by Jayne Blue
The guy used to fight, she knew that, the guy never lost, she got that, and then the guy disappeared from the sport. Once last attempt.
She searched Mace Alois and what was that fighter's name? The one he had been on tour with?
Oh yeah, Zeke Powell, the one who’s preacher dad turned out to be a total pervert. She put the two names in the search together and finally a recent result and in English!
There was a picture of Zeke Powell, who had been fighting as “The Preacher’s Son” and mostly the back of Mace. But she would recognize that back anywhere. They were sparring.
The article was all about Zeke Powell’s training and dramatic entry into the 21C pro league. He had assembled a team of trainers and blah blah blah.
But there, in the small photo, was a gorgeous looking Zeke Powell sparring with Mace. You could not see Mace’s face, but a small caption confirmed it.
In the end, not much more information came from her digging and she had more questions than before. Why did he stop fighting in the professional ranks? Was he injured? Why did someone who was touted as Europe's hope for a 21C title wind up in Grand City?
She looked deeper in places that most people didn’t know to search. It was her specialty after all. She found his parents and spent time translating where they lived, the names of their business, and just about every public document available.
There was not one public document about the end of Mace’s career.
The momentum and heat of a rising star stopped cold.
A scratch at the door interrupted her Nancy Drew moment. She opened it to find little Estelle.
“What are you doing? Where’s your daddy?” Raleigh looked around, but Mace was nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, his dog was roaming the apartment complex alone.
“Come here baby girl. I gotchu.” Estelle did not move but cocked her head.
Aha, yes the dog understood French commands, not English. What was it?
“Ici!” And the little cotton ball trotted into her apartment. Raleigh was again livid.
Monsieur Mace Alois sucked at keeping track of this dog. Raleigh scratched behind Estelle’s soft little ears and trained her eyes on Mace’s apartment.
She planned to give him hell over this. Anything could have happened to the little dog. She thanked goodness that Estelle came to her.
His front door was wide open so she walked in, but the apartment was empty. Well, that is how Estelle got out. He would need to do a better job of caring for this baby and he was going to hear exactly what that meant.
Mace
Mace always locked up his place. Always. Somehow, there was an angry as hell Raleigh Gibson standing in the middle of his apartment holding his sweet baby Estelle. It was déjà vous.
“How did you get in here?” He asked.
“The better question is how did anyone ever let you take this dog home?”
“What?”
“This is strike two. If I even have a hint that Estelle is in danger of neglect or wandering off I’m going to take matters into my own hands.”
“Give me my baby girl.” Mace had no idea what Raleigh was referring to now and frankly, she was talking so fast catching each word in English was challenging.
“Got that? Strike three and you are out.” She rattled off a string of other words he could not separate.
Baseball and his dog? He could not figure out what the two had to do with one another but did not care. Mace stepped forward and Raleigh reluctantly handed Estelle over.
“How’s my baby girl? There, there.” Mace nuzzled into the little love and reassured himself that she was fine. Estelle licked his nose and he placed her slowly on the ground. She scampered down the hall to the kitchen where her bowl and bed were.
“What’s your excuse this time?” Raleigh was not letting up and she was in his face. This woman thought she could walk into his house, take over his dog, and put him on the defensive.
She was wild-eyed and her chest was heaving as she unleashed her anger at him. She jabbed his chest with her finger to punctuate her accusations.
“Excuse?” This American woman was pushing him. She had a spark in her eyes.
“Yeah.” And they somehow had gotten toe to toe. Raleigh, all heat, and energy was less than an inch from his face.
“You say you love that dog and yet I keep having to come to the rescue.”
“How will I ever repay you?” He said and it had not been in his plan, but he meant to fuck her. Right then.
He grabbed two fists full of her thick blonde hair and pulled her close. Reasons not to do just that had disappeared when she had walked in. Spark, anger, and emotion intercepted every reasonable caution in his mind.
He inhaled her breath as she exhaled. He scored her lower lip with his. Then she answered the question he had just asked, the matter of payment.
“Fuck me, now.” He could not hold back, no reason in the world was as strong as the pull she had.
Mace used his teeth to capture the lip that seconds ago had been hurling ultimatums at him.
She tasted sweet and he felt himself strain against the fabric of his shorts. He pushed against her heat and she rubbed up and down. It was an insistent friction that demanded they be naked, soon, not soon enough.
Mace trailed rough kisses down her throat, her neck, and to the tops of her breasts that peeked out of the tank top she wore. He grabbed the front of it with his hands and ripped it open. The fabric gave way and was no match for the force behind his desire to see her nude.
He pushed both of their bodies forward until she was up against his apartment wall leaning her hips against him her legs spreading open for him. It was the position they were in the other night. The way he had imagined it since.
He felt her hunger as sure as he could taste the sweat on her neck. They kissed, grabbed for one another, and nearly bruised flesh getting closer.
