Mel tugged on my arm until I faced her. “What do you want me to do, Reese?” she asked, her tone reassuring me that she would do whatever I needed her to do to keep my peace of mind.
I grasped her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Nothing. Let him stay if he wants. He isn’t hurting anyone.”
Except me.
“Except for you,” Mel muttered under her breath as she walked back over to her side of the bar and started mixing drinks for two newcomers with emo haircuts and ripped jeans.
For the next hour I was kept busy, and I had little time to think about Stone. The place was nearly overcrowded, and I knew that we could and would get a fine if the capacity wasn’t kept under control. All I needed was for the fire marshal to show. It was time to weed out the drunks and set up one of the bouncers at the door. I left Mel to the bartending as I dealt with the unpleasantness of tossing.
There were five overly drunk guys at a table in the back who had to go, and then three drunk and possibly high twentysomething women in full man-hunting garb who were getting a little to whorish for the taste of the place. I took them outside and put them in a cab. Of the eight, the females were the most difficult. The guys were somewhat regulars and knew I meant business.
As I turned from the departing cab, I came face-to-chest with Kieran Stone. It startled me, and I let out a high squeak. Strong hands shot out to steady me when I nearly fell back. Normally, the contact would have sent me into a full-blown panic attack in which I would have come out swinging. But instead of panic, my heart took off for another reason. My entire body shivered in delight, my nipples hardened, and goose bumps popped up all along my spine and arms. That stupid muscle jump-started and almost started working. And lower, I found that I was almost throbbing. I was terrified—and interested.
I wanted Kieran Stone. Badly.
“Easy, sweetheart,” he murmured, pulling me closer.
That made me panic a little. My fear caused my already racing heart to shake my chest, and I pushed away quickly, shrinking back defensively. “I don’t like to be touched,” I bit out.
I saw his face darken, and he dropped his arms, hands clenching at his sides. “Sorry. I didn’t want you to fall.”
The panic receded a little. “Thank you.”
He inclined his head. “You are the most…” He paused as if trying to find the right words and then laughed. “There are no words to describe you, Reese. Interesting, intriguing, maddening? All of those fit. I would have enjoyed getting to know you.”
I was startled once more. His use of the past tense made me feel panic for another reason altogether. I didn’t want to not see him again. “What does that mean?”
“I messed up. I can see that I don’t stand a chance.”
I frowned. “That’s it?” It was his turn to frown, but I didn’t give him a chance to speak. “I don’t understand how you are so good in the metal cage, with all that patience and determination, if you can’t do the same in everyday life. Or is it that you just don’t care enough one way or the other?” My anger rose… At him for still being an ass.
At myself for still caring and wanting him to have staying power.
“Wow.” He shook his head, a small smile teasing his lips and spreading all the way to his eyes.
I glared at him. “What?”
“Mel said that you liked me. I didn’t believe I had a chance until right now.” He stepped closer, raised his hands as if to touch me, and then thought better of it. “I’m not giving up, sweetheart. Not even close.”
I opened my mouth, closed it, only to open it again. No words came out, not one little sound. I probably looked like a fish out of water, gasping for breath.
Gentle fingers pushed a strand of the inky black wig away from my face. “So beautiful,” he murmured and stepped back. “I have a workout in the morning, or I would stay longer. But I’ll stop by your apartment in the afternoon. Will you go riding with me?”
“Riding?” Was that my voice? That husky, almost seductive rasp?
“I have my Harley. Sunday afternoons are usually my downtime this close to a match. Will you go riding with me?” There was such a hopeful, almost yearning looking in those steel-gray eyes that I found myself nodding. The smile I was rewarded with made me glad I had agreed. Those gentle fingers skimmed across my cheek once more. “See you around three, then.”
