Challenge: A Contemporary MMA Romance: Oni Fighters Book 3

by Natalie Gayle

  “Not sure yet, but don’t worry, I won’t put her in a fight she can’t win.”

  “Yeah, I know but…”

  “You’re still going to worry about her.”

  It burned me to admit it, but the answer was yes. I managed a nod, nothing more.

  Xander looked at me curiously. “You know, there’s no shame or weakness in admitting you’re into a woman, mate. In fact, the opposite. When you find a good one, you’d be a fool to let her go.”

  He knew!

  Fuck!!! I felt my jaw tighten and my teeth started to hurt.

  “And before you go getting all defensive, it took me forty-five minutes and some crazy hard pad work to get it out of her. Your girl packs a hell of a punch. I knew it after I finished—my arms were spent from holding the pads as she went to town.”

  That made me smile. Sophia throwing a punch was a thing of pure aggressive beauty. I could watch her move and hit stuff for hours. Normally, my dick would be twitching just at the thought of all her long, sexy lines in action.

  “She’s not my girl,” I protested to counter the silence, his shit eating grin and my frustration at well…

  “She’s your girl.”

  “Look...” I glanced around to make sure there were no ears overhearing, “regardless what stories you all concocted, it’s not the truth. We’re not a couple.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Oh, well, this is interesting. What exactly are you two then and, before you open your mouth, I’ll remind you that Sophia’s now my little sister.”

  I let out an angry sigh. “We’re casual, Xan. She knows the score. Two friends that take it a bit further.”

  “From what I understand, you two spend most nights together and do a lot of other stuff.”

  Fuck, what had she been telling them?

  “And before you go getting all shitty at her, I want you to know it was like extracting teeth to get it out of her when you were first hurt. I’m not sure she realized you two were in a relationship either.”

  “Stop calling it that!” I fumed.

  “Why? You scared of a word?”

  “Fuck yes!”

  “You’re kidding me, right?”

  “No.

  “Well, call it whatever you want, you two are together.”

  “Sure, we’re together for sex.” I agreed.

  “Keep believing that if you want to live your life in denial, my advice, stop fighting it and start enjoying it.”

  “Ha, easy for you to say. I can’t do a thing about enjoying her laying here.”

  “So, you telling me you don’t enjoy her company? It’s time to grow up, Seth, have an adult relationship.” He all but jumped down my throat and we both knew he was on the attack and he was defending family.

  We glared at each other for a few moments.

  “Yeah, course I enjoy her company. I just can’t do anything more,” I countered

  “It’s not going to be forever. Maybe you should focus on building a relationship that’s not all about sex for a change. You never know, maybe that might work better for you. Experience tells me it does.” It was about as pissed off as I’d heard Xan in ages.

  I was caught off guard by his tone and it took me a little while to replay what he’d said in my head.

  What?

  “Since when aren’t you getting any?”

  “Fuck, you can be difficult!” Xander sighed, then looked away scrubbing his face with his hand. I knew he was thinking long and hard about telling me something. It almost felt as if he was wondering if I was worth telling. That set me back a bit.

  No guy liked to feel that his mates didn’t respect or think them worthy.

  Finally, he looked back at me with that way he had of cutting through to your soul and I realized I’d been holding my breath. “I might be getting plenty now. It’s not always been like that. In fact, I’ve insisted it wasn’t like that a couple of times.”

  I was puzzled, Xander had always pulled the chicks, well, at least when he could be bothered. “You talking about with Eden?”

  He nodded slowly. “And that’s where my reluctance comes from to talk about this with you as this obviously involves her as well. However, under the circumstances, I know she’ll be fine with it.”

  Now, I was really curious, I was also a little envious too at his absolute certainty of another person’s thoughts and feelings. What would it be like to be that close to someone? Is that what I wanted?

  “I won’t betray your trust, man.” And I wouldn’t. I could tell how much this was costing him.

  “I know.” He paused and looked down at his hands before he went on. “You weren’t here when Eden and I first got together. You know how she’s been slowly coming out of her shell?” I nodded. “Well, when I first met her, it took her about ten minutes before she could even meet my eyes. I’d never met anyone so shy or low on self confidence or worth. It started out just me wanting to help her get her confidence back and slowly it became a whole lot more. I started to see the person inside, rather than just the packaging. My point is Seth, it wasn’t about the sex. Shit, she couldn’t bare for me to look at her, let alone touch her. She wasn’t very experienced from before.” He got a far away look in his eyes. “Anyway you get the picture. By the time you turned up again, we’d only just got to the point of Eden being comfortable enough.”

  “Yeah, but you sure made up for lost time quickly. I remember Vegas well,” I joked and immediately wished I hadn’t. He wasn’t in a laughing mood and my humour fell flat.

  He lifted his chin and his face went blank. “What exactly do you think happened in Vegas?”

  That set me back, what kind of question was that? “Well, you know. You had your girl there and you were always dying to get back to her…”

  “I didn’t touch her like that for weeks before the fight.”

  “What? What are you talking about?” He couldn’t be serious surely?

