Restrained: A Bad Boy MMA Fighter Romance (Warrior Zone Fighters Book 4)

by Tia Lewis

  I nodded, remembering the trophy room. “I’m sure you have other priorities in your life right now. A nanny can come and watch her while you are gone.”

  Benji shook his head, laying the paper down. “I’m taking her with me wherever I go. I own my own business. It won’t be a problem.”

  Interesting. I tucked my hands in the back pockets of my jeans. “Well, she’s been fed and is taking a nap right now. Your clothes are on your bed. I-I just didn’t know where to put them.”

  He looked over at me, surprise written on his face. “You did my laundry?”

  “I didn’t turn anything pink if that’s why you are asking?”

  He shook his head. “No, I’m just, I’m grateful Danielle. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” I said, pointing to the bag. “There are other things you might need for her in there. Don’t forget about your paperwork.”

  Benji grinned. “I will be turning it in this week, I swear.”

  I nodded, unsure of what else to say or do. “Well, I’ll leave now.”

  He didn’t say anything as I turned toward the door, forcing my feet to move. I had done what I had planned on doing today and a heck of a lot more, but it had been worth the time I had spent with Amelia. She was like a balm to my wounded heart.

  “Wait.”

  I turned, surprised. “What?”

  He gave me a grin that I felt all the way to my toes. “Have dinner with me.”

  I instantly turned to mush on the inside. Dinner? With him? Could he do it shirtless like he was now? “Um.”

  “Is there some conflict with work that you can’t?” he asked. “I’d understand if there was, but I want to treat you for everything you did today.”

  I wanted to say that there was. It would be a logical answer. But he wasn’t a criminal and last time I checked, that was the only thing that would put a halt to this.

  “Come on Dannie. Any more thinking about it and you are going to give me a complex.”

  His nickname for me sped up my pulse as I thought about the last time I had heard it on his lips. “Alright. But it can’t be tomorrow night. I have to work.”

  “The night after then,” he countered. “I will find a babysitter.”

  “I bet you would have never expected those words to leave your lips,” I teased, thinking a gorgeous man like him wouldn’t have thought himself turning domesticated in a matter of days.

  He chuckled, his eyes sparkling. “You’re right.”

  “See you later then,” I said, opening the door and stepping into the hall before he could say anything else. I had just accepted dinner with Benji. What the hell was I thinking?

  Benji

  “Are you really gonna move like that? Really? You look like a fucking newbie. Get your shit together.”

  I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my glove, feeling like a fucking idiot instead. It was my first day back at the gym, throwing myself into training hard and fast but so far all I had accomplished was, well, looking like a fucking newbie. I was missing easy shots, taking hits I didn’t normally take. At this rate, my title match was going to be the fastest one known to date.

  “Alright,” Joey said, holding up the sparring gloves he was wearing. “Show me what you got, so I can kick your ass again.”

  I growled and lunged forward, finding myself on my ass, staring at the ceiling before I knew it. What the hell was wrong with me? “Shit!” Joey yelled, throwing up his hands as he loomed over me. “Dude, come on! We might as well throw in the towel now.”

  “Just give me a moment, will you?” I asked, pushing myself off the mat. “I haven’t had the best of days lately.”

  “Well you better get your shit together,” he repeated, pulling off his gloves. “Or you are going to be the biggest joke in the industry. I’m gonna go piss, and then we are gonna start all over again.”

  I pulled off my sparring gloves and threw them to the mat, disgusted with myself. Sleep had been damn near impossible last night, another round of yelling and screaming until I finally got her to sleep an hour before my alarm went off. For such a little person, Amelia Lomns had a damn mouth on her. It was like she just wanted to hear herself scream for some reason.

  “Tough day?”

  I looked up to see Tony in the doorway, concern written all over his face. “A tough night is more like it.”

  Tony chuckled, leaning against the cage’s doorway. “Well, apparently she is catching up. Been a perfect sleeping angel for the last two hours.”