I stood there watching him go. I was stunned, shocked, but oddly delighted. Kieran Stone wanted to take me riding on his motorcycle on his one free afternoon. I didn’t even flinch when that muscle started flexing and stretching this time. With what had to be a goofy grin on my face, I turned to reenter Safe Haven…
And spotted Biker One and Biker Two, his arm in a cast, coming down the street toward me.
For fuck’s sake.
four
I went to the gym as soon as I woke up Sunday morning. It was my usual routine. It relieved most of the stress I built up throughout the week. I spent an hour on the floor with the treadmill and other cardio machines before making my way to the back to practice with the kickboxing instructor.
Maddox greeted me with a smile. He was about an inch taller than me, with short, black hair and Asian features. I wasn’t sure which country he was from, but his English was perfect. We had never gotten personal with each other and we liked it that way, but he was probably the closest thing I had to a friend. “Reese. How was your week?”
I pushed a few unruly red strands away from my face that had fallen from my ponytail. It was here and maybe only here that I was able to do away with my makeup and be me for a few hours. “The usual, Mad. Filled with drunks, bikers, and the same old college kids. How about yours?”
“Filled with middle-aged men who think they are Chuck Norris or Bruce Lee. Then they fall flat on their rears and get mad when they realize they are just overweight wannabes.” He pulled on gloves, and I did the same. Maddox was the best in the city when it came to kickboxing, and I was lucky to have him as an instructor. Mel had recruited him when I was seventeen to teach me self-defense. Later we’d moved on to the martial arts, which I had excelled at. But kickboxing was my passion.
An hour later, I was in the shower, content that I had not gotten my ass handed to me by my instructor. After I dressed and pulled my damp hair back into a ponytail, I grabbed my gym bag and glanced down at my cell. I had fifteen minutes to get home and change before Stone was due to pick me up. Luckily, I only lived a few blocks away.
I was just zipping up a pair of jeans when my doorbell rang at two minutes after three. I pulled my T-shirt on over my bra on my way to the door. There hadn’t been time for makeup, but for some reason, I wasn’t in the mood to put on my mask today. My Goth makeup was just that, a mask that kept the outside world from seeing what I didn’t want it to see. Mostly my insecurities. But there was something about Kieran Stone, some kind of instant connection we had shared, that made me feel secure for the first time in what felt like my entire life.
I opened my door and had to bite back a groan. Some women didn’t like the overly muscled look. All those popping veins, bulging muscles, and hard angles. I, however, was not one of them, it appeared. Stone was six feet three inches, and the last time he’d had a match and been weighed in, he was two hundred and twenty-seven pounds of solid muscle. His trapezoids were ginormous, his biceps and triceps sculpted under his tattoos, and—Lord, help me!—that chest of his underneath that black tank top he wore just begged me to touch it.
His eyes were eating me up while I was doing the same. I knew what he was seeing, and I also knew from the deep, almost gunmetal gray of his eyes that he liked what he saw. My red hair with its many natural highlights was pulled back into a high ponytail, which exposed the tattoo on the back of my neck—a pink-and-white-winged butterfly with a skull in the center as its body. My white tee was tight across my chest and just barely covered my belly. If I were to raise my arms, it would uncover my belly button and the skull dangling from my ring there. My jeans were shredded at
the knees and fit my slim hips perfectly. My biker boots gave me a little extra height.
“Hi,” I greeted with a small, almost shy smile.
“Hey.” His voice was deep and a little hoarse. His hands clenched at his sides, and I wondered if he was finding it hard not to touch me. That he didn’t automatically reach for me, but seemed to be fighting with himself about it, had me melting a little more toward him. Soon I would be a puddle at his feet if I weren’t careful.
“I’m ready if you want to go.” My smile was a little bigger this time, and his gaze zeroed in on the dimple in my left cheek.
He licked his lips before nodding. “Got a jacket?”
