“Fight’s over, Yeti,” I muttered, and in the millisecond it took me to breath those words, he contorted, loosened the hold and jabbed with his knee, connecting with part of my upper throat.
I gagged and fell back.
Girls screamed. Guys yelled. Max yelled from the sidelines. No clue what he said.
Bugger!
I lost steam. Fast. I couldn’t fucking breathe.
He grinned maniacally and came at me, jabbing at my face. He got my right eye. I kept moving. Avoiding. Dodging. Trying to breathe.
Using all the strength I had, I rolled my hips and retaliated with a jab-cross. The left hook went straight for the liver and the right aimed for the area under his heart. I yelled as it ripped out of me.
He stumbled backward into the crowd, who shoved him back in.
I growled and tore into him, swapping messy blows and kicks, neither of us willing to give in. I scanned the crowd as I paced, looking for blond hair.
I found Elizabeth. And Blake was with her?
Slam! His knee did a punching stab and hit my liver. I crumpled as pain ricocheted through my lower body. Gasping for air, I arched back just as he missed nailing me with a high left leg kick. I swayed around the ring.
Shit-motherfucking-hell.
“Fight’s over, English,” he taunted as he landed another jab to my gut.
Again.
Again.
Air whooshed out and the room spun. My bare feet fumbled around the ring and I tripped and fell to my knees.
Air. Needed fucking air.
Sirens reached my ears first. Then the screams of the spectators as they ran for the exit doors.
“Cops are coming,” a mummy screamed as he ran past and then climbed out one of the windows that lined the south side of the warehouse.
Now it was a madhouse.
Yeti did a crude gesture with his dick and then pointed his finger at me. “This isn’t over. You got lucky this time, English. Next time, I’ll kill you then I’ll fuck you.” He rocked his hips and laughed. As I watched him, he jogged over to his manager and then darted out a door that led to a myriad of offices in the back. I had no clue if there was an exit back there.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Max yelled as he grabbed my arm and tugged me toward the main doors of the warehouse.
“Wait,” I wheezed out and pulled loose from him. “Where’s Dax?” I scanned the room, looking for his build. “And Elizabeth? She’s here somewhere.”
“Don’t be an idiot. You’re the one they’ll arrest,” he yelled at me.
The sirens blared loud now, the flashing blue lights ricocheting into the cracked windows.
I turned to him. “Go on. I’m coming right behind you.”
He groaned and gave up on me and ran for the door.
I stood in the middle of the chaos. Most of the place had emptied except for the people who’d been on the top level and were trying to maneuver the rickety stairwells.
No blond hair. No Dax as far as I could tell.
“This way!” a voice called from across the warehouse, nearly thirty feet away.
Dax stood at a broken window, poised to crawl through. Elizabeth stood next to him, her eyes like saucers. She motioned with wild hands for me to come on.
The squeal of tires came to a stop outside the warehouse. Car doors opened. Voices yelled.
I sprinted toward them. Dammit, I was too far away.
“Push her out first,” I yelled. “Cops are right behind me.”
He got what I meant and hoisted her up, careful to avoid the jagged shards of glass. Her legs disappeared over the edge.
“Go, Dax!”
He shook his head, a pleading look on his face as he watched me run through a group of girls who’d had too much to drink and were trying to get out.
He sent me one final look and jumped through the window. Through the panes of the glass, I saw his shadow grab Elizabeth’s and run for a neighboring building’s alley.
I ran hard toward the window and dove headfirst through it. Hitting the ground, I rolled back to my feet and kept moving.
Shouts came through the window from the interior of the warehouse.
Shit. The cops had come inside.
Go, go, go, I told myself.
I turned the corner of the building and darted down the dark alley where I was hoping Dax had gone. They weren’t there, so I kept running between buildings and calling their names. My fear was the cops would spread out, but with five hundred people going in every direction, I hoped they had their hands full.
Where were they?
I turned down a small side street nearly a block over when I saw them waving at me as they waited next to a dumpster in an alley.
