Chapter Thirty-Four
Shane
The sun had set, and people had left one by one, until only Hector, me, and the woman in my arms remained. I’d thought about taking my leave, but Brooklyn had fallen asleep, and since she constantly pushed herself to the brink of exhaustion, I couldn’t bring myself to wake her up. Not to mention how comfortable I was myself. For the first time, I didn’t feel restless. Everything in my life was aligned, even if only temporarily.
“You seem happy, bro,” Hector said. “It’s not something I’ve seen on you for a while.”
Automatically I glanced down at Brooklyn, the reason for most of that happiness. She looked deceptively sweet when she slept. Although I had seen her sweet side more recently—I liked that she made me work for it, and didn’t show that side easily. It kind of made it feel like she saved it just for me. “I am. Things are lining up. I’m getting back to where I used to be.”
He nodded. “Now that you’ve got your fight.”
“Yeah, and I can’t wait to get in the cage with the guy. The asshole used to date Brooklyn, and that gives me even more motivation to beat him.”
Hector rolled the neck of his beer bottle in his fingers, delaying what he’d inevitably say—it was unlike him to plan his words before bluntly blurting them out.
“Spit it out,” I said.
“She date a lot of fighters?”
I tensed, sure I knew where he was going with this. “She actually goes out of her way not to date them.” At his skeptical look, I added, “Hey, I’m charming as shit. She tried to brush me off, and she comes with enough complications that I probably should’ve let her. I can only imagine how badly her dad and brothers would want to beat my ass if they found out about us.” It was good motivation to keep our relationship a secret, but if I had my way, we’d stop hiding it and tell them. Tell everyone. Just shout it out and deal with the repercussions.
All so she can leave me behind in a few weeks while her brothers and dad hold a grudge. Since I wanted to stay happy, I shut that thought down as fast as possible.
“But you’re Shane Knox, and you can take on anyone, right?” Hector asked, swinging his beer around.
I gave a short, mirthless laugh. “Fuck no. I know my limits, and I’d never have a chance against all three of them. One of them at a time, maybe, but they’re big boys, and without a ref there to break it up, it could get ugly.”
Hector glanced at Brooklyn—assumedly to double-check she was still asleep, something I could feel by her relaxed muscles and soft, slow breaths—and lowered his voice. “Don’t get me wrong, I like her. But I didn’t say anything about that social-climbing gold-digger you were with before, even though I had my suspicions, and I kicked myself afterward. I’m supposed to have your back.”
“You do have it, and I appreciate it. But Brooklyn isn’t anything like Jacquie—or Angelica for that matter. She’s not like any of the girls I’ve been with.” Hindsight was twenty-twenty, and now I could see how Jacquie had made sure to be front and center after every win, not to brag about me, like I’d thought back then, but to keep herself in the limelight. It didn’t feel great when she left me after loss number two, but I’d been too consumed with my mom and the various cancer treatments, and Jacquie was just one more in a sea of people who’d decided I wasn’t useful anymore.
Angelica and I had been one of those forever off-and-on couples in high school, based mostly on her moods and how much of a self-centered ass I was being. Once I started seriously training, the strain was too much to make whatever we had work. Our tight circle of friends meant we’d made peace for the most part. I got the vibe she thought eventually we’d give us another shot—hell, at one point, I’d thought it myself, figuring it was safest to stick with people who knew me before I was anyone—but after this past week with Brooklyn, there was no going back. “Brooklyn grew up in this world. She knows the ups and downs.”
My lungs tightened. It was something I’d already known, but I couldn’t help wondering how many downs she’d sit through. How could I possibly measure up against the men in her family? Sure, she could visit my world for a night, but she’d never want to set up a permanent residence here. She deserved better, too.
More and more, my thoughts involving her drifted toward the serious side of the fence, somewhere they had no business going. Not yet. Not until I’d proved myself and regained the ground in my career I’d lost.
“All I’m saying is that you’ve got a lot on the line,” Hector said. “Are you sure now’s the time to risk so much?”
Was I sure? Hell no. Did I care if being with her was reckless? Not if I weighed all the overwhelming positives, like kissing her and holding her and listening to her talk and laugh, and the way she centered me and made it easier to focus on what was important. Those things far outnumbered the risk, and that was before I even threw sex into the mix, which tipped the scales so far it wasn’t even a competition. “I’m sure that I’m not willing to let her go yet.”
…
As I drove back to my place, I thought about what Hector had asked, and how I’d answered. Brooklyn snoozed in the passenger seat, occasionally making sleepy noises or giving one-word nonsense answers to questions I didn’t ask.
I pulled into a parking space and then went around to open her door.
Her eyes fluttered, and then she shot me a beautiful smile that made me feel weak and strong at the same time.
“You better give your brother a heads up that you won’t be home tonight, because there’s no way I’m letting you drive in this sleepy condition,” I said.
She let me pull her out of the car and covered a yawn with her hand. “I already took care of that before the party.” She wrapped her arms around me and nuzzled my neck. “I knew it’d be a late one, and I figured if you wouldn’t let me stay with you, I’d find a spot on the beach to sleep it off.” Her low laugh signaled she’d been joking, but I didn’t like even the thought of her walking alone, and she sure as hell wouldn’t be sleeping anywhere but in my bed with me.