  I thought about the ‘angel’ currently being watched by Tony so I could get some training in. Great. More ammo for tonight. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “Hell, I don’t either, but I don’t envy you,” Tony said. “You are going to give Joey a fucking heart attack fighting like that.”

  I frowned. “I know. I just, hell I can’t think straight.” It was a combo of being worried that Amelia was alright and a lack of sleep. I didn’t know which was worse now.

  Tony shook his head. “Well, you better get it together. You only get one shot sometimes.”

  He didn’t have to tell me that. I knew it. I had worked so hard to get this shot, beating my opponents within minutes of starting the fights to be even considered for the title this year. While the other guys had dabbled in MMA fighting over the last year, I was full time, full steam ahead. Now all I needed was a good match and a title held over my head at the end of the match. I wouldn’t accept anything less. Fighting and this gym were my livelihood, my world. “I’ll be ready.”

  Tony nodded and moved down the stairs as Joey came back up from his bathroom break. I grabbed my gloves from the matt and slipping them on, still not really sure what I was going to do about this sleep issue. Maybe I needed a night nanny, a slight difference from what Danielle had suggested.

  The rest of the workout was grueling, throwing myself into attempting to get Joey off his damn feet and on that mat. Finally, after an hour of fighting, Joey threw up his hand. “Much better,” he said, stripping off his gloves. “You gotta focus man. Make him make the mistakes.”

  “I’ve still got time,” I stated as I stripped off my gloves and shook his hand. “Thanks for not bailing on me.”

  Joey chuckled. “Yeah right. We’ve been through too much shit to do that.” We walked toward the opening of the cage before he turned to me. “That girl of yours, she’s something else.”

  I grinned. Normally he would be talking about some chick that I was fucking or wanting to fuck, but now, hell, he was talking about my daughter. “Thanks. It’s still hard to believe I have a kid.”

  “Hell, we all are in shock. Not exactly how you expected your life to be.”

  I couldn’t disagree there. I wasn’t the best role model for a kid nor did I have the stability in my life like Tony or Paul had. I was the absolute last guy who needed a kid in my life, but I didn’t want to give her up. “Yeah well, maybe it’s a good thing.”

  Joey reached the floor first, throwing his gloves into his bag. “Maybe. Just don’t lose sight of the prize okay? This chance, it ain’t gonna come around again.”

  “Thanks, Joey,” I said as the trainer packed up his shit and walked out, no doubt going to kick someone else’s ass in the cage. I grabbed my stuff and walked upstairs to the conference room, where Tony and Hannah were looking after Amelia. Her squeals of laughter caught my ear as I approached the room, pausing for a moment to get my own shit together before I saw my daughter. Was I doing the right thing? I wanted to say yes, to think I was providing my daughter with the good home where she would never have to worry about anything, including whether or not her daddy loved her. I had only known the kid a few days, but I already felt that paternal pull anytime I was around her, wanting to protect her from the harsh reality of life and the cruel world.

  But it didn’t mean I was the right thing for her. A family is what she needed, a stable life with one of those damn picket fence houses. I swallowed hard as I rounded the corner, drea
d filling my body. Maybe Tony and Hannah would be willing to adopt Amelia so I could at least watch her grow up from afar. But when I walked into that room and Amelia’s little eyes found mine, the smile on her face erased all of those plans. My heart clenched tightly in my chest as she held up her chubby hands for me to pick her up, drool and god knows what all over her. “Hey sweetie,” I said softly, reaching down to pick her up and cuddle her against my chest. “Have you been giving them hell?”

  “I swear that is going to be her first word,” Hannah said, her hands on her hips as she watched Amelia reach for my ears. She was fucking obsessed with my ears.

  “Well, what do you expect?” Tony grumbled as he pushed himself off the leather back chair that he was sitting in. “She’s got three men who know nothing about clean words.”

  “I hope her first word is dada,” I said, touching her nose with my finger. “Dada Amelia. You hear that?”

