by Alexa Davis
Finally, all of the tension I’d been feeling was gone, just like that.
CHAPTER FOUR
KARLI
I spent two hours at that miserable party Michaela dragged me to on Saturday night before I couldn’t take another minute of it. She was already almost drunk when I left, but Trent was there with her, so I knew she would be okay.
I took a cab home and was less than enthusiastic to find Dad had invited the son of one of his old fighter friends to stay with us…indefinitely. He was a nice enough guy, but I wasn’t looking forward to living with two messy men, and I also knew this guy had had a big crush on me when he was eleven and I was fourteen. Kevin Andrews was painfully shy at the time, but had somehow managed to tell me how he felt. I was worried it would be awkward living in the same house. That was eight years ago, but I still felt bad when I thought about how disappointed he was when I told him I didn’t feel the same. Maybe I was more worried about myself being uncomfortable than him.
But, Dad hadn’t bothered to ask my opinion, so I’d just have to deal with it. As it turned out, he had matured quite a bit, which wasn’t too surprising since he was nineteen now.
He and I actually had a pleasant conversation about his life in Philly and underground fighting. He was cute when he talked about it. His face lit up and I could almost see a fire burning in him when he talked about wanting to be good enough to fight for a title someday.
I finally couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. I said goodnight and was showered and tucked into bed by midnight. I regretted the time I lost on my studying, but I was happy that I got at least six hours sleep before I had to get up and go to the gym.
By six a.m., I was on my hands and knees using a brush and a bucket of diluted bleach to scrub the mats in the octagon in a cut off pair of sweatpants and a tank top, with sweat rolling down into my eyes. I wished, not for the first time, that Dad and I had stayed in Minnesota after he retired. I missed the seasons and even the snow sometimes, especially around the holidays…or when I was sweating my ass off in the heat in the middle of October.
I’d been in Vegas for almost ten years already and I still hadn’t acclimated. I sat up to wipe a stray piece of hair out of my eyes as I looked at the big clock hanging on the wall. It was almost seven, which meant Dad would be here soon and the sweaty boys would soon follow. I wanted to be done with this before they got here. I started to bend back over when I heard the door open. I looked back up and I actually felt my head spin – just a little.
The man from the billboards walked in. Nick Storelli, in the flesh…and what hot, sexy flesh it was.
He was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts. His arms and legs both flexed and rippled as he walked. His dark hair was longish, touching the collar of his shirt in the back and ending in little ringlets. His eyes were the color of the sky right before a storm hits, a dark blue, and as much as I didn’t want to feed some big, arrogant fighter’s ego, I felt like I couldn’t look away.
A slow smile spread across his face when he noticed me and two, deep slashes appeared along the sides of his face. He wasn’t just gorgeous; he was like a fucking God and that one little smile made my panties damp. Damn.
“Hello.” He stopped right outside the cage and the subtle, woodsy scent of him wafted through the mesh and jockeyed with the bleach for top spot in my senses. I had to concentrate as I opened my mouth and said,
“Hi.”
“I’m Nick.” I knew that, of course. It was hard to live in Vegas and not know that. I smiled and said,
“Hi; I’m Karli.”
“Pretty name for a pretty girl.” Such a line, but of course this guy could probably be a mute and still have women lining up.
“Thanks,” I said, hopefully dismissively, and I returned back to my work. I could still feel him hovering over me, and as big as this guy was, if we’d been outside, he probably would have blocked out the sun.
“You work here?”
I gave him a “Brilliant deduction, Sherlock” look before saying, “No, I just sneak in and scrub the mats on Sunday mornings. It’s what I live for.”
He laughed. Either he missed my sarcasm or he appreciated how stupid his question was; I was not sure which. I bent back down in hopes of discouraging more conversation and he said, “Is Charlie here yet?”
I blew a piece of hair out of my eyes as I looked up again. My neck was going to be sore tomorrow morning. “Not yet, but he should be in soon.”
“Hopefully he got some last night,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
He grinned and winked at me. “It always puts me in a better mood. No offense, but your boss can be kind of a dick.”
“Really? I’ve never noticed.”
“You’re kidding? Maybe he’s nicer to you,” he ran his eyes over my body and said, “For obvious reasons.”
I was becoming nauseated. Never again would my mouth water as I passed one of this guy’s billboards. I’d just have to remind myself what a prick he was. “He’s always nice to me,” I said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get back to what I was doing.”
“I don’t mind, and no offense about Charlie – he’s just way too uptight for my liking.”
“I’m sure he’d be crushed to know that you’re not a fan.”
He laughed again. “You’re adorable. We should hang out sometime.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Probably not,” I said.
He looked surprised. It was no surprise that he wouldn’t be used to women turning him down. Like I said, he was sex on a stick dipped in colorful ink…but I wasn’t interested. I looked at him for a few minutes, waiting for him to get the hint and walk away. When he didn’t, I went back to work and tried to forget that he was there.
“So, you live in Vegas, Karli?”
“Yes,” I said with a tortured sigh. I didn’t look back up at him that time.
“Hmm, I can’t believe I’ve never seen you around.”
