16
THE drive home the next day was laid back and relaxing. Kage wore his boots and a pair of loose, faded jeans that hung from his hipbones and showed his striped purple boxer shorts. He pulled on a simple plain V-neck tee and drew his hair into that cute topknot.
He caught me staring at him about ten times before we even made it to the car.
“What is it?” he asked finally.
“I don’t know. You look… good.”
“Better than usual?” He glanced down at his attire. “What do you like? I’ll wear it every day.”
I laughed. “Those jeans and boxers for one. But I think it’s just maybe, I don’t know.”
We were on our way to the front desk to check out, and he stopped at the elevators and pushed the button for the lobby. “Out with it, college boy. Use your words.”
“I guess I feel sort of like I can look at you now. Like I couldn’t really before, but now I can.”
“Oh, I get it.” He raised a brow and gave me one of his devilish grins. “You mean since you’ve had my cock in your mouth, now you can admit that you find me irresistibly attractive.”
“Something like that.”
The empty elevator arrived, and we stepped on. The doors slid closed behind us.
Kage immediately set our luggage down, crowded me, and backed me into a corner. He pulled his t-shirt up to reveal his abs and boxers. “You like that?”
I looked down and took in the sight of that body I was becoming addicted to. “Yes.”
He kissed me softly on the lips and put his hand on my dick, cupping my balls and rubbing me through my shorts. Through his boxers I was still wearing.
“You like this?” he asked between kisses.
I sighed and leaned into his touch. “Yes.”
He shoved his hand down under my sac and stretched his fingers back between my legs, pressing his fingertips up into the crack of my ass and putting the barest of pressure on my hole.
I gasped and went up on my toes.
“I’m going to fuck you. You know that, right?” He dropped his mouth to the side of my throat and pressed warm, soft kisses there. “I’m so hard right now just thinking about it.” He groaned and bit into me, not enough to break the skin, but enough to hurt in a good way.
Suddenly the elevator stopped, and a family filed on. A husband, wife, and teenage son and daughter. Perfect American family. My face went scarlet, and Kage stepped away from me and smiled.
I couldn’t help it. I let out what I think was the goofiest laugh to ever cross my lips. I could still feel Kage’s saliva on my throat, and the memory of his fingertip pressing against the entrance to my hole, and I just broke down. The mother and father tried not to look in our direction, but the son and daughter stared unapologetically. I think they all knew what was going on, and that made it even more hysterical to me.
To Kage’s credit, he held it together. He nodded politely at the family and stood there with his hands clasped in front of his boner. I, on the other hand, couldn’t cover mine now without drawing attention to it. I was already being watched like a hawk by the two teens. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore, and I just turned and buried my face in the corner and shook with near-silent laughter.
I didn’t turn around until the elevator stopped, and the family had disembarked into the lobby. I heard the mother say, “Should we complain?” And the father mumbled something I couldn’t hear. The teens just giggled.
Kage held the door for me as I got myself under control and was finally able to step out.
“Remind me to never play poker with you,” he said. “You cannot keep a straight face.”
The same lady was working the desk when we checked out as when we arrived. She recognized us and gave Kage that same blinding smile. “Did you enjoy your stay?” she asked.
Apparently she thought my comment about cuddling had been a joke, because it hadn’t discouraged her interest in Kage one bit. I felt like she needed reminding. But I had barely taken a hesitant step toward Kage when he reached over and hauled me to him, pulling me into a one-armed embrace and turning my body to face his.
“You have no idea how much,” he told her, settling his mouth on mine for a quick kiss. Not enough to get us kicked out of the hotel, but enough to let anyone who might have been looking know that we were together. “Thank you for choosing such a romantic room for us, ma’am.”
She smiled. “My pleasure. You two take care.”
“See?” Kage said when we were out of earshot. “A little friendliness goes a long way. Yesterday you came at her with that, We like to cuddle, bitch! That’s why she got an attitude.”
“No, I think the difference today was that you weren’t flirting with her.”
He smiled indulgently at me. “Okay, you win. No more flirting.”
