Feel the Heat: A Contemporary Romance Anthology (10 page)

And go, he did. His hands flew in a series of shots that seemed almost preternaturally fast. By the time he feinted back to catch his wind, O'Malley was swaying like a drunk after a half-price sale at the liquor store.

"Now, Robbie, now!"

He was already in motion, elbow tucked low, before he drove his fist into the underside of his opponent's jaw. There was no fanfare, no stumbling or trying to stay upright. O'Malley fell like a mighty oak tree, bouncing off the ring floor once before landing flat on his back, motionless.

I screamed and hooted, even taking my seatmates offered high five as the crowd went wild.

And Robbie, sweet Robbie, stood over O'Malley, waiting, body tense, until he saw the other man twitch and lift his head before throwing his arms up in celebration.

The noise was so loud, the moment so overwhelming, that I didn't realize my cheeks were wet with tears. I yanked off the glasses and swiped at them before sliding the glasses back on.

Then, I looked back up into the ring, right into Robbie Stevens’ eyes.

S
he came
.

I'd just won my first-ever televised, professional fight. The fight that would change it all for me, and Melissa had been there to see it. The sound of that trademark whistle still rang in my ears.

The soreness in my knuckles faded, the sting of my cheek as the needle slid smoothly in and out of the flesh, the ache in my ribs...all of it disappeared as a feeling of utter and total rightness settled over me.

"Great fight, kid. You scared me there early on leaving yourself open like that," my trainer, Alexi, muttered, patting my back.

"Yeah, I scared myself pretty good there too," I said with a half-smirk. Truth was, I'd been glancing at the front row to see if there was a chance in hell that maybe Melissa had shown up, when that massive fist had come out of nowhere. It was almost comical, because it hadn't been the first time, and it was a pointed reminder that I still had some work to do in the concentration department.

At the same time, it was also a wake up call that, no matter what Melissa thought of my feelings, she still meant as much to me now as she did then. I thought back to her ridiculous glasses and blond wig and swallowed a pained chuckle.

"Can you wrap it up, Doc?" I murmured. "I have somewhere to be."

The old man just rolled his eyes at me and continued to work, but now that the idea was in my head, I couldn't shake it. So maybe she still despised me. So maybe she never wanted to see me again after tonight. But she'd come to see my fight because she still cared. And I wasn't about to let her go another day thinking that I didn't feel the same. She needed to know that I loved her and I'd never stopped loving her.

An hour later, I was standing in the lobby of her hotel, showered and feeling halfway human. I knew the feeling wouldn't last. Tomorrow, I'd wake up and feel like I'd gotten hit full on by a freight train. But in the moment, I was high on life. Winning with my best girl--my only girl--watching had made me feel unbreakable. Invincible. Like nothing could touch me right now.

I was about to bite the bullet and get on the elevator to her room. Even if I had to get through her bulldog, Ashlynn, to get to her, I was ready, willing and able.

Nothing was going to stop me from telling her the truth and saying my piece.

As I jabbed the elevator Up button, a movement outside the massive window caught my eyes. A lone figure strolling down toward the beach, silhouetted in the moonlight. I didn't have to look twice to know it was Melissa. My heart thudded in my chest as I crossed the lobby and out the door. I toed off my sneakers and left them in the sand as I made my way toward her.

"Melis?" I called to her over the whipping wind.

She froze, her shoulders going stiff, before she turned around to face me.

The wig was gone, and so were the glasses, but she still wore the dress she'd had on at the fight, and my tongue went tied.

It fit her like a glove, hugging every inch on every curve. It was all I could do not to walk over and yank her up against me. Show her exactly how much I missed her. How much I wanted her. How much I loved her.

"What are you doing here, Robbie?" she demanded, her voice low and miserable.

I took a few steps closer until we were only a couple feet apart. "I wanted to thank you. For coming to my fight."

Her lips tipped into a bittersweet smile. "Yeah. I don't know how I thought I'd be able to stay incognito. I forgot how caught up I get."

That was one of my favorite things about her, but it hardly seemed like the time to tell her that.

"It really meant a lot to me to know you were there. You were there in the beginning, and it felt so right to know you were there for this part."

“It felt right to me too.”

Now was the time, if there ever was one. Now was the time to tell her how I’d felt then. How I felt now...

