Rebel: A MMA Sports Romance (3 page)

So to say I was completely tongue-tied when I walked into the restaurant with my mom, is an understatement.  Not only was Artemis a really good-looking older man, but Lucas was gorgeous in the panty-dropping kind of way.  I usually had the upper hand with guys but I was completely out of my element with Lucas.  For a few minutes as we stood there waiting to be seated I seriously didn’t know if I was coming or going.

We were finally seated and I was able to pull myself together.  As Lucas was talking to my mom telling her about his fighting, I put on my best ‘I couldn’t be more bored about this’ face and tried to appear pre-occupied with what I was looking at on my phone, which was nothing but my email.  Lucas knew he was hot.  I could see it in the way his eyes twinkled at me and I was not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that I could barely breathe around him.

I heard him mention something about winning fights and I instantly was worried.  Before I could stop myself I blurted out something about him getting hurt and I didn’t even have the good sense to hide the fact that I was concerned.  After I asked my question I could have sworn I saw a smug look of satisfaction on his face. 
Damn it.
  The absolute last thing I wanted was for him to see that he was getting to me.

My mom had always been a chatterbox and it usually annoyed me, but this was the one time I didn’t mind.  Lucas was looking at me with that sexy smirk, causing my breath to catch and stay in my throat when my mom jumped all over him about being careful.  She looked at Artemis and then looked at Lucas.

“Arty, you can’t approve of this.  Don’t you worry?”

Mr. Ryan clenched his jaw and then gave Lucas a pained look.  “More than you know.  But Lucas is an adult and this is what he wants to do so, I do my best to support his dream.”

I glanced at Lucas and his jaw was clenched too.  “Oh really, dad?  That’s news to me.”

You could have cut the tension in the air with a knife. 

Mr. Ryan gave Lucas a stern look and for a few seconds I don’t think that he remembered we were in the room.

He slammed his fist on the table.  “You
know
I want the best for you, Lucas!”

My mom gently put her hand on Mr. Ryan’s arm and he quickly glanced at her and then me and composed himself.

“I apologize for the outburst, ladies.”

I glanced at Lucas, surprised we had witnessed that little family moment and I could have sworn I saw an apology in his eyes as he held my gaze.  It was quickly replaced with disgust as he looked over at his father.

“Let’s change the subject.  How did you meet my dad, Valerie?”

My mom launched into her whole spiel of their story, which I already knew, and that was when I zoned out.  She finally finished and I glanced at Arty who was staring at my mom with lovesick eyes.  It was actually kind of cute.

We enjoyed dessert and then called it a night a few minutes later.  Arty was flying to New York for business that night so mom went back home with me.  As soon as the door closed she turned to me.

“Well, what did you think of Arty and Lucas?”

“Arty seems really nice mom, I think you actually found a good guy.  Lucas seems really full of himself and acted like he can’t stand his father.”

My mom let out a deep sigh.  “Yeah, they have a few issues they have to work out.”  She smiled at me and gently touched my hand.  “I’m so glad you like Arty.  Thanks for coming tonight, honey.”

I smiled back at her.  “You’re welcome, mom.”

As we rode back in the car, I couldn’t help but think about the tension I saw between Lucas and his dad.  Lucas definitely had a chip on his shoulder about something.  I should not have been curious, because he was so damned arrogant, but I wanted to know more.  I wanted to know everything.

“Dude.  Lucas, wake up, man.”

I was ripped from my thoughts of Kinsley, and glanced up at Zach standing over me with some blonde bimbo with enormous fake boobs.

“Meghan here is going to be in the bikini contest in 20 minutes so let’s go check it out.”

Zach looked like a kid in the candy store and I chuckled as I grabbed my stuff and winked at Meghan.

“We’ll see you over there, sweetheart.  Good luck.”

She planted a kiss on Zach’s cheek and winked at both of us.  “Be sure to vote for me!”  She bounced away and I quickly glanced around to see if Kinsley was still there, but she was nowhere in sight. 
I’ll find her later.
  I had to. I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Zach and I sat in the bleachers watching girls prancing around in tiny bikinis and some of them had nice tits and cute round asses, but all I could think about was Kinsley.  I looked around scanning the crowd hoping to see her, but she was nowhere in sight.  I glanced over at Zach and his eyes were glued to the girls like a dog in heat and I chuckled softly to myself.  It must have been a really long time since he’d had some.  The girl he introduced me to finally came out and he screamed and clapped like a mad man.  I smacked him on the arm.

“Dude, chill.”

He had a sheepish look on his face.

“Sorry man, she’s just so sexy.”

“Well you better hit that tonight because tomorrow it’s all business until the fight is over.”

Zach gave me a serious look.  “Lucas, you don’t have to tell me that.  I’m usually telling
you
that.  We’ll get started at 10:00 tomorrow morning, but tonight?  Tonight we party!”

His girl came in second and Zach wandered off with her somewhere, which was fine.  I liked to be by myself most of the time.  I decided to go grab lunch and sit at a table by the beach so I could watch the chicks go by. 

I was looking out over the water when I saw a girl in a red bikini walk out of the ocean and I swear everything suddenly started moving in slow motion.  I felt my dick twitch, narrowed my eyes so I could see her better, and what I thought was confirmed.  It was Kinsley.  She walked over to her girlfriend and grabbed her towel.  As she dried herself off, my eyes slowly followed each stroke of her towel, imagining it was my tongue licking her dry.  I could feel my member getting hard and I was grateful the table was covering my swim trunks.

