Healing Love (Love to the Extreme) (18 page)

He didn’t need to be told a third time. After he reached down for his jeans beside the bed and withdrew a condom, he quickly ripped open the foil and rolled it on.

He settled over her, and he had an insane moment of hesitation. Maybe it was the reality that he was about to fuck Kelsey. So far, he’d been keeping things all about her. Making her feel as good as possible because he was afraid of doing something that would scare her, or trigger some kind of memory.

The pressure suddenly hit him. He gazed down at her. “Are you sure about this?”

As if she could sense his thoughts, her face softened as she reached between their bodies and wrapped her hand around his cock. “Lance, I have never been more certain of anything. I want this. I want you.”

It was all the encouragement he needed. He took her lips in a deep kiss as he shifted his body between her legs. He teased her with the tip of his cock until she moaned and pushed her hips up. “Please.”

Slowly, he thrust forward, groaning as her warm heat welcomed him inside. “So fucking tight,” he ground out.

She grabbed both his ass checks and pulled down. He got her message. Slowly he picked up the momentum. Allowing her a chance to get used to the speed of each movement before increasing his pace. Not once did she stiffen or become overwhelmed. She met him with the same open eagerness she had last night.

Skin slapped. The bed creaked.

Just when he was sure he couldn’t hold back a second longer, she moaned her release. The sound enthralled him as he let go too, and he wanted to hear that beautiful sound over and over. He collapsed on the bed, watching her. His chest tightened hard. With her eyes closed, a sleepy, peaceful smile on her relaxed face, he feared he would never get enough of this woman.

Where would that leave him when she left?

…

Ella took a sip of water from her bottle as she slowly calmed her breathing from the bag session. As she’d done for the last few days, her gaze sought out Lance even though she’d just left his side. It didn’t seem to matter how much time she spent with him, she couldn’t get enough of the man.

They’d created a nice little intimate bubble that she was enjoying and could get lost in. Other than when he was out on a call for his business, they were together. Night was her favorite time with him. They had fun in every possible position imaginable. Lance was a magnificent lover. There was never any rushing. It was like they had all the time in the world to enjoy each other.

They both knew that wasn’t the case. There’d come a time she’d be ready to go home and reclaim the life she’d left behind.

During the day, they met up to continue her training. He’d tried a couple more pad sessions with her, but each had ended the same. He tapped her. She froze.

It was frustrating to know that this was a man she completely trusted with her body and she still couldn’t get past this mind block. She had started to wonder if she needed to accept that she couldn’t prepare for being attacked. Maybe she overthought it because she knew she was going to be hit. She didn’t know. She just kept going back to the day she’d instinctively thwacked one of McNealy’s goons in the throat.

She hadn’t thought then. She’d just reacted. Not that she wanted to be put in a situation like that again to test her theory.

Either way, Lance had switched their training to more ground techniques. She was great on the ground. Even against him. Though she wasn’t sure if that had to do with his continued soreness. He tried to hide it, but he couldn’t. Not from her trained eye. She saw the stiffness of his movements, the grimaces. The night he’d fought three fights had taken its toll on him.

She worried about when the cousins would orchestrate another event. For some reason, they had their sights on Lance. She’d tried probing as to why, but Lance always brushed aside the topic. In the end, she let it go. Her time here was limited, and she didn’t want to spend it putting him on edge with questions. As long as he had time to heal before he fought again, then it wasn’t her business.

Thankfully, they’d only heard silence from the cousins.

Lance came jogging over to her, breaking into her thoughts. “I just got a call.”

She could hear the apology in his voice and immediately waved it away. “Go. I’ll work with Amber.”

“You’re the best,” he said and kissed her on the lips. As he sprinted past her, he slapped her on the ass.

Chuckling, her heart expanded as she watched him disappear into the locker room. She wished they could stay in their bubble forever, but that wasn’t realistic. Reality would come knocking soon. She just hoped it was a pleasant visit.

Chapter Nine

Reality had knocked. The news was bad.

