On The Ropes Series Box Set

by Aly Martinez

  She swung her head to look at me, but I squeezed her hand and kept talking to the window.

  “I paced the hall all night long, eventually waking you up to bullshit about something. I can’t even remember what it was, probably boxing or something equally as stupid to be discussing at two a.m. But, as usual, you gave me a grand pep talk and sent me to my room feeling better than ever.” I paused to look at her. “After that, I decided to move. You made me realize that, whether you came with me or not, you would always be there for me. Only a phone call away, right?” I smiled painfully.

  Liv didn’t respond, but she tugged her fingers from mine and sidled closer until her front was pressed into my side. I soothed a hand up her back and sifted it into her long, brown hair.

  Kissing the top of her head, I murmured, “I woke up three hours later to find you in my bed.”

  Her shoulders jerked. “I…” She rocked back a step, but I tightened my grip in her hair and refused her the space.

  “It’s okay. I’ve known for years. And, if you want to know my secret, I used to pray every night that I’d find you there. It was the only time I really slept.”

  She buried her face in my chest and mumbled something I couldn’t make out, but I didn’t ask for clarification.

  “That’s when I decided I couldn’t leave you. I still have no idea what comfort I offered you by just being there in the middle of the night, but after everything you had done for me, I knew I’d never take that away from you.”

  With a gentle tug, I tipped her head back and forced her gaze to mine. Her eyes searched my face nervously, looking anywhere but at my eyes.

  “If you need it, I want to be the one to give it to you, Liv. I felt that way then, and I feel it even more now. So I stayed.”

  When her eyes landed on my mouth, I offered her my most charming smile, being sure to pop the dimple I knew she loved so much.

  “It wasn’t exactly a hardship. I hate that apartment, but I’d have taken up residence on a park bench if that’s where you were.”

  Her eyes fluttered closed, and a single tear rolled from the corner. I brushed my lips against her mouth, letting them linger without actually kissing her. Her body slacked in my arms as our breaths mingled between us. Sucking in deeply, I reveled in the feeling of more than just my lungs being filled. The hollowness I had been carrying my entire life vanished with every inhale.

  “I gutted the guesthouse to make a gym. I come here a lot when I need to be alone. I wasn’t lying to you about that, but you’re right. I am a liar,” I admitted on a whisper.

  Her eyes popped open.

  “I could stay in that apartment with you for the rest of my life, but I started to worry that, one day, you’d want to move out on me.”

  “What are you talking about?” She pushed on my chest.

  I pushed back—with my lips.

  She struggled for only a scant second before she melted. Our tongues tangled together. Slanting my head, I took it deeper, forcing a soft moan from her throat. My cock thickened between us, and Liv inched closer to press against it.

  I was ready to throw her down and take her on the floor when she suddenly backed away.

  “What have you been lying about?”

  I groaned at her retreat, rushing forward, not stopping until her tight body was once again flush with mine. Lifting her off her feet, I walked to the couch and confessed, “I pay you shit as my assistant. Seriously, it’s near criminal. But, if I’d paid you what you deserved, there’s no way you would have stayed in our apartment with me. I couldn’t risk you leaving.”

  A flash of relief hit her face, and then her lips tipped up, brushing against mine as she murmured, “I buy all of my shoes on your credit card.”

  I nipped at her bottom lip and gently lowered her to the couch. “I know. Which is why I haven’t been eaten alive by guilt over the years.”

  She giggled then gasped as I settled on top of her, my hard-on landing at the junction between her legs.

  “Goddamn it, I hate when you wear jeans. How about you use my card to buy some fucking winter dresses?”

  “I can do that,” she replied, tugging my shirt off.

  Sitting up, I peeled the shirt over her head and made fast work of stripping her jeans and panties down her legs and then removing my workout pants before moving back on top of her.

  Her mouth landed on mine as I shifted to my side and squeezed my large frame into the back of the couch, my hand immediately diving between her legs. Her hips writhed as I alternated between gliding through her folds and circling her clit.

