Reese (13 page)

             
“Jesus Christ!” He looked a little green at the nearly black bruises marring my skin. “You need a doctor. You could have broken ribs.”

             
“I don’t. The cops called the paramedics and they checked me over. I’m going to be fine, just sore for a few days.”
He raked his hands through his hair and I knew that he was disturbed more than I had first realized. “Really, Kieran. I’m fine.”

             
His jaw clenched. “You could have been hurt worse, dam
m
it.”

             
“Please don’t worry about me.” I captured his hand and brought it to my lips. “Come here. Kiss me.”

             
His kiss was so
tender
, as if I were a
delicate
piece of crystal. I didn’t want him thinking I was easily broken, because I had never been that type of girl. I thrust my fingers through his hair and pulled him down across me, ignoring the throbbing in my side as I devoured his mouth.

             
Soon I was flat on my back, my panties were gone and Kieran was deep inside of me. I didn’t let any of the pain I was in ruin the pleasure that he made me feel over the next twenty minutes. And he was so careful with me
; h
is gentleness at odds with his size and strength. When I came apart, he went with me. “Reese!” He cried my name into my mouth in a passionate kiss.

             
He was late leavin
g, but he was grinning nonethe
less.

             
()

             
When last call came Friday night, the spar twins were seated at the bar. I sighed, feeling like Kieran was making his crew babysit me. But I didn’t say a word to him when I got home. Instead he made love to me until I was weak with pleasure.

             
Saturday night Jake and Mason were the ones setting at the bar waiting on the place to empty out. I wanted nothing more than to go home and have it out with Kieran. He could not keep doing this. I had managed just fine before he had come along. The mishap a few nights before had not been the first time I had been hurt while dealing with a drunk. But like the night before he attacked me with pleasure as soon as I stepped out of the shower.

             
Hours later, as I lay in bed after he went out for his morning workout, I realized that maybe I didn’t want to argue with him all that much. It felt nice that Kieran car
ed so much about my safety and well-being.

             
The week seemed to be flying by.

             
I was busy at work. It seemed that there were a lot of people who had come to town to watch Kieran Stone’s big MMA cage fight
, s
o there were more newbies tha
n
regulars frequenting the bar Thursday and Friday. I was glad for the distractions at work
;
otherwise I think I might have lost my mind with stress and nerves.

             
Kieran’s father attended every one of his fights, and Kieran wanted me to meet him
the night before this one.
So I took Saturday night off. Actually Mel forced me to take it off. She came in to cover for me and asked one of the other bouncers to come in to help out tending bar.

Which is why I suddenly found myself in desperate need of a dinner dress.

As soon as I got out of bed Saturday I went shopping. It had been five years since I had needed a pretty dress. I looked for three hours, trying on
style after style
, hating everything that I came across. Nothing suited me,
not
the me that I had become. I wanted black lace and skulls on my dress…But that was not going to make a good impression on the father of the man I loved.

In the end I picked a simple little black dress. Of course I had to shop for shoes to because all I had were biker boots and sneakers, neither of which would have gone with the dress.
Black heels were what I had planned on, but when I saw
them
I had to get them.

A pair of blood red spiked heeled pumps that just screamed at me to buy them. True they weren’t exactly conventional, and they cost way more than I was originally expecting to pay. But there was no way I
was
not
getting those shoes!

At six minutes after eight I walked into one of Phoenix’s most prestigious restaurants. There was a line waiting to be seated but there was no sign of Kieran. Squeezing through the crowd, feeling a little exposed with my makeup down to a bare minim of just a rosy pink gloss, eye shadow and mascara. I had actually thought about showing up in full Goth makeup…For about a minute.

But I wanted Kyle Stone to like me. And even though I would have been more comfortable hiding from this crowd behind my mask, I wanted Kieran’s father to see the me that was underneath.

The
maître de
was
a short, thin set fellow with
assessing dark eyes
and
greeted me with a smile as I finally came to stand before him. “May I help you, miss?”

I gave him a small smile
in return
. “I think my party
might
already
be
here. Stone?”

His eyes brightened. “Ah, yes. You would be Miss Graves?” I nodded. “They are right inside. Would you like for me to escort you?”
             
I shook my head. “Thank you, no. Mr. Stone is hard to miss.” With another s
mile I entered the dining room, ignoring the many male eyes
behind me,
following my every step.

The place was beautiful, and it brought back memories of eating out at places just as extravagant and glamorous back in New York. Most weekends my mother liked to go out. To be seen with and by others that were regular stars on the front
pages
of gossip magazines. I had hated those dinners out.

I was half way across the dining room when I spotted Kieran. He was laughing with a man who had the same dark blond hair and wide shoulders as he did. But the older man had his back to me and I couldn’t tell what he looked like
; a
lthough I was sure that this is where Kieran got his looks from.

