Roman pulled me to his side. “What are you thinking?”
“That I didn’t like the way she looked at you.”
He laughed and threaded his fingers through mine. “You’re worrying about nothing, baby. I didn’t even look at her.”
That had to be a big fat ole lie. How could anyone not look at her? She may be fake, but she was still pretty. “Next time you lie to me, try feeding me beforehand, so I’m more susceptible to believe you.”
“I’ll remember that, but I didn’t lie to you then, and I have no plans on lying to you in the future.”
I rolled my eyes and pointed down the long hallway. “I smell pizza. You go get warmed up, and I’m gonna go feed the baby.” It had been three hours since the last time I had eaten. I was surely wasting away.
Roman pulled us to the wall, pressing me against it, and caging me in with his arms. “Kiss me.”
I pressed a quick peck against his lips.
“Sage, try kissing me like I’m not your brother” he growled.
“All right, all right,” I mumbled.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, and everything around us faded out. The kiss started soft and sweet but ended heated with both of us wanting more.
“Now that is a kiss.”
I ran my fingers down his cheek and smiled. “Go get ready.”
“There’s a seat in the front row saved for you. It’s right next to Marcus’ mom.”
“So, I’m in the mom section?” I laughed.
“Also known as the front row.”
“Fancy.”
“Only the best for you, baby.”
I pulled out of his arms and faded into the crowd that was milling around in front of the doors where the night show was going to be. There were various vendors set up selling weapons and basically anything you would need for karate.
The night show started in forty-five minutes, and Roman needed time to get ready without being distracted by me. I wandered around, looking at all the tables as I made my way down to the delicious smelling food.
“Anything I can help you find, miss?”
I glanced up at the man and smiled. “Just looking for something a four-year-old would like.”
“Boy or girl?”
“Boy. He just started karate, so no crazy weapons,” I laughed.
“I got just the thing you need.” He reached under the table and pulled out a black round pillow that looked like a ninja with a red mask.
Now that was right up Sam’s alley. “I’ll take it.”
I forked over the twenty-five dollars and hooked the handles of the bag around my wrist. “How about a shirt for the little guy? We got a deal going on High Stakes Open shirts. Buy one get one free.”
It was like the guy knew my weakness. “Do I have sucker written on my forehead?” I laughed.
“No, no,” he chuckled. “I just figured you’d want a shirt for you or your husband.”
“Uh, no husband.” But I did have a Roman.
He shrugged and motioned to the shirts. “Well, then you and your son can match.”
A karate shirt wasn’t really up my alley. “I’ll take a kid’s small and a men’s medium.”
The guy smirked and grabbed my money. “See, I knew you had a guy in your life. A pretty girl like you probably has guys knocking your door down.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” I laughed. “Is there anything else you’re going to pull out of your bag of tricks I’ll want to buy?”
He held up his finger and smiled. “I have one more thing your little guy is going to love. Who knows, you might want to get one for your mister too.”
After ten minutes, I walked away with the pillow, two shirts, two fidget spinners, and a sweatshirt for myself. He tried to talk me into a pair of soft foam nunchucks for Sam, but I figured I would leave the weaponry to Roman.
My phone dinged, and I juggled the bags in my arms to pull it out of my pocket.
You get lost?
I stepped off to the side. I got bamboozled at the SKW table.
LMAO
Just gonna grab a slice of pizza and I’ll be there.
Need any help.
I should be good. I only bought half of what he had.
See you soon.
I shoved my phone into my pocket and got in the short line for pizza. The crowd in the lobby was thinning out with most people taking their seats. Thankfully, Roman had thought ahead to save me a seat.
By the time I made it back to the doors, I had two slices of pizza, two bags, and my wallet was considerably lighter.
Roman’s head peaked out the door, and a goofy smile crossed his lips. “They saw you coming from a mile away,” he laughed. He grabbed the two bags and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “I’m assuming you stocked Sam up on High Stakes Open goodies.”
I sighed and took a bite of pizza. There wasn’t time to talk when I was about to pass out from starvation. “This is so good,” I mumbled. I was adding pizza to the list of my cravings. The list was growing daily. It was safe to say, I just craved food in general. “You haven’t eaten lately. You want me to track down a smoothie or like something super healthy yet tasteless?”
Roman shook his head and chuckled. “I’ll be good ‘til this is over, baby. Pretty sure if I ate anything right now, I’ll puke it up all over the mat.”
“Hmm, that’s a vivid picture.”
The lights flickered, and I shoved half of the pizza into my mouth. Being pregnant just brought the class out in me.
“Come on. I’ll take you to your seat and introduce you to Agnes.”
We made our way to the stage and weaved our way through the people and chairs to the front row. Roman stowed my bags under my chair and pulled me close. “Agnes, this is Sage.”
A petite woman with graying hair smiled at us. “It is so good to meet you. Roman told me so much about you.”
He had? “It’s great to meet you, too.” I licked my lips, making sure I hadn’t been a pig while inhaling my pizza.
Roman pressed a kiss to the side of my head and rested a hand on my stomach. He always seemed to need to touch the baby or me. “You’ll be okay here, right?”
