Love of the Game - The Complete Collection (Box Set)

by Shayne McClendon

  For an instant, she saw something that could have been stark hunger flash over Nikolai’s face but it was gone too fast to be sure. He growled, “There is nothing soft about you, Demitria. You are in excellent shape.” His eyes flicked down her body and back to her eyes again.

  She fought the blush threatening to consume her.

  Striving for casual, she moved around him. The thought materialized that she could have still been undressed when Nikolai busted into the locker room. Every cell in her body focused on hiding her reaction to him, putting distance between them.

  “I need to eat. Claire and I are going for lunch, if you’d like to join us.” She was shocked she’d offered and more shocked when he nodded his head. Demi bent to pick up her bag but Nikolai beat her to it. There was no hiding her small sigh. “Alright then, let’s get out of here.”

  Demi left the locker room and spent five minutes chatting with the people she’d signed to Stavos, granted they met the exacting requirements before and after camp.

  Nikolai watched her closely and she pretended not to notice.

  After what seemed like forever, they headed for the exit. Claire and Nikolai followed a step or so behind. She was anxious to make it to the limo with her dark sunglasses in place so she could stare at Nikolai undetected.

  She so rarely had the opportunity in person.

  The gym owner smiled as she thanked him and waved goodbye. She pushed through the glass door with her head down, rummaging through her bag for her shades.

  Demi never saw the five-pound fist that caught her in the cheek. She didn’t know when she hit the ground.

  Chapter Four

  As Demitria swam up out of darkness, she wondered why the hell she felt like she’d been hit by a car. She managed to open her eyes and promptly wished she hadn’t; everything was spinning, and she wanted to throw up.

  What was she lying on? Was she in the limo? Squinting didn’t help so she rolled to the side and ran into something hard and hot.

  She managed to whisper, “I’m going to be sick. I’m sorry…”

  Claire’s voice was nearby, muffled by an odd hum. It took her a moment to realize the sound was in her own head.

  “Here. Here’s a little bag, go ahead. You probably have a concussion. Why are you apologizing, Demi? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  A slightly blurred outline of her friend appeared but watching her sway made the nausea worse and she lowered her lids against it as she lost whatever remained in her stomach.

  Claire murmured softly, “That’s it. Let me wipe your mouth. Demi, don’t be like that, all you had was coffee and a protein shake. Stop it. I’ve seen you at your worst. That match in San Diego when you were all beat up and sick from the food at that little dive, remember? I’m sure Nikolai has seen people throw up before.”

  Demi froze and opened her eyes again carefully, blinking to clear her eyesight. She took a deep breath as she realized Nikolai was holding her on his lap, her upper body cradled in his arms. He was staring at her with such furious intensity she gasped.

  “Damn it. This is the most embarrassing fucking thing ever.”

  Claire laughed beside her. “You must have a concussion, Demi. What about the time you got locked out of the hotel in nothing but a t-shirt when you went for ice? Or…”

  “Claire. Shut. Up.” Demi peered into Nikolai’s face, breathing slowly because her stomach was feeling positively violent. He had a small cut on his chiseled cheek and she frowned. It caused a horrible pounding on one side of her face. “What happened to you?”

  Claire’s voice amidst the hum became extremely animated. Demi couldn’t look away from the man who held her.

  “God, Demi…you should have seen Nikki. When that steroid guy punched you in the face…totally sucker punched you…which is wrong on so many levels. Anyway, Nikki went crazy on him. Guy was carried off on a stretcher. He told the paramedics we’d take you to the hospital ourselves. We’re almost there.”

  “That guy was waiting for me outside the gym?”

  “Oh yeah. The big coward cold-cocked you when you came out the door. The reporters got it all on camera; including Nikki pummeling him into a bloody pulp.” Claire laughed. “I want footage of that.”

  Demi closed her eyes again as the heat rose in her face. They pulled into the emergency room entrance and the driver had the door open in seconds.

