by Jayne Blue
She was about to make a scene, she knew it. She felt it coming on. It would be very bad.
Where were Alysha and Courtney? Dammit. She felt a terrifying thrumming in her ears and looked for the nearest exit. If she was going down, she’d rather have it happen in the ally. Away from people who would stare at her, pity her, and be afraid of her.
She saw a red exit sign near the back of the bar. There was no time to get to her friends; she just needed to get to fresh air. Raleigh tried to nudge her way through the mass of fight spectators, but it was not working. She was not making headway.
She felt a hand on her elbow, and a total stranger decided this was the perfect time to hit on her. Shit.
“Hey gorgeous, how about a drink?” Which came out as a yell since yelling was the only way to be heard in Bareknuckles Bar apparently. The man was tall, he could see over the crowd, and maybe he could get her through to the exit.
“Listen, can you get me to the door? I need air.”
“Sure doll face.” Ugh. Dollface. Whatever. She needed someone to help her plow through the fight club fans, now. Raleigh started to panic but the stranger got her to the door, she had to give him that. That is where his helpfulness ended.
“Let me get a drink for you before we head out to have some alone time.” He put his hands on her hips in a way that said he was very serious about the alone time. Crap.
Raleigh forgot that in a bar if you give even the slightest indication that you do not want a person to drop dead they stick to you like glue. She had done the worst possible thing and asked this guy for a favor. Now he figured she owed him one. Time to cut him off completely. She gave her best bitch face. She felt bad about it, but she didn’t want a hook up she wanted out.
“No thanks, I just need air.”
“Aw, come on Dollface.” Dollface? Did he come from the actual 1930s? The stranger leaned in to try to kiss her.
“No.” She pushed the drunken stranger back, but he was way too big. This was not going well at all.
“Wha..” And all of a sudden the stranger reeled backward.
“She said no I believe, no,” It was Mace.
“Okay, okay,” and the stranger moved away. It was the cold water this dude needed to smarten up. It was easy to see Mace or Jean-Claude, as they called him in Bareknuckles, could kill him with his bare hands.
“Raleigh, how can I be of service, you look pale.” Mace looked worried. She was worried too.
“Please let me out.” She sagged toward the door.
Mace pushed the handle and swooped her up into his arms and into the alley. Whoa!
He gently placed her on her feet, and she put her hands on his solid chest to steady herself. He was still shirtless from the fight with only a towel around his neck. She took a breath and slowly let it out. Then another. She could not prevent an episode, not really, but she could get her balance back, at least a little. If it happened out here, it would be slightly less mortifying.
“Did you have too much to drink? Do you need me to call a doctor?” Mace asked, and she was aware of his hands lightly around her waist, supporting her but not pushing her.
“I need to breathe for a second, if I’m conscious and talking, then I don’t need a doctor,” She answered and then lifted her arm to show him her medic-alert bracelet.
It read “Epilepsy, Call 911” and a red cross was engraved next to her health information.
“You’re not having a seizure right now?”
“No, I’m okay. I’m okay.” She said it more to herself than him. She did feel okay. The moment had passed. She did not see spots. It was okay; she reassured herself of the fact and hoped it was true.
As her panic subsided, her awareness of Mace increased. He had come to her rescue in many ways tonight, getting rid of that guy, and then getting her outside. She let her eyes slide over his broad chest and six-pack abs. Shirtless was a good look for Mace Alois.
“Thank you, Mace,” She said it softly and then she did something she had not done since college. She channeled the bold girl she used to be, and she made the first move. He had helped her, and she decided a thank you kiss was in order.
Raleigh leaned up and placed her lips on Mace’s cheek. It tasted of blood, stubble, and salt. If she intended anything, she intended for this to be a quick peck, a throwback to the flirty college girl she used to be, who did not have to log every moment of the day.
She did not bargain on how powerfully her body would respond to his. Mace’s hand on her arm the other day set her body thrumming, and that was nothing to the way her insides heated at the touch of her lips on his skin just now. He made her hungry. She could not find a better word. Hungry.
Instead of pulling away, she lingered. Their faces touched. She wanted more than the sweet little thank you kiss she blithely doled out. Then Mace turned his head just enough, slowly, toward her, and their lips met.
The sweet kiss was so much more, so quickly Raleigh did not think; her tongue darted out to taste his lip.
She worried for a second that she had been too forward, hitting on a guy who was just trying to be polite to the epileptic girl? Then it happened.
Mace’s tongue met hers, and it was a catalyst to something she had never felt before. Mace took two powerful steps forward and she backward. The pressure of his lips and his body propelled her up against the brick wall of the alley. Mace’s hands were all over her. They were instantly wild together. Unbidden her leg twisted around his.
This had so quickly turned into the most intense encounter of her life.
Her skin reacted to his touch like a million fizzy Champagne bubbles. She found herself wrapping her hands around his neck, rubbing her body up against his.