I watched her dry her hair and she paused as she looked in my direction.  She stared at me for what felt like an eternity and just as I went to raise my glass at her to let her know I saw her too, the guy she was talking to earlier went over to her and I could see that he was flirting.  She turned away from me and gave him her full attention.  I didn’t realize how pissed I was until the plastic cup I was holding cracked in my hand.

As I was drying off I could feel someone’s eyes boring through me.  I glanced toward the food hut and literally froze in place as I watched Lucas watch me.  I was instantly annoyed that I was so mesmerized by him.  He was a womanizing asshole, so why was I so drawn to him? 
Why does he do this to me?
  Before I could get even more pissed about the situation, Eric surprised me by giving me a big hug.  He seemed to be a nice enough guy, but all I could do was think about Lucas. 

I turned away from Lucas’s eyes and focused on Eric hoping I could get Lucas out of my mind, but it didn’t work.  I saw Eric’s lips moving but I couldn’t hear a word he said.  All I could think about was Lucas’s gorgeous body glistening in the sun.  I was snapped out of my reverie when I realized that Sophie, Eric and his friend Paul were staring at me waiting for something.

I looked at Sophie.  “What did I miss?”

She gave me a curious look.  “Are you okay?  Eric and Paul want us to go parasailing with them.  The booth is right over there.”

She pointed to a spot a few hundred feet away from us and I actually thought it might be fun.  It was something I had never done and it would help me get my mind off of Lucas.  I turned and smiled at them.

“Sure, that sounds like fun!”

Eric was grinning ear to ear.  “Cool, I’ll go get the tickets.”

He was a nice enough guy, or at least he seemed to be so far, and Sophie would be with me so I figured it should be fun.  We told the guys we were going to put our bags in our room and we would meet them in a few minutes.  The hotel was right on the beach so we were going to do a quick in and out.  As we walked toward the hotel, I could feel those eyes on me again and I slid my eyes toward the food hut and Lucas’s piercing blue eyes were following me.  I tripped as I was walking and Sophie caught me.

“What is going on with you today?  Are you okay?”  She kind of giggled and I was in such a daze I didn’t even respond to her.  My eyes were locked in Lucas’s and Sophie followed my gaze.

Two seconds later I felt a sharp squeeze on my upper arm.

“Oh my gosh, Kinsley, is that Lucas?”  She narrowed her eyes and then pulled on me like a little kid.  “That
is
Lucas!  I still can’t believe he’s here!”

I could see the look of amusement on his face as he watched my friend freak out over him.

“Sophie, can you please relax?  His head is already the size of this hotel.  I don’t want him to think we’re talking about him.”

“Too late.  He’s walking over to us.”

To say that my heart was trying to blast it’s way out of my chest is an understatement.  With every step he took toward us, I found it harder to breathe.  I literally had to tell myself to take a breath.  Tiny beads of sweat glistened on his perfectly sculpted chest and his biceps flexed as he ran his fingers through his hair, giving us a perfect smile as he approached us.

He gently put his hand on my waist leaving a ring of fire as he leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek.  His natural scent and coconut sunscreen flooded my nostrils as his scruff grazed my cheek.  I had never smelled anything more delicious in my life.

I was surprised he had greeted me that way.  He had never done anything like that before. 
He is probably just trying to look good in front of Sophie.

“Kinsley, it’s good to see you again.”

Somehow I managed to get my words out.  “You too.”  My brain wasn’t working well enough for me to say much more than that.

He looked thoroughly amused at my state of shock, and then he turned his charm on Sophie.

“Sophie, it’s good to see you again, too.”

She giggled like a teenager.  “It’s good to see you again, too, Lucas.  We were surprised to see you earlier.  What are you doing in Mexico?  I’m assuming you’re enjoying a vacation.”  She put her hand on her hip and gave him her best flirtatious smile.

A wave of jealousy washed over me as I watched her bat her lashes at him.  There was no way I would be able to handle the two of them together so I had to put a stop to it.

“Yeah, Lucas, what are you doing here?”

He looked at me, holding my gaze for what felt like forever and then he pointed at a poster a few feet away.  The sun was in my eyes so I couldn’t see what it said.  I raised my eyebrows at him and put my hand on my hip, trying my best to look annoyed.

“I can’t see what you’re pointing at.”

He gave me a little smirk that accentuated his succulent lips.  My eyes were glued there and I wanted so badly to lick those lips and feel them all over my body.  He must have said something because he looked like he was waiting for me to respond.

I casually shook my head, trying to clear the fog of lust, and glanced at Sophie.  I gave her a silent pleading look and she jumped in and saved me from looking like an idiot.  She casually touched my arm.

“I think we saw that poster earlier but didn’t notice because I just wanted to get to the beach.  There’s a big fight at our hotel this weekend and Lucas said it’s his biggest fight of his career so far.”

I looked at him trying to hide the worry in my eyes.  I was so annoyed with myself.  Why did I even care?

“Good luck.”  I didn’t want to give him any more than that because I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that I cared.

“Thanks.”  His gaze was intense as his eyes held mine and I could feel myself sweating.  I had to get away from him. 

“Well, we’re going parasailing with our friends, Eric and Paul, so we better go.  They are probably waiting for us.”

Was that a flicker of jealousy I saw in his eyes? 

“Okay, you girls have fun.  Maybe I’ll see you guys at the fight Thursday night?”

Before I could stop her, Sophie jumped in with her teenage-like enthusiasm.

“Definitely!”

“Cool.  Later.”

He sauntered off, looking sexy as hell, and as much as I hated to admit it all I wanted to do was hang out with him.