I was in an aisle seat, Agnes seemed super nice, and I had another slice of pizza to eat. I was more than okay. “All good. Go do your ninja stuff.”
Agnes snorted, and Roman shook his head. “Crazy, but mine,” he mumbled.
I plopped down in the chair next to Agnes and sighed.
“These tournaments are exhausting, aren’t they?” she asked.
“This is my first one I’ve ever been to. I didn’t realize how large they were. This whole ninja business is all quite fascinating.”
She laughed and patted my leg. “From what I hear, you’re doing just fine.”
Wait, what? “Um, I’m doing just fine?”
A soft, knowing smile slid across her lips. “You’re dating Roman Yeck, honey. Your name has been on the lips of at least half of the people here tonight.”
That was rather daunting. “And why would that be?” I laughed nervously.
“Because you managed to snag the man no one could touch.”
“I wouldn’t say snag, per say.”
She glanced down at my stomach. “Trust me, honey. You snagged him, and he couldn’t have chosen better.”
I leaned close. “I don’t know what to say to that, Agnes.”
“There ain’t nothing to say, honey. I’m just letting you know.”
I sat back in my seat and took a bite of pizza. That was something I could have gone without knowing. At least it seemed like she approved of me. That was something, right?
Except now it felt like everyone was watching me, while before, I was oblivious.
She patted my leg and smiled. “Don’t worry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“Not upset, just very aware now,” I laughed. Very aware.
The lights dimmed, and the crowd quieted. “Here we go,” Agnes sang.
Here we go indeed.
*
Chapter 25
Roman
“Holy crap. That. Is. Huge.”
I handed the delivery guy a twenty and shut the door.
“You talking about the pizza, the trophies, my dick?”
She wiggled her eyebrows and grabbed the box of pizza from me. “I was talking about the trophies, but I guess it could apply to all of the above.” She laid the pizza on the bed and lifted the lid. “Whoever invented pizza was a genius.” She lifted a piece out of the box and stuffed it into her mouth.
“I wish I could have come home with a clean sweep, but I guess winning two of my three grand champions is pretty good.”
She held the piece of pizza up to my mouth, and I took a bite. “This pizza makes up for not getting the third. Besides, it was nice of you to let Marcus win one of them.”
I swallowed and shook my head. “He only won because I bobbled coming out of my trick pass.”
“You’ll get him next time.”
I grabbed the pizza and put it on the table. “That’s the plan, baby.”
“Can we talk about all the people wanting to take their picture with you? You never mentioned you were a celebrity.”
“Celebrity?” I scoffed. “Far from it.”
“Well, I can tell you right now, people don’t ask to take a picture with me when I’m walking down the street. I lost count of how many phones that were thrust at me with the request for a photo of them with you.”
I shrugged and picked a piece of pizza. “I don’t know. It’s weird, that’s all I know.”
“Weird to be worshiped and adored by a crap ton of people? Okay, Roman. At least I know it hasn’t gone to your head.”
It hadn’t. Sure, when I first started getting good and people started noticing me, it was cool, but that wasn’t why I competed. “As soon as I walk out of that room, I’m just a normal guy.”
Sage laughed and fell back onto the bed. “I remember a story I heard about you getting rip-roaring drunk and declaring you were Roman Fucking Yeck.”
Couldn’t deny that one, because it happened more than once. “So, it might have gone to my head when I was younger.”
“Um, that happened last year,” she laughed.
“Tate and Kellan have big mouths,” I mumbled.
“Can I ask a question?”
I grabbed two slices of pizza and laid down on the bed next to Sage. “Hit me with it.”
She pointed to the trophies over by the window. “How in the heck are we getting those home?” she laughed.
“Gotta call down to the front desk and let them know they need to ship ‘em.”
“They make boxes big enough those?”
I shook my head. “They take them apart. The trick of it is getting them put back together and not having any leftover pieces.”
“Sam will be all over helping if you want him to.” She scooted over and laid her head on my shoulder.
“I’ll just have them shipped to your house.” Wasn’t any sense sending them to my house just to drag it over to Sage’s. “I’ll tell him it’s part of ninja training.”
She laughed and reached for the TV remote. “So this is what life on the circuit is like? Train, compete, win, eat pizza in bed. Pretty sure I could get used to this.”
“Not exactly what it was like before, but I have to say, I like it better this way.”
“Excellent answer, Mr. Yeck. Maybe we should order a pay-per-view movie and go really crazy.”
I shifted onto my side and looked down at her. “Did you just suggest renting porn?”
“What?” she squawked. “No, of course not. I just meant renting a movie.”
“Baby, I totally thought you wanted to get super freaky with me, and I wasn’t sure how to react.”
She slugged me in the shoulder. “You’re such an ass.”
“That’s the old Roman still in me.”
“He’s always popping up where I least expect.”
“He likes popping up whenever you’re around.”
She rolled her eyes and finished her pizza. “You wanna go out?”
“What do you mean?”