  “Please,” she moaned into my mouth.

  She was drenched by the time I gave in and pressed a single digit into her tight heat. Her mouth disengaged from mine as her head flew back on a strangled cry.

  Her dark nipples tightened as her hips bucked against my hand. I temporarily quelled her need by adding another finger, but it came with a price.

  “Say you’ll move in here with me,” I ordered.

  “Quarry,” she breathed, circling her hips off the couch when my hand stilled.

  “After that shit last night, I don’t feel safe with you in that apartment anymore.” I nuzzled her with the stubble on my jaw, feeling her breathy mews breeze across my skin. “I want you here, behind a security system and a gate.”

  “Please,” she whined. “We can talk after you fuck me.”

  She was right. But that wasn’t the way I was playing this. Without a doubt, she was going to fight me, but after my dream, there wasn’t a chance in hell I was taking no for an answer. I’d been in a cold sweat all fucking morning, trying to figure out how I could keep from failing her again. I hadn’t been planning to tell her about the house yet, but maybe her finding out the way she had was a sign from whichever god I hadn’t pissed off yet.

  “There’s nothing to talk about.” I twisted my hand and again found her clit with my thumb. “Say you’ll move in here. This is different than the last time. We’re together. We’re starting a life. I need peace of mind that you’re safe.”

  “It’s too soon,” she cried, rocking herself against my hand. “Please, Q. I need to feel you inside me.”

  I rolled on top of her, spreading her legs to accommodate my hips. Poising myself at her entrance I demanded, “Move in here with me.”

  “Fuck me,” she ordered as a reply. Lifting her greedy little hips, she stole an inch of my length.

  I watched in awe as she rode the tip of my cock from the bottom, moaning like she could come off that alone.

  She was so fucking beautiful.

  It was Liv though, so that wasn’t exactly a surprise.

  She was my undoing.

  She was also mine now. And it was my responsibility to take care of her.

  The one task I couldn’t afford to fail.

  Pressure mounted in my chest.

  Through a ragged breath, I rasped, “Move in here with me.” Even I heard the desperation in my voice as I finished with, “Please, Rocky.”

  She stilled immediately and, her eyes locked with mine. “Quarry?” she breathed in obvious concern.

  With a hard thrust, I filled her in order to keep my overflowing emotions in check.

  Her arms folded around my shoulders, clinging to me as I mercilessly drove in again. She moaned, and her pussy clutched my cock, even as she whispered, “What’s going on?”

  “I can’t lose you too,” I answered on a grunt when I roughly planted myself at the hilt.

  “You’ll never lose me,” she pledged, rocking into me while I collected myself enough to start moving again.

  After another hard thrust, I found myself even more lost. I couldn’t get deep enough to experience any kind of pleasure. The anxiety and fear in my head numbed me physically, but I pounded away, desperately seeking comfort and reassurance within her small body.

  And she freely gave herself to me as I fucked her harder than ever before. I bit her neck and painfully squeezed her breasts, trying to find anythin
g that would make me feel again.

  Her nails scored my back each time I slammed my hips against hers, and her fingers tugged at my hair as I raked my teeth over her neck and her shoulders.

  She wasn’t exactly in pain, but she wasn’t far from it.

  Yet she still gave it to me.

  Her body was mine to do with as I pleased, and that notion made me take her even more savagely.

  We were both going to have bruises when it was over, but I couldn’t stop, and before I knew it, my mouth had joined the fuck-fest.

  “He killed you,” I blurted.

  Her body turned rock solid beneath me. “What?” she cried as I sucked hard at the soft skin beneath her ear.

  One at a time, I guided her long legs around my hips and drove in impossibly hard. “In my dream this morning…when I got sick,” I panted, drawing back slowly before slamming back in.

  Her face contorted in a way that could never be mistaken for ecstasy. But her muscles pulsed around me when I stilled.

