The Fighter

by E. L. Todd

  He smiled. “I’ve never had to work so hard for a date…but it was worth it.”

  We lay in my bed together, the morning piercing through the slits in my blinds to fill my bedroom with a minute amount of light. Last night, we came to my place because it was so close. Clothes fell on the floor, and then we were fucking like we hadn’t gotten laid in weeks. It was still just sex, but this time, I actually felt a connection to him.

  He wasn’t just some guy I would forget about the next morning. His face was permanently engraved in my mind. Our conversations were committed to memory. He was someone I would see again…and again. It wasn’t a relationship. But it was definitely something.

  When I opened my eyes, he was already awake. He was on his side facing me, his hard body making the old mattress dip in his direction. His hard chest rose and fell with his relaxed breathing, and his large biceps were a beautiful thing to see in the morning. “You’re still here.”

  “You thought I would sneak out the way you did?” A slight smile was on his lips, full of amusement.

  I shrugged. “I would have deserved it.”

  “No. This bed is too comfy.”

  “It’s a ten-year-old mattress,” I said with a laugh.

  “It’s not comfy because of the mattress. It’s comfy because of the sexy naked woman beside me.” He scooted closer to me and wrapped his arm around my waist, enveloping me in his masculine warmth.

  I chuckled. “Good answer.”

  He pressed a kiss to my shoulder then continued to look at me, the shadow along his jawline a little thicker than it was last night.

  “I’m surprised you agreed to come here. My apartment isn’t fancy like yours.”

  “I would have slept behind a dumpster if it meant I got to fuck you.”

  I laughed, picturing the two of us sleeping on a pile of newspapers. “That would be so gross.”

  He shrugged. “Still would be worth it.”

  I lifted myself from the bed and pulled my hair out of my face. “I’m glad you don’t think my eight-hundred-square-foot apartment is a dump.” I got out of bed and picked up his t-shirt from the floor. I pulled it over my head and let the cotton settle around me. “I’m going to make breakfast. You hungry?”

  “Always.”

  We walked into the kitchen and worked together to make pancakes and bacon. He didn’t have any spare clothes so he stood in his boxers, his muscular thighs stretching out his shorts. His butt was tight, and his back was chiseled.

  I’d have to steal his clothes more often.

  I stood at the stove and flipped the pancakes in the pan. “I’m not a good cook, but I’m a lot better than I used to be.”

  “You can’t be worse than me.” He leaned against the counter with a mug full of Folgers coffee. He was probably used to freshly ground roast every morning because his assistant had the best beans flown from out of the country every single day. But he didn’t complain about the cheap stuff I had. “I never cook.”

  “Then what do you eat?”

  “I have a personal chef. He leaves things in my fridge throughout the week.”

  “That sounds nice.” I scooped the pancakes onto a plate and poured more batter into the pan.

  “This is better, though.” He ripped off a piece of a fresh pancake and popped it into his mouth.

  “Liar.”

  “I’m serious. Having a sexy woman cook me breakfast in my shirt…that’s pretty hot.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re probably used to that too.”

  “No. I don’t invite them over for breakfast, and I don’t let them wear my clothes.”

  He and I were both wounded, so we cut off all emotion from other people. But now we both seemed to open up to each other. “And I don’t cook breakfast for anyone.”

  “I assumed so. You ducked out of my apartment right after we were finished.”

  I shrugged. “I got what I wanted.”

  “Too bad for you I wanted more.”

  I turned off the stove and slid the remaining pancakes onto a plate.

  The door to my apartment opened, and Colton walked inside uninvited. “Hey, do you have any…” He halted on the doorstep when he saw Brutus beside me, and slowly, a mischievous grin stretched across his face. “Sorry, didn’t know you had company.” His eyes looked over Brutus’s perfect physique, not even bothering to be discreet about it. Then he turned back to me and waggled his eyebrows.

