NASSIR

    She harrumphed and slid off the desk so she was towering over me in those killer heels. I was glad she was back in her right skin.

    “Business only?”

    I nodded solemnly and ran a tired hand over my face. It was a deal with the devil, but we both knew she was going to make it anyway.

    “Very lucrative and profitable business only, and if for some reason the cops shut me down, I’ll return your investment plus fifty percent of my own.” “How much did you sink into this place? And how much do you expect me to buy in for?”
   
I shrugged. “I spent enough to make it what I wanted and you can pay in the same Race did. Two hundred K. I’m the primary backer, so my word is law, but if you see something now working or a way I missed to bring more money in, we can have a discussion.” Race had actually put in double that amount, but I wasn’t about to tell her that, and no one had ever accused me of being honest.

    She whistled. “That’s a lot of money.”

    “You have it.” She would hate to know that I knew exactly what her bank balance was. It paid to have a computer hacker on the payroll. There wasn’t much about her I didn’t know, both inside and out.

    “I do have it. I just don’t know if I want to give it to you.” It sounded like she was taking about a lot more than money.

    “We open this weekend, so you don’t have much time to decide.”

    “I feel like I never had a choice. The second you showed up in Denver, this was all bound to happen because you always get your way.”

    I shook my head slightly. “Not always.” We both knew that.

    Her eyes sparked with charcoal flecks and she took a step closer so that she could bend down and put her hands on the arms of my chair. She leaned closer and closer until her mouth was hovering a mere millimeter away from mine. When she spoke, the words danced across my lips and tasted like victory and fate.

    “No, not always.” Her lips pressed into mine and I had to curl my hands around the arms of the chair to keep from grabbing at her.

    She teased the clamped seam of my lips with her tongue and lightly scraped her teeth across my bottom lip. I wanted to toss her backward on the desk and bury myself inside her with no finesse, just pure, animalistic lust. She brushed her lips back and forth and laughed lightly as I bit down on my already injured tongue to keep from reacting. If I mauled her now, it would undo any progress I might have made with her.

    She pulled back and reached out to run her finger over each of the high arches of my eyebrows. It was the softest, gentlest touch I had ever felt from another human being and it made my focus on her pulse even more heavily in my veins.

    “Fine. I’m in. I’ll write you a check.”

“Just tellin’ you like it is,” I smirked. “Kid.”

Ash growled. “You have five-seconds.”

Oh, shit.

I stood up and quickly scurried around to the other side of our work counter, and placed my hands in front of my chest.

“Ash,” I warned, my voice low. “Don’t even think about it.”

He rounded the station and advanced on me, a smirk playing on his lips.

“Don’t!” I said firmly, hoping my no-bullshit-demeanour would give him reason to stop.

It didn’t, if anything, it only fuelled the freak to come at me faster.

“No!” I shrieked and made a move to dive behind the counter but Ash was too fast, and caught me mid-air.
He set me down, and full on assaulted my sides with his fingertips as he tickled me. I laughed, shrieked some more, and did the strangest moves known to man as I made my bid to escape the terror.

“Mercy!” I laughed. “For the love of God, mercy!”

Ash pulled back on his tickling but kept hold of me as I steadied myself and came down from my laughing high. I was about to playfully sucker punch him and make a run for the break room when I heard my name being… bellowed.

"I'll deal with you when we get back to the house," Bear snapped, his words loaded with so many different meanings I trembled with both fear and anticipation.

"You're going to deal with me?" I asked. "How are you going to deal with me?" My attitude and confidence faded with each word until the last was merely a whisper.

"Yes, DEAL with you," Bear warned, suddenly pausing to take in my appearance. Slowly, from top to bottom, like he’d only just realized I was standing there. His eyelids hung heavy over his sapphire blues as he licked my body with his eyes, drinking me in like he was thirsty.     

No, not thirsty.

Hungry.

When he licked his lips I could have sworn he was about to eat me alive.  I tingled all over.  The awareness of him in such close proximity after so long washed over me.  Angry or not, my body didn’t care.  I didn’t care.  I wanted to reach out and touch his face, reassure him that he had no reason to be angry, but part of me liked that I could draw that kind of reaction from him.  He came alive when he was pissed, and something inside me loved that he became this primal possessive beast out to remind me who it was I belonged to.   
Bear clenched his jaw and the muscles in his neck tensed and strained. He looked as if he were ready to either kill or fuck.  All I knew was that, one way or another, I was about to de devoured.  