“Maybe there was a mirror in the room and you just didn’t notice me.”
He laughed again. “Oh, I would have noticed you.” I scrubbed the mat harder and scooted away from him another foot to concentrate on a dirty spot there. I hoped he was finished with his stupid questions and remarks, but unfortunately, he wasn’t. “So, Karli, have you caught any of my fights?”
I looked up at him, smiled, and said, “I don’t think so. I’m sure I would have remembered.”
He grinned again. “I’m sure you would have.”
Wow, this guy’s arrogance might just surpass anyone I’ve ever met. “I’ll have to catch the next one, after my father teaches you how to fight.” The look on his face was classic. I wished I had a picture of it.
“Your father?”
I smiled sweetly and looked over toward where my father just walked in the door.
“Hi, Daddy.”
“Hi, Sweetheart,” my dad said. Then he looked at Nick and said, “Why aren’t you geared up and ready to go?”
I smiled at Nick again and went back to work. It might be a good day after all.
********
By the time I finished cleaning the octagon, Nick was geared up and Dad was sparring with him in the practice ring. A few of Dad’s other fighters had wandered in and I thought right then might be a good time to escape to the office and get some work done there.
As I passed the ring, I tried not to look at Nick, but in spite of the fact that I’d only known him five minutes and he already annoyed me, I couldn’t not look. He had changed out of his gym shorts into a pair fighter shorts. The front of his thighs looked like steel and as my eyes made their way up across his shirtless, washboard abs and very well-developed chest, I actually shuddered.
Thank God Dad had him dodging punches so he didn’t see me looking. I wouldn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing I found him attractive.
Once in the office, I tried to shake off that image and concentrate on paying bills. I was in the middle of that when my pho
ne rang. It was Michaela. “Hey, girl,” I said as I put the phone to my ear.
“Don’t ‘hey, girl’ me, I’m mad at you.”
“For what?”
“Sneaking out as soon as I got drunk last night.”
I sighed. “You were with Trent, and Lisa and Danielle were with you, too.”
“It’s still not nice to sneak out on a person.”
“I’m sorry,” I told her. “But in my defense, I wasn’t sneaking. I said goodbye. You may have been a little too drunk to remember. But you were safe.”
“That’s not the point. You keep sneaking out. When are you going to do something crazy and have some fun?”
“Tell you what, let’s do brunch at Bouchon in an hour. I’ll buy and even have a bloody Mary or two before I come back to work. I never drink while I’m working. Crazy, huh?
She snorted. “That’s not what I had in mind and you know it.”
I laughed. “Well, that’s all you’re going to get for now; take it or leave it.”
“Can I have the lobster?”
“Whatever your heart desires.”
“Fine, I’ll meet you at the Venetian in an hour.”
“Make it two. I have to finish a few things up and then shower. I smell like bleach.”
“Okay, eleven it is.”
I hung up with her and got back to paying bills. I was in the zone with the sounds of men grunting and weights dropping in the background almost completely blocked out when I glanced down at the time at the bottom of the screen. It was ten fifteen. Damn!
I shut down the laptop and took the back hallway to the locker rooms so that I didn’t have to go through the gym. I bypassed the men’s locker room and went to the private one in back that I finally talked Dad into designating women only. We hadn’t gotten around to posting a sign yet, but my father’s gym was mostly men, anyways.
I stopped at the door and knocked on it. I thought I could hear water running inside. I knocked again when I hadn’t gotten a response and waited several seconds before pushing open the door. The room was steamy and I didn’t want to surprise someone half-naked, so I said,
“Hello?”
My heart nearly stopped when who other than Nick Storelli stepped out of the shower stall. He was as naked as the day he was born and beads of water dripped from the curls in his wet hair and rolled down his hard chest and abdomen. As if by a will of their own, my eyes followed them and landed on something I never should have seen, but couldn’t not look at. He had an erection and it was as big as the rest of him.
“Well, hello there, beautiful.” I forced my eyes up to his face. He was grinning.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Taking a shower. I had a great strength work-out this morning so Charlie said I could go get some lunch.” He put his arm up on the tile of the shower and said, “What about you, gorgeous; what did you have in mind?”
It was the first time in a long time that I was absolutely speechless. There was no way in hell that I was telling him what was on my mind…but I’ll be damned if I could think of anything else to say.
CHAPTER FIVE
NICK
I couldn’t help but laugh at the way Karli scrambled out of the locker room without saying a word. I know it was mean to stand there like that while shock and embarrassment colored her pretty face, but I figured it was no meaner than her letting me run my mouth about Charlie and not telling me she was his kid.
I would have never guessed Charlie’s DNA got anywhere near her blood. Karli’s mother must have been fine because even though Charlie was in great physical shape, he was not a pretty man.
He’s bald and his nose…well, I’m not sure what his nose was supposed to look like. I’d guess from looking at it now, it’s been broken at least a few times. I still doubted it ever looked as good on his face as Karli’s does on hers. His lips are small, and they make a tight line when his mouth is closed. Karli’s lips, on the other hand, look like they were made for kissing, and her skin looks as smooth as silk. Charlie’s…not so much. Karli had honey-blonde hair that just touches her shoulders and bounces when she walks and pretty hazel eyes surrounded by dark lashes.