Ella rushed through the packed warehouse, frantically searching for Lance. Fear for him gripped her throat. Two hours ago, she’d been given her next assignment with a warning she would be busier tonight because the format had changed. Questioning Ralph hadn’t given her any answers, just an annoyed stare.

Once she’d gotten to the warehouse, it hadn’t taken her long to realize what the new format was. A huge flyer had been tacked outside that screamed its intention.

A Last Man Standing event.

Multiple fights. One winner.

And Lance was on the damn card. Why hadn’t he told her? They’d spent so much time together over the last few days, he’d had ample opportunity. But he’d kept her completely in the dark about it. Had he even known or was he just as surprised by it as she’d been?

God, she couldn’t process how she’d feel if he’d known about this and hadn’t told her.

Finally, she spotted him standing off to the side with a few other fighters. She came up behind him and grabbed his arm. “Have you lost your mind?”

Lance cast a glance at the other men then sent a tight smile to her. “What’s the matter with you?”

“You cannot participate.”

He raised a brow at her. “The hell I can’t.”

“You’ve barely healed enough to go into the cage once, much less multiple times tonight.”

Jaw clenched, he firmly placed his hand on her lower back and ushered her into her room then slammed the door. “Don’t
ever
talk about my weaknesses in front of my opponents again.”

Okay, yeah, she probably shouldn’t have done that. “I’m sorry about that, but you can’t do this.”

“You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do.”

All right, if she had to pull out the big guns she would. “I can’t give you clearance to participate.”

Lance shoved his hands through his hair, making a frustrated noise. “Who do you think you are? You’re not my wife or my girlfriend—”

“No, I’m worse. I’m a doctor,” she interrupted, trying to brush aside the hurt his words caused. “This event is insane. You can’t be a part of it.”

“Do you have any clue what the prize is for the champion?”

“No.” And she couldn’t really care less. Allowing his body to heal adequately before going into another fight was more important than any reward.

“Thirty thousand dollars. I’ll fight every motherfucking person in this place for that kind of cash.”

His words shocked her.
Money
was his motivation? “So, it’s all about money. Money is more important than your health, or what you’re doing to your body.”

“You’re damn straight it’s all about the money.” He threw an angry glare at her. “I don’t have time for this. You let me do what I need to fucking do and don’t interfere.”

Then he yanked open the door and disappeared. Images of the day she’d met Lance in the alley flashed through her mind. He’d been furious she’d interfered then, too.

Wrapping her arms around her middle, she stepped outside into the warehouse. More people than last time were filling the seats. Not surprising, since last man standing fights were rarely thrown.

Unregulated fighting. Exhausted men fighting multiple matches. She would be busier tonight.

“Tonight, we have a special event,” an announcer said from the cage. “Multiple fights. One winner.” The fighters lined up in the cage, Lance smack dab in the middle. “
Who
will be the ultimate champion? Place your bets now. We start in ten minutes.”

“Pretty awesome event, right?” Gabe said as he came to stand beside her.

She scowled at him. “It’s dangerous. Lance shouldn’t be fighting.”

“He’s a grown man. He can make decisions for himself.”

Yeah, she expected that answer from this asshole. It didn’t explain one thing, though. “Why did you hire me if you’re going to ignore my professional advice?”

“Kel-Kel,” he tsked. “We didn’t hire you for advice. We hired you to keep these guys from going to the hospital and raising questions.”

“And you don’t think this insanity will result in a hospital visit?” She motioned toward the cage. “I can only do so much with what you’ve given me. You understand that, right?”

“As I already told you, if one of them has to go to the hospital, you let me or Mitch know. We’ll handle it.”

“What does that
mean
?” If someone was gravely injured tonight, would he get the treatment he needed?

Silence was his response, and she sighed. “I’ll do what’s within my ability to do…nothing more. I’d suggest not coming up with any more crazy ideas like this one.”

“We didn’t come up with it.” He started walking away then tossed over his shoulder, “Black did.”

At his parting words, a buzzing entered her ears.

Lance had come up with tonight’s event. He’d known all along that he’d participate—had conspired with the McNealys to make sure it happened.