  Brutus didn’t seem uncomfortable with the unexpected company or the fact that Colton was my ex-husband. He raised his mug in greeting. “Good morning. Pepper just made breakfast. You want to join us?”

  Jax was put off by Colton the second he knew about our previous relationship. Instead of feeling the same way, Brutus seemed to see Colton as a friend, the least threatening person on the planet.

  “I don’t know…” Colton joined us then looked down into the pan of bacon grease. “Sometimes Pepper cooks food…and sometimes poison.”

  “Oh, shut up.” I left the spatula in the pan and pulled out a few plates from the cabinet. “I’m such a better cook now, and you know it.”

  Colton leaned toward Brutus and whispered something.

  “Hey.” I flicked him on the arm. “Knock it off, or no food for you.”

  “I guess I’ll take my chances,” Colton said. “You probably wouldn’t poison Brutus, so I should be safe.”

  We sat down at the dining table, and Colton couldn’t stop sneaking glances at Brutus’s phenomenal physique. He’d direct his fork to his mouth to take a bite but would miss because his eyes devoured Brutus’s arms and chest.

  I knew Brutus could feel Colton’s attraction, and I was glad he was nice enough not to say anything. I wouldn’t like it if someone were gawking at me like that, man or woman. “What’s Tom doing?”

  “He went home,” Colton said. “He had laundry to do and had to get ready for the workweek.”

  “You ever think about moving in with him? You’ve been together for a while now.”

  Once Tom was mentioned, Colton stopped gawking at Brutus. “It’s crossed my mind, but since our relationship is going so well, I don’t want to mess it up by asking.”

  “If you do move in together, you should shack up at his place,” I said. “That way I don’t have to live across the hall from you anymore.”

  Brutus sipped his coffee. “I was wondering where you came from.”

  “If I didn’t live across the hall, you’d starve,” Colton countered. “So you need me.”

  “I’d prefer Tom’s company over yours.” Now we talked like two bratty friends rather than former spouses. Our previous relationship seemed like a lifetime ago, and neither one of us viewed each other that way anymore.

  Colton took a dramatic bite of his bacon, the crunch audible. “You know what? I’m taking this back to my apartment and eating it on the couch.” He left the table and headed to the door.

  “Wash that plate before you bring it back.”

  “Ha.” He stepped out and shut the door behind him. “We know that’s not going to happen…”

  When he was gone, Brutus drank his coffee and continued to look at me. “You guys are closer than I realized.”

  Brutus and I weren’t in a relationship, but I didn’t want to head in the same direction I had with Jax. I didn’t want to waste my time with this guy if he was going to be weird about my relationship with Colton. Colton was the closest thing I had to a family, and I wasn’t throwing that away. “I don’t know what’s going to happen between us. Maybe nothing will ever happen. But I can’t be with someone who has a problem with my relationship with Colton. I know it’s a little weird because we used to be married and we live across the hall from each other, but that’s nonnegotiable.”

  He took a bite of his bacon and seemed relaxed, like my speech meant nothing to him. “Why would that bother me? He’s clearly gay.”

  I stared at him blankly for a moment, surprised that was so easy. “I dated this guy a while ago who ha
d a problem with it. Said I had to choose between him and Colton…I chose Colton.”

  “Insecure and controlling…you made the right decision.” He finished his food so his plate was completely clean. Even if he had a gourmet chef to prepare all of his meals, he didn’t seem to care about the pancake batter I got from Walmart.

  Just like that, he overcame the biggest hurdle in my relationships.

  “I don’t know where this is going either…but I hope it’s going somewhere.” He rested his hand on top of his mug as he turned his head and looked at me. “By the way, I have this dinner thing tomorrow night. It’s a birthday party for a friend at the Four Seasons. You want to tag along?”

  “Are you serious?”

  “You can come as a friend if that makes it easier for you.”

  “Why are you asking me?”

  He shrugged. “I like you. Do I need to have a better reason than that?”