  She laughed and ducked her head on my shoulder, a sign that she was tired. Hell, I was tired. “Guess we should be going home now. Thanks, guys. I can’t even start to pay you back.”

  “Oh, she’s a lot of fun,” Hannah said as she gathered up her things. “A good break from the bakery for a day. Bring her by anytime.”

  I gave them a grin, unbelieving that I was such a lucky fucker when it came to the friends that had been placed in my life. I wouldn’t even be able to function right now without their support. After gathering up all of Amelia’s things, I walked down the stairs to the main gym, my daughter tucked against my chest protectively. Already I could feel the change in her breathing, knowing that she would probably be asleep before I was able to pull the car out onto the street. I exited the gym and walked over to the BMW I had purchased just this morning. As much as I hated to get rid of my roadster, it definitely was not kid friendly. At least this one had a back seat that I could strap the car seat in now.

  With a chuckle, I hit the button to open the car and strapped Amelia into her car seat, wondering when in the hell I’d ever thought I would be worried about car safety and obeying the damn traffic laws. Climbing into the leather interior, I snuck a peek in the rearview mirror at the little girl that had changed my life. She was already out. Knew it.

  Danielle

  I looked at the outfit in the mirror, turning left then right to find the perfect angle that would be the ‘that’s the one’ moment for tonight. When it didn’t happen, I pulled the dress over my head and placed my hands on my hips, frustrated. I had no idea what to wear on my date with Benji. I wanted to be the perfect package: sexy but not slutty, confident but not too over the top coy. Nothing in my closet seemed to be speaking on any of those levels. Go figure.

  With a sigh, I turned back to the closet and pulled out the next dress, a short number with the tags still attached. Lord knows when I actually had purchased the darn thing, but as I slid it on, I had that light bulb moment. It was nearly perfect; the deep green color a perfect complement to my skin. The dress itself was not too short and hugged me in all the right places. Whatever I had bought it for must have been something special.

  I rooted around in the closet until I found a pair of strappy sandals, sliding them on my feet before giving myself another look in the mirror. Hell yes. I felt like I should be going out with a hot guy tonight. So why was my stomach all in knots about this dinner date with Benji? Was it because I hadn’t dated anyone since my divorce? Was it because I was scared to death that this could become something I wasn’t totally prepared for? It was all of them rolled into a tight little ball in my chest. Benji was the first guy that I had even remotely thought about in any other way that wasn’t friendly or professional. Working in a largely male dominated profession, I had been around enough males to have the fluttering of attraction with any of them, but none had caught my eye or my hormones like he had. Would it be the same if Amelia was not in the picture? Probably not but I would like to think so anyway.

  My cell rang, and I picked it up, pushing the send button. “What’s up big brother?”

  “What are you doing?” Luke said into the phone.

  I pursed my lips, knowing there was no way I was going to tell my brother that I was about go out on a date with his former best friend. “I, er, I am going to the movies with some girlfriends. What’s up?”

  “I can’t call my sister just for the heck of it?” Luke asked. “I’m just checking in, seeing if you have shot up any bad guys yet.”

  I rolled my eyes. My brother thought I had this great job as a police officer, patrolling the streets looking for bad guys when in reality, I checked their paperwork in. I had explained it to him dozens of times, but he still liked to tease me about it. “How’s the desk job? Where are you at now?”

  Luke was a programming techy for some big corporation and traveled all over the world. I never could keep up with where he was at when we did talk. We weren’t extremely close, but he was still my brother, and I was very proud of what he had become. “I’m in London,” he finally said. “Is everything okay Dannie?”

  “I’m fine,” I said a little too quickly. “Just busy at work.”

  “Good,” Luke replied. “I gotta go. Be safe. Love you.”

  “Love you,” I replied before he hung up. Throwing the phone on the bed, I burst out into laughter. Luke would kill Benji and me if he knew what I was up to. He had been there when I needed him the most with my former life, comforting me as my world fell apart and I was forever grateful for his strength and love.

  But he would kill me now.