  Without straining, Nikolai stepped out of the car with her in his arms and walked inside. Claire checked her in at the front desk and they hustled her into a private room so no one would recognize her. She thought it much more likely they’d recognize seven-foot-tall Granite than her. He was very hard to miss whether you followed the sport or not.

  Nikolai laid her carefully on the bed, pulled her hair from under her, straightened her clothes, and stepped back from the railing.

  Claire took out her cell phone. “Demi, I’m going to run outside and call your dad. He is going to flip out. I need to get to him before he hears it on the damn news.” With that, she was gone and Demi was alone with Nikolai.

  She despised being weak in front of him.

  “Demitria, open your eyes and look at me, please.” She did, but shut them tight when the brightness of the room hurt. He reached over and turned off the lights, leaving them with the glow from the hallway. “Should be okay now.”

  She opened them slowly and met his gaze. His eyes were almost black and one of his best features in her opinion. When it came down to it, there wasn’t a single thing about him she found unattractive.

  He was staring at her with an expression she couldn’t place but it made her want to soothe him. Before she could ask him what was wrong, he said, “I should have gone out first. I apologize, Demitria.” He was hoarse, his heavily accented voice deeper than usual.

  She was confused. “Nikolai, please don’t apologize. Thank you for beating the fuck out of him for me. I wish I could have seen that.” Suddenly she was very, very tired. She patted his much larger hand on the bed rail for a moment then gently wrapped her fingers around his.

  “I bet you looked beautiful.” Then she dropped to sleep.

  Her dad showed up soon after, busting into the room and startling her awake. She had a vice grip on Nikolai’s hand. Her father came to the other side of the bed and it freaked her out to see him crying.

  “My little Demitria. That fuck. I will destroy his life.” He kissed her temple and her unbruised cheek as he whispered a prayer in Greek.

  “You are going home. Claire is going to drive you back to Seattle when you are released. No more fieldwork. These young boys with steroids burning up their brains. No, no longer. My little girl, my only daughter. Your brothers are not far behind…”

  Then there were three more big men crowding her bed, touching her, invading her space, suffocating her, and telling her what she was and wasn’t going to do. Her grip tightened on Nikolai’s hand until her knuckles were white.

  “You’ll come work in the office. We can send you to shows to announce sometimes.”

  “We’re not having you go anywhere without a bodyguard. You’re a girl.”

  “You’re due for an update on your condo security system. We need to protect you. You’re small and defenseless.”

  “That is it!” She ignored the exploding pain behind her eyes and the blast of nausea shouting caused. The four men went quiet and watched her warily. The frustration and pain were clear in her words.

  “I am not small or defenseless. I’m not going home! I follow the wrestlers because that is my job. I refuse to have a fucking bodyguard. If you think for one minute I’m going to sit behind a desk, you have another thing coming!”

  She was humiliated when the tears started. None of these men gave her an inch of space. She knew what she needed. “Where is Mom? I want my mom right now. She’s the only one who understands.”

  Tremors wracked her body and she knew she was in danger of getting sick again. As if on cue, Anastasia Stavos glided into the room and
came to a stop when she took in the scene. Hands on her hips, she scowled at her husband and sons.

  “Mikhail and all you boys, back up. You are looming over her. She isn’t three with her first skinned knee. She has been injured far worse than this voluntarily. Back up.” They stepped back against the wall without hesitation and Nikolai moved to take his hand from Demi’s.

  “You! You stay put.” Anastasia pointed her finger at Nikolai. She bent over her daughter, kissed her forehead, and brushed her hair away from her face carefully. “Sweet Demitria, that fucker snuck up on you, I heard?”

  Demi nodded and the tears fell faster and harder. Anastasia let her cry, doing exactly what she’d always done. Her mother would be there whenever she was ready.

  “I know that’s the worst of it for you. You whipped his ass in the ring. Playing dirty was the only way he could have bested you.” She kissed her temple. “I know your pride is wounded and that’s okay. It will heal as will this nasty bruise you have.”