As I neared Kieran saw me and stood to embrace me. His hands tightened around my waist for a moment and he bent his head to brush his lips across the shell of my ear. “God! You are so damned beautiful.” He breathed before he raised his handsome head.

I grinned, for a moment my nerves forgotten. That was what I had been going for when I had dressed for the night. I had wanted that exact reaction f
rom
him. “So you like the dress?”

He stepped back enough to give me a quick once over. “The dress…
W
hat’s in the dress.” He winked. “I love it all.”

A voice was cleared behind Kieran and he turned to introduce me. “Dad, this is Reese. The mother of your future grandchildren.”

I jerked at
his words. Had he really just said that? Was he crazy?
             
Kyle only chuckled. “Wow, you just about gave the girl an aneurism son.”

Kieran lowered his head and brushed a quick kiss across my lips. “Nah. She knows what she means to me.” Another kiss on my nose and then his was pulling me forward. “Reese, this is my father.”

Fingers
trembling I put my hand in the older, albeit leaner version of Kieran. His grip was warm and when his fingers wrapped around mine he gave me a reassuring squeeze. “We Stone men know as soon as we meet the right girl. Kieran’s mother and I knew we were going to spend the rest of our lives together from the time our eyes locked across a crowded quad back in college.”

“Really?”

His smile was just as warm as his hand. “Of course
!
We didn’t even know the other’s name, but for me and later I found out for her too,
in
that instant our souls recognized each other as their other ha
lves
.” As he spoke his eyes brightened even more and I knew without having spent more than five minutes with this man that his wife was his best friend, his other half.

And that was how I felt about Kieran.

             
()

             
“So what did you really think about my father?”

             
We were laying in each other’s arms in my bed. Sweat was still beaded on Kieran’s skin, and mine was not much better. Our love making had been
fierce
.
Kieran taking no time to get me out of my new dress…Leaving my red heels on, which I now toed off and kicked across the bedroom.

             
I raised my head to find him looking down at me intently. “He was amazing. You have told me over and over again how your childhood was, but I guess I didn’t really believe you until tonight. You have a wonderful father, Kieran. And that he supports you and your brother and sisters in whatever you chose to do with your lives…That puts him in a father of the year category.”
We shared a grin
. “I like him.”

             
“He likes you too. He told me I was a lucky man earlier when you were in the ladies room.”

             
My heart turned over. “What did you say?”
             
“I told him he didn’t know the half of it! Not only are you beautiful, sexy and feisty. But you can kick my ass, and you drive me over the edge like no one else ever has in the bedroom.”

             
“You didn’t.” When he just chuckled I punched him in the chest. “Kieran!”
             
“Of course I didn’t, Reese.” He kissed my still clenched fist. “But I did tell him I agreed with him. I am a lucky man. Not every man gets to find the other half of his soul like my father. What he has with my mother…That’s something spectacular, baby.
And I have
found that, with you.”

             
Emotion clogged my throat suddenly and I had to blink rapidly to keep the tears from spilling. “Kieran…”

             
“You mean the world to me. And I know that you are still a little jumpy. Having someone love you as much as I do is not something that you have ever had in your life before now. But I want you to know that I have every intention of marrying you.”

             
“We just meet.” I whispered. “How can you even..?”

             
His lips against mine stopped my question and any other that might have slipped out. “I’m not asking you right now, baby. Or tomorrow. Or even next year…Unless I feel like you are ready for it. This is going to go as slow as you need it to…Just like when I told you I would wait for you to be ready to make love, I will wait to have my ring on your finger.”

             
The tears spilled over my lashes then. I couldn’t contain them anymore. “I love you.”

             
A limo was waiting in the street outside my apartment.

             
Mel had called me earlier and said that she was picking me up. But I had not expected this! Greg Daventry had sent the car to pick us up and bring us to the Comerica Theatre.
I had ridden in limos for most of my life. It was no real thrill for me…But for Mel it was a new and exciting experience.

             
She explored the back of the car like a child exploring a new wonderland. She played with all of the buttons and even discovered the contents of the mini fridge. I loved her child like enthusiasm. It kept my mind off the night ahead.

             
I was sick with worry for Kieran. Before I had met him I had loved to watch him in the steel cage. He was so majestic, yet so beast like. The thrill of watching him would last for days afterwards. But tonight, Kieran wasn’t just some guy that I liked to watch compete. Tonight he was the man I loved and I didn’t want to see him getting beat on, hurting, or bleeding.

             
On top of my worry for the incredible man that had so suddenly come into my life, there was also having to face my grandfather again after so many years. I was prepared for the confrontation, and I was ready to put my anger for him behind me. It was something I had to deal with in order to move on with my future with Kieran.

             
Last night when he had
told me he was going to marry me—that
he was going to be
in my life for the rest of his—I
had been blown away. It was then that I had come to the conclusion that I had to not only face my grandfather, but also my mother and The Pervert. He knew that too
. So
when I had asked him if he would go with me so that I could
p
ut all my pain from my past to rest he had readily agreed.