I jogged over to them.
Dax sent me a wild look. “Cops? What the hell? That’s never happened—and my car is parked over there,” he wailed as he bent over to catch his breath. “Fun times, bro.”
I moved my attention to Elizabeth, who stood frozen as she watched me, her chest rising rapidly.
Her eyes suddenly widened. “Your hands are bleeding.”
I looked down, realizing I must have cut them when I’d hit the ground running.
She picked them up to inspect them and dabbed at them with the end of her tank. “This is crazy. We need to get you to the ER.”
My first instinct was to pull away from her touch, especially since my hands were swollen from fighting, but I didn’t move, the heat of her body intoxicating. She smelled like lemons or something fruity and I wanted to pull her to me and inhale deeply. “I’m fine,” I said gruffly.
“You’re not fine!” she snarled. Angry.
God, I loved that fire in her eyes.
“Why do you care so much anyway?”
She puffed up even more, blue eyes flashing as she dropped my hand and took a step back. I took in the soft curves of her breasts as she crossed her arms, the way her throat moved when she swallowed. My body tightened, my cock hardening. I told myself it was the usual leftover adrenaline, where I felt like I could fuck forever, but it was all her.
I wanted her, my pride be damned. All the turmoil from the past few days disappeared, and she was all that mattered.
I turned to Dax. “Go get my car. It’s three blocks east of here in an open lot on Chester Street. Key’s on the top of the driver’s side tire.” I paused. “And give us a few minutes before you come back.”
He rose up, his eyes jumping between me and Elizabeth. “Okay,” he said uncertainly. “You guys good here in the alley? Elizabeth?”
I cocked an eye at her, letting her see the heat in my gaze. You are mine, it said. “You okay alone with me?” I asked, a twist to my lips, daring her to say no.
She nodded and Dax ran off into the darkness, but neither one of us watched him leave, both of us wrapped up in each other. She was still angry, and I was just horny.
“Declan—” she started.
“Come here.”
She licked her lips. “Why?”
“I’ve been fighting, my blood is practically boiling, and I need you … now.”
Her nose flared and the pulse in her neck kicked up. I wasn’t alone in this, and I was done rolling over and giving up on her.
If she wouldn’t come to me, then I’d go to her.
I wiped the blood from my hands on my shorts until most of it was gone, seeing that my cuts weren’t as bad as I’d thought. My bruises would probably be worse. I glanced up to see her watching me. I moved closer to her until I had her backed her up against the metal building behind her, but I kept a few inches between us as I propped both arms up on either side of her head.
“Now ask me to kiss you,” I said, staring down at her.
She panted, her eyes filling up with darkness, her pupils telling me the truth. Her top teeth bit into her plump lower lip, and my eyes went straight there. I was going to suck that mouth hard tonight, and she’d beg for more.
“Are you hot for me, Elizabeth? Did watchin
g me fight get you excited?”
She closed her eyes and shuddered as if just the sound of my voice got her off.
“Are you?” I asked again. “Because I want you so bad I can’t even think straight. I see you walk across campus or on your balcony and I want to run to you. I see you in class and, shit, I want to scoop you up and kiss you until you can’t breathe. I think about you in your bed at night all alone and I want to slip inside, crawl in your sheets, and hold you. Fuck you.”
I ran my fingertips across her lips. She moaned, her tongue dipping out to taste my skin. “Would you like that?”
She nodded, her eyes still closed, her neck arching up to mine. “Kiss me, please, Declan.”
“No. You kiss me. I need to know you want this too.”
She made a whimpering sound in her throat and moved her mouth a whisper away. Blood pounded in my body as she looped her hands around my neck and arched up to press her lips against mine. She was tentative, like the first kiss she’d given me, but I wasn’t having any of that. Groaning in satisfaction, I gathered her closer using my forearms, my hunger rising with each stroke of her tongue against mine. The press of her breasts against my chest made my cock pulse with need. She sighed and gave into the deepness I wanted, her tongue rubbing against mine seductively, her breasts and hips pressed against mine as I rocked against her.
