by Emma Nichole
“Even at the risk of causing irreparable damage?”
“I train my ass off. I study each opponent closely and I know what they do. I know the way they move. I don’t have to worry about that. I can manage three more fights.”
“What will you do when you are finally finished?”
“That’s the question I’ve been asking myself since the day I went down.”
I look up at him. “Went down?”
“During a fight last month, I took a pretty nasty roundhouse to the side of my head. I lost consciousness for a few seconds. My doctor didn’t like what the CT scan looked like after that. Thus, my decision to take some time off and go to Savannah…where I met you.”
“Don’t say it like that. I don’t like thinking about the fact you had to get hurt in order to meet me.”
“I’d be hurt ten times over and ten times worse if you were at the end of that journey.”
I could say something, and I want to, I want to say so many things, but I don’t speak. Instead, I crane my face upward and pull him down by the back of the neck to kiss my lips.
Falcon
Her lips are the softest I’ve ever had the pleasure of kissing in my entire life. She has this specific taste that borders on mint with a twist of cherry, and I can’t get enough of it.
She parts those delicious lips, offering me full access to her tongue, and I happily take full advantage, gently twisting mine around hers in a soft, seductive dance.
She moves up onto her knees and I slide my hands to grip her waist when she slides one knee over my waist and straddles my lap.
I can feel the warmth of her pussy nestled against my cock, straining painfully underneath the denim of my jeans.
Thank fuck for sundresses.
I slide my hand under the bill of the hat she’s still wearing and push it from her head, smoothing her hair back then cradling the base of her neck.
Her hands take a lazy slide down the front of my body to rest at my belt. I can feel each finger on her hand like it’s a livewire. My skin is left with stripes of goosebumps in their wake.
I walk my right hand from her hip to her thigh and slip it beneath the white fabric of her dress and caress her soft skin, inching my way upward. She tells me she wants more with a moan into my mouth and a wiggle and grind over my cock.
I hiss at the movement. “Christ…fuck.”
“Falcon, please.” She pulls my lips back to hers for another kiss.
“Please what, baby?” I slip my forefinger under the lacy fabric of her panties and explore the wet flesh hiding beneath.
“Ohhhh my God. More.” She scratches her nails along the nape of my neck. I can feel her nipples hardened into stiff peaks through her dress. They are pressing into my chest like little beads.
“More what? You’re going to have to be specific if you want something from me. You know I like to hear you.” I guide my hand farther back under so she’s essentially sitting on it with my palm pressed tightly against her mound.
“More. Everything. All of it. Anything,” she mewls against my lips.
“Tell me what you want, Faith.” I use my free hand to move her hips, guiding her body to grind against my palm.
“I. Want. You.”
“Then take me.” I pull my hand from between her legs when she begins to work my belt and lower my fly.
I give a cursory glance around to make sure we are truly alone, even though I know we are, but I want to make sure for her sake.
She reaches into my jeans and pulls my cock free, giving the solid, hard appendage a firm tug and squeeze, then uses her thumb to smear a bead of precum over my tip.
“Fuck,” I groan out.
“That’s the idea.” She smiles then squeals when I hoist her up with my forearm braced under her ass.
“Move your panties to the side,” I tell her, and she does so quickly.
“Eyes on me. I want to watch your face when I fill you up.”
She blinks open just as I nudge my cock at her pussy and pull her slowly to sink onto me.
Her mouth forms an O and her head tilts back just a bit to expose the long line of her neck.
Her dress is just flowy enough that it hides everything happening underneath, but when she starts to grind down on me and give herself a little bounce, there is no mistaking what we are doing.
We fuck lazily, slowly, nose-to-nose with the ocean crashing on the shore below us.
We kiss, roll our hips, move, suck, nibble, and pant for what feels like forever, but also like no time at all.
Time isn’t real when I’m inside of her, when we are together. It’s only when her pussy begins to spasm in orgasm around me that I start to become aware of our surroundings once again. Because her cries of pleasure softly in my ear and the rhythmic sound of the waves and wind create a symphony I want to play over and over again.
Chapter 20
Faith
Texas is fucking hot.
I don’t mean the annoying, inconvenient kind of hot. It’s the sink into your bones, hard to breathe, sweating through your clothes and you feel the strong desire to do the Polar Bear Plunge kind of hot.
“You okay over there?” Falcon asks from the other treadmill.
Who the fuck decided that putting a gym outside was a good idea? Who cares that it’s covered and there are fans? It’s a thousand damn degrees out here and I feel like I may die.
But I’ll never let him know that. He has weigh-in tonight and he needs to make sure he sheds any extra weight before then, so…he needs to sweat.
“I’m great.” I even push myself up on the handlebars to move my feet to the sides of the treadmill so pause for a minute and down a few gulps of water.
“You didn’t have to come out here with me, you know? You could have stayed up in the room. I would have understood.”
“And miss you in all your sweaty, glistening glory? No thanks. I’m okay. Just hot.”
He gives me that smile I adore so much and gets back to his run.