  Anastasia blinked rapidly to stop her own tears and when she spoke, her voice was firm. “I’m going to have to agree with you getting a bodyguard, Demi. You can’t submerse yourself in a vat of male testosterone everyday looking like you do and not run into the occasional problem.”

  Demi saw all her independence draining away. “Mom, I don’t want some guy protecting me. I’ll feel like a loser. Like a girl. Don’t do that. Please, Mom?” Her voice was soft and silent tears slipped into her hair.

  Anastasia wiped her eyes and nodded. “We must compromise, Demitria. You need a bodyguard who isn’t really a bodyguard. Someone big who everyone thinks you’re dating. It will save your pride, keep you safe, and all of us are happy.”

  Rushing on before Demi could reply, she glanced at Nikolai. “I think you are perfect for this, Nikki. Claire went into great detail about your damage to the bastard that hurt my daughter. You already spend a lot of time together when you travel and she works out as much as you do. What do you say?”

  Without hesitation, he nodded.

  “Excellent all settled then.” She ignored Demi’s attempts to speak, gave her another kiss, and turned to her husband and sons. “I will make sure Claire has whatever she needs.”

  To the rest of the Stavos family, she said sharply, “If you want her to run from us, keep treating her like glass. She may not be as strong but she is as tough as any of you. We are leaving! There are things to do before the media goes insane over this. Demitria is in Nikolai’s capable hands.”

  Demi watched as her family filed out, her mom quietly tugging Claire along with them. At the door, her father glanced back and looked from Demi to Nikolai and back again. His smile was shrewd and calculating.

  “I will call you in a couple of hours, Demitria. Feel better.”

  Chapter Five

  The silence was almost deafening when the door clicked softly shut.

  Demitria was once again alone with Nikolai. Clearing her throat, she realized she had a vice grip on Nikolai’s hand, and opened her fingers to let him go.

  He didn’t let her go. He held her hand with a stern look on his face. She stared at him, and he at her, for what seemed like a long time.

  Finally, she found her voice. “I feel stupid being here for a damn punch to the cheek.”

  Nikolai didn’t speak right away. He watched her with an intensity that had her rattled in more ways than she wanted to face.

  Then he bent, leaned on the railing, and brought his angular face much closer to hers. His long black hair swung forward and Demi wondered if it was as soft as it looked. She gave herself a talking-to mentally but doubted it would do any good.

  “It was no small punch, Demitria. The paramedic worried he might have fractured your cheek and said you needed x-rays.” The hand she wasn’t holding came up to brush a feather-light touch along her hairline. “That is why we are here. There is blood in your eye on that side and we need to check your ear.”

  His hand squeezed hers gently and experiencing his touch was killing her. It wasn’t a way she would mind going. It was impossible to hide her nerves completely. “Okay…how bad does it look? Am I going to be brown-bagging it for a while or what?”

  Nikolai’s eyes stayed locked to hers as he smoothed her hair. “Demitria, you would have to be under the bag to look bad. Even with the bruising and swelling, you are still very beautiful.”

  “Thank you, Nikolai.”

  “You are welcome, Demitria.”

  “Why did you agree to what my mother wanted? You aren’t under any obligation to me. If anything, I owe you.” She couldn’t stand not knowing.

  His expression became almost savage and he leaned even closer. “You owe me nothing, Demitria. Nothing. Your father and mother would experience great agony were something to happen to you.”

  She nodded and felt depression weighing on her. “Yes, you’re very devoted to…to my father. He values your opinions and trusts you more than anyone else, even more than my brothers sometimes. You are very solid.”

  He smiled at the double entendre then his look turned careful. “It is not only my regard for your father that makes me agree, Demitria. I agreed because I like your company. You are not foolish or weak like many women. I like that about you. And you are more…visible, um.”

  She watched him struggle for a moment to find the word in English he wanted.

