by KD Jones
*****
Phoenix had been getting strange looks from all the fighters when he went down to the banquet room for breakfast. After getting his plate of food he sat down across from Hammer and Zen who were also giving him the same weird stare.
“What?”
Zen shrugged and picked up his juice. “Just freaked out a little bit by your expression today.”
“What expression?”
Hammer answered as he stuffed bacon in his mouth. “The smile. You have a big-ass smile on your face from ear to ear. It’s creeping us out.”
He frowned. “I’ve smiled before.”
“Yeah, usually right before you throw your opponent into the fence during a fight and beat him until he doesn’t get back up,” Zen told him.
Was that true? Was he usually so stoic? He never had anyone point it out to him before. Of course, he would have kicked their ass if they had. Would it be a turnoff for Olivia? She smiled a lot last night, and laughed. She had a great laugh, a full throaty one. The smile she kept giving him lit up her whole face, taking it from dark and exotic to like staring into the burning sun. So beautiful but he couldn’t turn away from her. He didn’t want to.
“I smile when I want.”
“Who are you wanting to impress?” Zen asked, looking around the banquet room full of both male and female GCFA fighters.
“No one.”
Zen raised an eyebrow at him, letting him know he wasn’t buying it. “Come on, tell us. We’re just friends sitting here ready to help where needed.”
Hammer shook his head. “Don’t listen to Zen. He likes to meddle with other people’s relationships. He slowed down a bit after he found his mate, but while she’s working on a story and will be away for week, he’s bored and is looking for a pet project.”
“Well, I don’t need anyone else interfering. Two is too many as far as I’m concerned.”
“Oh…who else has interfered?” Zen asked curiously.
Phoenix wasn’t sure telling them about Nigel and Lydia’s plan to hook them up was the best idea. He really didn’t like others knowing too much about his personal business.
Hammer finished his milk. “You might as well tell us. Zen won’t leave you alone until you do.”
He sighed as he told them about the setup that Nigel and Lydia instigated for him and Olivia. How Olivia was as surprised about the whole thing as he was. He left out the part where he took his own payback, though. He couldn’t wait until Nigel discovered that piece of information.
Hammer ran a hand over his shaved head. “Sounds like you two hit it off. Why not take advantage of it?”
“I don’t know. She’s here visiting her sister and will be leaving again.”
Zen punched his arm. “Sounds like the perfect thing. You two enjoy yourselves then part ways. No strings, no emotional entanglements, no problem.”
Yeah, no problem. Except that he did feel emotions toward Olivia, strong emotions. He was attracted to her but it was more than just a physical appeal. She brought out a side of him that he hadn’t shown in a long time. He laughed and flirted with her, like a teenager again. As the night went on, he found himself opening up to her more and more about his life. She relaxed with him and shared things about her life as well.
In one night, a matter of eight hours, he felt like a new male, or maybe more like the male he once was before the mission and explosion. Life had a new glow about it and the more time he spent with Olivia, the more he wanted to share. He wished the night never had to end, but the way it did, with the kiss, was amazing.
Olivia was innocent but damned if the female didn’t know how to kiss. He wanted her lips and hands on his entire body. Needless to say he spent hours jacking off in the shower imagining that he was taking her in every way possible. He wanted her, there was no denying that. What worried him the most was if he had her, would he be able to let her go?
“Hello, Phoenix! Did you tune us out already?” Zen asked, chuckling.
Phoenix had gotten caught up in his imagination, something that had rarely happened to him before. “What were you saying?”
“I said that last night might have been set up by someone else, but tonight could be all you.”
“Tonight? We have a fight scheduled tonight.”
“Yeah, send her VIP tickets for the game and the after-party. You can take advantage of the time you have left before she leaves.”
Zen was right—he did want to spend more time with Olivia. Once she left he wasn’t sure if she would be willing to see him, and as far as he knew, long-distance relationships didn’t work out well. Especially when the two people were in different galaxies.
“That’s a good idea.” He took out his phone and called the concierge desk. “Yeah, this is Phoenix. I would like two VIP and after-party passes sent to room 308A. The name is Olivia Mann.”
Zen leaned forward. “Leave a personal message to go with it.”
Phoenix rolled his eyes. “Add a message: Come tonight because you want to, not because someone sent you. I’m looking forward to seeing you again. Phoenix.” He hung up and finished his food. He was feeling excited about tonight and seeing Olivia again. He couldn’t wait. He just hoped that she showed up.
Chapter 6
Olivia had tortured her sister by taking her time eating her breakfast really slow. When she reached for her second glass of orange juice, Lydia couldn’t take it anymore.
“Come on! What happened? What did you do? Why were you out so late? Did you sleep with him? Did he at least kiss you?”
She raised her eyebrows at her sister. So many questions—where to start? “Well, for one thing, he wasn’t expecting me. Which kind of made it awkward. He was expecting a lawyer from the GCFA to go over his contract.”
Lydia cringed. “That was Nigel’s fault. I had to get you to go. Nigel was responsible for getting Phoenix to agree.”
That was something she was curious about. “Why did you and Nigel set me and Phoenix up to begin with?”
