Stand of Redemption

by Cathryn Williams

  “I know. Tell him you got her pregnant.”

  As Ria choked on her food, Nicholas had to pat her on the back.

  “I take it that’s a no,” Melanie said, her lips twitching.

  “No,” Nicholas told her.

  Melanie shrugged. “I’m only trying to help.”

  “If you want to help, be quiet and eat your dinner,” Zane told her.

  Melanie stuck her tongue out at Zane, who ignored her to finish his dinner.

  “You could always tell him that Melanie’s pregnant,” Ria said, biting back her smile as Melanie choked on her food and then threw her a killing glare.

  “I like you,” she said.

  “I like you, too.” Ria smiled at Nicholas’s sister.

  Melanie was a lot like Lacey; neither one of them had a fake bone in their bodies and wanted to kick everyone’s asses.

  “Nick, bring her to my next fight.”

  “I don’t enjoy cage fighting.”

  The three people at the table stared at her in horror. Then they all broke into laughter.

  Melanie leaned across the table. “You don’t know what you’re missing. You’re going to learn to love it.”

  Ria doubted it but didn’t argue.

  They finished dinner then Melanie and Zane stood to leave.

  “I have to get him home for his beauty sleep. He has a fight tomorrow night.”

  “Good luck,” Nicholas said. “I need to get Ria back. I’ll see you both tomorrow night after your fight.”

  They parted company outside the restaurant, Melanie and Zane both staring at the limo.

  “We’re in the wrong profession,” Melanie said, staring at the huge car with envy.

  “At least we’re doing it legally,” Zane commented, taking Melanie’s arm to lead her away before she jumped into the expensive car.

  “Wait, I want to ride…” Melanie protested.

  “Your sister is a character,” Ria said as they got into the limo.

  “Yes, she is,” Nicholas agreed. The painkiller he had taken after the fight was wearing off. He was tired and sore, wanting to go back to his apartment to take another hot shower.

  “Nicholas are you attracted to me at all?”

  His beat up face turned to her. “What?”

  She cleared her throat. Lacey and Melanie weren’t the only ones that could be upfront. “Are you attracted to me? If you aren’t, that’s okay. I just want to know.”

  “Ria, I’m not the right person for you.” Nicholas turned his face forward.

  “I understand.”

  Silence filled the car.

  As soon as it pulled to a stop, she jumped out, not waiting for Mitchell to open the door.

  “Ria, wait.” Nicholas tried to stop her, but she was too quick, dodging his hand.

  She ran through the lobby and quickly pressed the elevator button.

  “I…” Nicholas was behind her.

  Damn the slow elevator!

  “There’s no need for explanations.” She shrugged. “Please just go. I’ll tell Emiliano that the deal is off and to leave you alone.”

  The elevator doors finally opened, and Ria went in, pushing the button for her floor, but she was too slow, and Nicholas came in before the doors could close.

  “Don’t say anything to him. I made the deal with him, regardless that I’m attracted to you.”

  Ria tilted her head, frowning. “You are attracted to me?”

  “Yes. No.” Nicholas ran a hand over his hair. “What I’m trying to say unsuccessfully is that I am attracted to you, but I’m not going to do anything about it.”

  “Why?”

  The elevator doors opened.

  Nick sighed impatiently, taking her arm as they walked beside each other to her apartment door. Ria opened it, and Nicholas came in behind her, shutting the door.

  “Right now, we need to concentrate on getting you out of this mess and getting your mother back. I need to regain my title while not getting myself permanently damaged by one of Emiliano’s fighters.”

  Ria fought her hurt feelings. Everything he said was true. She was causing enormous problems in his life. If he was hurt and never able to fight again, she would feel guilty for the rest of her life.

  “Nicholas, please listen to me. Walk away. These are my problems, not yours. You should never have become involved. You can’t blame yourself for me losing my job.”