It was as if the touch of his tongue on hers turned the spark of attraction into an inferno. She felt his hands on the sides of her hips up and up to the side of her breasts and down again. It was crazy, out of control, and she wanted more. She would have let him take her there. She wanted him to. More than anything else, she could think of.
But as quickly as it started Mace pulled back, an inch, two inches. He flattened his hands on the wall on either side of her head.
Their kiss stopped, and the only sound in the alley was the sound of both of their breaths, heavy and fast. It was jarring, she felt like separating from him was more unsettling than coming together the way they just had.
“What?” She did not want this to stop.
“Je Suis désolé.”
“What? I..”
“I am sorry. I should not have done that.” Raleigh was feeling increasingly mortified as she realized her dress was hiked up and she was clearly being rejected. She had thrown herself at someone who responded and now thought better of it.
“I started it. Don’t sweat it, Jean-Claude.” It was more biting than she meant to be. She wanted to ask what was wrong but decided the answer could make this moment even worse.
“I got carried away. Please let me escort you back to your friends.” Her rough and tough French neighbor had turned into an extremely proper total stranger.
“Forget it. I’m fine. That’s for your help getting me out here.” Raleigh could not find the door back to the bar fast enough.
She did not look back and left Mace standing in the alley. She did not want him to see the hurt or embarrassment on her face. She just wanted out of the situation. Fast. She could not remember a time when a man rejected her, especially in a moment like that. It was humiliating. She knew a lot about humiliation these days.
Raleigh’s friends were not ready to go home; both were still having a ton of fun. She all of a sudden was not. She did not have the heart to ask them to leave with her. She had done that too many times in the last year. Her problems should not hold them back she thought.
She texted Alysha and Courtney and then waved when they looked at her with concern. She told them a headache was coming on but nothing more serious.
She grabbed a cab and got out of there.
Sh
e thought the biggest risk of embarrassment tonight would have been having a seizure at a cool club with her girlfriends. She could almost see herself drooling on the dance floor or something. It was what kept her home on countless other Fridays.
Instead, she was embarrassed and surprised at her current predicament. Her face felt hot when she thought about the fact that her full-on assault of Mace Alois was soundly rejected.
Mace
Merde! That was the hottest fucking kiss Mace had ever had. It was the hardest thing he had had to do in a long time stopping it in its tracks.
Raleigh’s lips, her legs, her body, everything about her had him in knots and wanting more. But he could not have more.
He watched her leave, to his dismay, without her friends, that was not safe he feared. He had hung back but kept her in his sights. She made her way to a cab, and he felt better and worse at the same time.
When you starve yourself and then have a taste of something succulent, only a taste, it makes the hunger that much more intense. He had almost forgotten to want. But Raleigh changed that in an instant. He was hungry for her.
He knew she was coming in for a kiss. The sweet peck she had intended started so innocently. But as soon as her lips touched his flesh instinct took over logic. It was selfish of him. He just lost his mind for a moment. But that moment was enough to cause the want. Wanting was the worst feeling in the world, next to losing.
Getting involved with a woman could get them both killed. He had to remember that. He had to remember the last time he felt so fucking turned on it - the last time ended in tragedy and with him on the run.
He was not going to go through that again. It was bad enough he was hiding. It was not fair to drag someone else into it. Even though all he could think of was Raleigh’s lips.
He spent a restless night replaying what he had almost done. What he should not have started.
Mace could not stop thinking about how Raleigh’s leg wrapped around his, how her breasts felt soft against his chest, how he pressed into her hot little center. He tortured himself for a full night as her image wouldn’t leave his mind. He needed to get control of his fantasy of Raleigh, or it would drive him crazy.
The next morning a knock on the door beat his alarm clock. Well, screw it he hadn’t been sleeping anyway.
Mace looked through the peephole, and there she was. Raleigh. As if she had stepped out of his fevered dreams and right to his door.
Her sexy dress from last night had been exchanged for cutoff shorts and a t-shirt with the letters GVSU on it. She looked sexy in everything he decided. Her blonde hair was gathered at the top of her head in a floppy ponytail.
What was she doing here? He opened the door without thinking about the fact he was shirtless and in underwear.
“Yes?”
“Nice outfit. Do you even own a shirt?” She looked him up and down.
“I wasn’t expecting visitors this early on a Saturday.”
“You may have forgotten our date, but I haven’t.”
“Date?” Raleigh produced a paintbrush from her back pocket.
“Aha. Yes. Payment for services.”
“Yep, I don’t know how they do it in France, but we like to get cracking early here when we’ve got chores.”
“Let me shower.”
“No need, you’ll get dirty. I guarantee it.” She was still flirting with him. He had pushed her away, but she bounced right back. She was quite the little fighter. Her double entendre woke up him up in more than one way so he quickly turned his back to her.
Merde, she was going to test his control.
“Let me get some clothes at least.” He walked away shaking his head.
“I would hope so you brazen hussy. I have coffee going at my place. Hurry up Mace, or is it, Jean-Claude!” She left him to find clothes and hide the evidence of his fierce attraction to her. He had promised to help her and help her he would. It would be much safer to give her money, but he’d offered this before he fully realized how much he wanted to kiss her neck.