Her luscious breasts bounced free as he tore her clothes away. Mace gathered them again and sucked each pink bud; he captured them with his fingers, then between his teeth. He rolled down her tiny shorts with her panties in on motion. Mace pinned her tight to the wall as his hands roved her body, her skin was soft and pliant in his hands.
He had her open ready and begging him.
“Mace please, now please.”
Raleigh
It was better than what she had imaged it. He was more brutal in his desire than any man she had been with before. Her tank shredded easily in his rough grasp. She felt the wall scraping her back and it intensified the feel of his lips, his teeth, and his tongue on every part of her. They somehow made it to Mace’s bedroom. Not the bed, no time for that.
Mace lifted her up as if she weighed nothing and his hips had her against the wall with only his clothes between them. He stripped her so quickly. Raleigh did not question the dominance of his body over hers. She just gave in and hoped he would be inside her soon.
She ached for it. She felt dizzy from it and wanted Mace with an intensity that allowed for no questions. From somewhere he had produced a condom and it was the only thing between them.
She held on to his powerful shoulders and felt him drive up between her legs. It was an invasion, one she asked for, but still the hard hot length of him had her gasping, trying to adjust, but it was impossible.
He had her immobile against two hard surfaces, the wall, and his unyielding cock. She cried out, as she felt almost impaled by him. He slid out just the smallest amount and created a friction that had her on fire. That, again, yes.
He drove in again, up into her, and this time she struggled not to come after only two powerful thrusts. He was taking her hard with no concern to what type of sex she wanted or needed.
She was stunned to find out what she needed was exactly this.
He pounded again and again and leaned over to suck on her neck as he held her up with his big hands.
She did not even think she was supporting her own weight in any way as her body surrendered to his animal for
ce. Raleigh heard herself yelling his name over and over, as he reached a new level of abandon. She felt herself clench around him tightly and he slid out and back. Here feet no longer touched the floor.
Her orgasm came in a burst and she had to have his skin in her mouth at that moment. She found his neck and trapped his flesh in her mouth as his climax matched hers.
Raleigh noticed white snowflakes falling indoors as they slowed and let the sensations wash over them. Her logical brain, somewhere in back, off-duty, registered the snow to be plaster shaken loose from the ceiling during their assault on the wall.
They slid down to the floor in a tangle of limbs. She felt he had consumed her but also felt hungry still. They were on the floor and she could not stop her hands, her eyes, and her mouth, from exploring Mace Alois.
Mace
Her lips were everywhere. Her soft curves sliding over him. They could not seem to separate even after the animal way he had taken her. He should apologize, make sure she was okay, make her food, care for her in any way she wanted.
What she wanted was more. Mace felt her climb up and down him. She was almost feline in her motions and he felt himself get hard all over again. How, even after that explosive moment, could he be so ready to be inside her again, so soon?
They were on the floor now, he had no idea if it was day or night or any of it. He handed her another condom and this time she did everything. She seemed to need to take the lead after the way she submitted to him seconds before.
He let her do the exploring. It was sweet torture.
She slid over him. She purred as she wiggled and adjusted. Before he had made it impossible for her to move. This time, she was all motion. Her breasts swayed and her hips rocked against his.
He reached up and rolled her tiny pink nipples. The buds hard, but the skin soft. Mace watched as Raleigh held her own hair above her head and then slid her hands down to cover his as he nipped at her with his teeth.
It was the sexiest thing he had ever seen. He felt her tight around him like a glove and her inner muscles pulsing against him. He was going to come again, soon, but he wanted her to go, feel everything she wanted to feel.
It took all his control to let her finish, her way, and when she did, it was a feast for his eyes and almost too much for his body.
She closed her eyes and her breaths were uneven. Raleigh leaned down over him and thread her fingers through his as she rode the wave of pleasure he had been lucky as hell to witness and then be consumed by.
The perfection of their two bodies together was a once in a lifetime thing. It had to be. It was as if his cells had found a missing component. Once together, he could not imagine them separated, as they would have to be. That fact intensified the experience. He knew this.
She settled, sighed and whisper in his ear.
“Oh my God.”
“Oui, Magnifique.”
“Tres.”
He leaped up and she was startled, but he wanted to place her in his bed, cover her, care for her, and show her in other ways how unique she was. She squeaked as he swooped her up.
“Wow. You’re quick.” He placed her on his bed.
“You’re a pretty tidy man,” She commented as she looked around. She was right, he kept things organized, packed light, part of it was his nature and part was his need to be able to move quickly. That was going to have to be addressed. He thought was an ache in his heart how much he did not want to hurt this new revelation in his life, Raleigh Gibson.
“I admit. I am an MMA fighter. I do have moves.” He bit her ear and watched her stretch out on his bed.
“Yeah, understatement.” She did not untangle her arms from his neck and instead pulled him with her to the bed.
“So beautiful.” He murmured as he ran a hand up and down her lovely skin.
“I’d say the same.”
This was an indulgence. This was selfish. This would have to stop. Because this was dangerous. But Mace could not stop, not just yet. Once more. He told himself once more as he kissed her for the hundredth time. It had been only minutes ago she had let herself into his apartment.