  “Shut up, Ria. Just be quiet.” Nicholas pulled her to him, his mouth covering hers.

  He had promised himself not to touch her. He didn’t deserve to touch her with her brothers’ blood on his hands. She would hate him if she found out he was the reason she was in this position. He was just as responsible for Dragon’s death as Zane was. He could have stopped him from pulling the trigger. Dragon had given Ria and their mother freedom. With his death, they had lost it. All of this was going through his mind, but he didn’t stop kissing her.

  His tongue parted her lips to enter her mouth. She tasted like the rich caramel pie she’d had for dessert. Nick groaned, pulling her tighter against him, as his mouth glided up to her ear, tracing the delicate shell with a tender caress, causing her to shiver with pleasure.

  Her initial reticence disappeared. She wound her arms around his neck as her mouth tried to catch his. He gave it to her, stroking his tongue intimately against hers.

  As she gave into the kiss, his hand slid to the back of her dress, unzipping it until the material fell forward, fully exposing her bra. His hand cupped her breast, squeezing it as he rubbed his thumb across her hard nipple. He slid his fingers through the top of her bra, running the backs of his fingers along her nipple and taking the nub, squeezing it to a hard point. She moaned as she pushed her breast farther into his hand.

  They continued to kiss as his hand slid down her body, gliding down her leg to climb underneath her dress. His fingers moved upwards, finding her damp and warm under the tiny panties she had on.

  He leaned down to kiss her breasts, feeling himself losing control. With his mouth on her breast and his fingers pushing their way inside her, she started to whimper.

  Ria ran her hands up and down his back, touching every part of him that she could reach. He was incredibly hard and muscular. She could feel the bulges of his muscles through his shirt.

  He slid one hand below her ass and lifted her up as she wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms returned to circle his neck. They kissed as he carried her toward the couch where he let her slide down his body. He looked down at her and let the dress slide silkily down. Her breasts swelled as his hand lifted one pink nipple to his mouth.

  He went to remove her panties, but Ria stopped him.

  “I’ll stop whenever you want to, okay? We don’t have to have sex”—he leaned in to kiss her lips then smiled—“unless you want to?”

  Ria smiled uncertainly back. “Okay.”

  Did he really want her, or was he only responding because she had made her own attraction obvious?

  She sat down on the couch as he pulled her shoes off, leaving her in a bra and panties as he stared down at her. Ria reached forward, unbuckling his belt then unzipping his trousers.

  Any thought that he wasn’t attracted to her died as she saw the effect she was having on him. His cock was fully erect.

  Without thought, she reached to touch it and heard Nicholas groan as she wrapped her fingers around it. She started to run her hand up and down his length, but he grabbed her and pulled her hand off him.

  “It feels too good,” he grunted as he bent over to lift her up onto the couch, placing her back against the thick cushions.

  He quickly covered her with his hot and hard body, his elbows on each side of her and his knee spreading her legs apart. He leaned in to kiss her before he worked his way down her neck to the globes of her breasts.

  She arched into him as he buried his face between her breasts, sliding her fingers through his hair and holding his head as he licked a trail from her cleavage to her ne
ck.

  He rose above her and she watched his hand slide to the center of her bra. Before she could stop him, he unsnapped it, and the bra slid to either side of her breasts.

  He quickly took one of the hard nipples into his mouth, and Ria gasped. His tongue circled around her nipple and then tugged the now rosy bud with his teeth. The sensations that he was causing had her panting with desire.

  He switched breasts to suck on her other nipple as he used one hand to play with her other breast. Then he started to slowly kiss down her stomach and tease her belly button with his tongue.

  She looked down at him as he kissed around her panties, using his fingers to graze the skin just inside the flimsy material. He teased her, running his fingers along the side of her panties and at the edge of her lips, but not touching her anywhere to relieve the need that he had built up inside her.

  “Oh, my God,” she moaned as she spread her legs farther, wanting him to touch her. She needed his fingers and almost grabbed his hand to direct it to her waiting pussy.