Her body sagged against mine, and I had a feeling all the sexy scenarios I’d spent a great deal of time daydreaming about would need to wait until tomorrow morning.
“Come on, lightweight.”
“Hey,” she said as I lifted her into my arms. Then she snuggled tighter and gave a happy sigh that warmed me from the inside out. I pushed into my apartment, carried her into the bedroom, and laid her down on the bed. She stirred as I pulled off her shoes.
A stream of unintelligible words tumbled from her lips. I eyed her dress, sure she’d be more comfortable if I took it off. Thanks to the hard-on already straining against my zipper at the sight of her legs, I was also sure I’d be more uncomfortable, and it’d make it that much harder to behave.
I leaned down and kissed her, a quick peck on the lips. “Good night, baby.”
She wadded a fistful of my shirt in her hand, holding me close. “No. We sex now.”
Images of stripping her down and pinning her underneath me flashed through my head, a dirty image reel that I worked to tamp down. Her eyes were already drifting shut again. “I’ll wake you up tomorrow morning with my head between your thighs. How does that sound?”
More indecipherable words, but I was pretty sure there was an agreement in there somewhere—I just wasn’t the type of guy who’d settle for less than an actual agreement from a fully conscious female.
I pulled the covers up over her and headed into the bathroom. I brushed my teeth and eyed the shower, thinking I might need a long cold one. I took a few moments to collect myself—if I couldn’t calm down, I’d force myself to sleep on the couch, even though I hated to let an opportunity to sleep next to Brooklyn slip away.
As I was reaching for the doorknob, the door swung open. Brooklyn stood there, hair mussed, wearing nothing but one of my T-shirts. A white one, so worn, that I could make out her puckered nipples under the fabric.
She closed the door behind her, leaning against it like I’d try to escape otherwise. “I started thinking about you, and all the naughty things I’d like you to do to my body, and suddenly I was very, very awake.”
Every nerve ending jolted to life, my control unraveling at her feet the instant she stepped into the room. “You better describe these naughty things to me, preferably in excruciating detail, so I can make them all come true.”
“Coming was definitely involved.”
Heat replaced the blood in my veins, and my arms ached to pull her closer and get started on that, but I wanted to draw out the game for a little while. To tease her until she was on the verge and begging for it. “Where were my hands?”
She padded toward me, and I forgot how to swallow as she curled her hand in the waistband of my pants, and yanked me closer. “First things first, you had a lot less clothes on.” Her fingers moved to the hem of my shirt, and when she rose onto her toes to get it over my head, I assisted her by gripping the back of the collar and tugging it off.
The movement made her stumble into me, her luscious curves pressing against me and turning me on even more. She gasped, and I slanted my mouth over hers, taking a taste. Her hands flattened against my chest and dragged down, down, down…
She flicked the button on my pants then torturously slowly unzipped them.
I groaned as I sprang free, and she bent and tugged off my pants. On her way back up she dragged her hands along my thighs, like she was frisking me, and I grew even harder as her fingers brushed my balls. At my grunt, she looked up and raised an eyebrow.
Then she gripped me over my boxer briefs, a vixen smile on her lips. I arched into her touch, my vision blurring for a moment.
“Getting kind of restless here, bruiser. Either you tell me where my hands were during all the naughtiness, or I’ll take creative license.”
“Well, they started on my ass.”
“Sounds like me.” I reached around and cupped her ass, drawing her heat up against my raging erection. Her breathing went jagged, spurring me on even more.
“Then they moved up…”
I slid them under the T-shirt, across her smooth skin, and when the fabric lifted enough to confirm she didn’t have any underwear on, I swore. The grip on my control wavered, and I had to wrestle my inner beast to get it back. “Let me guess, baby. Did they go somewhere around”—I squeezed her perfect breasts in both hands—“here?”
I flicked her nipples with my thumbs and her eyelids fluttered, her mouth dropping open for the taking. I plunged my tongue inside as I backed her up against the sink. I curled my hands around the backs of her thighs and lifted her onto the porcelain.
My eyes met hers, and the desire swimming in the blue made me want to leave her as undone as I was. “Was my mouth on you? When you were coming?”
Her chest rose and fell, then she nodded.
“Spread your legs,” I commanded, and she opened them for me.
I pushed my T-shirt up her thighs, exposing her to me, and then I dipped my head and licked up her thigh. She whimpered when I stopped just short of where she wanted my tongue.
“If you’re having trouble figuring out where exactly your mouth was,” she said as she raked her fingers through my hair, “I can go into more detail.”
“I guess you’re going to have to.”
“It was…” Her cheeks colored. I encouraged her with a languid lick on the other thigh. “A little higher.” I moved to the spot where her leg met her torso. “More to the right. You were licking and sucking and it was driving me—”
I dragged my tongue up her center, and she moaned.
“Crazy,” she breathed. “You drive me crazy.”
“Keep sweet talking me like that, and I might just fall for you.”
Unlike earlier, when the L-word was mentioned, she smiled down at me, and without her uttering another word, I went ahead and fell for her anyway.