I reached inside my coat closet and extracted a leather jacket. It was early September and temperatures were still basically scorching, but I would need the jacket come December. I slipped it on and zipped it up as I followed him downstairs and out to his bike. It was a sexy bike, gray like his eyes, and gleaming. It was about two years old, and I could tell that he tinkered with it regularly from the custom rims and tires to the artwork on the sides. He pulled on his own leather jacket, which covered up all of those delicious muscles but in no way made him less devastating to me.
His powerful legs straddled the motorcycle, and then he handed me his extra helmet. “There is a microphone and a receiver inside so we can communicate,” he told me.
I slid on behind him before pulling the helmet over my head. Then I carefully wrapped my arms around his waist and waited for him to start up the powerful beast. It roared to life, and my arms tightened around his waist instinctively. I could hear his laughter in my left ear, and a goofy grin spread across my face.
“Ready?” His deep voice caressed my ear in an almost sensual way.
Was I? I wasn’t completely sure but still said yes.
He handled the Harley expertly. At first, I was nervous because I had never been on a motorcycle before, but I began to trust his skills and relaxed more and more as the afternoon wore on. Stone didn’t have a specific destination in mind, just drove on and on, enjoying the ride. And the entire time, his voice caressed me as he told me about himself.
He came from a small town in Oklahoma. His father was a doctor, while his mother had been the mayor of his hometown for sixteen years. He was the middle child of five, with an older brother and sister and two younger sisters, the youngest of which was eighteen. He was twenty-nine, which I had already known. He had gotten into the whole mixed martial arts world when he was twenty-two, something else I had known because there had been a bio of him before his big championship fight two years ago. Up until then, he had competed in various martial arts tournaments around the world and had been really successful.
His brother was a corporate lawyer and lived in New York. His older sister was a kindergarten teacher back in Oklahoma with twin six-year-old daughters that he spoiled rotten when he went home for Christmas and a few other holidays. The younger two sisters were in college. One was getting ready to graduate and was going on to get her masters in English, while the youngest one was just starting and so far, was undecided what she wanted to do with her life.
I enjoyed listening to him, hearing about his siblings and parents. There was affection in his tone, and it made me yearn for the childhood he’d had. It wasn’t until we stopped just outside of Phoenix for dinner that he asked about me.
I took my time cutting up my grilled chicken while I thought of what to tell him. My heart was racing, but when I was done murdering my dinner, I raised my eyes and simply told him, “I was lonely mostly.”
He was watching me closely. No doubt taking in my flushed cheeks, the fear and indecision in my eyes. I had only ever told Mel the whole story of my life up until I had come here. I felt like I was two separate people. Rebecca was part of the childhood I’d had. Reese was me now.
“So you don’t have any brothers or sisters.” Stone gave me a reassuring smile after a minute, telling me that he wasn’t going to press me for information I wasn’t ready to give. “I don’t know if I would have liked that.”
I stabbed a steamed carrot and devoured it. “I would have loved having a big brother.” Someone who would have protected me from The Pervert. Who would have been a friend when I needed one the most. Maybe gotten me into and out of some of the trouble that Stone’s had him. “Your family sounds really special.”
“I like to think so.” He took a long swallow of his tea to wash down his bite of steak. “Even the times when I really only wanted to stab them in their sleep—most times it was my brother—I still felt loved and needed.”
I put my fork down and reached for my water. “You know, listening to you talk about your family and everything, it makes me wonder. How the hell did you end up owing Greg Daventry a favor?”
He grimaced. “My brother. Kevin works for your grandfather at the New York office. He has this one weakness. Blondes. His new secretary was a blonde, and apparently, it’s against company policy to sleep with someone within the company, and especially in your own department. But when the relationship came to light, Greg decided not to fire either one when he found out who I was.” He shrugged. “Long story short, I had to owe the old man a favor down the road, or Kevin would be out and blacklisted from any other corporation this side of the globe.”
“That sucks.” And it sounded just like my grandfather. He was a shark in the boardroom and in real life.
“I thought so too, at the time.” He caught my gaze, and I watched as those gray eyes darkened. “But I never would have met you if I hadn’t owed him that favor.”