  “I just figured you’d want to go alone…”

  “So dozens of women can hit on me because they know I’m a billionaire?” He shook his head. “That gets old after a while. It would be nice just to go and not have to worry about that. But if you aren’t interested—”

  “No, I’ll go.” I’d decided I wouldn’t date anymore, but I enjoyed spending time with Brutus. He seemed harmless because of his past heartbreak, and it was refreshing that he knew about all of my suffering. I felt like I could be myself completely, to not be judged for my pain. “It’ll be fun.”

  “Great.” He smiled. “We’ll have a good time. There will be more food and booze than we can consume.”

  “Ooh…then we really will have a good time.”

  6

  Finn

  I returned to my apartment after a one-week rotation in Uganda.

  Every time I drove into the village, I was filled with dreadful isolation, like I was driving off the face of the earth.

  But every time I drove into Kenya, it was worse.

  There was nothing waiting for me there.

  Suffocated by my own thoughts, the loneliness made me drown. If only Pepper had come with me, I would have had everything I wanted. But now I had nothing…because I was too depressed to enjoy what I was doing.

  Jane was usually in my bed—but she meant nothing to me.

  She tried to talk to me, but I tuned her out. All we did was fuck, a poor attempt to chase away the feelings in my heart. Sometimes I pretended she was Pepper just to finish…but that usually made me feel worse.

  When I walked inside my apartment, I sat at my desk and opened my laptop.

  The conversation I had with Colton weeks ago kept replaying in my mind.

  She’ll never take you back.

  She’s seeing someone else.

  She’s over you.

  Every sentence hurt more than the previous one. I’d made my choice when I decided to come here—and now I couldn’t take it back. I couldn’t make it right. I couldn’t get on my knees and beg for another chance.

  I made my bed. It was time to lie in it.

  How could I have been so stupid? Maybe this decision would have made sense years ago, but meeting Pepper changed my life drastically. My priorities were different now. I was trying to live my old life, when my soul was only happy in the company of its other half.

  I didn’t want to be here anymore.

  I didn’t care about it anymore.

  I looked at my laptop and scanned the news from the United States. I stayed updated on both places, wanting to know what I was dealing with at home and abroad. It seemed like my mind was playing tricks on me, torturing me even more, because a woman in a photograph looked identical to Pepper.

  Billionaire and business tycoon Brutus Hemmingway was spotted at the Four Seasons Seattle with a new woman on his arm. It’s the first time he’s been photographed with someone since his high-profile divorce from supermodel Cassandra Newton. The identity of the woman is unknown at this time.

  I stared at the picture, seeing a good-looking guy with his arm around a gorgeous brunette with green eyes. He escorted her into the hotel, a foot taller than her, with confidence in his gaze. He was lean and muscular, and he had a jawline most men would be envious of. Maybe the reporter couldn’t figure out who the woman was, but I could.

  It was Pepper.

  She’d won the affection of a handsome billionaire. A man every woman wanted.

  But he only wanted her.

  She wasn’t just over me…she’d forgotten about me.

  7

  Colton

  I stood at the table in the living room and picked up my watch. It was a gift given to me by Tom, and the back of the watch was engraved with the date of the night we’d met. I slipped it onto my wrist and clicked it into place.

  Pepper entered my apartment in a short dress with a deep vee down the front. A silver necklace was around her throat with a diamond in the center. It was a necklace I’d never seen, and judging from the quality of the diamonds, it was expensive.

  Which meant it was a gift from Brutus.

  A month had passed since she’d accompanied him to that birthday party at the Four Seasons, and they’d been inseparable ever since.

  Which made me very happy.

  Thankfully, Finn had backed off and didn’t call me about Pepper again. Hopefully, he’d given up on her and moved on with his life. It shouldn’t have taken six months for him to figure out the mistake he’d made, so I didn’t pity him at all.

  I just wanted Pepper to be with a good guy. And Brutus checked all the boxes.