It’s been two days since our time on the cliffs. Something shifted in the air that day. Falcon and I felt electric before, but now the electricity runs deep into my bones.
We spent the next day leading to our flight to Dallas in bed; making love, kissing, talking, eating…we didn’t do anything except that. We just spent time together because who knows what the fight nights will look like.
We arrived at the hotel in Dallas early this morning, after an even earlier flight. We settled into our hotel room, which was fucking massive, by the way, and went straight to a meeting with the rest of Falcon’s team. Everything was happening so fast that I could hardly keep up.
And after a quick bite to eat, we changed clothes and came down here to the outdoor gym, or as I like the call it, the place where I will die from a heatstroke.
I finish my water and hop back into place on the treadmill and continue my very slow, barely even considered a jog, jog until Falcon finally slows his speed to a cool down and sheds his very wet shirt.
You’d think I’d be used to the sight of him by now, but I’m so not. Not even close.
His body is lean, but so muscular with just a slight tan. He’s got those V muscles that make women do stupid things and a thin trail of hair leads from his navel and dips below the waistband of his boxer briefs, which are just barely poking up above his gym shorts.
Sweat is rolling down his body in small beads, thanks to the Texas humidity. Yes…thank you, humidity, because without you, I wouldn’t have this fucking spectacular view.
His dragon tattoo is on full display, snaking up his arm and shifting and moving with his muscles.
“You’re staring. It’s incredibly rude, you know?” he tells me, as he steps off the treadmill and snatches a towel to wipe down with.
“I won’t apologize. What am I supposed to do when you’re out here like that? I’m only human,” I joke, stepping off my equipment and going over to him, smiling when he pulls me close with an arm around my wais
t. “Are you nervous?”
“About what?” he asks, resting a hand on the small of my back.
“The weigh-in. The fight tomorrow. All of it.”
“I don’t get nervous anymore, baby.”
“How is that possible? Everyone gets nervous.”
“Let me rephrase that. I get anxious. A nervous excited, but I also focus inward and get in the zone. I’m all work the day of a fight.” He pushes a stray hair that fell out of my bun behind my ear.
“Good. Because you need to focus to make sure you’re safe.”
“Are you nervous about watching me?”
I release a breath and really contemplate my response.
“I’m not nervous per se, I’m just a little unsure about how everything is going to go. I’ve only dipped my toes into your life. Tonight and tomorrow, I will be diving in headfirst. In the deep end. No lifeguard on duty.” I lean my head against his chest, not caring he’s still sweaty. In fact, I have to forcefully keep myself from sliding my tongue along his salty skin.
“Good thing I would never let you drown.” I feel his thumb and forefinger gently grip my chin, and then he pulls my face up so I can see his eyes. “You believe me, don’t you?”
I don’t even have to think before I nod my head, because I do believe him. I believe him…and I trust him, more than I’ve ever trusted anyone else in my life.
“Then don’t stop now.” He closes the distance between us and seals his lips over mine in a tender kiss.
I slide my arms around his neck and sink deeper into him. I don’t even care if anyone is around. He’s all I see right now.
“I knew I could find you down here. I just didn’t know it would be with the flavor of the day.”
I pull away to see a very well-endowed in the chest region blonde standing a few feet away.
Falcon whips around after grimacing just a bit. I’m not sure why he is, but it was there. I saw it all over his face.
“Jennifer. I can’t say I’m shocked to see you here,” he says to her. He pulls me closer to him; an act that doesn’t go unnoticed by the woman I now know is Jennifer.
Jennifer…the one who texted his phone when we were in Savannah.
My stomach instantly turns. The text said she wanted his cock.
Have they slept together? Or does she just want to?
“Well, you know I come to all of the fights, silly. My dad insists actually. He likes me to be around when I can.” She gives her hair a nice, stereotypical flip.
“Well, you have your pick of equipment out here. We’re finished.” He takes my hand and starts to walk around her.
“Oh, Falcy, you know which piece of equipment I want right now.”
With that, I can’t stop myself from speaking. “Wow.” It’s out of character for me, something I would never do, but the words just tumble out. “Does that kind of thing work for you?”
“What kind of thing?” she asks. “And who are you exactly?”
“The over the top, overtly sexual trashy aura you exude. Surely you have more respect for yourself than that.” I slide my hand from Falcon’s and then wrap my arm around his waist. “I’m Faith.”
She steps closer and with the most disgusting grin I’ve ever seen in my life. “Ask him if it works. He had me bent over the sink in his dressing room last month.”
Cold chills run over my skin and my stomach whirls with jealousy.
“That’s enough, Jennifer. Jesus fucking Christ.” He tries to tug me. “Let’s go, baby.”
I don’t say a thing, I just give her face one last glace before I whip around and stalk out of the gym, tugging myself out of his touch.
***
I cross my arms over my chest when I step back into the air-conditioned lobby. It sends a chill over my sweaty, overheated body.
I don’t have to look back to know that Falcon stayed back a little longer than I did, saying something to Jennifer. I don’t feel him behind me. It’s not until I step onto the elevator and turn around to press the button for our floor that I see him sprinting through the lobby toward me.