“You know I want to see you happy.”
“Right, happy as in having lots of sex with lots of people.”
“Honey, I know you would never be happy having sex with lots of people.”
“It’s your way, Dad’s way, and it’s the Venetian way.”
“But it’s not yours. Dad and I know that. That’s why we respected the space you asked for. We want you to find someone that will love you and care for you. Your mom would have wanted that, too.”
“I haven’t had time for dating.”
“You’ve been saying that for a long time now. You’re young and beautiful. You should have more going on in your life than just work.”
She couldn’t really argue with that. Her sister and father loved her, and her sister meant well. “Why Phoenix? Why did Nigel want Phoenix to be matched with me?”
“Actually, Dom had approached me per Nigel’s request about finding someone for Phoenix.”
“Are you a matchmaker now? No, he wouldn’t ask you about getting Phoenix a girlfriend, just a sex therapist. Did he ask you to be the one to…”
“I met Phoenix a few times and knew that he wasn’t interested in me or my staff. He had a look in his eyes—loneliness. I thought that the two of you might get along.”
“Why would Nigel involve Dom in this and why do they care who Phoenix is with?” Olivia had a sinking feeling.
“Nigel’s mate, Amelia, and Phoenix are quite close and Nigel’s a bit jealous of their friendship. He asked Dom to help him find someone for Phoenix because he didn’t want Amelia to know what he was up to.”
“But didn’t Nigel tell Phoenix to come to the dinner under the ruse that he was meeting with a GCFA lawyer? Why didn’t Dom approach Phoenix?”
“Dom is traveling with his mate off ship for a family thing.”
Suddenly she didn’t feel hungry anymore. “For Nigel to go to all this trouble, he must really be worried about Phoenix and Amelia’s relationship.”
Lydia re
ached out and patted her hand. “Hey, they’re just friends. I’ve seen them together and he is totally respectful of her and Nigel’s relationship.”
“I’m sure.”
“Look, I gave you answers. Now you answer my questions. Where did you go on your date?”
“To dinner, then dancing.”
“That’s all? You got in later than the dance club is open. What did you do with all that time?”
“We didn’t have sex.”
She held up her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. Did you have good time with him, though?”
There was no point in lying about it. “It was the best date I’ve ever had.”
“Are you attracted to him?”
“Yes, but I like him, genuinely like him as a person. There’s so much more to him than just the physical.”
“Did he at least kiss you?”
She nodded. “It was…hot.”
Lydia’s face lit up. “Are you going to see him again?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t ask me.”
The suite doorbell rang. Olivia needed time to process everything that Lydia had told her. She wasn’t sure how she felt knowing that she was the runner-up to Amelia. “I’ll get it.”
She got up, walked over to the front door, and opened it. One of the concierges was standing there with an envelope. “Olivia Mann?”
“Yes?”
“This is for you.” The concierge handed the envelope over to her. She closed the door, frowning.
“Who was that?” Lydia asked.
“The concierge brought me something.” She sat down on the couch and opened the envelope. Tickets and a little note card fell out.
Lydia sat next to her. “What is it?”
“VIP tickets to tonight’s GCFA event and backstage passes to the after-party.”
“There’s a note card. What does it say?”
Olivia opened the note card, read it, and then smiled. “It says, ‘come tonight because you want to, not because someone sent you. I’m looking forward to seeing you again. Phoenix.’”
“Are you going to go?”
Did she want to see him again? Hell yeah. “If you will be my plus-one.”
“I’ll cancel my appointment for tonight. In fact, I’ll cancel my appointments the rest of the week so I can spend quality time with you.”
“You don’t have to cancel your appointments for me.”
Lydia hugged her. “Yes, I do. I have missed my little sister so much.”
“I missed you, too.”
“We’ve got a problem.”
Olivia frowned. “What’s the problem?”
“We need to figure out what you’re going to wear tonight. We may need to go shopping again.”
She groaned. “Shopping? Why me?” Phoenix, you better make this worth my time since I’ll be suffering for you.
*****
“Are you ready for lunch?” Nigel asked Amelia as he leaned against the door to his office.
She held up a finger in the air. “Just one more minute. I am going through this bill that came in today. Um…that’s weird.” She didn’t notice that Nigel went back inside his office.
Amelia picked up her phone and dialed the manager of the dance club. “Hey there, Henry, it’s Amelia. I wanted to call you about this bill I just got. Something’s got to be wrong. Oh, really? No, I’ll take care of it. Thanks.” She pushed her chair away from the desk and took her palm computer with her as she stormed into Nigel’s office.
“Are you ready, babe?” Nigel started to stand but saw the look on her face and froze. “What’s going on?”
“That’s what I want to know.” She opened the bill on her palm computer. “I just got a bill for your personal account. Someone—not me—was taken to the second level restaurant and ordered a meal worth almost one thousand credits.”
“What?”
“That’s not all. There’s a bar tab that is also astronomical. I called Henry and evidently someone used your account to buy the whole bar of patrons a round of drinks.” Nigel was about to say something but Amelia wasn’t done. “Then there’s a purchase for two at not one but two virtual concerts, one hundred credits spent at the gift shop, rock climb wall rental, air skating, credits used at the casino, and ice cream. Total of four thousand credits spent in one night.”