  “Ready for our double date?” She walked inside, her four-inch heels echoing against the hardwood floor. With her hair in soft curls and a brilliant shade of lipstick on her lips, she looked stunning.

  “Yes. But not as ready as you are. The dress is perfect on you.”

  She spun around and struck a pose. “Thank you. You look nice too.” She was a ray of sunshine now, bursting with happiness every time I saw her. The melancholy Pepper I knew was long gone, and so was her past of sleeping around. In fact, I’d never seen her happier…with the exception of her time with Finn.

  But at least the hard days were behind her.

  “Is Brutus coming here?” I wrapped my arm around her waist and kissed her on the cheek.

  She rolled her eyes. “You really need to stop gawking at my boyfriend.”

  “Come on, he’s gorgeous. What am I supposed to do?”

  “You shouldn’t be checking him out in front of your boyfriend.”

  “Are you kidding me?” I asked with a laugh. “Tom gawks at him harder than I do.”

  “Well, hands off.” She poked me in the chest. “He’s mine.”

  “You can have him…but we like to look at him.”

  She walked into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine. “I’m excited to try this new steakhouse. The waiting list is weeks-long, but Brutus managed to get us with the snap of his fingers.”

  “Because he’s a billionaire. He can make anything happen. He might own it for all we know.”

  “True…” She sipped her wine and smeared her lipstick against the glass.

  “How’s it going with him anyway?”

  “Good.”

  I grabbed a glass and filled it with the white wine I’d picked up at the grocery store. “Come on, you guys have been inseparable ever since that party at the Four Seasons. It seems like you really like him.”

  “I do like him.” She smiled before she took another drink.

  I didn’t feel guilt for not telling her about Finn’s regret. She was finally in a good place, and I wouldn’t let his feelings confuse her. I never thought I would say this, but Finn was the kind of man who talked about doing things…but never actually did them. Maybe he really did regret going to Uganda. That didn’t mean he would ever come home and commit to her. Even if he did, Pepper was too smart to take him back.

  “I like him a lot.” She swallowed her wine then set the glass on the counter. “At first, I just wanted
to get rid of him, but he really wore me down. He told me he’s divorced.”

  “Yeah…I read that somewhere.” But I couldn’t figure out what happened. His representatives just said they were uncoupling without explanation.

  “I’m not one to gossip, but he told me his wife cheated on him. She took half of his assets and broke his heart. He said it really hurt and took a long time to get over it. That was music to my ears…because he really understood how I felt. And he couldn’t care less about my relationship with you. It just felt so easy…”

  I was so glad they’d met in that bar. Pepper kept going through guys like water, and thankfully someone stuck. He was handsome, easygoing, and got along with all of us so well. But more importantly, he gave Pepper exactly what she needed. “So, it’s pretty serious, then?” I picked up the bottle and refilled our glasses.

  “I wouldn’t say it’s serious. But we aren’t sleeping with other people. I’m not ready to fall in love again. I’m still so broken over everything that’s happened for the last few years. But with Brutus, we’re friends and lovers. We can be honest with each other, and that’s really refreshing. Neither one of us is in a rush to be anything serious because we’ve both been hurt, so it just makes the arrangement easy.”

  They were healing together, and in the process, falling in love. Brutus hadn’t been around that long, but I could tell he would be the right one. He would be the one she married and started a family with. I didn’t say that, obviously. I kept it to myself. “I really like him, Pepper. He’s a really good guy. The second he came around, he just fit with our group. And he’s so fucking hot.”

  She laughed into her glass and smacked my arm. “Oh my god, Colton.”

  “What?” I asked innocently. “How often do you meet a guy in real life with those kinds of abs?”

  “You’re ridiculous.”

  “If only he were gay…”

  “Oh…he’s definitely not gay.”

  Someone knocked on the door.

  “Come in,” she announced.

  “Do you still live here?” I asked sarcastically.