I frowned. “I didn’t say you couldn’t flirt. I’m not your boss or anything.”
“Or jealous?”
“Fuck no, I’m not jealous. Even if I did have a right to be, which I don’t, I’m not really the jealous type.”
“So I can flirt with anybody, male or female, and you’d be fine with it?”
“Well, I don’t think you should be flirting with guys, for obvious reasons. You’re trying to get a UFC contract. The last thing you need is for anything to cause problems with that.”
“And you think it would definitely be a problem? You think people would care?”
I laughed harshly and stared at him. “Dude, people always care about shit like that. At the very least, it would overshadow your talent and reduce you to a novelty act.”
“And at worst?”
“You know the answer to that. No contract.”
“I think you’re being a little negative. But, you’re the expert.”
I didn’t mention the fact that I was far from an expert, because I didn’t think it took an expert to figure out that making out with guys in public was the last thing a UFC hopeful ought to be doing. I also didn’t think Kage was that naive, either. He knew I was right, but for some reason he was playing devil’s advocate. Sometimes it seemed like the more I got to know him, the less I actually knew him.
“Kage, you do understand that we can’t be open like that in front of people, right? I mean that was a one-time thing. Just because no one knows us here. We’ll have to be extra careful when you get more well-known. And around people we know.”
I saw his lips tighten, and I knew something about what I had said didn’t sit well with him. He did let me drive his Vette, but he slept almost the entire trip. Or at least he stuck his sunglasses on his face, crossed his arms, and lay still the whole time. I enjoyed the drive as much as I could while worrying that Kage was pissed at me.
Once we arrived back at the Alcazar, he seemed to have a fresh outlook. There were no remnants of the attitude he’d had when we got in the car, so I breathed easier.
“I’m starving,” he said as soon as I parked the car in his space in the parking garage.
“Yeah, I could definitely use something to eat,” I agreed.
We dropped our things off in our respective apartments, then Kage came and picked me up. We headed down to the Grotto together. The whole way there, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we looked different now. That everyone could see what we’d done— what we were to each other.
Steve accosted us when we were walking through the empty lobby. As if pulling the words straight out of my head, he said, “Hey, you two look different!”
We both stopped mid-stride and made a detour to the front desk, where Steve stood alone. I gave him a nervous smile. “What do you mean, different?”
“You look nice and tan, like you’ve been to the beach. I need to lay out before I disappear with this white-ass skin of mine. Where have you guys been going, up on the roof?”
“Oh,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound as relieved as I felt. “Our tans.”
Kage smirked at me and took over. “We went out of town for a couple of days on business, and we took my car with the top down.”
“Lucky!” Steve said with a pout. “You still got that black Corvette?”
Kage nodded.
“He let me drive it,” I said, instantly realizing how bratty I sounded.
“No need to rub it in, Jamie.” Steve crossed his arms and fixed me with a mock glare. “We can’t all be as hot as you, coming in here with those big brown fuck-me eyes and wrapping the boss man around your little wee-wee.”
“That is ridiculous!” My mouth fell open. Kage just laughed, and I stared helplessly at him. I looked around behind us to make sure we were still alone. “Do you just let your employees say shit like that? What if someone heard him and believed that?”
Kage stopped laughing and smiled at me. “You want me to set him straight?”
I nodded emphatically. “Yes.”
Kage put on his serious face and took a deep breath. “Steve, just so you know, Jamie’s wee-wee is not little.”
“I knew it. I fucking knew it.” A huge grin overtook Steve’s face, and he covered his mouth with the fingers of one hand, his glitter nail polish sparkling under the fluorescents. Then he did a little hip shake behind the counter and pumped his hands in the air. “The minute Aldo brought this beautiful boy through the front door and said he was your intern, I said, Mmm hmm. I see where this is going. And then the way you’ve been acting? So obvious.”
I was still shocked and pissed about the whole direction of the conversation. We were supposed to be keeping a low profile, and here Kage was encouraging lewd comments from big-mouth Steve. Hell, he had basically just admitted that we’d been intimate.
“Remember what we talked about earlier, Kage?” I grated under my breath. “Career on the line.”