  “Is this what you want?” he asked as he cupped her outside of her panties, using his thumb to play with her clit while his free hand played with her breasts.

  “Yes,” she groaned as she began to grind against his hand.

  Before she knew it, he had pushed her panties to the side and slid one finger inside her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was telling herself to slow things down; however, her body won the battle when his finger slid all the way in.

  As her body adjusted to his finger, she thought that everything about him was big, even his finger.

  He used his thumb to play with her clit as he slid in and out of her, and Ria felt her body start to spin out of control, finally understanding what this was supposed to feel like.

  She had limited experience with men. It seemed like, once she started getting close to any of them, they would suddenly end it. Now, she wondered if it had anything to do with her brother trying to protect her. However, there was no one to stop her from doing anything she wanted now, and Nicholas knew exactly what to do to make her lose her mind.

  She felt the waves of pleasure take over as his thumb sent her over the edge. He squeezed her nipple with his other hand as she tried to control her screams.

  “Don’t hold back,” he commanded.

  That was all she needed to hear to let the small screams escape as the waves continued. He continued to torture her body with his fingers until she couldn’t take it any longer.

  “That was amazing,” she panted. And it truly was. It was her first orgasm, and she knew she would never forget it.

  She felt like a lump of clay as he lay down beside her and ran his fingers along her stomach as she tried to catch her breath. She looked up at him and saw the conflict of emotions in his face.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, thinking back to their earlier argument.

  “Nothing.” He smoothed his facial expression and smiled down at her.

  “Don’t do that with me,” Ria ordered.

  “What are you talking about?” He frowned.

  “I see how you try to cover things up with a smile. Whenever someone does something you don’t like, you keep your voice calm and put that fake-ass smile on your face, but I can see it in your eyes.

  “Look,” she continued, “we were just fooling around. I don’t need or want a serious relationship.”

  Nicholas looked down at her in surprise. She was repeating his lines.

  “You’re the first person to ever say that to me.” He laughed ruefully.

  Ria grunted, “Then no one else has really seen you then. You seem ready to run out the door.” Her arms fell away from him.

  “It’s okay. All I’m asking is that you don’t lie to me.” Ria reached up to caress his cheek then kissed him. “If you don’t want to take this further, I understand. I don’t want you to stay where you don’t want to be.” Her face lifted to his, her tongue tracing his lips.

  “Ria, you’re kind of making it hard to leave.” He pressed his cock against her pussy.

  “I never said it wouldn’t be hard,” she teased seductively, amazed at her boldness.

  As Nick lowered his head, deepening the kiss, she pushed him onto his back, thankful the couch was big.

  She heard his sharp intake of breath as she sat up and started to tug his underwear and slacks down his hips. She knew she wasn’t ready to have sex with him yet, but there was no reason not to use her hands to return the favor.

  After she threw his clothes to the floor, she moved to her knees between his legs and grasped his dick in her hand. She used her other hand to grasp his balls, watching his body slightly arch upwards as she gently squeezed and slid her hand up and down. She used the wetness coming from his tip to wet her palm as she felt him getting harder in her hand. She continued the motion as she watched the excitement build in his face.

  He squeezed her breast. “Fuck, Ria. I’m already about to come,” he warned her as she watched the lust on his face.

  She lowered her mouth over the tip of his cock then stroked him with her tongue as her hand discovered every ridge of his large dick. She enjoyed listening to the moans of pleasure coming from him. It was exciting to know she could get that kind of reaction from her mouth. She had never been brave enough to give any of her dates a reason to tell her brother she was a puta.

  Her mind drifted to what his thickness would feel like inside of her, but she forced herself to stop the direction of her thoughts; otherwise, she would climb on top of him and try to take every inch of him inside of her.

  She groaned in arousal when he came in her mouth. He had tried to pull her of him at the last minute, but she had wanted to taste him as he had tasted her when she had come.

