Sweet Victory (Fighting for Love)

  Luckily, Sophie lost herself in the kiss for a few seconds before Xan felt her tense with lucidity. He hated putting an end to it, but he needed to keep control of the situation until she understood his plan to show up her uncle and either played along, or kicked him square in the bollocks. Whatever the outcome, he no longer cared. He couldn’t force her to accept his help, and that kiss—though too brief by half to even begin to slake his thirst for her—would be something he’d remember forever.

  Pulling back, Xander’s gaze ensnared hers and he gave her a grin of unapologetic wickedness. “I know it’s only been a few hours, love, but I can’t stop thinking about you.”

  He let his hands roam down her sides and settle at her hips as he tucked his face into her neck and whispered in her ear, “Play along, Soph,” then nipped her earlobe just hard enough to drag another gasp from her. It might have been incited from shock or pain, but her uncle would assume it came from desire. As Xander intended.

  Moving his mouth back to hers, he held himself back from taking it again and growled as though frustrated. Which didn’t require as much acting on his part as it should. “If we weren’t at your place of business right now, I’d—”

  The man cleared his throat with gusto. Took him long enough. Xan had started to wonder if her uncle was a sick incestual voyeur in addition to being a total prick.

  Xander looked over his shoulder in mock surprise before turning fully around. But he kept his possessive contact with Sophie, slipping his left arm behind her to splay his hand over her ribs and pull her tightly into his side.

  “Oh damn, I didn’t realize you had company.” He looked down at her and let guilt he didn’t feel play across his face. “I have a devil of a time seeing anything but you when you’re in my sights.”

  She cleared her throat and gave him a hesitant smile that could pass for mere embarrassment. “Um, I’m sure you remember my uncle, Richard Caldwell.”

  Xander nodded to the man by way of greeting, but then looked down at Sophie, an apologetic look on his face. “Damn, I guess I let the cat out of the bag now, didn’t I? Sorry about that, gorgeous.”

  Sophie stared up at him, her eyes warning that he better know what he was doing and have a damn good reason for it. He wasn’t sure of either.

  “That’s okay, what’s done is done. No point in keeping it secret anymore,” she said, being perfectly vague so he could take the lead.

  “What’s going on here, James? What secret?” Caldwell asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

  “Sophie and I are in love,” he said confidently, “and we’re engaged to be married.”

  Chapter Four

  Sophie wasn’t prone to fainting, which meant that brain trauma as a result of her head connecting with the hard floor wasn’t likely, and since she knew no one had slipped a hallucinogen into her coffee, everything from the last few minutes had actually happened.

  Xander barging into her office…

  Xander kissing her like a familiar lover…

  Xander stealing her every thought until all that mattered was his mouth, his hands…

  Xander announcing their engagement…

  What. The. Fuck.

  “This is preposterous,” her uncle sputtered, doubt seeping from his tone. “I would have known if you two had been dating. You would have said something to me yesterday when we spoke.”

  “Like hell, I would have. It was none of your business then or now, to be honest. Only our closest friends know about us. She’s a very private person, my Soph.”

  My Soph. Those two words from Xander’s mouth shouldn’t have sent a tingle of girlish nerves twisting through her stomach. But there were so many things that shouldn’t be happening that she figured there was no point in analyzing one thing over another.

  “Yes, I suppose she is,” Richard returned tightly. “She is a Caldwell, after all.”

  Xander flashed a wolfish smile. “Not for long.”

  The air whooshed out of her lungs at the implication of their supposed upcoming nuptials. The thought of putting herself in that vulnerable of a position made her vibrate with anxiety so powerful, she was sure Xander had to feel it humming through his bones as it was in hers.

  Richard shrugged. “Though I want nothing more for my niece, it’s difficult to put much stock in her making it down the aisle. As her affianced, I’m sure you know of her poor track record with relationships.”

  Again with her fucking “track record.” No one sparked her ire like her father’s brother. She opened her mouth to rip him a new one, but Xander made his move before she ever got the chance.

  His entire body tensed as he stepped in front of her, crossing his massive arms over his chest. Sophie recognized a challenge when she saw one, and her fake fiancé’s current stance was exactly that.

  “O’course I know about her past,” Xander gritted through a tight jaw. “The difference between you and me is that I’m gentleman enough not to mention it, much less in polite conversation, like it’s anyone’s bloody business but hers.”

  Well, damn. Normally she wasn’t down with men who asserted ridiculous acts of machismo on her behalf. She’d never played the part of the damsel in distress, relating more with the dragon who kept the helpless bitch locked in the tower. But she couldn’t deny that Xander coming to her defense—even stepping in front of her as though his massive body could physically deflect further insults—gave her a new appreciation for alpha-minded males.

  No, not all of them. Not even some of them. She seriously doubted she’d like it on anyone other than Xander. She didn’t know how, but he managed to pull it off without looking like a total douchebag. Go, honey, go!

  “You’re right, Xander, of course.” Richard started to look past Xander’s shoulder, but she snapped out of her shock-induced stupor and stepped around him to face her uncle. “I apologize for my rude behavior, Sophie. Please, allow me to be the first to congratulate you and take you both out to dinner to celebrate.”