Which was another fact he was ignoring. She had walked into his place, the door was open.
He always locked it. That simple fact that she had let herself in was an alarm bell in the back of his mind that he was choosing not to hear.
Raleigh
Raleigh was in head over something with Mace Alois. Anyone who looked at Mace would lust after him. It went so quickly beyond that she was practically giddy with it.
What was she doing? She did not really want to analyze it. Her life had been a protected, self-imposed cocoon since her accident and she was so bored with it. She realized fear had shut her life down. Stopped forward progress and then this unexpected romance.
She blushed a little at the how she’d given herself and then taken what she wanted from her sexy French neighbor.
They had made love three times in less an hour, they had showered, they played with his beautiful Estelle, and they could not seem to keep their hands off each other.
Then the really incredible part happened. Mace was not looking to get her out of his place he was looking to take care of her after they had had their wild tumbles on the wall, in the hall, and in his bed.
So many college hook-ups had no idea what to do afterward. This was not Mace’s problem. The after was just as mind blowing as the during.
He started a shower for her, found her something to wear, seeing as her clothes were in pieces it was a necessity and started making them dinner. His kitchen was economical but stocked with things she would not even begin to know how to pick out or what to do with. He was busy preparing something and she caught him stealing a look at her and chuckling.
“What’s so funny, me wearing your clothes?” She was in dress shirt he had given her.
“Not funny, gorgeous. I was recalling your pasta technique. You have no idea how to cook do you?”
“Enlighten me then.”
“Similar to the way you fill out my shirt, it isn’t the shirt, it’s the ingredients. In this case, your beautiful figure. See the secret is always what you start with.” He was talking to her but the more he described what he was cooking for them he also seemed to be channeling home, that valley he spoke of.
He found a clean white T-shirt and low-slung, well-worn jeans, everything he wore clung to him and reminded her of the physique underneath.
Estelle scratched at the front door and Raleigh decided she could at least make herself useful. She found the little lead Mace had and attached it to Estelle’s tiny studded collar. A very tough collar indeed for such a pretty lady, she thought.
“So what’s the ETA for dinner?” She asked, hating to interrupt.
“What is eeteeay?”
His French accent having nearly the same effect on her as his hands. She shook off the thought lest she jump on him again and cause all manner of burnt roast.
“E.T.A. Estimated Time of Arrival for dinner on the plates?”
“Oh, twenty minutes or so? Did you want an appetizer? Fromage? Ah.. cheese?”
“No no. I’m thinking of taking Estelle for a little walk around the block and get some things for myself.”
“Estelle would like that. I have one request.” He put down the spatula he was wielding. He turned his intense focus from the stove to Raleigh. She felt her heart skip.
What he could do, had done, she suspected, was just the beginning. French men make better lovers? Was that the phrase?
“Yes?”
He slid his strong arms around her. It felt exciting and new but perfectly right all at once. His arms reminded her she was naked under the shirt.
“What do you sleep in? Whatever it is, bring it here, and something for tomorrow. I want to keep you here all night.” He kissed her neck again; no one had ever paid such lovely attention to her neck and the place below her ears. It was a secret fuck yeah button that men were regularly missing out on, not Mace.
/> “Hmm.” She closed her eyes and swayed into him. They were seconds away from banging on the table. She found herself hoping that was true, and then a sizzling sound interrupted them as one of the pots boiled over.
He did not respond to the near disaster on the stove and kept his attention on her. Another point in his favor. She was not about ruin his masterpiece dinner, whatever it was.
“Okay, it’s a deal. I’ll pack for a slumber party.”
“What is that?” He asked.
“Never mind, your food is boiling over.” She slipped out of his arm and quickly out the door to her place with Estelle. She was relieved they were next-door neighbors since she was not wearing any pants as she scooted in her place.
She heard him utter some sort of French noise of disgust as the door closed. Estelle scampered around her place as she packed her bag with the one negligee she owned. Andrew looked sadly at Estelle and the leash.
“Okay, yes, you both get a walk. I may be having a torrid affair but it is no excuse is it?” She found Andrew’s leash too.
Affair, was that what this was? It sounded so French. Raleigh did not know how to categorize what was happening she just knew she did not want it to end. So for tonight she did as he asked and gathered what she would need so she could stay overnight with her neighbor.
She walked the quick block with Estelle and Andrew. They two dogs were now used to the pace they had to walk so even the short little legs on Estelle could handle it.
Raleigh’s head was in the clouds while the dogs handled more earthly matters. The growl startled Raleigh out of the thoughts of her sexy fucking Frenchmen.
Estelle growled and Andrew barked. Something had them both suddenly on guard. She suspected a squirrel was enjoying taunting them from somewhere.
“What is it?” Estelle was not a growler or a barker usually. Andrew was typically laid back. Clearly, they had both lost their dog minds. “Calm down you two. You’re freaking out.”