  “Davenport.” Trailing my mouth up her neck, I whispered the words I never wanted to hear myself say, “He held a gun to your head and pulled the trigger.” My voice lodged in my throat, and my stomach knotted at the memory.

  With one last powerful thrust, the fight left me in a rush and my body sagged on top of her.

  It wasn’t in the wake of orgasm.

  I was lost in defeat.

  “Sit up, baby,” she cooed, pushing on my chest.

  I sucked in and held it as I followed her order.

  Moving onto my lap, she wasn’t happy until my cock was once again seated inside her.

  I buried my face in her neck and hugged her tight as she started to move over me. Her desperation was far gentler than mine, and it made me realize how severely I had taken her delicate body.

  “Christ, Rocky. I’m so fucking sorry.”

  If she heard my apology at all, she didn’t acknowledge it. “No one will take me from you,” she vowed. “It’s you and me. Forever.” Slowly gliding up and down my shaft, she soothed my wounds by saying, “I’ll move in, Quarry. Whatever you want. I’ll do it. No argument.”

  I choked on my breath as it rushed from my chest.

  God, she had no idea how much I’d needed to hear that.

  “Oh, God!” I clung to her even tighter. Taking over, I lifted her up before slamming her down my cock, giving her the only thing I had to offer at the moment.

  Her moans grew louder, but she wasn’t getting closer to release—and neither was I.

  “Quarry, stop,” she finally whispered, pushing me back against the couch.

  “Damn it. I ruined that.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, not willing to look at her in the middle of my meltdown.

  “Nothing is going to happen to me,” she pressed.

  I laughed without humor. “Famous last words.” Sighing, I attempted to move her off my lap after having decided that it would be in the best interest of everyone involved if I just finished in the shower. Alone.

  She wrapped her arms around me and refused to budge. “Don’t push me away. Talk to me.”

  “What do you want me to say? I had a nightmare, and it fucking destroyed me. I’ll be okay.”

  Her hand glided up the nape of my neck. “Okay, fine. I’ll talk. I think you’re about to go off the deep end. I said I’d move in. I said I’d do anything you want to make you feel comfortable, and I still feel like you just left me.”

  “I’m right here, Liv.” I made my cock twitch inside her as further proof.

  “You’re all over the place, Quarry. I know you. This is what you do right before you lose your mind. You can’t figure out how to make yourself feel better, and you’re going to disappear into your own head, where whatever answer you come up with is going to be wrong. And, if it’s anything like the one you came up with when we were kids, it’s going to ruin us.”

  My whole body flinched at her honesty, but just as quickly, I felt relief. She knew me better than anyone in the world. There wasn’t even any point in lying.

  “I love you so fucking much.”

  Her arms convulsed around me.

  “I can’t stop preparing myself to lose you. I’ve not even had you a full month and I’m already obsessing about failing you.”

  “You can’t fail me.”

  “I can. And I will. I always do. Eliza. Flint. You. Mia. The list just keeps on growing. And, last night, Davenport put his fucking hands on you because of me. I don’t know what to do with that.” I barked a manic laugh. “Clearly my subconscious does though.”

  I was gearing up for another round of word vomit when she interrupted me.

  “You…you love me?” Her voice was so packed with genuine surprise that it almost offended me.

  Grabbing her shoulders, I leaned her away and caught her equally disbelieving gaze. “Are you kidding me?”

  She shook her head.

  “Of course I love you. I always have. I’ve felt it my entire life, but something just clicked recently. It was like I’d buried it so deep within myself that, when it finally made it to the surface, we went from friends to soul mates in the span of a minute.”

  She didn’t reply, but her breath shuddered. Her eyes filled with unshed tears, and a mixture of hope and fear showed on her face.

  She was busy chewing on her lip when she lifted her hands and silently signed, You think we’re soul mates?

  “Without a question,” I replied instantly.

  “But what about—”

  I narrowed my eyes and reminded her, “My cock is still inside you. Don’t even say it.”

