Healing Love (Love to the Extreme) (21 page)

They couldn’t have that, but she couldn’t help feeling just a little feminine satisfaction that she’d brought him that close to the brink.

She reached for the condom he’d placed on the nightstand before he’d taken a shower. After tearing open the wrapper, she slowly rolled it down the long length of him. When Lance reached for her, she wagged her finger.

“I’ll do all the work.”

A wolfish smile curved his lips as he relaxed back against the pillows. “By all means, have your way with me.”

Oh, she planned to.

She straddled his waist, took him in her hand and guided him in. She couldn’t stop a groan as he stretched her full. She took a second to just enjoy the feel of him embedded deep inside of her.

As she began to move on him, he rested his hands on her hips, helping her set a slow, even pace. Her breasts bounced, her scar was visible—and she’d never felt as beautiful as she did with the heated way Lance watched her rock on top of him.

Placing one hand on his shoulder for balance, she moved the other between her legs, never once taking her eyes off this man. His gaze followed her movements then narrowed on the fingers rubbing her clit.

He moved to replace her hand with his, and she slowly shook her head. “Just watch.”

And he did. Intently. The combination of the feel of him inside her, the pressure of her fingers, and the intense heat of his gaze sent her over the edge. She threw her head back on a moan, not holding anything back, knowing that Lance loved watching her come.

“Fuck,” he gritted out between clenched teeth. His grip on her hips tightened, and he bucked up into her hard and fast. The added speed sent her into a second release, and as she fell into another groan inducing orgasm, Lance came with her.

As he slowed his pace, his breathing came out in short, hard puffs. Placing a kiss on his lips, she slowly lifted off him, and curled into his side. He wrapped his arm around her and hugged her close, a soft satisfied sound coming from his relaxed body.

“You okay?” she whispered.

“Never better,” he murmured, then stiffly got up to go to the bathroom.

When he returned, he grunted in pain as he climbed back in bed and spooned up behind her. Within moments, his breathing slowed, and she tilted her head back to look at him. He was out cold. He’d spent what had been left of his energy to be with her. She brushed the tips of her fingers across the cut on his cheekbone. No one should have to go through the torture he was putting himself through. How could she help him?

She had to figure out a way to get him out before his next fight, because the next fight could be the one that completely did him in.

Chapter Ten

A few days later, Lance leaned against the doorway to his kitchen as he watched Kelsey scramble eggs at the stove. The day after he convinced her to stay for a while longer, he’d brought her back to his place. She’d been in awe of the house, in awe of the barn in his backyard that he’d transformed into a gym. It felt good to show her that he did have more than a large debt.

She’d stayed here ever since. He’d been surprised by how much her presence brought this house back to life. In just a few short days, Kelsey had made what had become just a house into a home again.

There was a very selfish part of him that hoped she’d fall in love with this place—fall in love with him—and not want to return to Maine. She hadn’t spoken another word about leaving, and he refused to broach the subject. If he brought it up, she’d pick a date. Right now, he was okay with living in the moment and giving her time to come to terms with the fact that she couldn’t leave him. At least, he hoped that was how it ended.

Pushing off the doorframe, he moved to stand behind her and brushed her hair to one side. He kissed her neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist. She immediately melted back into him. Damn, he loved this.

“You got in really late last night,” she muttered. “I was hoping you’d sleep in.”

He had. About two a.m., he’d gotten a call requesting a wrecker for an accident. He’d hated leaving Kelsey, but he’d loved coming back home to her. She’d been asleep, and he shucked his clothes, spooned up behind her. She had instantly snuggled back against him. It was the best night’s sleep he’d had in a long time.

He glanced over her shoulder. “Were you making me breakfast in bed?”

“I was, actually.”

His chest swelled with love. Ever since his realization that he was falling for Kelsey, he’d had a hard time keeping it to himself. But he didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on her.

“I can think of something else I can have for breakfast,” he said, and spun her around, kissing her hard on the lips. She laughed against his mouth and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“I like the way you think, Black.”