“Melis, I--”

"You hate when I cry. That's what you said to me the other night, right Robbie?" Her voice sounded choked and the tears that had clearly been locked and loaded now fell freely down her golden cheeks.

"Yeah," I said softly, clenching my fists at my side in an effort to keep from wiping those tears away.

"Do you think that's kind of ironic," she asked, cocking her head to the side to study me through bleary green eyes. "Like, when you cheated on me and then dumped me, do you have any idea how long I cried?"

The question lay between us like a venomous snake. I refused to pick it up, knowing if I did, the pain of her answer would stay with me for a lifetime.

"Years. I cried for years," she whispered, swiping a hand over her mouth to wipe the tears away. "After all we had been through together...after all we had done, and meant to each other, that you could just walk away and never look back?" A sob broke through her lips and I swallowed the golf ball that had lodged in my throat. "The fact that you never once called to see if I was okay? To this day, I can't wrap my head around it. Was I crazy? Was that whole four years a lie?"

"No, God, no."

I reached for her but she held up a hand like a shield and I stilled.

"I know it's hard to believe, but I never meant to hurt you. I thought a clean break was for the best."

"What would've been best for me is if you had kept your fucking dick in your pants." She jabbed her pointer finger into my chest as her voice went shrill. "What would've been best was if I hadn't lost the person I loved most in the whole world. What would've been best was if you hadn't been such a good fucking liar from the start."

She curled her arm around her waist, and pursed her lips before meeting my gaze again with one that seemed so broken and resigned, it made me nauseous.

"I’m sorry. I know that’s not fair. I’m supposed to have grown. Moved on. Forgiven. And maybe some part of me has. I loved being there for you tonight. No one was rooting harder than me. I want nothing but the best for you, Robbie. But know this. You’re no fucking Boy Scout. You’ve already made me cry more than any other man could. And I don't want to love you anymore. I'm graduating and about to embark on my dream. The thing I've worked so hard for. It means everything to me.”

Her eyes looked so sad, so full of despair, they cut into me like lasers.

“So why can't I stop thinking about you?"

The words I'd been holding in like a scream for the past four years died in my chest as I looked down at her.

Nothing had changed. Except now it would be even more of a sacrifice for her to be with me. She was going to med school three thousand miles away. If I told her the truth now she'd either hate my guts for lying to her all those years ago, or she'd want to give that up for me. In either case, we'd never get our happy ending. Not ever.

I took a step back, cursing myself for being a blind fool for thinking for even a second that there was a way to make things right, but before I could make my excuses and leave to lick my wounds before I did something stupid, she was talking again in a low voice.

"Maybe we should...maybe we can..." She swallowed hard, her throat working as she closed the distance between us and laid her hand on my chest. "Maybe if we finally had our night. One last night to say goodbye, we could get some closure. What do you think, Robbie? One last night."

No. No fucking way. Absolutely not. That was the worst idea ever created. One that could only end in utter and total heartache for us both.

But I said none of that.

Instead, I let out a muffled groan as all the longing and sadness and need broke loose, and I grabbed her. Her fingers curled into the cotton of my t-shirt, her eyes going wide a second before I slanted my mouth over hers.

F
rom the second
I touched her, I knew three things. First, that I had made a mistake. Second, it was the best mistake of my life. And third? There was no way in hell I’d be able to back down now.

Her mouth was too sweet, her breath too warm and inviting, for me to ever pull away, and when her tongue swept out to meet mine, I had to fight the urge to tear her clothes off right then and there.

I could rationalize it all. I could pretend that tonight was some effort to make up for the years of suffering I’d caused her since the last time I’d seen her. Like it was about closure. But it would be a lie.

Kissing her was selfish, and I knew that with every push and pull of our embrace.

“Robbie.”

She broke away from me and for one heart-pounding instant I both hoped and feared she’d finally come to her senses.

“Yeah?” I managed through my gritty throat.

"There are people," she craned around and nodded toward a couple not far off from where we stood, watching us.

"Right," I breathed. "Well--"

"One night,” she cut in. "So we might as well do it right. Take me to your place?"