I pressed my thighs together, trying to manage the pulsing between my legs, but the contact only ignited it further. Bear chuckled and glanced down to where my ankles were crossed. He closed the gap between us in two short strides, taking me off guard. I stumbled backward, tripping over a lose rock in the road. he reached out and roughly grabbed my arm before I could fall, pulling me flush into his hard chest. His warm skin radiated through my thin dress. I bit my lip, suppressing a moan. My legs grew weaker and weaker as he lowered his head, inching closer and closer, until I was sure his lips were going to meet mine, when without warning he released my arm and spun away. "Get in the fucking truck, Ti," he called back to me.  
I stood there, unable to move, and trying to catch my breath while he headed over to King’s truck like that moment never passed between us. When he noticed I wasn’t behind him he growled and stalked back over to me. He grabbed me by the waist, his fingers digging into my skin.  He lifted me up, my short dress bunching up over my butt cheeks and slung me over his shoulder like I was a rolled up rug.

Wack.

He slapped my ass with his open palm. Hard. The bite of the smack stung where I was sure he’d left his mark. He tossed me into the truck with a caveman grunt and slammed the door behind me.

I was confused as all hell.  

I was so angry.

I was also elated.

I was in lust so hard that I was in physical pain.

I was really fucking angry.

I was head over heels in love.

Motherfucker.

It’s midweek already, and I’m halfway through my workout when I get a text from Brooke:

Hey! Huge line at the Underground registration, might pick up lunch on our way back home. Don’t wait for us - lunch home w/Diane

Me: Got it ☺ Will take Racer to park and meet you home ltr

I set my phone aside and scan the gym again. Some otherworldly impulse has me walking past the weights section. I cross the treadmills, bicycles, toward the mats at the end and the boxing bags. I scan the area where Maverick always works out. There are several guys at the bags now. None of them are as big, or mysterious. Or hot.

He’s gone.

Disappointment washes over me. I wait a bit, checking the time. Five minutes to leave for Racer.
Reese, you’re acting stupid.

“You’re looking for your friend? The one you come in with?”
“I . . . ah . . . yeah.”
“He hasn’t come in.”
“Right. Thanks.”

I head to pick up Racer from day care, meet Pete there with the stroller and our snacks, then sit Racer inside and push him to the park. There’s this spot I like under the shadow of a tree. I head there. “How was day care, Racer?”

“Okay.”

He’s scanning the park for dogs, I know.

“This is nice, isn’t it?”

I pull out his fruit bears and open them. He dives in.

“Racer, I ran extra hard today and I’m suddenly hungry. If I tell you an extra story tonight, would you give me one of your fruit bears?”

“Two stories,” he negotiates.

“Okay, two stories, for two bears?” I shoot back.
He hesitates, then nods and lets me pull out two bears, examining my hand thoroughly. I let him open my palm.

“See? Two?”

He grins a dimpled grin that I could eat up, and then continues eating.
I shove them in my mouth and start to set up my blanket and stop in my tracks when I spot the figure doing pull-ups on the tree.

His T-shirt is riding upward due to the lifted position of his arms, and I can see the concrete-like squares of his abs perfectly.

His extraordinary eyes blaze and glow when he spots me a few feet away, not far from the tree. He drops himself to the ground, lithe as a cat and surprisingly quiet, and as he stretches to his feet from the crouched position he landed in, his eyes are direct and interested and warm. No, not warm. More.
There’s a flip in my stomach when his lips curl a little. He ambles over and I have the oddest sensation that he was waiting for me. But . . . was he?

“Maverick.”

“Mavewick!” Racer repeats, and puts out his fist.
He bumps fists with Racer. “Dude. Cool cap.”
He taps Racer’s Yankees baseball cap. Then his eyes lift to meet mine.
My stomach feels unsettled, but it’s not from hunger, more like from nerves or something like . . . anticipation.

“Didn’t see you at the gym today,” I say.
He shakes his head. “I talked to Oz.”
“You did?”

He gives me this quiet, perfect smile and simply nods.
“That’s great.”
“Yeah.”

We smile for the most delicious few seconds.
“So you’re fighting during the inaugural?” I ask excitedly.
He pulls out a page from his back jeans pocket. “That’s me.”

I take and scan the page. It indicates his accepting the Underground terms and rules of engagement, states his coach’s name, and then his name. A dangerous little chill runs down my spine when I read:
Maverick “the Avenger” Cage

And Maverick “the Avenger” Cage is watching me read this paper, studying my reaction.
My palms are sweaty all of a sudden. “Well . . . wow.”

