Sleeping With the Opposition (Bad Boy Bosses)

by J. K. Coi

  His gray eyes were glossy with unshed tears, and when he spoke, the words were so low, she felt the rumble of them through his chest rather than heard them. “It hurts to know that she’s gone, and I couldn’t save her. I was her father, and I couldn’t do what all fathers are supposed to do—keep their little girls safe and protected.”

  He paused, his heart pounding beneath her hand. “When my father died, I knew it was my job to be the man of the house, but I couldn’t do it. I let out all of my grief and rage on whatever happened to cross my path. It didn’t matter who or how or why.” He started slowly, his voice low. “It wasn’t until it was almost too late that I realized how much my lack of control was hurting the one person I had left—my mother. She was already dealing with a devastating loss, and my selfishness had only escalated her pain.”

  He leaned back and looked into Bria’s eyes. “When we lost our baby, I didn’t want to do that to you. I thought if I stayed in control, stayed strong, then I would make things easier for both of us. Even after you begged me to open up, I couldn’t do it. I was sure that you would take one look at all the darkness lurking beneath the surface, and it would scare the hell out of you, and you’d be gone.”

  …

  Leo held his breath, waiting for that exact thing to happen, but Bria didn’t run. She didn’t look at him like he was weak or broken.

  She dropped her purse at her feet. Then she kissed him.

  He leaned back much the same way he would have had to dodge an opponent in the ring and held her by the shoulders. He didn’t have it in him to make it through another episode like last night and this morning.

  “I’ve seen what’s in your heart, and there’s no darkness there. Only love. You could never scare me,” she whispered in thin syllables.

  Just when he thought the last of his hope had died, the look in her eyes pierced his soul. And when she slowly came closer to kiss him again, he couldn’t resist—how could he possibly resist?—crushing his mouth to hers with a shattered groan.

  She was all over him. Her hands wringing another drop of blood from his heart with every caress.

  He had to force them both to slow down. “There’s no lock on this door. I bet Mac’s keeping his eye out for us, but anyone can walk in at any time.” Either Jared was still out there letting the girls lick his wounds, or Mac had redirected him to the private facilities that were supposed to be for employees of the club, and not fighters.

  “I don’t care,” she murmured, pulling her shirt up over her head and dropping it without a thought. Her eyes glittered, and her mouth parted. Her perfect breasts filled out a silky pink bra and she fumbled with the belt buckle of her jeans. “I need you,” she pleaded. “The only thing that scared me was seeing you up there with that guy punching you. I need to feel you, to know that you’re okay.”

  With a groan, he cupped her cheeks and kissed her with every ounce of love and passion that had been a part of him for the last four years. He shoved her back against the closed door as an added deterrent if someone should decide to try to come into the room.

  “I never wanted to do anything but love you, sweetheart,” he promised. “If I could take back everything—”

  She pressed her fingers to his lips. “I know.” She tugged the towel he’d forgotten was still draped around his neck and discarded it just like she’d done with her shirt. Her belt hung open from the loops of her jeans, and she shimmied them down over her hips and kicked them aside before he even had time to blink and register what was happening.

  His delicate-looking, soft-voiced, gentle wife stood before him in a public place dressed only in her bra and panties.

  They could still hear the roar of the crowd on the other side of those doors. The room was dark and dingy. The fluorescent tube lighting even flickered, highlighting layers of grime and sweat. He was covered in grime, sweat, and even drying blood. It was all very coarse and vulgar. And yet none of that actually mattered, because Bria was pure. She was his sunshine, his ray of hope. She’d had the strength to come to him despite her fears, and she’d fought for him, stripping away his defenses and showing him the freedom and release in sharing his soul with her.

  “Bria, love. Jesus, you’re going to be the death of me.” He touched his forehead to hers and pulled her as tight to him as he could. He needed every part of her body against him. He was still wary, half convinced that she was going to stop and remember that she didn’t really want this, didn’t want him. “As much as I want to pull your legs around my waist and bury myself in you right here…I don’t have any fucking condoms.”

  She froze, and his fears were materialized. But then she kissed him again. Hard. Deep. Like she wanted to talk herself into not caring about the risk, but the hell of it was he knew she did, and he knew she would hate him and herself if they lost control. He wouldn’t ever make that mistake again.

  “I have condoms,” she said, pointing to her purse on the floor. “I honestly didn’t plan to be using them, but I didn’t want to chance being caught without if we lost control—”

  He didn’t let her finish. He kissed her hard and deep enough to swallow her whole. The fact that she’d stocked condoms even when her expectations had been low gave him hope that somewhere down deep she had never written the two of them off completely.

  He couldn’t see her nipples through the padding of her bra. As nice as it was to look at, he liked Bria’s breasts more, so he slipped the straps off her shoulders to her elbows until she popped out of the cups. Her luscious form squirmed against him, but he kept her back braced against the door to the change room and lifted her legs around his waist just like he’d promised.

  Bria’s taste had always done ridiculous things to him. It got him worked up like no amount of adrenaline could. As he bent his head and took her breast into his mouth, using his tongue and teeth to play with the tight puckered nipple until she was crying and squirming in his arms. The rush was so intense he physically shuddered with it.