“I am going to fucking kill Phoenix!”
“What does Phoenix have to do with this bill?” Amelia asked. When he didn’t answer right away, she narrowed her eyes at him. “Nigel, so help me if you don’t tell me the truth right now, you will be sleeping on the couch for a month.”
“Damn it.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I told him the dinner was on me, not this other crap.”
She didn’t say anything, simply crossed her arms over her chest and stared.
“I had Dom ask Lydia to find someone for Phoenix to spend time with.”
“What?”
“Lydia said that she didn’t think he would like any of the females working for her but that her sister was visiting her and thought they would get along. Dom was supposed to handle things but he went with his mate to visit her grandfather. Anyway, I told Phoenix to go to the restaurant to meet with a lawyer about something in his contract and that whatever they would like to do was on me. I had no idea he would run up a bill this fucking high!”
“All this because you’re jealous of my relationship with Phoenix?”
“You don’t have a relationship with anyone but me.”
“Nigel, he’s my friend.” She shook her head, looking very sad. “I love you. How could you possibly think any man would tempt me to be unfaithful to you?” It hurt that he would not trust her.
He stood up to move close to her. “I trust you with my life and my heart, Amelia. I am possessive—it’s part of who I am but I am trying to change…for you. I thought that I would feel better about your friendship with Phoenix if I knew he was seeing someone else.” He took her in his arms but she kept her hands between them.
“You have to trust that I want you and only you.”
Nigel nodded. “I’m sorry, Amelia. Forgive me.”
“I will think about it, on one condition.”
“Whatever you want, I will do.”
“You have to apologize to Phoenix for interfering in his personal life.”
He frowned. “Anything but that.”
She glared at him, letting him know just how serious she was. “Apologize to Phoenix and I’ll consider forgiving you.”
He sighed. “Can I send him an email?”
“No, it has to be in person.”
“If I don’t apologize?”
“The couch will be your bed for a long while.”
Chapter 7
Later that evening at the GCFA event
“Johann, the crowd is roaring with excitement over that sweet move by Zen the Sin and the Rising Phoenix.”
“Oh my God, Poland! Did you see the slam that Phoenix just gave the three-armed Arterian?”
“Ouch, I sure did and blood has sprayed the crowd in the VIP section. Good thing the fans are given plastic ponchos. It looks like it’s going to get a whole lot messier.”
“The fans are eating it up!”
*****
“What do you think?” Lydia yelled next to her. The crowd was really loud. She was in the VIP section, which was full of leggy females barely wearing anything. Lydia had suggested that they come in their T-shirts and jeans to the fight but go back to the suite to change for the after-party. She was grateful now for that suggestion.
She held up the plastic poncho just in time as a spray of blood shot out from one of the fighters. Lydia was clearly more into this type of thing than she was. Olivia was about to excuse herself and go back to her suite but the announcers introduced Phoenix and his partner, Zen, for the next fight.
After a quick cleanup of the mess left in the MMA cage, the next set of fighters approached. She caught her breath at the first view of Phoenix. He wasn’t wea
ring a shirt, only shiny skintight shorts that showed off his muscular thighs. The fighters had gloves but went barefoot. The way the lights glowed on Phoenix’s well-muscled body made her think the fighters might have been oiled up before the fight.
“There’s your boyfriend.” Lydia leaned closer to yell at her.
Olivia ignored her sister but she couldn’t take her eyes off Phoenix. He stood tall and exuded strength and power. He moved gracefully for someone so big. He was so damn sexy it made her heart beat faster just imagining what he could do to her in bed if he focused all his attention on her like he did his opponent.
*****
Phoenix moved back after slamming the Arterian into the fence—hard. The male was taking a beating but he had to admire him for not giving up. His partner in this fight, the Voltan, wasn’t holding up any better against Zen.
Zen hit the Voltan with a big front kick to the chest. The Voltan tried to block the kick with his own leg but failed. He shoved away from the fence and tried to rush Zen. Zen moved swiftly out of the way of the flames but the Voltan managed to knock him down.
Phoenix had to concentrate on his own opponent, the Arterian. The Arterian reached up and wiped sweat and blood from the cut on his hairline. He tried to rouse Phoenix’s anger, hoping that would cause him to slip up.
“Is that all you’ve got, halfsie?” The Arterian taunted him and spat blood from his mouth to the side. He rolled his three shoulders.
Phoenix didn’t fall for the ploy. He kept his concentration on his opponent, tuning out everything else around him. He ignored the cheers from the crowd of raging fans, the announcers as they gave a play-by-play of what was happening in the cage, and he even ignored what Zen was doing with the Voltan.
They circled each other looking for weaknesses. He let the Arterian land a shot then he threw his own punch. The Arterian was favoring his left side.
They both dove at each other and fell hard to the ground. After scrambling to get back up, Phoenix was faster. He let his body adjust to the Martian DNA in him, and he grew larger and his skin tone turned red, but not as dark as a full Martian, though.