Out of Her Dreams

by Fran Lee

  When the match between the towering, menacing Wolfman and another heavyweight with a bald head and a big belly began, Greg was on his feet like a madman, cheering on the Wolfman. Sam recognized the giant from the match she’d seen on TV in Council Bluffs and she held her hands over her mouth as she watched. He was seriously huge. The Wolfman made fast work of his unfortunate opponent, throwing him over the ropes and into the front row on the far side of the ring, where the man lay groaning and acting as if he couldn’t move.

  At closer quarters, Sam could see that most of the slamming blows she’d thought were terrifically hard were, in reality, quite gentle, considering the size and weight and sheer animal power of these huge men. But “gentle” was only a relative term, because if any of those men hit a normal person that hard, it would knock them for a loop. She grimaced as she thought about what damage David Chance could do to her if she angered him. She gave a little shudder and hoped he was in a really good mood tonight.

  When the Wolfman picked up and body slammed his opponent, she realized that the mat absorbed about fifty percent of the slam as it recoiled and bounced back. “Way to go, Wolfman!” Greg shouted at the top of his lungs, but she was sure there was far too much noise for the man to have heard him.

  The huge wrestler held his opponent up against the ropes and slugged him in the head five times in quick succession, but she could see that he was not applying full force. He was pulling his punches and allowing his half-curled hand to close so that it looked like he was really slamming the guy in the head hard.

  ”That’s gotta hurt!” Greg was swinging air punches and howling.

  After the eliminations ended, another match gave the big guys a breather and then the place went crazy as the Wolfman, another hulking bald-headed giant and one totally huge Japanese sumo-looking wrestler all entered the ring to greet their nemesis, Chance Braza.

  Oh. My. God. The sight of those three waiting for her dream lover left her trembling in genuine fear for his life, despite the fact that this was all supposed to be a well-rehearsed act. The pyrotechnic display was enough to scare the hell out of the local fire marshal as the crowd rose to its feet with a roar and Joe pulled her up with him. “It’s Chance!”

  She wasn’t tall enough to see over the heads of the two rows of jumping, shouting fans that separated her from the aisle and so she sat back down. But Joe and Greg dragged her back off the seat and hoisted her by the waist high enough for her to see him walking down the long ramp to the ring, wearing that ornate championship belt about his massive body. The sight of him was enough to set off all her inner alarms and make her wonder if she had a damn brain in her head to agree to come here and give him another shot at her screaming libido. She swallowed hard and, as he mounted the metal steps to the ring, they lowered her back to her feet.

  “Thanks, guys.” Her voice was shaky. Like her legs. And her body.

  “No problem, Ms. Hastings,” Joe grinned.

  She watched as Chance jumped onto the ropes and held up his fists and shouted and the fans went crazy. Then he was standing on the ropes on her side of the ring and she bent her head and put her hand over her face, suddenly afraid that he might see and recognize her.

  “Who’s the best?”

  His deep voice boomed out over the audience and everyone around her was screaming “Chance Braza!” at the top of their lungs. Joe grinned down at her and nudged her in the side with a teasing elbow.

  “What’re you hiding for? I’d be up letting him know I was here.”

  “No thanks. I’d rather not.” She blushed hotly.

  Then the announcer gave the rules for the match. There was only one rule-when a man was knocked out of the ring, he had one minute to get back in or forfeit. The last man standing in the ring would own the ornate championship belt that David was now hoisting over his head as he turned in a slow circle in the center of the ring.

  Her eyes drank in the hot, rippling body that she remembered so intimately and she put her hands to her cheeks to cool them. What if he got hurt? What would she do? Would she faint? No. She’d probably go up there and beat the crap out of the guy who hurt him. She bit her lip and tried to remember that he was a big man, with a great deal of physical power and that he had been doing this stuff for a very long time.

  When the match began, the four big men taunted and circled, until the big sumo-looking wrestler slammed a fist into David’s gut and Wolfman tried to toss the bald-headed giant over the ropes to eliminate the third challenger. After that, they seemed to pair off in twos, with the Wolfman still going after the hulking giant and the huge sumo-looking guy charging David, head down.

  While the other two slammed each other, threw each other and slugged each other, David had his hands full with the four-hundred-pound sumo. He was about two hundred pounds lighter than his opponent, who seemed to be oblivious to the hardest blows to body or head. He got a hold of David and hoisted him over his head, flinging him into the other pair of men, which resulted in those two ganging up on David while he was down on the mat, as well.

  Sam whimpered and covered her face several times but Joe kept saying, “He’s okay. He’s back up.”

  She tried to not look at the ring and instead let her eyes wander around the crowded arena and it was only then that she realized the event was being televised. Cameras were rolling from the back of the arena, from the area just behind the floor seats and from ringside.

  And then Joe was pointing at the huge screens that were fifty feet in the air above the ring, so that the fans in the upper reaches could get close-ups of the action-and she followed his gaze to see her own face as she sat, her hands covering her mouth, looking stricken.

  Holy shit!

  “Oh no!” she gasped, ducking down and hiding behind the people in the seats in front of them.