Kage reached out and touched my face, cupping my cheek in his palm and running the pad of his thumb across my bottom lip. “Chill, baby. Steve and I are friends. He won’t say anything, and there’s nobody else around.”
I glanced behind me again at the empty lobby, then into the darkened casino, where a couple of elderly ladies were playing slots with their backs to us.
Steve winked and pointed discreetly at a security camera. “Just don’t forget about those,” he warned in a sing-song voice.
Kage balked. “I don’t give a fuck. I can touch his face if I want. Fuck the cameras. Fuck my uncle, fuck the public...” His voice got louder and louder, until he was nearly yelling. “I’m a grown man.”
“Uh-oh,” Steve said. “I feel a Kage rage coming on. Jamie, you need to get your man in there and get him some food in his belly. Then take him upstairs and give him some good loving. We don’t need him going all ragey on us.”
“Shut up, Steve,” Kage said. “Come on, Jamie. Let’s get to the Grotto and see what Enzo’s got on special today.”
When Enzo heard we were in the restaurant, he bustled out, wiping his meaty fingers on his apron. “Kage, Jamie… So glad to see you today. I have something extra special. You like lobster?”
I nodded, licking my lips. “With butter sauce?”
“Of course with butter sauce. My special herb butter sauce will have you begging for more.”
“I think I already want more,” I told him. “Bring it on.”
Kage just sat back and watched me with one of his smug cat smiles. His eyelids were at half mast, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was imagining me naked. Enzo took one look at him and beamed, so I was pretty sure he saw it, too.
“Anything special today, Kage?” he asked. “How about some white wine, and a tiny little itty-bitty piece of cake for dessert?”
“Sounds good, Enzo,” he said.
I nearly dropped my teeth. Michael Kage was ordering cake?
After we’d done away with four glasses of good white wine and six mouthwatering lobster tails, Enzo ordered our table cleared and brought out a large piece of cake and two forks, placing it in the middle for us to share.
“This is our White Wedding Cake,” Enzo said with a grin. “We don’t even put it on the menu. It’s for special guests only.”
Kage and I each picked up a fork and took a small bite of the dessert.
“This is delicious, Enzo,” Kage groaned. “If I’m going to blow my diet, this is definitely the way to do it.”
Enzo smiled and slipped his hands into his apron pockets. “I just like to see you happy, my dear. Things are going good for you, yes?” He turned to me. “You are helping him to get his contract?”
“I certainly hope so.” I smiled across the table at Kage, who dragged another bite of cake off of his fork with his teeth. “I think we’re making some real progress. He’s definitely more well-known than he was a month ago.”
“And well-liked,” Kage added. “Thanks to Jamie pimping me out like a porn star.”
My eyes widened in surprise, and Enzo started waving his hands in front of his face. “I’m out of here,” he said, smiling. “This conversation is getting too weird for me. Enjoy your cake, boys.”
“Hey, I’m just giving your fans what they want,” I told Kage after Enzo was gone. “More skin. You work hard for that body, so you might as well show it off.” I took a bite of cake and licked the icing from my lip. “Besides, it’s not like I have any fight footage to share. Hell, I’ve never even seen you fight. For all I know you never have.”
“Don’t even think about taunting me,” he said dangerously. “You have no idea how many people I’ve hurt. I sent a guy to the hospital the night you flew in. I broke his arm in an armbar. Stupid fucker wouldn’t tap out.”
“What? You’ve fought since I’ve been here?” I dropped my fork and scowled at him. “Why didn’t you invite me? I want to see you fight.”
“Are you sure about that?” He reached across the table and touched my hand where it lay on the table, teasing it open with his index finger. Suddenly he looked vulnerable, seemed to be searching for the right thing to say.
“What? Do you not want me to see you fight? That doesn’t make any sense. It’s not like I haven’t watched you train almost daily for the last month.”
“That’s different.” He traced a figure eight into my palm over and over, staring at it all the while.
“Why don’t you want me to see you fight, Kage? I don’t understand. Are you afraid you’ll lose?”