But so be it. He was going to have to spend the day near Raleigh Gibson.
The door to her place was half-open, and he walked in.
“You should never leave this open.”
“I normally lock it. Don’t worry. Here’s some coffee to get you moving.”
Mace lifted the cup to his lips.
“C'était terrible!” He muttered to himself.
He swallowed it as fast as he could and looked around. Raleigh’s apartment floor was covered with tarps. He tried to be polite and continue to sip the coffee she had offered as she explained the project.
“I want this wall to be an accent wall; I’ve got reddish umber or something like that. I am hoping it looks right. Anyway, I was bored with white walls in this place.” She grabbed a screwdriver and opened the paint cans while he struggled not to spit out the coffee.
“Something wrong? You look sick.”
“No, it is uh.”
“You don’t like the coffee? Need milk? Sugar?” She asked.
“No nothing will save it.” It was quite possibly the worst cup of coffee he had ever tasted.
“Maybe I didn’t nuke it long enough.”
“Nukeit? What is nukeit?” She was using an English phrase he did not understand.
“You know microwave it.” She pointed to the kitchen.
“You don’t nukeit coffee you brew it. You grind it then brew it or even press it. But you don’t nukeit to coffee as you say.”
“Well, la dee dah. You’re on for the next pot then.”
All he could think was that he should not be here at all much less be here for a next pot.
“Oui,” He said oui even when he was telling himself to stop engaging with this engaging woman.
Raleigh pressed a roller to his chest and breezed by him to a ladder.
“I’m going to try to cut in the ceiling trim. You get to rolling, Frenchie.” Mace watched as she climbed up a ladder that he had no confidence in. He moved forward to hold on to it as she perched on the top. He could not deny it was an excellent view looking up at her.
“I am not sure about this ladder and with the seizure, is it safe for you?”
“It wouldn’t have been without a buddy, but now I have a buddy, quit stalling buddy and start painting.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Miss, and hey Mace, do catch me if I fall okay? That’s how the buddy system works.”
“Yes, buddy system.” Nukeit and Buddy System. He was learning all types of new English today.
He dipped his roller and got to work. Before long, they were engaged in an easy back and forth about each other.
“You work from home eh?” He wondered about what she did from the moment they met.
“Yes, I’m a computer security expert. A total geek but it pays my rent.”
“I would not have guessed you for a computer person.”
“We come in all shapes and sizes Mace. So how did you get into MMA fighting?”
“I am not an MMA fighter.”
“Mrs. Strong said you were on an MMA tour and then last night you looked like an MMA fighter. SO if it quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.”
“I am confused.”
“Forget it.”
He was surprised at how easy it was to want to share with her. He had not opened up to anyone since he fled Europe. It was nice, and for a moment, he forgot how dangerous it could be.
“I just train. I am also a good sparring partner for the fighters to work out with. I do the unsanctioned event under the table like last night for extra money. Nothing really professional about it.”
“Well, tell that to the other guy. His face was professionally rearranged.”
They laughed, painted, and Mace found his eyes wandering to her long legs, her derriere, and mentally slapped himself.
He hated to admit it, but the morning he had spent painting with Raleigh was the best time he had had in literally years. The realization
reminded him why and he forced himself to turn inward. He must put up his guard.
It was best to be quieter and squelch the curiosity she had about him.
“There, how does it look?” She had finished the trim.
“For a computer hacker, you are a très bien painter.”
“Merci.” She started to climb down, and the ladder again looked like it would topple so Mace quickly grabbed it to steady it.
He should have stepped back when she got to the last few steps, but he did not. Raleigh climbed down the final steps and was caged between his arms, her back to him, and she brushed against him as she reached the ground. He smelled her neck. His neighbor said she was a computer geek, but he thought temptress was a better word for her. He was fiercely tempted.
Mace wanted to reach around her and slide his hands into those short shorts. But he did not. The moment passed. He was disappointed and grateful in the same breath.
Mace stepped back away from her. She was teasing him and quietly daring him. He knew. He also knew he would have to resist. Thank God, the painting was almost over.
She did not push it further and grabbed a roller. The two of them finished her wall quietly, they worked side by side, but he had effectively stopped her questions and deliberately turned cold to her.
Raleigh
The wall looked awesome despite the fact her painting assistant was driving her nuts. He was hot and then just when she got close he had shut down. But she was not a quitter. Once she set her mind to something Raleigh was persistent. She knew this about herself, and it was how she would survive her epilepsy alone without any help. Mace really was not a match for her determination she decided.
Most men bragged, wanted you to know their list of accomplishments, not this guy. He was quiet, humble, and even mysterious. There was for sure a story there, and she was curious to find out what it was. She had been in her own head so much since the accident it was good to have something else to think about.
She wanted to crack the firewall he was living behind. Raleigh decided that fate dropped a handsome neighbor next door. She may be afraid to venture too far, but next door she could do.
“So are we even?” He asked her.