft curves against me on the dance floor made me feel delirious, like I had more than two drinks. Her movements were intoxicating, her touch powerfully stimulating. Sleeping in the same bed was a big mistake.
I turned the hot water on because the cold water was making everything numb except my hard dick. I wrapped my hand around my cock as the water began to warm my blood. Images of my Alexis spread open on my bed, moaning as I pounded into her soft, moist heat, brought me quick release. I stroked my cock until I’d unloaded a small fraction of the ache she’d caused.
A couple minutes later, I wrapped a towel around my waist, walked quietly into the room, and pulled on a pair of track pants and a T-shirt. I left Alexis sleeping in my bed, my dick calm enough to venture down to the gym, but my body was still highly aware it didn’t really get what it was craving.
Two hours later, with an eight-mile run, two rounds on the speed bag, and a hundred push-ups behind me, Ty was struggling to hold the heavy bag as I pounded it. I’d been trying to exert all my pent-up frustration to no avail.
“What the fuck is up with you today? And where’d you disappear to last night?”
“I had to take care of someone.” I let out a few quick punches and switched over to power kicks.
“Is that some kind of code for getting laid?”
“No. It means I had to drag a drunken Alexis out of the club and let her sleep it off upstairs.”
“Alexis? David’s stepdaughter Alexis?”
“Yeah,” I answered, panting heavily, but not ready to cut the workout.
“I thought you refused to look after her.”
“I did, but after last night, maybe she does need someone to look after her.” If she would’ve offered herself to any other man the way she did me, I was sure they wouldn’t have cared how many drinks she had. What was more frightening was how much I wanted to protect her from anything that might happen.
“She’s going to fuck with your head and the fight you have coming up,” Ty said quietly. He was there when I withdrew because of my shoulder, and he’d been devastated. All the work we did that year got shitted on when I jumped over that railing to save Alexis.
“She won’t mess up the fight.” I huffed, punching the bag so hard Ty got pushed back.
I wasn’t so sure about David fucking with my head, though. David always had a way of getting anything he wanted, and I was awed by it until my mother and I became a casualty to it. This time he was throwing Alexis at me to get back into my life, and it might flip my world upside down.
Chapter Ten
Alexis
I tried to make a quick escape from Ryder’s place without being noticed, but I’d forgotten the glass screen from the hallway made me visible to the whole gym. Not many people were in the gym, but my eyes were immediately drawn to Ryder anyway, so the place could’ve been empty as far as I was concerned. His flexing muscular body, his sharp jabbing movements, and his excellent form paralyzed me.
I gaped at him as if in a helpless trance. I couldn’t get my feet to move toward the exit. His dark hair was drenched with sweat. His muscles tightened and st
rained as he slammed his fist into the huge bag over and over again.
How does he manage to be even more appealing while violently mashing a bag and sweating profusely?
He’d grown a little dark, scruffy hair on his strong jaw overnight. His tanned skin looked so smooth. I wanted to run my hands over the ridged valley of his abdomen and feel the warmth of his skin under my tongue. He was the perfect recipe for disaster, and I was aching to be destroyed.
His muscles were tightly cut everywhere, and I wondered just how well shaped he’d be under those shorts. As if on cue to my ogling, he stopped hitting the bag and turned his head toward me.
A wild rush of heat flowed through my body as he smiled at me. Oh, shit. He knew I’d been checking him out. No. I was standing there practically fucking him with my eyes.
He nodded toward the door, ordering me to come into the gym. Damn. I wished I hadn’t let my hormones rule me and made the quick escape I’d planned. I’d spent way more time than sane smelling his pillow, imagining what it would be like waking next to him. I felt my common sense disappearing as I approached the door and met him halfway across the room. He had that kind of effect on my senses.
He stopped in front of me, crowding me with his big body. I felt the energy radiating off his skin, or maybe it was all the testosterone in the room that made me feel dazed. It had to be caused by something more than his cocky smile and sparkling baby blues.
He bit his lower lip, his eyes traveling over my dress, making me feel naked. My nipples pebbled as though he caressed them with more than a hungry gaze.
“Where are you going?”
“Home,” I croaked. Damn, he was affecting my vocal skills as well.
“How do you plan on getting there? You didn’t bring your car.”
I shrugged. I hadn’t thought far enough ahead, but I guessed I could’ve called a cab once I got outside.
“You don’t want to walk around this neighborhood in your little party dress.” His eyes darted down to the hemline of my dress, and he shook his head as though he were in charge of where I went and what was acceptable for me to wear.
“I’m almost done here. Then we can go get something to eat.” He grabbed my hand, and despite the hand wraps he wore, a zap of electricity passed between us. His gaze jumped to mine, and I knew he felt it too. He caressed the back of my hand with his thumb and smiled, pulling me across the gym toward the man he’d been working out with.
“This is Tyler Bradshaw the Third,” Ryder said as we stopped in front of him.
The man cut him an annoyed look before he said, “Call me Ty.”
He was tall and built like a bodybuilder, his shirt stretched across his chest like a second skin. His hazel eyes looked way better than mine, maybe because of the sharp contrast between them and his caramel skin. He reached a hand out, and I shook it.
“Alexis.”
“You’re the reason Ryder’s so wound up today.” He laughed as Ryder glared at him.
Is he wound up? Good, because I felt twisted up inside. I ached to reach out and touch him, taste him.