He huffed out a breath. “I’m never afraid of losing a fight.”
Apparently, I was going to have to drag whatever this was out of him, because he wasn’t going to give it up easily.
“What is it that you don’t want me to see?”
“I guess I just don’t want you to see me differently.” He didn’t look me in the eye as he spoke, just kept watching his finger tracing that figure eight, which seemed to have literally become an infinity sign. “You don’t know how brutal it can get in there, Jamie. How brutal I can get. I kinda like the way you look at me now.”
“Like I want to eat you alive? You like how I’ve got the cannibal thing going on, huh?”
He laughed quietly. “Yeah, I like that.”
“So what makes you think that will change?”
“Fighting is different when it’s someone you know.” He finally met my eyes, and there was a haunted look in his. “You want to see me get punched in the face so hard my knees buckle? Or kicked in the kidney so hard I can’t stand up straight?”
I stared at him, my eyes wide, imagining the things he was describing. He was right. I wasn’t sure if I could I sit on the other side of a chain link fence and watch Kage get hurt.
“What, no comment?” he asked.
There was a change in his voice, and in his demeanor. That little light his eyes had when he looked at me— the one that made me believe he might see something special— was gone. Snuffed out and replaced by a cold darkness. Then the barest hint of a sneer tipped one corner of his lips, and I pulled away.
“Think you can handle watching me bend a gown man’s arm backward, hearing the bone snap before he has a chance to tap out? How about punching a man in the face until there’s blood spewing everywhere and he’s lying there limp like a rag doll, head flopping as I bash his fucking head into the mat? Have you ever seen a guy kicked in the face so hard you think his neck snapped? How about seeing me choke a man unconscious and wondering for the next sixty seconds if he’s ever going to wake up again?”
“Kage—”
“That’s what I do, Jamie. I hurt people. Do you know what they call me in there?” He gave me a smile that was one part sarcastic, two parts cruel. “They call me the Machine. Do you think you can have feelings for a machine?”
Feelings? Did he want me to have feelings for him? Because I was pretty sure I already did.
“Michael…” I don’t know why I called him by his first name. It just came out, and in the moment it felt right. “You’re not a machine, okay? You’re human. And on top of that, I believe you’re a good person.”
“You don’t know that for sure. What if I’m not?” It sounded more like a threat than a question. “What if I’m a bad person, and you just haven’t gotten to know the real me yet?”
“Why are you trying to scare me?” I asked, leaning toward him and looking into his eyes. Searching for that spark, silently begging for it.
Then he blinked and gave me a weak smile, and there it was again. The old Kage. The one I’d spent the last weeks trying to get to know.
He shrugged. “Not trying to scare you. I just need you to know.”
“Know what?” I pressed.
“Can we get out of here?” he asked, avoiding the question. “Let’s go to my apartment.”
Kage threw down a tip for our server, and we made our way to the elevators across from the front desk. While we waited, Steve called out. “Hey, guys, something I forgot to mention.”
We walked over to the desk again, and Steve looked around before speaking. “You know Aldo said he was on babysitting duty when he brought Jamie in. I didn’t think anything about it then, but…”
“Yeah?” Kage narrowed his eyes. “You think he’s still babysitting?”
Steve shrugged. “Yeah, I do. I’ve seen watching a lot.”
“How often?”
Steve looked over his shoulder, then back at us. “Enough to make me wonder. In fact, I actually entertained the notion that Aldo had switched teams and was crushing on our Jamie. I mean, everyone around here is. But it’s not that, of course.”
Kage ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. “Alright. Thanks, Steve.” He took me by the elbow and guided me back to the elevators. “Just text me when you’re ready for me to hook you up with that other thing,” he called over his shoulder.
“I will,” Steve said. “Bye, Jamie.”
“Bye,” I called, stumbling over my own feet as Kage pulled me roughly into the closing elevator. “So what the hell was that all about?”
“Steve wants me to hook him up with some of that stuff we had the other night.”
“No, I mean the other. About the babysitting.”
“Oh. My uncle’s goons. Apparently you’re part of their job description now.”