She sat up and wiped her hands on her pants. “Go out. Walk around. Explore Vegas before we leave in the morning. Show me a good time.”
“You sure your feet are up to that?” She had mentioned before the night show she was ready to take a break and just sit.
“Totally. Watching you kick ass and not having to jump from ring to ring for an hour helped.”
“I thought you wanted to stay in and watch a movie.”
She waved her hand at me and bounced off of the bed. “Nope, not anymore. The pizza revived me. I’m ready to have fun.”
“Well, I guess we’re in the right city for that.”
She flipped open our suitcase and started rummaging through it. “I think I packed a dress that still fits, although I swear, my stomach doubled overnight,” she grumbled.
“A dress, huh?” I asked. Sage in a dress was my weakness. The idea being able to bend her over and have my way with her anywhere was much too appealing.
“Get off that bed, Mr. Yeck, and wipe that gleam out of your eye. It’s a dress, but it might be tight as hell.” She flounced to the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind her.
“Why that little tease,” I said to the empty room.
She wanted to have a good time, did she? I knew just the thing.
*
Chapter 26
Sage
“If we hit the jackpot tonight, you marry me.”
I blinked once and shook my head. “Come again?”
He held up a hundred-dollar bill. “We hit the jackpot with this money, you marry me. Tonight.”
He was insane. Completely bonkers. “How many of those huge drinks have you had?” I eyed the empty glass next to him. I knew the waitress had been by twice since we sat down at the slots, but I didn’t know if she brought him a drink each time.
“One, and I haven’t even drunk half. Marry me tonight if we hit the jackpot,” he repeated.
Three times he had said it, and I still didn’t believe it. I looked at my glass of soda sitting next to me. “You don’t think she served me the wrong drink, do you? I mean, I don’t feel drunk, but maybe they slipped me the really good stuff.”
“Sage,” he called.
I looked up.
“I’m not joking around.”
“So what happens if we don’t hit the jackpot?”
“Then we’re just engaged, and we’ll get married back home.”
I tapped my finger on my chin. “Did I black out for a bit? I can’t seem to remember you actually asking me to marry you. Proper like.”
He fed the hundred-dollar bill into the machine he was sitting in front of. “Marry me, Sage.”
“More of an order, than you asking.”
He hit the button on the machine, and I watched the numbers and symbols come to a halt. “Not a winner,” I bragged.
He smirked and hit the button again. “Still plenty of chances to make you mine forever, baby.”
I liked the sound of that. Hell, I loved the sound of it. I just didn’t know if I wanted it to happen tonight.
He hit the button three more times, and nothing.
I sat back and crossed my arms over my chest. “You know what, you’re on. If you win, I will marry you tonight. I do have one condition, though.”
He looked over at me. “Name it, baby.”
“Elvis has to marry us.” If a miracle did happen, and Roman managed hit the jackpot, we were going to do a full-blown cliché Vegas wedding.
He held out his hand, and I placed mine in it. “You got a deal.”
*
Roman
“How much do you have left?”
“Um, says three dollars and seventy-three cents.”
Sage picked up her cup and drained the last of her soda. “What did you want to do after this?” she asked.
“Don’t count your eggs befo
re they hatch, baby. We still might be having a wedding tonight.”
She rolled her eyes. “Roman, you’re insane. The odds of you hitting the jackpot are slim to none. We’ve been here almost an hour, and you haven’t even come close.”
“That’s because all I’ve been betting is five cents each turn.” I had been too chicken shit to bet anything higher, but I was becoming a desperate man. I upped the bet to a dollar and hit the button.
“Not a winner,” Sage called.
She was getting more and more smug with each penny I bet. “Remember you agreed to marry me even if I don’t hit the jackpot.”
“Pfft, so I did. I’m going to be the one calling the shots then.”
At least she didn’t disagree about marrying me either way.
I bet another dollar.
Nothing.
Son of a bitch.
“Okay, down to a dollar seventy-three. I hit the button, you lose, and then we hit the buffet on the way out.”
I turned to look at her. “Are you sure you’re not having twins?”
She hit the button and crossed her arms over her chest. “Just for that, we're not getting married until twenty-twenty-seven, and we’re naming the baby Jim Bob or Sue Bob.”
“I’ll wait for you that long, and you’re insane if you think I’ll let you name our baby that.”
She wagged her finger in my face. “Don’t you give me shit about eating. I’m creating a human being in my sto—”
A loud bell started clanging, and a red light flashed above us.
“Holy f.u.c.k.” Sage and I both turned to the slot machine. “You won,” she gasped.
“I won?”
Two casino employees walked over, spouting off shit I should have probably been listening too, but the only thing that rolled around in my head was I had won.
Not only had I won the jackpot, but I had also won Sage.
Forever.
*
Chapter 27
Sage
I looked down at my hand, and couldn’t believe what I saw.
I was married.
Two and a half carats of diamonds sat on my finger, twinkling up at me.
“You may now kiss the bride.” I looked up to see Elvis thrust his hips and throw me a wink. Dear Lord. Perhaps my request for having a cliché Vegas wedding was a bit foolish.
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