“Let’s go.” Ryder pulled me away from Ty before he revealed more information I’d love to know. We went through a set of double doors on the other side of the gym. These doors were steel, and a long hallway ran behind them with a number of doors along it. The corridor was humid from the steam billowing out from under one of the doors I assumed was the showers.
At the end of the corridor, Ryder pushed open a door to a small office and practically shoved me inside. “Stay here while I grab a shower.”
“Why do I have to stay here? Can’t I wait out in the gym?” I wasn’t really great with small, dimly lit rooms. I’d much rather watch the men spar. As long as Ryder wasn’t out there, I didn’t have to worry about looking like a drooling idiot.
“No,” he said with no explanation as to why, then turned and headed back down the hall toward the showers.
I looked around the room and decided it couldn’t be Ryder’s office. There was a small, old desk with piles of papers all over it. The carpet was brown and appeared to be something from the seventies.
A dozen picture frames were hung on the wall, and the television had to be an old black and white. For a gym that was so up to date with every equipment imaginable, this just didn’t fit. It felt like I’d stepped back in time.
I walked over to the pictures on the wall and quickly spotted a younger Ryder in one of them. Even as a teenager, he had a fierce fire in his eyes as he posed with an award he’d won. Next to that picture there was an even younger shot of Ryder and David.
The photo was fantastic, taken at exactly the right moment. Ryder was delivering a punch, which probably knocked out his opponent, and David was standing ringside, cheering him on. Despite what Ryder thought, David loved him, and my mom would move the earth to be able to fix their relationship.
I walked over to the desk and decided to arrange some of the mess on it. Before I knew it, I’d organized all the invoices and folders into neat little piles.
Ryder walked back in the room. His chest was bare, and he wore a pair of dark sweats. His wet hair dripped onto his shoulders, and I watched as a water droplet ran down his chest and over his nipple. Damn, I was jealous of the water touching his skin. He pulled a T-shirt over his head and narrowed his eyes as he glanced around the room.
“Got bored?” he asked, cocking his eyebrow.
“No, but going by the polar opposite in your apartment, I thought your OCD might go into overdrive in here.”
He laughed dryly as he walked farther into the room and sat at the edge of the desk. “I don’t have OCD, but my uncle definitely needed some help with organization.”
“Well, you’re welcome.”
He watched me pensively. “Do you have a job?”
“Why?”
“I spend most of my time training or on the road fighting. I could use someone to keep this office in order. Pay the bills and stuff like that.”
“I don’t know.” Being around Ryder for a short period of time was throwing me off. Seeing him on a daily basis would destroy every bit of control I was fighting for.
“Why not?” He slid off the desk, walked around, and stood beside me.
“I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”
He leaned in close and smiled. “Does it have something to do with your being attracted to me?”
“I’m not attracted to you,” I snapped. My irritation and jumpy demeanor only proved him right.
He threw his arm around my shoulder. I was immediately enveloped with his scent. I didn’t know if it was just soap or something more, but he smelled incredible. I involuntarily leaned in closer. “Too bad, because I’m attracted to you.” He buried his nose into my hair and said, “Let’s go eat.”
My heart fluttered. It took ten years, but I finally got Ryder to admit he was attracted to me.
Chapter Eleven
Ryder
We walked to the café a block down from the gym. I’d been coming here since I was eight, which should have made me question bringing Alexis here. Denise, the owner, considered herself my family and, as such, either embarrassed me with old stories or became overprotective when she didn’t like a woman I brought in. Usually I didn’t care if she liked the women because they wouldn’t be sticking around for long. But I really didn’t want her chasing Alexis away before I got a chance to figure out what I was going to do about her.
“Where’d you find this one?” Denise looked at Alexis with disapproval.
“Be nice, Denise. She’s David’s stepdaughter.”
“Oh… Oh, I get it. You'd do anything to get David away from the gym.”
I wasn’t sure what she thought was going on between Alexis and me, but I hadn’t even figured it out, so I wished she would clue me in. Maybe she thought I was using Alexis to get the gym, but really, David was using her to get me back into his life.
“Are you ready to order?” she asked, eyeing Alexis suspiciously.
Denise was also a close friend to my mom, and she was marking Alexis as the enemy. She was the daughter of the woman who wrecked her friend’s marriage. They were pissed when they found out I’d almost died pulling her from the ocean. They didn’t want her to die, but they were more annoyed that I put myself at risk.
“Give us a minute, please.”
“All right.” She eyed Alexis one last time before leaving us alone.
“I must look like I spent the night in your bed, because she’s looking at me like I’m your latest tramp.”
“You did spend the night in my bed.”
“You know what I mean.” She glared at me. I smiled at her, and her mouth slowly formed into a smile. “Nothing happened, and she probably thinks we had a one-night stand.”
“Don’t worry about Denise. She thinks she’s my mother. You should try the burger.”
She glanced at her menu, but not before giving me a look to let me know she was aware I changed the subject.
“I’m not really hungry.” She looked back up at me.
“You need to eat something.”
“Will you take me home after I eat?”
“Sure. You can grab some of your things and come back to my place.”
“Why would I do that?” She narrowed her eyes and a glimmer of that angry spark from the night before returned.
“Because your parents think you need looking after, and I think they may be right.”
“I thought we already discussed me not needing you to babysit me.”
“After the way you got drunk last night, I think you do. Besides, it has to be pretty lonely in that big house.”
She stared me down, trying to figure out what her next argument would be, but then she sighed and looked away. She’d given up. She was staying with me tonight, and maybe many more nights. Denise came back, and I ordered for both of us.
Fight for Me Page 5