  “I never told you or anyone for that matter, at the time—not even Reed. After what happened with the Cobra, I kind of have a hang up about leaving a child without a father. I wasn’t prepared to risk it with the woman I love. All we did was hang out and cuddle. Stuff like that.”

  I was stunned. I never realized. I felt like a shallow fool for not looking past the obvious. I guess people saw what they wanted to.

  “Mate…”

  He held up his hand. “Doesn’t matter. My point is, we got to know each other really well during those times, because we were focused on something more than just the physical. There’s a lot to be said for just being close, affectionate, and knowing there’s going to be no happy ending.”

  “You didn’t even…”

  “No,” he gritted out.

  I looked at him with a whole new appreciation. The guy was a machine.

  “But…there’s other things.” I tried to joke it off and suddenly I felt a little bit more like my old self.

  He raised his eyebrows at me. “You think I hadn’t figured that out after all these years. You’re choosing to miss the point. It was about us. I’m not too proud or embarrassed to say between you and me, just how much comfort I took from having Eden know everything about me. I know you’ve wondered why Eden’s the one for me, more than once.”

  “No man…it’s not like that.”

  “Yes, it is. People see the scars and a few see the woman behind them. I know her to the core, like she knows me. She understands my demons like I understand hers. It’s partially because of what she’s been through that she could reach me where no one else could. She’s the reason I won in Vegas and she’ll be the reason I win the world championship belt when I get my shot.”

  Wow, that was some heavy stuff. “So, you’re saying I should focus on getting to know her like you did with Eden? Is that it?”

  He shrugged. “Seems like a reasonable plan to me. She claims to love you for some crazy reason. Plus, I’m guessing you’re not quite going to be feeling like doing too much more at the moment with your pelvi
s healing.”

  “Couldn’t do any more even if I wanted to,” I hissed out.

  “What?”

  “Nothing happening down there at the moment.”

  “There a problem or just a side effect of the accident?” And that was the thing about Xan. He didn’t judge or tease—just a solid force of strength and genuine concern, and now I felt like shit for trying to make light of stuff because of my own fucked up insecurities.

  God, I could be a dickhead at times. I just didn’t deal with the deep stuff very well. Xan was still looking at me. “Don’t know at this stage. Nurse said it’s normal—something about the body’s way of protecting itself while healing.”

  He gave me a light shove on the shoulder. “Well, there you go—makes sense. Stop worrying.”

  “But that’s the thing, mate. I’ve never been in a relationship. I’m the king of one-night stands. I don’t know what to do if I’m not well, you know.” I figured I’d better watch the way I referred to Sophia. I figured it wouldn’t be good for him to have to remind me she was now his little sister twice.

  A knowing grin spread across his face and I can’t say I liked it. “Were the king—I’m thinking. You been with anyone else since you hooked up with Sophia?”

  “No!” I wasn’t a total heel.

  “And what’s it been, three months?”

  “Almost four,” I defended, three sounded shallow.

  “But whose counting—right?”

  “Right.” We both grinned.

  “So, take the time and get to know her, let her in. What have you got to lose?”

  I thought on that for a long moment and cursed my inability to move once again. If I could move around, I wouldn’t be in this predicament.

  “Probably nothing…it’s just…”

  “Scary as all fuck, maybe?”

  “Yeeep.”

  “Nothing worth having is ever easy, Seth.”

  I shook my head and he chuckled “Oh, please, spare me the inspirational shit. We’ve known each other too fucking long.”

  “Okay, but only because I know you know it too and even if you’re laying here feeling sorry for yourself, there is no way you’re too stubborn or stupid to forget it—right.”

  “Right.”

  “One other thing…please tell me I don’t have to give you the brother-in-law speech. You know the one I mean.” He raised his eyebrows and stared at me. I knew the one. I might be a lot of things but stupid wasn’t one of them. “She loves you. You need to handle that carefully and with respect, you got me.”

  “Loud and clear.”

  “Good. My work here is done.” He got up to go.

  “What? You’re leaving me? We do the tough stuff then you want to bugger off?”

  “I’m figuring you’ve got a lot to think about. Besides, I’m going to go home and cuddle my woman when she’s finished doing girly things with your woman. If you’re smart, you’ll be enjoying the same soon. And Seth, those fancy degrees you’ve got tell me you’re not dumb.”

  My woman!

  “No, I’m not stupid. Even if I’ve been acting the arse of late.”

  “We’ll cut you some slack. You’ve been injured.” He said diplomatically. We both knew I’d been more than an arse. I’d been nothing short of revolting to everyone that had been trying to help me.

  “And what’s this about a girl’s night?”

  “Nothing. Eden’s got Sophia and Tori over. I cooked for them, then buggered off. They’re watching movies and drinking wine and painting toe nails or something like that. Although, Sophia had better not be drinking; she’s in training.”

  She hadn’t said anything about it. “She said she was coming back.”

  “Guess you pissed her off real good.”

  Fuck!

  “I guess I did.”

  He sat back down. “Actually, there is one more thing I want to talk to you about.”

  It was nearly three hours later by the time he finally left. In that three hours, we covered a lot of territory. I actually felt hopeful.