  “It’s just—”

  “Goddamn it. Don’t!” I growled. “I love you, Liv. Whatever you’re thinking right now, get that shit out of your head.” I palmed each side of her face and dropped my forehead to hers. “I love you. I love you. I love you.”

  She swallowed hard and closed her eyes. “I love you too.”

  “Good to know,” I breathed, pressing my lips against hers.

  “I always have. Even when I wasn’t supposed to.”

  I smiled a real honest-to-God smile.

  “And I trust you, Quarry. So, if you want me to move into this absolutely incredible house, it will be hard, but I’ll figure out a way to be happy about it.” She giggled, and my veins flooded with relief.

  Just that simple.

  Just Liv.

  Two minutes ago, I’d been on the verge of breaking down, but somehow, she’d flipped the switch. Calmed me in ways no one in the world had ever been able to accomplish—not even me.

  “You serious about moving in here with me?” I whispered against her lips while sporting an impossibly wide grin.

  She nodded and opened her mouth, rolling her tongue with mine.

  I took it greedily, my cock thickening all over again.

  “And I’m talking one bedroom. We share a bed. No more of that roommate shit.”

  Her hands glided over my shoulders and up the back of my neck. “Okay,” she murmured, rising up on my cock. “But I want you to talk to me about your dream. I hated the way you rushed out this morning.”

  I forced her down quickly, smirking when her throaty groan rumbled against my mouth. “Can I make you come first?”

  “I already came.”

  My eyebrows popped in surprise. “You did?”

  She laughed. “You were in the middle of some kind of barbaric mating ritual, but yeah, I came.”

  “Sorry about that,” I lied, dropping my hands to her hips and rocking back and forth.

  “Mmm,” she purred. “Why don’t I believe you?” Her head fell back as she started moving over me again.

  I was about to take her hard and see if I could make her come again. But then she whispered, “You love me.”

  I smiled to myself and decided the fuck would have to wait.

  “Every. Single. Day,” I replied, reclining her down on the couch and then showing her exactly how much.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight />
  Liv

  LUCKILY, IT WAS WINTER, BECAUSE when Quarry and I finally made it off the lonely couch in the middle of our enormous new living room, I realized I’d have to wear a scarf for at least a week. My neck was black and blue with a combination of hickies and bite marks. And he didn’t look any better. He had claw marks covering his entire back. They were so pronounced that they could easily be made out even amongst the dense black tattoos. I made him swear on his life that he’d keep a shirt on at the gym until they healed. He made fun of me but reluctantly agreed.

  We went to brunch that morning with my parents, where Quarry bluntly informed my dad about the new house and made it quite apparent to everyone at the table that this wasn’t another roommate situation by repeatedly mentioning the need for a security panel in “our bedroom.” My father didn’t miss it. Neither did my mom. Dad’s response was to scowl as Quarry possessively draped his arm around my shoulders. Mom’s response was to shriek with joy. (I’d like to disturbingly note that she then quietly tugged at my scarf and exaggerated a knowing wink.) I couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled from my throat. My mom was crazy. And, if possible, I loved her even more for it.

  After brunch, we made a brief stop at the wings place near the highway, and then my parents headed back to Chicago. Quarry and I went back to the new house, where he changed and went to work out. I spent the first hour taking measurements of each room. Then I made my way out to the gym and watched my man—the one I’d been in love with my entire life and who I now knew loved me too. And it came with the added bonus of him thinking we were soul mates, a fact I’d always thought but never dreamed he would too. And, for the first time, I could admit that I trusted him with not only my life, but my heart as well.

  I’d been so wrong before.

  It wasn’t weird at all.

  It was actually perfect.

  For the next month, our lives became insanely busy. Don had called off for a family emergency the day after the Davenport incident. He didn’t explain, but he assured me he was okay and that he’d be back right after Christmas. It was bad timing for him to be gone with Quarry gearing up for his big fight. Plus, we were trying to get moved into the new house before Christmas, but we did the best we could.