  Glancing over at the clock, I swore under my breath, and I grabbed my purse and hurried out of my apartment, worried that I was going to be late. Instead of having him pick me up, I had texted him to let me meet him there. It wasn’t that I was scared of him seeing where I lived, but more so that I wasn’t ready to have a man, even Benji, in my apartment yet. That was still my domain, with no trace of what my past life had been like before coming to Chicago. I wasn’t ready to give that up yet.

  Flagging down a taxi, something I rarely did, I gave the driver the name of the restaurant downtown and sat back as he pulled away from the curb. I knew the restaurant, though the exorbitant prices had been enough to make me never attempt to try their food. It was definitely the type of place that my dress would fit in, or at least I hoped so anyway.

  Steeling against the nervousness that threatened to take over, I wiped my damp palms on the fabric as the taxi pulled over to the curb, signaling my arrival. There was no backing out once I stepped out of this car. I knew that. I pulled out the fare and climbed out of the taxi, spying Benji near the entrance. At least he was punctual. He was also so good looking that he was hurting my eyes, wearing a pair of dress pants and one of those white dress shirts with the collar left unbuttoned, looking like he had just stepped out of one of those GQ magazines. Holy Hannah, he was hot.

  He turned toward me, and I gave him a little wave, watching as a grin spread across his gorgeous face. “Hey, you came.”

  “Get stood up often?” I teased as I walked over to him. He laughed, and I felt some of the nervousness leave my body. I could do this. This was Benji, not some random stranger I was having dinner with.

  “Not often,” he said, opening the door. “Hungry?”

  “Starving,” I answered as we stepped into the dimly lit interior. “This isn’t one of those places that give you those spoon tastings of a meal, is it?”

  “God I hope not,” he said into my ear, causing a delicious shiver to snake down my spine. “Or we will be eating at the burger shack before the end of the night.”

  I wanted to tell him that I was game for that but the maître de decided to arrive at the very same moment and took us to a small table in a cozy corner, lit by the dim lighting in the restaurant and the candle on the linen covered table.

  “May I start you off with a glass of wine perhaps?” he started as he handed us both menus. “We have a nice chardonnay.”

  “No thank you,” I said politely as I tried not
to fall out of the chair from the prices that were listed beside the dishes. Good lord that was nearly the amount of money I used for my power bill each month. Okay maybe that was an exaggeration, but it was a heck of a lot to pay for chicken.

  “That will be fine,” Benji said instead. “Just bring the bottle.”

  I looked at him over the top of my menu as the man scurried away. “You do realize you just ordered a fifty-dollar bottle of wine, right?”

  His grin was infectious. “Would you rather have had the two hundred dollar one then?”

  I nearly choked, my eyes going back to the menu. “What’s in it? Gold leaf?” Wow, now that was a power bill.

  “This is my treat,” Benji said as I looked for something that didn’t cost an arm or a leg. Or both. “Order whatever you like.”

  My eyes went to his face again, arching a brow. “If I was a petty person, I would order one of each.”

  He winced, looking down at the menu. “Well, then I hope you would be hungry. They would have to throw in a room or something in my honor if you did that.”

  I laughed. “Good thing I’m not planning to do that.”

  He laid down his menu and looked at me, a half smile on his lips. “Do you want to go somewhere else, Danielle?”

  I bit my lower lip and laid down my menu as well. “Do you mind? I mean, this was really nice Benji, but I just.”

  He held up his hand, throwing a few bills on the table as he did. “Say no more.”

  I felt stupid as he stood and reached for my hand, helping me to my feet. “I’m sorry,” I said lamely as we walked out of the restaurant.

  He turned and gave me a wink. “Don’t be. That place was crazy expensive to begin with. I was just trying to impress you.”

  “A fat cheeseburger and a beer does the same thing,” I said jokingly. “And you have no need to impress me.”

  Benji extended his arm, and I slid my arm through his, resting my fingers on his muscular forearm. “Well, you did help me out big time the other day. I figured that was probably your rate.”