He deepened the kiss, tangling their tongues together. He lifted her up onto the counter, but grunted when a sharp pain sliced through his side. She immediately pulled back.

“Are you okay?”

She’d asked him that too many times to count since the fight.

“I’m fine.” He tugged her forward and stepped between her spread thighs. “Now can we get back to business?”

Their lips were just about to meet when his phone went off, signaling a text. Groaning, he bowed his head, and Kelsey kissed the top of it. “Duty calls.”

Straightening, he tugged his cell out of his pajama bottoms, expecting to see a wrecker request for him to call in. Instead it was from Mitch. Shit. He tried turning so Kelsey couldn’t see it, but wasn’t quick enough.

“Holy shit. Are they already throwing another event?” She hopped off the counter and rounded on him. “They can’t be fucking serious.”

God. She’d used the f-bomb. When she started throwing those she was beyond pissed.

“It looks that way.”

She turned wide eyes on him. “Lance, please, don’t participate. I’m begging you.”

Groaning, he scrubbed his face with his hands. “Can we please not do this right now?”

“When then?” She crossed her arms tight across her chest. “Tonight, after you add more injuries to your already damaged body? Jesus, Lance, when are you going to stop?”

“I’m not doing this.” Mostly because he knew she was right. He couldn’t keep fighting like this. The thing he worried about the most was if this grueling schedule kept up, he was going to start to lose. With the bank denying him that loan, he had no fucking clue how to get out of this if his body gave out, too.

But he wasn’t going to admit that to her, or she’d be more rabid over the subject than she already was. Thankfully, his phone chimed again, and this time it was a request for a call in.

He held up the phone. “Got to take this. I’ll talk to you later.” He kissed her real quick and hurried out of the room.

Damn it. They’d had a great few days. No tension. Just the two of them and mundane, everyday shit. One call from McNealy and their little bubble had been busted. He was going to end up losing this woman because of those two assholes.

Lance strode through the warehouse, ignoring the calls from the fans as he passed. He wanted to get this fight over with and get back to Kelsey. Recreate the bubble they had around them until the McNealy’s text this morning.

“Black.”

He turned in the direction of his name. Gabe waved at him from the office door, then he ducked back into the room. Fuck. This was all he needed.

He pushed open the door to their office to find Gabe had moved to a leather couch and was lighting up a joint while Mitch sat behind a monstrosity of a mahogany desk. “What do you guys want?”

Mitch didn’t speak for a moment as he spun a pen between his fingers. Finally, he laid the pen down. “How would you like to walk out of here tonight with us completely square?”

Lance stiffened. There was no way he’d heard that correctly. “I…what?”

Mitch glanced at his cousin and snorted. “Damn, we shocked the shit out of him.” He turned back to Lance. “One more fight and we’re even.”

He stamped down the hope that swelled in chest. These were the McNealy cousins he was dealing with. They gave nothing for free. “There’s always a catch. What is it?”

“There is.” The man leaned back in the chair and linked his fingers on top of his stomach. “We want you to throw tonight’s fight.”

Lance shook his head. “You want me to do what?”

“It’s pretty damn simple, Black. After dominating in the Last Man Standing event, you’re favored to win by a large margin. Now we want you to lose.”

“I can’t fix a fight.”

It went against everything he was as a fighter. It wasn’t honorable. Hell, he couldn’t cheat all those people out of their money. Not to cover his own ass.

“One fight. One loss. We’re done. Doesn’t that sound more appealing than continuing this out for another month or two?”

Fuck yeah it did, but he didn’t know if he was capable of going into the cage and intentionally losing. Hell, he’d refused to lower himself to cheap shots during an anything-goes bout. He’d had his eyes gouged, his balls kicked, his mouth hooked and he never countered with an illegal move. He wanted a way out, but not like this.

“It’s no big deal,” Gabe said. “Give a pow here and a pow there, throw in a couple of oomphs. Then let him catch you in a submission hold and tap out. Simple as shit, man.”

Simple as shit. Not even close.

“Do we have a deal?” Mitch asked.