  “That’s not necessary. I accept your apology, but we’ve been so busy lately…” Sophie looked up at Xander, begging him with her eyes for help.

  “Oh yeah,” he jumped in and they both continued talking, finishing each other’s sentences like they’d rehearsed a script. “Our schedules are really crazy. She starts work early in the morning—”

  “Right,” Sophie picked up. “And he trains pretty late some nights, so—”

  “Whenever we both have time off,” Xander said, sliding his arm around her waist again and holding her tight to his side, “we make it a rule to spend that time together.” He turned his head and held her captive with a gaze of heated promises. “Just us. No interruptions.”

  She stifled a gasp when his thumb slid under the hem of her top to move back and forth over her bare skin. The delicious scraping sensation from his badly callused skin vibrated through her to places so unused they’d gone into hibernation.

  Oh hell. Now she was thinking about what it would be like to spend time with Xander alone. Not as acquaintances joking about cupcakes and bad tap water. But as an actual couple who did couple-like activities…

  “I understand,” Richard said. “Well, I was just on my way out.”

  As he gathered his briefcase and moved around her desk to leave, Sophie felt some of the tension slowly leak from her body. A good portion of it would stay with her until she could extricate herself from the hold of one very intense fighter, but she’d take what she could get for now.

  When her uncle paused in the doorway, she sucked in a breath and held it. Turning back to them, he pinned Sophie in place with shrewd eyes. “Whether the engagement is real or not, I sincerely hope you don’t try to change anything with it because it won’t work. I’ll lawyer up so fast it’ll make your head spin. This deal goes through one way or another, Sophie. Keep that in mind before you go making any life-altering decisions.”

  Sophie didn’t remember Richard walking away or hearing the jangle of the bells that signaled his exit.
Though she knew her eyes stared at something in front of her, she couldn’t say what it was. The roar of the blood in her ears as her heart pounded faster and faster sounded loud enough to echo throughout the entire bakery. And if it wasn’t for Xander still holding her tight against his side, she was fairly certain she would have collapsed.

  …

  Xander wanted to chase after Sophie’s uncle and knock him on his ass. Despite the certain jail time, he probably would have done it had he not suspected Soph would collapse as soon as he let her go.

  Pushing down his rage until he could release it at a better time, he moved in front of Sophie to get a good look at the damage and see what he could do about fixing it.

  “Soph…” When she didn’t respond, he grabbed her face in his hands and tried again with a bit more weight in his voice. Finally her eyes focused and she regarded him with a blank look that cut through him like a knife. “There you are. Do you want to talk about it?”

  As he watched, Sophie’s fire came back to her until the warm chocolate of her eyes burned and her body nearly vibrated with anger. “Not even a little,” she said. “I’d rather find my uncle and use him as a fucking punching bag. But unless you can arrange that without getting me locked up for the trouble, I think I’ll just go back to work while I still have a job.”

  He admired the woman’s strength in the face of extreme adversity, and the fact she had his same thoughts about giving her uncle a beat down only made her better. But there’d be time later to ponder all the ways she did it for him. Now he was more concerned with leaving her in such a volatile state after the devastating blow she’d been given.

  She moved around him to leave, but he caught her hand so she had to turn back. Only he didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t good with words unless it was charming a woman into going home with him or smack talking with his mates.

  Her features softened and she leaned up to place a soft kiss on his cheek. “Thank you for trying to help, Xander.” Then she retreated down the hall to the front of the shop.

  Now what was he supposed to do? Mind his own business? Xan dragged his hands down his face as he blew out a deep breath and made his way to the front where several people waited at the counter. Wanting to make sure she was okay, he stood off to the side near the back and studied Sophie.

  Kristin was at the counter taking orders and grabbing items from the glass cases while Sophie made the specialty coffee orders at the back counter. He couldn’t see everything she was doing, but it was pretty obvious from the sounds that she was banging things around harder than necessary. Already she’d made two wrong orders, overfilled a cup, and almost gave herself third-degree burns with the steamer. Customers started to whisper amongst themselves when Kristin asked them to give her a few minutes with her partner, before ushering Sophie into the back room.

  Xander kept his arms firmly crossed over his chest, but he continually shifted his weight on the balls of his feet to give his nervous energy some sort of outlet. He felt torn between wanting to go to her and knowing she didn’t want anymore of his “help.” He’d been ready to force himself out the door to head home for a much-needed shower when he heard something clatter to the floor in the back and Sophie shouted an insistent, “I’m fine.”

  The hell she was. Xander made a snap decision and stalked around the counter to the back room where Sophie paced in tight lines, her hands clenching over and over at her sides.

  Kristin blocked her way to the front with hands on her hips and spoke to her friend with a tone that said she meant business. “You’re not fine, and you’re not going back out there like this.”

  “Then I’ll stay in the back and get a head start on tomorrow’s orders,” Sophie said, whipping off her pink apron and snatching a stained white one…which Kristin ripped out of her hands.