  She climbed off the couch to go to the bathroom and clean up, coming back to lay down next to him, throwing an arm and leg over his body to make room on the couch. Ria enjoyed feeling the heat radiating from his body.

  As they lay there in a peaceful silence, her mind started racing again. He was everything she could dream for and all she could think about since their first date. Yet, she couldn’t be involved with him right now.

  Without thought, she squeezed him tighter.

  “You okay?” Nicholas asked.

  “Yes. Thank you, Nicholas.”

  He made a grunt. “I should be the one thanking you. I’m a bastard. I shouldn’t have followed you from the limo, but I can’t regret it right now.”

  “Don’t regret it. Please, Nicholas. I’ve been attracted to you since I saw you walk in Zane’s gym.”

  “I walked into Zane’s gym for a coaching session like I do all the time, and to my surprise, the girl I’ve been thinking about is there, wrapped around another man,” he growled.

  Ria jerked her head up. “Really? You had been thinking about me?” She felt the excitement build inside of her again.

  Nicholas looked at her. “Yes. I’ve wanted you since the night in the ambulance. I just hadn’t figured out a way to ask about you without drawing too much attention. I asked around about you, but no one told me you had been fired.” Nicholas frowned. “I still can’t believe you ended up at that shithole.” Nicholas sounded angry again.

  “Don’t start,” Ria warned him. “It was meant to be only temporary, okay?”

  “I know. Did you get your test results?” Nicholas asked.

  Ria nodded her head. “I failed. Lacey warned me it was too hard working full time and studying for the test. The only benefit for staying here is that I have plenty of time to study now. I’m taking the test again on Monday.” She put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

  She would deal with her problems tomorrow. Tonight, she wanted to enjoy being close to Nicholas. She wanted to pretend they were simply two people out on their third date and had gotten to know each other more intimately.

  His hand rubbed her back, lessening the tension. “You were under a lot of pressure. You’ll pass it this time.” She heard the confidence
he had in her that she had never had in herself.

  Her resolve strengthened. She was going to get them out of this mess, without Nicholas getting further involved.

  Chapter 15

  “I want you to release Nicholas from the deal you made with him,” Ria stated firmly. She had driven to Emiliano’s house after she had taken her test for the second time. This time, she was much more confident that she had passed.

  “No.” Emiliano laid down his pen, his face showing his displeasure. Ria didn’t let it stop her.

  “Please, I’ll do anything you want.”

  His face tightened even further. “You’re putting your heart in the wrong place. He has a reputation with women, one he had to take a restraining order out on.”

  “It’s not his place to help me out,” Ria argued.

  “That, I agree with. If you want your freedom, Ariel, show me this time you are more capable of handling it.”

  She felt a brief spurt of hope only to have it dashed.

  “Of course, Nicholas must fight the next three fights I have scheduled. I cannot change the schedule now. Many bets have already been placed.”

  She had no choice. Three fights were better than watching him getting pounded until he could get control of his money away from his father.

  “Ty needs some help. He has one that is proving evasive, so he cannot give other jobs the attention they need.” He opened his desk drawer, pulling out a file and sliding it across the desk to her.

  She picked it up.

  “I’m giving you a chance. Don’t disappoint me.”

  “I won’t.”

  Ria waited until she got back to her apartment before looking through the file. She was trying to find a twenty-five-year-old man named John Maxwell. He had been skimming money and drugs then skipped town. Ria’s task was to find out where he was and then report back to Mitchell. Once she gathered all the necessary information, someone else would go after him for the money. She could understand why Ty was so good at this job. With his street smarts, he knew where to search when someone was on the run.

  She was relieved Emiliano was starting her off with a job that felt more like doing background checks than criminal activity. In reality, she wasn’t doing anything illegal, just doing research on a person’s whereabouts. What they did with that person after they found him or her was probably not so legal. She didn’t want to know.