  11

  Sophia

  It was now or never. I’d kept myself busy and away from him for as long as I could. I’d cooked, cleaned, trained, sorted my resume, and fretted over what I’d done for the best part of the last two days. After all that, I was still no closer to knowing what I should or shouldn’t have done. The only think I knew with certainty was that I’d been honest with him.

  I did love him.

  What he did with that was up to him.

  “Morning, Sophia,” Narelle said as I passed the nurses station.

  “Morning. How is he this morning?” I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer. If he was more withdrawn and grumpy, I was likely to give him a piece of my mind.

  “Better actually.” She seemed pleasantly surprised. “He’s more mobile. Physio came yesterday and got him up on a walker. He’ll be back later today. Maybe getting out of bed did him good.”

  “Let’s hope!” I called as I carried on down the corridor to his room. Somehow, he’d managed to get the pick room with a nice view of the city. It was probably more likely that the nurses wanted him as far away from their station as possible.

  I walked in and was amazed.

  He was sitting up much straighter and had his laptop out on the mobile table in front of him.

  “Morning,” I called as I moved up beside him and moved to drop a kiss on his forehead. It was all I’d been game to do to date. He caught my arm and pulled me down against him bringing his lips to mine before I fully realized what was happening.

  And right away, I melted. Tingles zinged through my body and my ears began to ring. His tongue teased along my lower lip until the promise of what he’d do to me was too much to bare.

  “Let me in, babe. I haven’t kissed you in forever.” It was that low full-of-heat sex voice, the one that ensured my panties were damp and every fibre of my being was aching for his touch.

  And all my defenses fell, like a house of cards. He tasted of minty toothpaste and the sweetest treats. His tongue stroked and tormented mine as his hand fisted in my hair, holding me tight to him.

  I was in Heaven, right where I wanted to be, and I wasn’t coming up for air. God, I’d missed him. Missed us.

  Breath by breath, I began to relax and sink more into him. Into his strength and maleness. He was back and my heart was doing back flips.

  He sipped and lapped, nipped and nibbled. It was as if it was our first kiss all over again and, in many ways, it was.

  Slowly, we broke apart and just looked at each other. Something passed between us in that moment. Something important.

  “I want to talk to you, I need to talk you about making us work.” Surprise and hope filled my heart in equal quantities. “But first, I need some more of this.” His lips found mine again and immediately, I was right back under his spell, only this time, I had hope and anticipation, for something far bigger than us coming together physically.

  “Hmmm, hmmm.” A disapproving clearing of someone’s throat had us pulling apart. My eyes flew open and I stepped back as if burned. I probably would have stumbled back except for Seth’s big hand closed over my forearm holding me tight and steady.

  I watched his eyes turn from raging with heat to icy cold in the blink of his eyelids.

  As I turned to see who he was glaring at, he answered my question.

  “Mum.”

  The resemblance was uncanny, their grey eyes identical. She was a beautiful woman and perfectly put together—hair, clothes, right down to her matching handbag and shoes. I’d known Rachel for years but never met her mum.

  At a glance, you knew she was the type that spent the time and money needed to always be at her best. Regardless of the trimmings, she would have still been an attractive woman in a burlap sack.

  “Seth.” If Seth looked pissed, then his mum looked furious and the way she said his name all but confirmed it. “I see you’ve not changed your ways, even laid up in hospital.”r />
  “What’s that supposed to mean?” he growled.

  “Don’t act dumb. It doesn’t become you. It’s not the first time I’ve walked in to find you all over some floozy. Like father, like son.”

  My jaw dropped and my voice froze.

  Stunned!

  I was a totally stunned. She’d called me a floozy and what was that about Seth’s dad? What was she talking about?

  “You’d better apologise to Sophia right now, Mum. You don’t know her nor have you got any right to judge her.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “That may be, but I know you and the type you prefer.”

  “People change, grow. I’ve changed not that it’s any business of yours.”

  “I’m still your mother.”

  “Damned shame neither of us can change that. You may have given birth to me but you stopped being my mother when you married that arsehole you call a husband.”

  What the devil was going on? My euphoric haze at having Seth back was disintegrating quicker than soap added to bubble bath.

  It just seemed to roll off her…I was stunned.

  “How are you?” There was not a hint of warmth or concern. In fact, it sounded like the complete opposite.

  “Why do you care?” he spat back.

  And I became more and more uncomfortable by the second. He must have sensed it because his eyes cut to mine. I indicated with my eyes that I’d leave to give them some privacy.

  His answer was simple and clear. His hand closed tighter around my arm.

  “Regardless what you think, I care, very much.”

  “Funny way of showing it, Irena.”

  Somehow, the use of his mother’s first name landed his hit even harder.

  Her jaw twitched and it was obvious she was struggling with firing back at him.

  “There was mail when I arrived home. Letters from the hospital. Things I needed to sign. I came in to discuss them with you.”

  “You’re unbelievable. I’ve been here for over two weeks and not so much as a call or a visit. Then you finally get around to sorting out some mail and bang, you turn up. You’re fucking unbelievable.”

  “I had commitments. Your sister was touring and don’t you swear at me.”