  He repositioned her in his arms and slipped one hand into her panties to touch her. She gasped and bit his collarbone. God, she was warm and so wet. He put two fingers in her and let her ride his hand until her nails dug into his shoulders, her body went rigid, and she started clenching. Then he couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Stay right there.” He let her down long enough to reach down for her purse.

  “Front pocket,” she murmured. “Hurry.”

  She stepped out of her panties as he rolled on the condom, and then he spun her around. “Keep it closed,” he whispered into her ear, placing both her hands flat on the door between them and a club full of strangers, and then he grabbed her hips and pulled her ass closer. “We wouldn’t want anyone coming in now, would we?”

  Her head tipped back with a long groan as he entered her from behind. If someone tried to get in here now it would be really awkward, because there was no way he was stopping.

  “Leo.” He loved when she said his name like that, all throaty and desperate for more of what only he could give her. “Go deep and hard. Please.”

  “There’s not even another option,” he said through clenched teeth. He gripped her hips a little harder, but even though he’d promised hard and deep, he wanted it to last and so he went as slow as his own stamina would allow, so that they could both feel every blessed inch of the moment.

  The intensity built to insanity levels quickly, and when he couldn’t keep up the teasing pace any longer, he dragged her back around to face him. “I need to be looking into your eyes when I go,” he said, lifting her legs around his waist and cupping her ass cheeks in his hands.

  He gritted his teeth as he slid back inside her, and lost himself in the sheer perfection of it. After this morning, he’d been certain that he and Bria were over. His marriage shouldn’t be a battle, and part of him had welcomed the end, because it had been so hard and hurt for so long…

  And then she’d been there in the crowd, looking up at him like they still had their own fight to
finish, and he’d realized that even if he won the boxing match, it wouldn’t help him find peace. He would only ever find that with her.

  And now she was in his arms, and he refused to believe it was the last time. He shoved away any and all thoughts of the end. There was never going to be an end to them as long as they loved each other.

  He poured all that love into her now, praying it would be enough to help her realize that no matter how painful love could be sometimes, they were always going to be better together than they were apart.

  When she cried her release into his mouth with an open kiss and her heels pressed into the small of his back, urging him on, he braced a hand on the door by her shoulder and pumped into her harder. He let out a shout and didn’t care who might be on the other side, listening.

  When the maelstrom let up, he ducked his head into her shoulder, taking deep breaths. After a slight hesitation, her fingers slipped into his hair just like she used to do.

  Although he hated to let the moment go, they couldn’t stay here much longer. “We need to go home,” he murmured against her lips, with one last squeeze just to be sure the feel of her would stay with him—notwithstanding that he was destined to go to his grave carrying her touch branded on his skin and her scent in his nostrils.

  She finally nodded, eyes closed, breathing heavily. “I know.”

  “And we still have to talk.”

  “I know.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  He tipped her chin up. She blinked and gasped. “Leo, your face.”

  He grimaced. “That bad?”

  It wasn’t that she hadn’t noticed the blood crusting the corner of his lip and the cut at his eye, but other things had been more overwhelming to her up until this moment, and it hadn’t completely registered exactly what he had done to himself.

  She patted the lump starting to rise on his cheekbone, right under his eye, wincing for him.

  “It doesn’t hurt as bad as it probably looks,” he said. “But I suppose I should get cleaned up.”

  He let her legs down slowly and stepped away, waiting for her to adjust to standing without his weight to bolster her against the door. She clutched the door handle, her legs trembling, and watched him walk across the room and disappear through an open doorway. She heard the flush of a toilet and the rush of water spilling from the tap, but still didn’t move.

  When Leo returned, he’d pulled on his boxing shorts and cleaned up. His face and chest were still wet, which only highlighted the bruises that were already starting to show up.

  He took one look at her expression and the softness of love and satisfaction immediately faded. Guilt flooded her. Leo had never known the meaning of the words “fear” and “insecurity” until she had thrown his concern and love back in his face like it meant nothing to her, when it meant everything. It was the only thing.

  “I’m okay,” she said hurriedly. The thought that he might think she regretted this again, that she would reject him again, made her heart ache. He needed to know that it was never him she’d wanted to reject, despite her frustration with him and her fears about the future.

  The flush of their risky, daring lovemaking cooling on her skin, Bria finally pushed herself off the wall. Leo quickly bent to pick up her panties. She held out her hand for them, heat creeping up her cheeks, but he shook his head.

  “Allow me,” he said with such a look of intensity she felt it in her bones. He dropped to one knee before her and looked up expectantly.

  Biting her lip, she placed both hands on his shoulders and lifted one foot after the other, then let him draw the silk up her calves. His hands were warm and callused, a little scratchy on her skin, which only made her shiver and her insides clench. When he leaned in closer and kissed the soft, sensitive part of each thigh, she groaned and leaned back against the door again, arching her hips when his mouth found the core of her, and his tongue licked at her pussy.