Without bothering to think, I picked her up and hurled her over my shoulder, ignoring the ache of my ribs as I sprints across the sand to my place. I couldn't say how long it took me to get there--maybe a few minutes, maybe twenty. All I knew was that my heart was pounding in my chest, blood pumping in my ears, and I couldn't wait to set her on her feet and bury my hands in her hair. To pull her face toward mine and kiss her like I'd never kissed her before.

To be with her again, fuck the consequences.

When we finally got to my place, I set her down on the porch just outside the front door and pushed her back against the wall. Pressing the full weight of my body against her, I groaned as I took her bottom lip between mine and nibbled it gently, teasing her until she nipped back.

"Robbie," she whispered my name and pulled my face closer to her as she arched her body into mine, rubbing herself against my already throbbing cock.

"Fuck," I ground out. It was too much, wanting her this way, and at the same time, I didn’t know how I had lived without it all this time. “I’ve missed this.”

With one hand, I scrambled for the doorknob and led her back inside the house before I lost my mind and took her right then and there.

I guided her back, past the entryway table, but when I caught sight of the sofa I knew there was no chance of my making it to the bed.

I kicked the front door closed behind us and dragged her along with me until she brushed against the edge of the sofa and she collapsed on top of it.

She unhooked her bra before I had the chance to make a move, and as she slid the straps of her dress of her shoulders, I couldn't help myself but to bury my head between her breasts. I kissed one as I cupped the other and flicked my thumb and forefinger over her tight nipple. Then, I took it in my mouth and sucked hard and deep until she let out a little gasp and I released it with a "pop." Then, with a groan, I made my way to the other and rolled my tongue over the sensitive flesh.

"Don't tease me,” she whispered.

"But it's so much fun,” I said. But there was no question, her words spurred me on. She was as desperate as I was. I lowered my head, licking my way down the plane of her stomach until I reached the hem of her dress. I slowly slid it up, soaking in every inch of her until I had to close my eyes when I caught sight of her see-through white lace panties. A bolt of lust shot through me, so strong it made my hands shake.

"Fuck me," I ground out, pushing the fabric aside to see her pretty, pink sex, all wet and warm and waiting for me.

"I want you," she murmured, but I could barely hear her. “I want you so much, Robbie.”

I leaned in like a man possessed as I kissed the juncture of her thighs, lapping her slick seam up and down until finally I came to her clit.

"I--" she started, but then a shuddering breath cut off her final words as I swirled my tongue around the tight bundle of nerves. We’d been together like this more times than I could count, and I knew just how she liked it. Light and quick, and then harder. Faster.

It wasn’t long before she reached for me like I knew she would, her fingers grappling for some purchase on my shoulders, my neck. I ignored the pain, so high on the pleasure that the fight didn’t matter, tomorrow didn’t matter, nothing but Melissa mattered.

Her scent washed over me, light and sexy as I work her harder and faster until she was panting with need.

"Robbie," she breathed my name in a way I knew only too well. The way I still relayed in my mind nearly every day. She was close. "Robbie, please."

I gazed up at her, taking in the rosy flush of her cheeks, the glassy need in her eyes. I didn’t want this to end. I wanted to love her for as long as I possibly could, but I couldn’t help but answer….

"Anything for you."

* * *

When he pulled away from me and peeled my panties down around my ankles, I had to fight the urge to climb on top of him and ride him until we’d both gotten our fill. Every part of my body was racing toward the finish line--my heart was beating out of my chest, my blood was thrumming in my ears, and my body was practically writhing with need, but even in all my desperation, I couldn't bring myself to act yet.

I needed his commanding touch. Needed to know, after all this time, that it was really him. It was really
us
again, after all this time. That he saw me.

Felt me.

Knew
me.

"Robbie," I said again and when his hungry gaze met mine a fresh wave of heat rolled over my body.

"What?"

"Say my name."

I probably sounded crazy, but his stare was so intense and full of the same possessive need that coursed through me that I knew he understood.

"Melissa," he muttered, then he curled his hand in my hair and dragged my face to his until his mouth collided with mine. "Melissa," he said again as his lips met mine, sending a sizzle of heat through me.

"Yes," I hissed, and then he was lowering himself over me, the full weight of his body pressed against my stomach, my breasts. His knees braced on either side of mine.

I closed my eyes, trying to memorize the feeling of his body. The roughness of his stubble as he kissed me. The smooth contour of his muscles. The heat of his flesh.