“I want it all, Elizabeth.”
Her hands grasped my shoulders and clung, her nails digging into my bare skin. “Me too.”
We devoured each other, our lips searching cervices and hidden places. Our tongues tangled with open mouths.
Fast and hot. Hurry, hurry.
I nipped at her collarbone. “Take your shirt off. My hands are shit right now, and I’m trying to not get any blood on you.”
“I don’t care. Touch me.” She lifted her shirt up at the hem and whipped it off, revealing a white lacy bra. My mouth went straight to her breasts, where I licked and bit her nipples through the material, the moisture soaking through, exposing her.
She twisted and writhed against the building, her hands tangling in my hair.
“You feel so good,” she murmured, her hands sweeping across my chest. “Can I touch you? Are you hurting anywhere?”
“Not right now.”
Her hands drifted across my chest, tracing down to my navel, the softness of her touch driving me crazy. She stopped at my waistband and I tossed my head back.
Yes, baby, yes.
“Wait,” I said and reached inside to take off my cup, throwing it on the ground.
She slipped her hand in my shorts and fisted the pillar of my cock and pumped me, her fingers ghosting over the head, making me hiss.
“I love this … the sounds you make, how you look at me like I’m the only girl in the world,” she said.
“All for you.” I ripped the button on her skirt with my thumbs and shoved it down, my eyes heavy as I took her in with her lacy bra and panty set.
She curled a leg around my hips to pull me back, and I went with her up against the wall again, my hips holding her hostage.
“It’s damn inconvenient, but once again I don’t have a condom,” I said around her breasts, my mouth moving from one to the other, sucking the globes deep inside my mouth.
“You trying to get me pregnant?” She let out a breathless laugh.
I froze.
She whimpered. “I was kidding. I trust you.”
I trust you …
So many things hit me at once. Her pregnancy comment, and how the thought of putting my seed in her to make a baby didn’t freak me out like I thought it would. The way her body felt against mine. How I’d been waiting for this moment forever. I rested my forehead against her face. “Look at me. I mean really look at who I am.”
Her face softened. “I am.”
“I’m the guy who’s going to take you up against this wall. I’m going to bury my cock in you and own your body and you’re going to love it. But I’m not going to hurt you. Ever.”
She smiled. “I know.”
I grimaced. “It’s killing me that I can’t put my fingers in you. Is my mouth okay?”
Her eyes glittered with heat. “Are you kidding me? Yes. Please use your mouth.”
I fell to my knees and tossed one of her legs over my shoulder as she arched back. She was soaked, and I centered on her nub, my tongue coaxing and flirting with her core, mimicking the motions of what my cock would soon be doing inside her.
My hands itched to touch her sheath, to delve into its sweetness, but instead I cupped her breasts and squeezed. She gasped out my name and swiveled toward me. More.
She pulled my head back and stared down at me, a wild look in her eye. “Declan, please. I can’t wait any longer.”
I stood, my hands picking her up as her legs went around me. I knifed inside her, and my body sang in relief, the intense pleasure of sliding into her making me yell out.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I whispered in her neck as I pumped gently, easing in more and more of my length.
“You won’t,” she whispered.
I pumped soft then hard, seating myself until I was all the way in.
Her fingers dug in my shoulders and spurred me on, her small hips jerking to get more, her body clenching and sucking me.
I roared. She was mine, and I knew I’d never want another girl for the rest of my life like this. Using my chest, I pressed her further into the wall and pounded her with an unflinching rhythm, my cock bursting already to come. She felt so damn good bareback, her hot, velvet core wet with need. I hammered in and out, thrusting with powerful strokes. She moaned when I locked my arms on either side of her, holding her tight so I could angle down to press my pelvis against her sensitive skin. I rocked against her nub, my hands cupping her arse, positioning her to take every single deliberate stroke.
She tugged at my hair and yanked my face up to hers. “Whatever you’re doing, don’t stop.”