  He didn’t lift his head until she was wrung out and unable to stand on her own. His low chuckle burrowed through the erotic haze as he finally stood and took her place against the door so that she could finish getting dressed without worrying someone would come in.

  Despite the chill in the night air, he changed into a loose pair of running pants and only a T-shirt. She supposed he was still running hot from the fight…and maybe their other physical activities. Bria herself still felt flushed, too, and the feeling wasn’t going away.

  They didn’t talk much on the drive home—Leo had brought his car to the club, so there was no making out in the backseat of a taxi—and yet the persistent pulse of desire didn’t fade with the passing street corners, and surprisingly her fears didn’t kick in to hobble her. In fact, she clenched her fists in her lap to keep her hands to herself while he was driving—but it was obvious that she wasn’t the only one who was having trouble. The short glances he slid her way were fiery, and the buzz coming off him was practically audible. Was it the adrenaline from his fight that had ramped him up?

  No, she’d done that to him. And she wasn’t sorry.

  “Stop the car,” she said.

  He groaned and glanced over at her, then quickly back to the road. “I love being an exhibitionist with you, sweetheart, I do,” he said with a throaty chuckle. “But don’t you think we’ve had reckless sex enough times for one evening?”

  “That’s not what I meant. You were right, we have to talk, and I don’t want to wait.” She blushed because she was feeling urgent and desperate, and the idea of pulling over into the darkened shadows of some deserted parking lot and banging hard and fast was actually pretty damn appealing right now. Maybe more so than waiting like responsible adults to make love in their soft, safe bed.

  She gritted her teeth. That’s exactly the reason they had to do this now. If he touched her again, they wouldn’t talk until morning, and by then, she might have lost her nerve.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to wait until we’re home?”

  Technically, they weren’t far from their place now, but traffic was heavy, and she couldn’t make it. She didn’t even want to go there. That felt like the wrong place for this, where every corner and shadow contained memories of their history. Their hopes for a life together were in that house and as much as she loved it, she didn’t want to go back there until they’d had the discussion they needed to have…and decided once and for all if they were both going to be able to stay.

  “Please, Leo.”

  “Okay, let me find someplace safe to park.” He turned down a couple of short streets, and she realized where he was headed. A few minutes later, he pulled into the back lot to Mr. Russo’s restaurant and turned off the car.

  Bria took a deep breath and shifted in her seat to face him. He was shrouded in darkness, and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking or feeling.

  “Bria, why did you come to the fight club tonight?”

  “Why did you go to the fight club?” she countered, then raised her hand and stopped him from answering. She already knew. She’d driven him there.

  Seeing Leo take those punches like he’d been looking for an excuse to get hit had broken something inside her. Something she might never have admitted to if she hadn’t seen the bleak look in his eyes just before he’d noticed she was there.

  Losing a baby had been the most devastating experience of her life. She’d thought that going through it without Leo’s emotional support was the worst that could happen…until she’d found him in that boxing ring, punishing himself for failing her.

  But wasn’t she just as guilty of letting her fears get in the way of helping him when he’d needed her? Would he have finally let her in and shared his feelings sooner if she hadn’t been so self-absorbed in her own anguish?

  There was so much to say that all the words jumbled into one another, bottlenecking in the back of her throat until she couldn’t get any of them out.

  “Everything will be okay,” Leo said, although for the first time, he was the one who didn’t sound so su
re.

  “What if we can’t have children?” she asked in a thin voice.

  “Are you saying you would be willing to give it another try?”

  The thought caused her throat to close and she gasped for air. Her heart pounded in her ears like the ticking of a bomb. She shook her head. “Oh God, Leo. I…I can’t.”

  He cupped the back of her head and pulled her closer, leaning across the seats of the car to press his forehead against hers. “Shh, it’s okay.”

  “You say that now, but how will you feel in five years when I still can’t go through with it, or even worse”—her voice broke—“when we’ve tried again and lost another baby?”

  “I would never blame you, if that’s what you mean,” he said tightly, and she knew she’d offended him by comparing them to her mother and Frank. “And I promise that I’ll never run away to the boxing ring and leave you to suffer through the hard parts alone.”

  “You don’t know what it was like. Frank and my mother loved each other, too…in the beginning. She was so happy with him, and he absolutely adored her. Everyone would comment on it.”

  “Guys like that can make the world see what they want it to see, but what goes on between a couple between closed doors is very different, and you were just a kid—”

  “I know that, Leo. Don’t you think after four years practicing law, I know that?” She closed her eyes. “My mother would sometimes sing to me when we’d had a really nice day while she put me to bed. But after she met him, she would sing all the time. She sang in the kitchen, and she sang in the car driving me to school. It was like she came alive after she met him.” Bria took a deep breath. “Exactly the way I feel when I’m with you.”

  Leo frowned.

  “But after the miscarriages, she stopped singing. I always thought it was because Frank had gone cold. But what if she was the one? What if she stopped singing because she just couldn’t lift her voice over the pain anymore, and Frank drifted further and further away because he didn’t know how to help her?”

  Leo suddenly got out of the car.