One more night.

I shoved aside the melancholy threatening to take hold and grabbed onto the need instead. "Robbie," I whispered his name and dragged my nails along his sides, feeling every little ridge of his ribs, the “V” just above his waist, only pausing when I remembered.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. You must be sore and--”

"Don’t even think about stopping," he murmured, cupping my jaw in his hand before laying me low with another searing kiss.

I couldn’t believe it was happening. Not really. Not just that we were together again. On some strange, mystical level, I could get my head around our reunion. But what was so impossible to understand was how perfect it felt. How, in his arms, it was as though no time had passed between us at all. Like nothing had ever gone wrong.

Like I was whole and happy and complete again.

“I want you,” I whispered as he trailed a line of kisses down my neck.

He stopped at my collarbone, licking the sensitive hollow there, before he looked up. “And what is it exactly that you want, beautiful?”

I shivered. “I want…I want you inside me.”

I bit my bottom lip and spread my legs wider as he rubbed his swollen cock against my core. With one hand, he gripped his shaft and circled my clit, his gaze raking over me as he went.

“You’re so fucking incredible. Your body…” He eyes raked over my breasts and lower, before returning up to meet my gaze. “Everything about you,” he said, and I shivered again. “Didn’t think it was possible but all of this…us…you…it’s better than I remembered.”

I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat, nearly overcome with emotion, until he reared back and slowly pushed the thick head of his cock into me.

“Ah, jesus,” he groaned, tipping his head back and squeezing his eyes closed. “So good, Melissa. So damned good.”

I wanted to reply, but I had no breath left in me. I was suspended in some sort of pleasure purgatory, one move from coming so hard that I wondered if I’d ever recover.

This was why he’d been my first. This was why he’d been my only. I’d never felt this with anyone else, and knew in my heart I never would.

My vision blurred as he worked himself inside me, inch by agonizing inch, until he was buried to the hilt. I groaned as my body stretched to accommodate him, but with every second my heart thrummed louder and faster, and the urge to roll my hips became stronger. The second I did, I knew I’d be a goner. It would be all over. But damn if I could help it.

“Please, Robbie,” I muttered, tossing my head back and forth as I strained toward him.

“Beautiful,” he whispered, before thrusting into me, gripping my hips as he filled me.

All at once, our reunion was everything and nothing like I’d imagined. The passion, the heat was there, but it was tempered and fed by something deeper, something I couldn’t put a name to. It was as if Robbie knew everything I wanted, everything I needed before I could say a word. He was a man, no longer a boy, and I was a woman.

The bittersweetness of it all was almost too much to bear.

But then he was there, thrusting deep, working his cock in and out in long, deep strokes. I met him thrust for thrust, his tongue tangling with mine as we drove each other to the edge of sanity.

“I need you,” I rasped, “I need you.”

“I’m yours.”

And he was.

For tonight, for this moment, Robbie was mine again, and I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him closer, needing him to know what that meant to me. Needing him to need me just as much—in that bone-deep way that I couldn’t shake even if I’d tried.

He lowered his mouth to my breast and sucked my nipple, rolling his tongue around in mind-melting circles. I ran my hand over his shorn hair, urging him to suck longer, harder, but I needn’t have worried. Robbie knew what I needed better than I did.

Which, of course, was why he pulled back to allow me to see the full expanse of his sculpted chest, beautiful chest. Why he dipped his fingers between my legs and rolled his thumb over my aching clit. Why he pushed into me so hard and deep that I could hardly breathe.

With every stroke, every touch, I was getting closer, climbing higher, and he knew it. He was teasing me, coaxing my fire until it erupted into an inferno.

“Come for me.”

“Say my name,” I urged, my body already quivering from the effort of holding back.

“Ah, yeah. Melissa, come for me.”

His voice was a harsh command that I had no choice but to follow. With one shuddering breath, I closed my eyes and leapt, my walls clenching as he thrust into me over and over again. I reached for him, and his hand found mine, lacing our fingers together as wave after wave rolled through me.

“Fuck,” he groaned, bucking and jerking over me as his cock pulsed inside me.

With each shiver, I died a little more, thinking of how I never wanted it to end…

And how it would end all too soon.