  The cameraman on her side of the ring had apparently been alerted by someone that the woman Chance Braza was searching for was in the arena, sitting at ringside. From the videos being shown overhead, it was obvious that he had been moving closer and closer until he’d gotten a good, clear shot of her face in the reflected light from the spots on the ring, and had been recording her face and reactions. They were cycling her shocked looks and wide eyes onscreen whenever David took a particularly hard slam or blow.

  After she ducked, the cameraman turned his camera back to the ring but the video footage they already had kept playing again and again at appropriate moments.

  She imagined that David had to be aware of her presence by now. The whole damn arena was aware of her presence. She noted heads craning to see her and she groaned as Joe nudged her again with that sharp elbow. But David seemed to be too hard pressed by three opponents to acknowledge her in any way.

  She returned her attention to the ring just as all hell broke loose around her and David came flying over the ropes as if launched from a catapult. People in the two rows in front all scattered as his heavy body slammed into the chairs right in front of her with a sickening crash.

  Joe and Greg were on their feet as David struggled up from the bent and broken chairs and turned toward her. The pain on his face was very real but when his eyes met hers, a crooked grin replaced the grimace of pain as he flung two chairs aside and towered over her, much to the rabid, screaming delight of twenty-five-thousand wrestling fans.

  Joe gave a whoop and shoved her to her feet and before she could blink or move out of David’s way, she was being dragged into his arms, against his perspiring, blood-spattered body and being kissed silly in front of the entire wrestling world.

  Oh, how good he tasted. How good he felt. Her body melted as he dragged her against him, letting her feel every hard, rippling muscle from chest to thighs. He was sweaty and hot and the veins stood out on his face and body like rivers on a map. He was totally amazing. Totally beautiful. And he wanted her, Sam Hastings.

  Her mind deserted her. Her glands took over again and she wrapped her arms and legs about him and kissed him back, taking the initiative as s
he swept her tongue into his hot mouth, seeking his. She heard the deep, rumbling groan that shook his chest, felt it in her mouth as he devoured her like a starving sailor trapped on a desert island without food or water. His large hands slid down to drag her ass closer to his hips and she whimpered.

  It didn’t matter that she was on TV. It didn’t matter at all that the guys were shouting encouragement to David. All that mattered for that one, marvelous moment was that he was kissing her again like she had been kissed in her dreams, in his bed.

  And then all hell broke loose again.

  Powerful arms snaked around her from behind and she was dragged painfully away from him as he was dragged away from her by two of his opponents, who had apparently followed him out of the ring. She realized that the man holding her in midair and laughing was none other than the Wolfman, because the other two were dragging David back to the ring and flinging him back under the ropes.

  Struggling to regain a footing as she was being held tightly in a pair of massive steel arms, she was too shocked to think lucidly-until she felt the wrestler’s hand give her left breast a familiar squeeze. A deep laugh and hot breath close behind her ear galvanized her into action. “Nice. Real nice.”

  “Put me down, you jerk!” she yelled as she kicked backward. The heels of her boots found his shins and ankles and she slammed her head back into his face. She felt cartilage snapping and she was released instantly to fall on the floor as the huge wrestler put his hands to his face and gave a muffled curse.

  The crowd roared as she was dragged up by her young bodyguards and she turned to see that she had broken the Wolfman’s nose. Blood was running between his ham-sized hands and she gasped, “Sorry. But you should know better than to grab someone’s breast!”

  The enraged look on that bloody face made her give a little shriek of fear and she bolted through the mangled chairs toward the ring, nearly knocking the cameraman off his feet as the roaring wrestler behind her gave chase, flinging chairs every which way as he pursued her.

  “Dear God, how the hell do I get myself into these messes?” she gasped as she dodged around the ring. He followed her, his eyes narrowed with anticipation. He would tear her head off. The second time around the ring, she dashed up the metal steps, flinging herself under the ropes and clambering to her feet, her eyes on the man who was now climbing the steps slowly, his face contorted into a blood-smeared, leering grin as he bent to step between the ropes.

  She whirled around to see David being held down on the mat by the sumo guy while the other giant was climbing the corner ropes. Horrified, she wasn’t exactly considering that this was all just an elaborate act. She simply reacted instinctively and charged the huge man balancing on the ropes for a dive onto David’s body. She caught him at thigh level with her palms and shoved him backward as hard as she could, sending him sprawling into the outer area where he landed with a resounding crash on the announcers’ table, as both of those men bolted with yells of shock.

  She shrieked as she was grabbed from behind again and she struggled helplessly as she was hoisted bodily over the sumo guy’s head by the seat of her pants and the back of her tank top and sweater. She gave a cry of shock and closed her eyes, expecting to be flung from the ring to land on top of the man who was trying to climb out of the mangled table.

  But instead of flying out of the ring, she felt him turn toward the center and she looked wildly around to see David rising from the mat after having taken down the bleeding Wolfman. He shot her a quick, unreadable look, dragged the Wolfman up from the mat and, hoisting him overhead with a Herculean effort, flung the wrestler from the ring onto the floor, where the man lay moaning.