“Umm.” God, did they? No reason to even tell them no. He wasn’t up for dealing with their shit right now. “Yeah. A deal. I probably should go get ready.”

Lance left the office feeling like he’d been bitch smacked. The McNealys were finally offering him his freedom. He’d be cleared of all debt when he left here tonight—all he had to do was lose.

He caught sight of Kelsey making a beeline for the McNealys’ office. Of course she wouldn’t stay away. She was most likely on her way to give the cousins an earful, but he let her go. He really didn’t want to talk to her right this minute—he didn’t think he could look her in the eye and not tell her about the cousins’ offer. And he couldn’t tell her, because she’d push for him to do it. Reiterate that it was finally a means to an end.

And she’d be right.

As he stepped toward the cage to wait for his fight, he studied the fencing around the octagon-shaped ring he respected so much. It should’ve been a no-brainer, but he wasn’t sure if he could go through with it.

Ella slammed the door behind her as she stormed into the McNealys’ office without knocking. Both their heads snapped up in unison.

“You two have lost your goddamn minds,” she yelled.

“Holy shit, Kel-Kel. What’s brought out the fangs?”

“You can’t keep putting these guys up against each other like this. Someone’s going to wind up dead.”

“Jesus Christ.” Mitch slammed his fist down on the desk. “I thought we were done with you. Fuck.” He pointed at her. “Listen to me clearly. These are all grown men. If they’ve had enough, they don’t have to fight.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Except for Lance. He has to fight.”

Rolling his eyes, Mitch leaned back in his chair. “We have a special agreement with Lance.”

“I know. He told me. You two should be ashamed of yourself for using the money he needed to save his daughter for your own gain.”

“Whoa.” Gabe held up his hands. “You need to check yourself. We’re not a fucking charity. He owes us a lot of fucking money. If we decided we wanted to speed up the payback process, that is our business. Not yours.”

“Then I want to complete the process.” God, Lance was going to kill her, but she didn’t care. He couldn’t continue on like this. She slapped a cashier’s check on the desk. “I want to pay off the remaining balance, and you pull him from tonight’s fights.”

Gabe’s eyes went wide as Mitch stared at the check. He shook his head. “You’re about ten minutes too late for that to happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“We just offered Lance a new arrangement. He can walk out of here tonight not owing us another dime.”

She stared at them for a moment, digesting that piece of news. “What kind of arrangement?”

“All he has to do is throw the fight.”

“And he agreed?”

“Yep.”

A relieved sigh shot out of her mouth. “Okay.”

Lance’s name suddenly blasted from the speakers as his fight was announced, and she stiffened. Ella hurried outside into the warehouse and saw Lance standing inside the cage. The barely faded bruises on his torso held her attention. Tonight it would be over. Finally.

As the referee backed away, signaling that the two men could begin, Lance burst toward his opponent with an onslaught of punches. Her heart caught tight.

He wasn’t going to lose.

He caught the man with a brutal right hook that caused him to stumble back. The fighter shook off the hit, and the two of them went at it. One hit after another. As Lance received a hard blow to his already bruised side, his body jerked sideways, and a grimace contorted his face. She clamped her hands over her mouth. Lance came around with a punch to the ear that made his opponent retreat.

What were the McNealys thinking about this?

She glanced toward the cousins, who were in their usual place at the back of the room, leaning against the wall. She was surprised to see grins on their faces. Why were they so happy? Lance was supposed to lose.

She returned her attention to the cage in time to witness Lance eat another fist and stumble back. He wobbled on his feet, then straightened but still swayed alarmingly. She looked the McNealys, whose smiles had stretched to outright shit-eating grins. And it clicked.

The cousins would never just let him throw a fight—they’d at least want it to look like he lost fairly.

So much for his body being saved from another brutal beating.

As the fight progressed, neither Lance nor his opponent seemed to be backing off. They went to the ground, grappling. One moment his opponent had the upper hand; the next Lance had freed himself from the hold and was on his feet. If he was trying to make it look like a fair fight, he’d succeeded. No one in this place would believe he’d lost on purpose.

End it Lance. Please.