Why would he take a gamble like that? This wasn’t a guaranteed pay out. The man had even advised his daughter to always take the guarantee. Why wasn’t he heeding his own advice?

How
much trouble was he really in?

The announcer interrupted her thoughts by introducing the first fight. Two men entered the cage. Whoever won this match advanced to the next round, whoever lost was finished for the night. That would be how the events would play out for the rest of the night until there were only two men left. The winner took all.

The time ticked by as each fight progressed. She kept her door open at all times, more concerned about making sure she didn’t miss Lance than she was about the actual fighting. The first set of matches didn’t lead to any troubling injuries. A couple of gashes, some bruises, that was it.

When she heard his name, she froze mid-stitch and stared at the wound she was treating. He was on. She closed her eyes, breathed deep, then refocused on her task. She couldn’t block out the sounds coming from outside her door though. She heard them clearer than ever. The gasps from the crowd, the screams, the grunts. And all she felt was worry for the man she had come to care for.

She straightened and told the fighter, “Okay. You’re good.”

“Thanks, Kelsey,” he said as he stood and walked out of the room, with her following.

The cage held her mesmerized as she inched forward. Unlike before, Lance wasn’t matched with a bigger opponent. It was a fair fight, but that wouldn’t be the case if he proceeded to the next round. Weight difference wasn’t a factor in this event.

As he took a hard hit to the chin, she cringed. But he quickly recovered and retaliated with a punch of his own. It met its mark and the guy fell to the canvas. The first set of fights was officially over and Lance would advance to the next round. Bile rose in her throat. There was so much about him she liked, possibly even loved, but this…this complete disregard for his health, his willingness to take a beating over and over again for a win, was too much.

When the second round of fights began immediately, without any rest period, she went into her room and obsessively cleaned the small space. Twenty minutes later, Lance and another man burst through the door, holding a man between them. Blood caked one side of his face. The sight of his listless body clicked her into doctor mode.

“Get him up on the gurney,” she instructed.

She recognized the fighter from the first round. Rodney Pattison. Though he’d won his match, he’d taken a blow to the head that had left one eye severely swollen. She’d advised the man to stop and not move on to the next round. Clearly, he hadn’t listened.

Ella grabbed her penlight, pried open the enflamed skin to flick the light across his eye and was relieved when the pupil constricted. Switching to the other one, which was as swollen as the other now, she did the same thing and her stomach sank at the overly large pupil. Flicking the light across it did not get a response. Shit. Blown and fixed.

“Someone go get Gabe or Mitch.” When no one moved, she barked, “Now!”

Lanced rushed out of the room.

She stared down at the man, hating every second that passed. If she was at the hospital, she would rush him for an immediate CT scan, but she didn’t have that luxury here.

“What?” Mitch asked, as he hurried into the room.

“This man needs a hospital. I can’t do anything for him here.”

Wide eyes turned to the fighter and then to her. “A-are you sure?”

“Of course I’m fucking sure.”

“Okay. Okay.” He backed out of the room to only return a moment later with two other guys. “You know what to do,” he said to them.

They helped the man to his feet and moved toward the door. Fear for the man had Ella stepping in their way with her hands raised. “I can’t let you leave with him without knowing he’s going to get the treatment he needs.”

They tried to move around her, but she shuffled to continue blocking the door.

“Where are you taking him?” she demanded.

Mitch motioned to someone behind her. Large arms wrapped around her waist and dragged her back. Bellowing, Lance charged toward her, fury etched on his face. Without a second of hesitation, Ella drove her elbow into the gut of the man behind her. A loud grunt sounded, and his grip loosened. Turning to the side, she threw her body into his torso, wove an arm underneath his, then tossed him over her shoulder and onto the floor with a loud thud.

The gorilla of a man lay stunned on the ground, wheezing. All Ella could do was gawk at what she had done. That had been the second time she’d been threatened and instinct had taken control. The knowledge was there. The instinct was there. She just couldn’t prepare for it. Preparing made her overthink.