  “Higher profile…yes? Your family has stayed behind the scenes while you are seen and admired. You are more capable than many men but you are a woman and that makes you a target. I would be very upset if anything like today were to happen again. I do not want you hurt, Demitria.”

  Nikolai chose his words more carefully than usual and they made Demi warm. He smiled and she glanced down at their joined hands. “Nikolai, your knuckles.”

  There were cuts and bruises across them and some looked very tender to the touch. She raised their linked fingers closer and touched the marks with her other hand. “You put a real beating on him, huh?” He nodded but said nothing. “Thanks. I can’t believe he got the drop on me.”

  Staring at their joined hands, his enormous one between both of hers, she laid them on her stomach as the doctor came in.

  “Miss Stavos, what an honor to meet you. I wish it were different circumstances, of course. I’m a huge fan, my daughter, too.” His smile was warm and friendly as his eyes lifted to Nikolai. “Granite, you are even bigger in person. You do make an impact!”

  Stepping up to the rail on her other side, the doctor took his time examining her face, eyes, and ear. “I can’t believe a man dared to hit you like this. Despicable.” Clucking his teeth, he put drops in her eye and told her they were going to x-ray her cheek just to be on the safe side.

  His verdict was a concussion. After washing his hands, he returned to her side with a smile.

  “My daughter has idolized you since you first competed, Miss Stavos. Always swore she was going to be just like you. Not afraid to be strong in a man’s world. She came out to meet you today and told me she learned more in an hour with you than all her other coaches combined.”

  “Melissa is your daughter? She shows great promise. What a pleasant turn of events for you to be my doctor.” They chatted a while longer and he listened closely to everything Granite and Dancer had to say about their line of work.

  When the x-ray technician showed up, the doctor looked a little disappointed. Demi smiled and told him to have Melissa come backstage at one of the Tulsa shows.

  Nikolai retrieved one of her business cards from her bag and she signed it. It was a signal to their security that she approved backstage access. Tucking the card into his white lab coat with a grin, he shook their hands, and continued his rounds.

  X-rays confirmed there were no fractures and they prepped her release paperwork. Nikolai was quiet but didn’t leave her side for a moment.

  Hours later, he walked beside her as the nurse wheeled her out of the hospital, sunglasses hiding much of her battered face. At the curb, she i
nsisted on standing and a wave of dizziness knocked her forward. Nikolai caught her with a scowl.

  “Move slower, Demitria. You have a concussion.” He picked her up, placed her in the limo when Tomas opened the door, and slid in beside her. They drove for a while when she absently clasped his hand between them on the seat and drifted into a light sleep.

  She still held it as they pulled beneath the hotel’s main entrance. There were reporters everywhere.

  “Hell.” Demi knew she wasn’t up to dealing with them. Normally, she handled them like a pro and she did not intend to embarrass herself.

  The door opened and Nikolai got out. He lifted her, steadied her, and held her against his side. He practically supported her bodyweight completely with one hand at her waist.

  As the reporters swarmed, Nikolai put his hand up. “Not too close. I do not want to get annoyed and I know you do not wish that either. Ask your questions quickly so she can rest.”

  The questions fired at her rapidly and Demi struggled to stay focused.

  “No, I feel badly for the man who did this. I believe he has a serious problem with steroid use and needs to seek help.” She swallowed hard. “Yes, this is the main reason Stavos Wrestling is so anti-PED’s. Nikolai is an excellent example of clean training.”

  She smiled at the next question. “I haven’t seen the footage yet but I heard he beat the crap out of him. I imagine it was stunning. Yes, Nikolai is very loyal to Stavos, just as we are loyal to him.” There was a bit of light laughter and the tension eased a bit.

  “What?” Demi’s voice locked up at, “Are you two dating?” For the first time in many years, she was speechless.

  Beside her, a deep voice rumbled, “We are.” Her eyes went wide and she ignored the searing pain in her head to stare at him in shock. Nikolai wasn’t finished.