  “Are you fucking kidding me? You’re so distracted you’ll probably try taking trays out of the oven with your bare hands.”

  Xander made his presence known with an exaggerated cough.

  Kristin threw her hands up in the air. “Thank God you’re still here. I don’t know what that dickhead uncle of hers said this time, but will you please do something with her so I can keep her business running?”

  “Ha!” Sophie started mumbling things to herself about ironic statements, but Xander spoke over her so Kristin couldn’t make much of anything out. Hearing about the bakery’s impending demise while Sophie still hadn’t had time to come to grips with it wouldn’t do anyone any good.

  “Don’t worry,” he told Kristin. “I’ll take care of her.”

  Xander grabbed Sophie’s hand as he passed and pulled her toward the back door. She immediately complained and put up a fuss.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Let go of me, Xander. I’m not kidding!” He pushed the heavy steel door open and yanked her through. “Hey! I told you to stop manhandling—”

  As soon as the door closed behind them, he spun her around and pressed the front of her against its hard warmth. Speaking of hard warmth. Xan bit back a groan. With her heels on she was at just the right height for his cock to fit into the seam of her arse and for a minute he forgot all about his good intentions. When it came to Sophie, all his intentions were very, very bad.

  “Xander…”

  Her voice held a hint of breathiness, reminding him she wasn’t as immune to him as she pretended. He filed that away for later and laid out her choices.

  “You need to blow off some steam, yeah? There are two ways I know of to do that.” He let his hands trail down her sides until they reached her narrow waist. His long fingers wrapped around her hip bones, pressing his fingertips into the sides of her stomach.

  She gasped.

  He nearly lost the thread.

  Xan kept his voice low. “The first is no-holds-barred sex. No thoughts. No emotions. No strings. Just straight up fucking, hot and hard. And I promise I won’t stop until you’re too exhausted to remember your own name, never mind anything else.”

  Sophie closed her eyes briefly and swallowed. “Let’s go with the second thing.”

  He smiled, his lips grazing the delicate shell of her ear. “Don’t you want to know what the second thing is first?”

  “Doesn’t matter. I’m not having sex with you, so I choose the second option by default.”

  Sighing dramatically, he backed away and let her peel herself off the door. “Right, well, can’t blame a chap for trying. It’s a bit of a walk to the other side of this mammoth block, though, so you might want to change into some trainers.”

  “You’re assuming I own a pair. Which I don’t, because the only time you’ll ever see me running is if I’m being chased by rabid animals or serial killers. And for the record, if I wanted to—which, again, I don’t—I could easily walk a 5K in these puppies.”

  “Fascinating.” He scratched his jaw as though pondering one of life’s big questions. “How would you know?”

  “How would I know what?”

  “If they’re serial killers. How would you know that? I mean, maybe you’re their first victim which would only make them attempted killers. They’d have to have killed at least three times before to be actual serial killers.”

  “Exactly how many head traumas have you suffered?”

  “Well, now, that depends.”

  Narrowing her eyes, she asked, “On what?”

  “On which head you’re referring to.”

  Sophie smacked him in the arm and tried to keep a straight face, which made him laugh even harder than he already was. “I knew you were going to say something like that.”

  “What?” he demanded innocently. “It’s a fair question. American girls can be downright violent.” She was all out laughing now as he grabbed her hand and led her toward the street. “I think starved alley cats would be gentler than you Yanks. You get all excited and start batting things around like they’re nothing more than balls of string, if you’ll excuse the pun.”

  “Hey,” she said, jabbi
ng a finger into his pec. “Don’t go lumping me in with those feral strays you mess around with. I’m no mangy alley cat.”

  “Okay, then. If you were a cat, what kind would you be?”

  They stepped onto the sidewalk and he pulled her to the left as she thought about her answer. Finally she said, “A black panther. All sleek and powerful, blending into the night sky.” A smile lifted the corners of her lips. “Yeah, definitely a black panther.”

  Xander turned his body and stepped in front of her. She bumped up against his chest, but he used his free hand to press into her lower back so she wouldn’t stumble backward. He stared into her dark brown eyes and reveled in the desire that shone bright. “I think the black panther is a perfect fit. Mysterious, exotic. Beautiful and elusive…just like you.”

  “Don’t forget extremely dangerous,” she said softly.

  “Ah, but see, I like your kind of danger. The more you scratch and bite, the better.”

  Slowly, she leaned in, tilting her head back the scant inch that would bring her lips to his. His body revved, ready to indulge in another sweet taste of her. But then she stopped with barely a breath between them. He watched in fascination as she stuck out her candy-pink tongue with the silver ball decorating the center and deliberately licked up the center of his lips. His balls pulled tight and more than anything, he wanted to drag her back to his flat and fuck her until they both passed out.

  Instead, he held still and let her finish with a quick nibble on his lower lip that made his cock jerk with anticipation.

  Her luscious mouth spread into a wicked smile designed to torture the mind. “Be careful what you wish for.” Then she walked on and left him standing in the middle of the sidewalk with the start of a raging hard-on.

  He released a groan borne purely of sexual frustration. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt that. Point to the challenger. Well done, Soph, well done.