“Really?” That little tidbit of information threw me for a loop. “What, are they following me?”
“Probably. I didn’t mean to get you mixed up in all of this. I just wanted… Hang on.” Kage slipped his key card into the penthouse slot, and the elevator climbed all the way to the top of the building. The door slid open, revealing the long hallway with a large door on either end— one for Kage’s apartment, the other for his uncle’s. He stuck his key card into the lock on his door and didn’t speak again until we were safely inside his apartment.
“You just wanted what?” I prompted.
“I just wanted you. My uncle thought I needed a publicist, and he was interviewing a couple of guys with big name clients: pro ball players, Olympic gold medalists, stuff like that.”
“And you wanted me?” I sat down on the sofa and stared at him. “Why?”
“I don’t know. It was like fate, right? What are the chances that I’d be at that show to see some dude I trained with a couple of times, and then here comes this hot little college guy making up shit like he’s some kind of expert publicist? It was unreal, man. Blew my mind.”
“So you hired me because you thought it was fate?”
He climbed onto the sofa, but not beside me. He got right on my lap, straddling me with his big thighs, and leaned in to kiss me. His mouth engulfed mine, sucking hungrily at my lips before pushing his tongue inside. I met him with a hunger of my own, and we licked and tasted and sucked until I couldn’t breathe. Finally, he pulled back, even as I was moving in for another kiss.
“I hired you because you were the best man for the job,” he said. “Because you were fearless.”
“Fearless? I was scared shitless.”
He laughed. “Everybody’s scared, Jamie. Even me.”
“Yeah, right. Earlier you said you weren’t scared.”
“I said I wasn’t afraid of losing a fight.”
I groaned. “There you go with the riddles again. One of these days, I’m gonna get a decoder ring so that I can carry on a conversation with you.”
He took my face in his hands. “Look, all you need to know is that I hired you because you were a sexy little liar, and you were willing to say whatever it took to get my attention. What better qualifications should a publicist have?”
“I was not trying to get your attention.”
He laughed. “Yes, you were. You were trying to get in my pants.”
“Oh. My. God. I was not.” My face turned fourteen shades of crimson.
Kage slid his tongue between my lips and pulled away again. “You would have gotten on your knees right there in the backstage area of Phillips Arena. You would have bent over that buffet table and let me take your ass right there in front of those reporters. They couldn’t stand you, by the way.”
“I know very well how much they hated me. However, I think you must be confusing me with someone else who would have let you bend them over. That was definitely not me.”
“Yes, it was. You may not want to admit it, but even then you were looking at me like you wanted to eat me. You would have swallowed my cock right then and begged for seconds.”
And then reality hit me right in the face. “You hired me because you wanted to fuck me.”
One of those sexy cat grins stretched across his handsome face. “It may have crossed my mind.”
“I feel so used. So cheap.” I was only teasing. I think he knew that, but maybe he didn’t.
“Tell you what,” he said, hopping off my lap and leaving me with an unsatisfied boner I’d hoped he would help me take care of. “I don’t want you to feel like I hired you for sex, because I assure you that is far from the truth. So I’m gonna let you do your job during working hours, and then you can choose whether or not you want to spend personal time with me during off hours. Okay?”
I groaned and made an obvious adjustment to my pants. “Damn, I need to learn to think before I speak. I really don’t think that’s necessary, do you? I mean, we’re both big boys. We can handle it.”
Kage smiled indulgently. “I want to, believe me. But I think you need to at least go to your apartment and sleep on it. I’m the one with something to lose here, so…”
His weighted words hit home, and suddenly I thought I understood. Kage was in a precarious position where a potential sexual relationship with me was concerned. For one thing, he was paying me. And for another, he was on his way to becoming a celebrity. If things went sour, or if I changed my mind because I felt pressured, it was his reputation on the line. He wanted me, but he was being careful, and I had to respect that.
On my way out the door, something occurred to me, and I looked back over my shoulder. “Hey, I thought your uncle was supposed to be some hard-ass businessman. How did you talk him into hiring an intern with no experience?”
He grinned. “I told him I wouldn’t fight anymore.”