That muscle sprang to life, and if I had been scared of it before, I was petrified now. I was developing feelings for Kieran Stone that went way beyond a crush. But with the trepidation also came a little excitement. Stone was turning out to be a great guy. And as the evening wore on, I found myself smiling more and more.
“So…” He leaned against the doorframe of my apartment as I unlocked it. “Are you free tomorrow?”
“I don’t work on Mondays,” I told him as I opened the door and turned to face him. “Most people are still recovering from their weekend hangovers, so Safe Haven doesn’t get much business. One of the bouncers bartends.”
“Will you have dinner with me?” His smile was so infectious that I took a half step closer to him, returning it.
“Maybe.”
His fingers skimmed along my jaw, and I couldn’t help my shiver. What was it about this man that affected me in such a potent way and made every instinct that normally would have told me to run remain oddly quiet? “Want me to beg?” he murmured, seeming fascinated by the softness of my skin, the angle of my jaw, my soft, peaches-and-cream skin tone compared to the darker tone of his fingers. “I will if you want me to.” His voice was a caress to my senses, and I fought the tremors that quaked my body.
My tongue slipped out to dampen my now dry lips, and I watched enthralled as his eyes followed the movement and his pupils dilated with need. “You don’t have to beg. I just don’t spend that much time out. Can we order in and have dinner here?”
Those skimming fingers dared to journey down my neck, causing my heart rate to run wild. “That sounds perfect. I could really use an evening just being lazy.” His thumb stopped over my raging pulse at the base of my throat. “I’ll text you when I’m through with my workout and training session.”
He stepped closer, his head lowering. Even though I had known it was coming, panic set in, and I jerked back, my heart racing for an entirely different reason now. His eyes darkened, but a small smile lifted at the corners of his sexy mouth. “Slow.” His tone held a promise. “We will go as slow as you need to.”
five
“Got a letter of my own from FedEx.” Mel was munching on something crunchy, and I had to hold my cell phone away from my ear a little because it was so loud. But her words were smooth and clear, and I gritted my teeth at this news.
I had hoped that the letter and other documents from Greg Daventry would be the
end of it all. But now, he was reaching out to Mel. I glared up at the ceiling above my bed and wondered if it would be sensible just to run away again? But I rolled my eyes at the thought even as it whispered across my mind. I was done running from my past. And if I wanted to move on and get over what had happened to me five years ago, I had to start facing my past.
And I was more than ready to move on so I could explore what I felt for Kieran Stone. One date and I suspected that my feelings went far deeper than a mere crush. It was terrifying, yes, but exhilarating too.
“What does it say?” I asked as I sat up in bed and switched off the alarm that was going to go off any second now. I didn’t have anything to do today except maybe a little dusting before Stone arrived.
“It explains who he is, and that he has given me the title to Safe Haven free and clear. Also, he wants to thank me in person for being so good to you. Get this, he wants to meet me at Kieran Stone’s MMA fight the Sunday after next. There are two VIP passes, as well as the tickets with the letter and another copy of the deed to the bar.” She sounded both outraged and a little excited. Mel, like me, was a big MMA fan.
“Are you going to go?”
She blew out a long sigh. “I don’t know yet. I guess it depends on you. I’m not going without you. But if you aren’t up to seeing the old fart, then I’ll send the passes and tickets back.”
Without even really taking time to consider it, I told her to accept them. “It’s time I dealt with some of my ghosts,” I murmured.
“Well, I will be with you the whole time, kid,” Mel assured me with what I thought was pride in her voice. “And if at any time during the fight you want to leave, or you just want me to kick some old-man ass, just let me know.”
I laughed. “Will do.”
“Oh. Guess what.”
“What, Mel?”
“Those biker guys, Scarface and Lefty? They did a really good job scrubbing the bar yesterday. So good that I told them they had to scrub it again next Sunday or I was going to press charges myself.”