  As David turned to face the gigantic man who was holding her over his head, she realized that he actually looked alarmed. She saw that he was shouting but couldn’t hear what he was saying over the roar of the crowd and her earplugs. She felt the man pull back to throw her and she automatically drew herself into a defensive ball as she felt her body being launched.

  She screamed as she flew through the air in what seemed to be slow motion-until she slammed into a solid object that seemed to absorb most of the momentum of her flight and then she was rolling across the mat, miraculously unhurt.

  She scrambled to her feet and turned to see the huge sumo guy go flying out of the ring to land on the staggering Wolfman, who had regained his feet just in time to catch the flying sumo. She saw David wheel around to face her across the ring and she realized he was saying something to her. She dragged the earplugs out and shouted above the roar of the arena, “What? I didn’t hear you!”

  “I said, what the hell were you thinking?” He was bleeding from a cut above his left eye as he stalked across the mat toward her like some jungle cat after its prey. His face was oddly pale and his eyes were furious. “When you jump into the ring, you’re fair game. You’re goddamn lucky I caught you!”

  She swallowed hard, taking a shaky step backward. “What? Didn’t you see that big jerk chase me up here?” Her voice was shaking as she backed away another step.

  “He wouldn’t have hurt you. He was just playing the heel.” His dark eyes slid over her rumpled, disarranged top that had been dragged up to bare a large section of her midriff.

  “Well, he didn’t look like he was gonna hug me after I broke his nose!” she yelled, taking another step back as he took another step forward. She tugged her top down jerkily.

  “You did what?” His face changed from a black scowl to an amazed grin.

  “He grabbed me where he had no business putting his damn hands and I head-butted him in the face.” She glared at him. “And it’s not all that funny!”

  David stopped where he was and grinned broadly at her. “Maybe you should be the one who gets the belt.” He planted his hands on his hips and shook his head. “And what the hell are you doing here? I figured you’d be safely tucked away in the apartment.”

  “Well, I got a ticket from some pals of mine and I decided to come see you in action.” She noted his forward movement and backed off again.

  “And what did you think of the action?” Another step closer.

  “I think every damn one of you is completely insane!” she snapped, and tensed as he moved closer. “You keep away from me!” She jabbed her forefinger toward him warningly.

  “You do realize that we are having this discussion in front of twenty-five-thousand fans and a TV audience of millions more?” His eyes were gleaming with laughter as hers widened and she bit the corner of that lush lower lip.

  “I don’t give a damn. You just stay over there. I’m going now. Don’t you even try to stop me!” She held up one hand as if to hold him back by sheer willpower.

  She backed to the ropes and bent to climb between them, her wary eyes on his face. Once on the outside of the ring, she made her way around to the metal steps, hurried down and, as she turned to face the screaming, roaring crowd, she swallowed hard and looked around nervously for her five companions. She spotted Greg and Joe leaning over the barrier of the aisle and she started toward them.

  “You gonna let her get away again, Chance?” voices shouted.

  “Hell no!” His voice was right behind her and she gave a little shriek of shock as he swung her bodily from the floor and flung her unceremoniously over one broad shoulder and walked briskly up the ramp to the entrance, amid the cheers and screams of the crowd.

  Of all the damn nerve! His hand was planted possessively on her ass as he carried her like a sack of potatoes past cheering spectators who were urging him to make sure she didn’t get away this time. She kicked and squirmed and pounded his hard back with her fists, her face bright red with humiliation.

  “Put. Me. Down!” She could feel his hand clamping even more possessively over her butt as he ignored her.

  Joe and the guys were shoving through the crowd toward the top of the ramp and she saw them outside the railing as her captor carried her toward the curtains. “Help me! You’re supposed to be my bodyguards, damm
it!” she yelled in frustration.

  “No way, Ms. Hastings. He won you fair and square!” Joe laughed, holding both hands up in helpless surrender.

  David paused to glance at the young men who were grinning at her. “You’re the pals who gave her the ticket?”

  Greg nodded.

  “I owe you one. Come on!”

  Chapter Six

  When they were out of sight of the arena crowd and heading back toward the dressing rooms, he dropped her onto her feet and caught her by the waist to keep her from bolting. He ignored her angry attempt to shrug him off and he shook his head slowly. “That was one hell of a performance, Sam. You really should have warned me you were coming to the event tonight.”

  She scowled, ineffectually trying to peel his hands off her. Her eyes slid to her excited gaggle of young bodyguards. “A lot of good you guys were. You should have stopped that guy from grabbing me!” It was hard to stay angry with David’s strong hands sliding over her body.

  “Stopped the Wolfman? You gotta be joking, Ms. Hastings. We’d be nothing but bloody mush right now if we’d tried.” Greg shook his head. “Besides, we knew they were just making a big show of it. He wouldn’t have hurt you.”

  Sam started to disagree hotly but Greg’s suddenly huge eyes and the sound of a deep laugh behind her made her turn her head sharply.

  “You’re one tough little gal, you know that?” a deep, gravelly voice said and she looked up to see the bleeding Wolfman grinning at her from his seven-foot height. He was using his fingers to squeeze the bridge of his nose to slow the still oozing nosebleed.