The only thing she and Charlie appeared to have in common was that they were both fit. Even in a baggy t-shirt and cut-off sweats, I could tell she had a killer body. What I could see of her legs only made me want to see more, and her arms were toned and shapely like maybe she saw as much time in the gym as I did, if not more.
After she ran out, I had to take another shower – a cold one. Lusting after the boss’s daughter could be dangerous, especially when the boss was a grumpy, old coot like Charlie. By the time I dressed and went out to get some lunch, it was almost time to get back.
I bought a turkey sandwich from the deli down the street. As I ate it, I thought about Charlie’s lectures on eating right. I doubted that he’d approve of the mayonnaise, oil, and vinegar on my sandwich or the chips I shoveled down with it.
Martin never worried much about what I ate. As long as I wasn’t packing on too much weight, he was happy. The differences between him and Charlie were going to take a lot of getting used to.
I finished my lunch and got back to the gym with five minutes to spare. Because it was Sunday, there were only a handful of people there. I looked around for Karli and even though I figured she’d still be mad at me, I was disappointed when I didn’t see her. I wondered if she’d left for the day – and then wondered why it seemed to matter so much.
My eyes landed on Charlie. He was staring at me like he wanted to rip my head off. When I left for lunch, we were okay, as much as we ever are. I knew immediately that he must have talked to Karli.
“There are men’s showers. The one in back is reserved for women only,” he said as I walked up.
“Okay, sorry. There wasn’t a sign on it.”
“Karli ordered one. I guess we should write one out and hang it up on the door.”
“Yeah, it would save your daughter an eyeful next time.” As soon as I said that, I realized what a stupid mistake that was. I’m not used to meeting fathers and I could tell by the look on his face that Karli hadn’t told him the whole story, but I just did. Damn, I was batting a thousand with these people.
“An eyeful? You walked out naked?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then how did my daughter get an eyeful?”
Shit. “It was a poor choice of words,” I said. “I doubt she saw anything.”
He raised an eyebrow, but I got the feeling he didn’t believe me. Damn, Karli! She must have just told him she saw me go in or something. Great, Nick, open mouth, insert foot. “Gear up. We have a visitor here from back east today. I think I’ll have him spar with you.”
“Sure,” I smiled at him. It was worth a shot. He didn’t smile back. I sighed and headed back to get my gear, and while I was strapping on my headgear, I looked up into the eyes of Attila the Hun. If this was the “visitor,” then I could rest assured that Charlie didn’t believe me about Karli not seeing anything and he wanted me to die. Attila smiled.
“Hey,” I smiled at him in an effort to befriend the giant, just in case I ended up in the ring with him.
“Hey, I’m Kevin.” Can I call you Attila? I laughed at my own joke. The giant was looking at me now like I was crazy.
“Sorry, I was just thinking of something else. I’m Nick; welcome to Vegas.”
“Excited to be here.” I couldn’t place his accent.
“Where are you from?”
“Philly. Charlie is an old friend of my dad’s. I’m looking for a new trainer, so Charlie invited me out.”
Damn. I knew Charlie had a great reputation in this business, but so far, I wasn’t impressed enough to move thousands of miles to train with him. Today, I regretted driving across town for it. “You holding any titles?”
“Nah, I haven’t been in any real fights yet. Not legal ones, anyways. I was doing some underground fighting and making a ton of cash, b
ut my dad found out and just about kicked my ass. Said I’d ruin my reputation and my skills. He called Charlie that night and two days later, here I am. Charlie’s such a nice guy.”
I looked over at Charlie. He was glaring at me. Karli seemed to love him and this kid seemed to think highly of him. I was starting to wonder if he just didn’t like me for some reason. That was hard for me to imagine because I, too, was a nice guy. I laughed at myself again. Charlie’s glare deepened as he said,
“Let’s go, boys; get in the cage.”
Kevin and I got up and went over to where Charlie stood. Kevin smiled at him and Charlie smiled back, so I tried it. The smile fell from his face as he pulled open the door of the octagon. He seemed to hate me. We all stepped in and Charlie shut the door behind us. There were two other trainers and a few people working out solo in the gym, and they all stopped what they were doing and came over to watch.
Charlie had us meet in the middle and more for Kevin’s sake than mine, he went over the ground rules. When he finished, he stepped back and said, “Okay, boys, go for it.”
Kevin and I started circling around each other. I didn’t really want to hit this kid. He was built like Shrek, but up close, he looked like Shelon Cooper from the Big Bang right in the face. I was about to throw out a punch and aim for the head gear when Charlie sarcastically said,
“You boys gonna dance pretty like that all day?”
With a roll of my eyes, I threw out a right cross. The kid was fast for being so big. He pulled back before I made contact and surprised me. He came back with a quick right jab that connected with the pad on the right side of my face and made my ears ring.
I brought up my left hand in an undercut to his chin. Even with the head gear on, it snapped his head back. He looked like he was seeing stars, and while he was trying to clear his head, I decided to take him down.