“Faith!” he calls out, just as the doors close and all I see is my reflection in the golden steel.
I don’t know why I’m behaving like such a brat right now, but I just need to be by myself, just for a few minutes.
What Jennifer said really sank into my heart and made me tremble with how jealous I am. I have never experienced an emotion like this before. Anger? Sure. Fear? Absolutely. Pure, black, ugly jealousy? Never.
And I am glad I haven’t because I hate it.
It crawls up over your skin and sinks into every pore. It’s a feeling I’d never wish on anyone…well, except her.
That horrific piece of bleach-blonde awfulness downstairs; I’d like to make her a jealous because she deserves it.
The elevator dings and bounces gently as it comes to a halt and the doors slide open. No sooner than I step out into the hallway, do I hear the door that leads to the stairwell slam open and Falcon comes barreling through.
“Faith. Wait,” he says, as he runs toward me, and I do. I stay right where I am and wait for him.
He stops just short of my body and keeps his hands at his side, flexing his fingers like he’s resisting the urge to touch me.
“Why did you run away?” he asks.
“Because I didn’t want to hear anything else she had to say. I’d rather not think about you fucking her over a sink,” I seethe.
He grimaces at my words. “Faith…”
“I don’t want to talk about this at all, but if we are going to, we should at least do it in the room. Okay?”
He nods. “Okay.”
I pull the room key out of a small pocket in the thigh area of my leggings and turn to head down the hallway to the room.
He still doesn’t touch me, but he walks just behind me. So close I can feel the heat of his body and my skin is tingling because of it.
I slide the key through the card reader and push the door open when it the light turns green.
We walk inside and when the door seals us in privacy, he chooses to speak, “Why are you letting her bother you?”
“I wish I had the answer to that question. I really do, because it shouldn’t bother me. Nothing like that ever does. I pride myself on being someone who never lets shit like that in, but with what she said… about you…I…”
“You what?”
“Did you sleep with her? Have you?”
He stands stock-still and just gives me a simple, truthful answer, “Yes.”
It stings, even though I already knew the answer. “How many times?”
“Faith…”
“How many times, Falcon?”
“More than a few. If she came to a city to see a fight, it happened.”
“Who is she?”
“Her name is Jennifer Wyatt. She is Denver Wyatt’s daughter.”
“Denver Wyatt. Why do I know that name?” I chew on my thumbnail, needing to expel this icky anxiety that is brewing.
“Denver Wyatt is the president of the WFC.”
WFC. World Fighting Corporation. The company that, at the end of the day, signs his checks.
I can’t help but laugh. “So you’re basically fucking your boss’s daughter?”
“Okay, don’t put it that way. I’m not fucking her. I have fucked her. That’s it. She doesn’t mean anything to me. It was just…physical. Nothing else.”
“Look, I have no right to be upset, and truly, I know that. I know that it’s in the past. I know it doesn’t matter, but I’m just,” I sigh, and drop my hands to my side and shrug, “jealous, I guess. I’m jealous. I don’t want to think about you doing things with her that you do with me. I don’t want to think about the fact that she’s seen you the way I see you. I don’t want her to have what’s mine.” The words fly out of my mouth before I can even stop them.
“What’s yours?” The side of his mouth curls up in a smirk. “Care to specify?”
I shake
my head. “You. You’re mine. You’re mine while I’m with you and I’m yours. I don’t want to think about you being someone else’s.”
“Something you should know unequivocally is that I was never Jennifer’s. Ever. She’s a typical belt rider, and I never wanted anything but a quick way to get off. I know that’s harsh, but it’s true.”
“What’s a belt rider?” I sit down on the edge of the bed. “Do I even want to know?”
He walks over to the small desk on the other side of the room and pulls the chair out, spinning it around so he can sit and face me. He leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees with his hands linked in front of him.
“A belt rider is essentially a groupie. They follow the fights and sleep with the fighters who win. That’s what they are known as in the fighting world. Jennifer is like a ringleader of sorts, and she thinks she can do and say whatever she wants because of her last name.”
“Can she? It certainly seems like it.”
“Not with me, she can’t.”
“But she can. You have slept with her, more than once. She felt like she was superior to me down there because of that. It made me feel things I don’t like feeling. I hate being jealous,” I tell him.
He uses his feet to walk himself and the chair across the room until our knees are touching.
“Faith, look at me.”
I look up into his eyes just as he reaches for my face. He doesn’t touch me though, not until I nod letting him know that it’s okay.
But when his hands cradle my cheeks, I instantly relax and nuzzle into his palm without even realizing it, like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
“You have no reason to be jealous of anyone, especially someone like Jennifer.” He runs his thumb over my skin and I shiver at the contact. “You’re special, baby. You’re different.”
“How am I so different?”
“You want me for me, not for what you think I can do for you. You laugh with me and talk with me. I want to be around you, sex or no sex. I crave your presence, Faith. I’m addicted to you. To your smile and your touch. To your laugh and your body. You. Are. Different.”