“Never.”
I snatched her lips and kissed her roughly while she clung to my scalp, her fingers digging in. My mouth went deep over hers.
The sounds of us, her gasps, my grunts, the smacking of our bodies …
“You, all for you.”
She screamed out her orgasm, her legs locking around my hips.
I let out a shout as I came inside her, the most intense pleasure I’d ever felt shuddering through me, a wave of heat and desire and need that culminated in one burst of sensation. My body rippled and jerked with aftershocks, and I panted over her, my chest heaving like I’d run a marathon.
33
He handed over my skirt and shirt, a little smile on his full lips as he watched me dress. I took my time, liking his hot gaze on me as I slipped them back on, my legs and arms loose from our crazy sex.
“Orgasm aside, I’m really pissed at you right now.”
He speared me with a cocked eyebrow as he adjusted his shorts. “Do I have to ask?”
“That fight,” I called out, getting worked up again at his blasé attitude. “You’re taking a huge risk for money, I get that, but if you get caught you can go to jail. It might be hard to run a business from a cell, Declan.”
“You’re gorgeous when you get your knickers in a twist, you know that?”
I crossed my arms. Why was it so hard to be mad at him? He raked his gaze over me and rubbed his jaw, that intense look on his face like he was going to devour me. Again.
He grinned. “I almost got my arse kicked, and I don’t even give a damn because we’re going back to my flat for the next round. I want you naked and in my bed, and I’m going to make love to you until you aren’t mad at me anymore.” He reached out and tentatively touched my face with his swollen hands.
Well. I couldn’t say no to that.
* * *
We dropped Dax off at the Tau house and then went to Declan’s apartment. He immediately went to the bathroom to clean up the blood and wash out the cuts. Dax and I had tried to get him to stop by the E
R, but he refused, saying he’d had worse, and in the long run, it meant less questions being asked.
Speaking of questions, even though we’d had make-up sex in the alley, I still didn’t know where things stood between us.
I’d been rummaging through his fridge when I heard him shout from the bathroom. I tore open the door and found Declan pouring a bottle of antiseptic over his hands. Bruises that I hadn’t seen in the alley before, ugly, purple splotches, decorated his ribs and back.
Anger filled me. Dammit, I wanted to kill the Yeti. Declan wouldn’t even be paid for this fight. My hands fluttered around him. “You can’t do this again. Please tell me you won’t.”
“We’re getting in this shower together, and there will be very little talking involved.”
Oh, he was frustrating. I put my hands on my hips. “No.”
He didn’t say anything as he packed up his gauze and put it back in the cabinet, his face a mask. With his back to me, he shoved his shorts down, his back rippling with hard muscle as he bent over to turn on the shower. Water beat down, tapping on the ceramic.
“What? You’re just going to ignore me now?” I huffed, part of me lusting after his body, the other part of me wanting to smother him with my pitiful nursing abilities.
“If we’re going to do this thing …” My voice trailed off when he bent over to get a towel, his forearm brushing against the skin on my shoulder. I hissed. God, he was beautiful.
“And I know you’re trying to distract me, so just stop being all sexy and listen to me—”
He stepped in the shower and closed the glass door, effectively cutting me off.
I huffed and paced around, mulling.
Why was he so stubborn?
I came to a stop. It was no wonder we were in love with each other; we were just alike, neither one of us willing to budge.
I stopped in my tracks. My heart jackhammered. Love? Had I just thought love?
I realized a thousand things at once, as if they’d been there the entire time, just waiting for me to see them. Of course it was love.
Loving Declan was like the rain storms I loved to dance in. Crazy and unpredictable, sometimes turbulent, sometimes gentle. I didn’t know if I was going to be struck by lightning, but one thing was for sure, I wanted him anyway. Fighting and all. Somehow we’d make it all work. If he could accept my past and love me anyway, then I sure as hell could handle whatever the future brought for us.
British Bad Boys: Box Set Page 20