My stomach is quaking upon seeing his name, I don’t know why. Maverick Cage. His name is a conundrum. Maverick means “rebel,” and cage . . . But it looks like this maverick is coming out of his cage.
He tucks the page back into his jeans. “I had to tell someone.”
“And you came to tell me?” If I sound bewildered, it’s because I am.

He stares into me, a liquid look coming to his eyes. “It wouldn’t be happening if it weren’t for you.”
“That’s totally not true.”

He glances down at the stroller. “I wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t tell my buddy here.” He fist-bumps
Racer again and Racer giggles at the attention.

“Mom and Dad are busy, so I get to keep him for an extra while,” I tell Maverick.
He stares at me. He has a very stubborn, arrogant face, but when he smiles, pleasure softens his granitelike features. And he’s smiling right now. Dear me. “So he’s not yours,” he says.
“God, no. I wish!”

I can’t think straight when he looks at me. I feel naked. As if he knows that I’ve missed him. As if he knows that just looking at him makes me feel odd. Odd and oddly sensual inside. Responding to him.
I open my blanket and bend over to smooth it on the ground. Then I realize my butt is sticking out, the Himalayas of butts out there for him to see. In tight exercise gear. Fuck.

He kneels on his haunches at the edges of the blanket and opens his hand. “Share the blanket with me?”
His knuckles are still scarred. I can’t decide why I keep looking at them. I get a gut squeeze of empathy every time I see the bruises. His hands are huge. He plants them on the blanket, then shifts to lean back on his arms, stretching out his legs before him. Other couples are nearby on blankets. It feels intimate when I set my stuff down, and I feel myself go hot when I sense him watching me settle down next to it.

He spreads out just a little more and squints up at the tree, then looks at me in silence.
I search the picnic bag. “Want some . . . kid food? Or I’ve got . . .” I pull out my emergency Snickers bar, which I’m proud not to have touched yet, and I hand it over. “Plus one water and a drinking cup with a lid.”
I pass the drinking cup to Racer and hand Maverick the water. He takes it. “I’m good.” He opens the water bottle and hands it to me.

I shake my head. I’m not hungry, really. Or thirsty. My stomach feels full of butterflies again and it makes no sense, since I don’t even know him.

He shifts up higher on his arms, the flex of his torsal muscles visible through the cotton of his shirt.
“I almost thought you’d arrived to the gym and got yourself kicked out,” I try.
“Not yet. There’s still tomorrow.” He smirks.
And there’s a tinge of merriment in his eyes.

“Wee, and the ducks?”

I jerk my attention back to Racer and my pending business with him. “Right. I promised we’d feed the ducks today.” I quickly pack our stuff and then push the stroller toward the lake. He walks beside me.
I feel him watching me as I stop at the dispenser to fill up a cup of duck food.

“Mavewick, get me out,” Racer commands.

Maverick sweeps him up and sets him on his feet.

“Don’t go in the water, Racer, just stay on the edge, and don’t let them bite your finger. Do it like this. . . .” I show him how to cup his hand. “Or throw it in the water and watch them pick at it.”

He nods and starts throwing all over, sending the ducks after the nibbles.
I sit on the ground, the scent of damp grass surrounding us as Maverick sits beside me.

“Hey, I want to do something for you.”

“What?”

I can’t remember how to breathe.

I give him a moment to explain, but he’s not helping me out, only smiling. His face is open, friendly, his smile captivating. But his eyes are guarded, careful. I try to keep my voice indifferent.
“You mean for the gym?” I ask, a puzzled frown on my face.

He nods. “For that. And Oz.”

“Oh.” I shake my head, laughing softly. “It’s nothing, really.”

When he looks at me, he looks curious, and unsatisfied somehow. But a genuinely appreciative smile touches his eyes. “Trust me. It’s not nothing. It’s something, and I appreciate it.”

His open gratitude makes me so warm. He makes me feel impulsive.
“I’m in a healthy-living boot camp this summer. You’re meeting the new Reese,” I hear myself blurt out.

Wow. Did I just spew it out like that?

I’m so desperate for him to share bits of himself that I’m just totally baring myself to him without his even asking. Thank god he takes it in stride with an attractive little dance in his eyes.

“What was the old one like?” he asks easily.
I shrug and shake my head, not really wanting to get into that.

When he does nothing to fill the silence that settles between us, it leaves me with nothing to do but look up at him. I lift my lashes, and he’s staring at me with a look of total intrigue in his eyes. Wisps of hair tease my face, and I push them away, feeling really restless under that stare.

“Help me kick my own ass, and we’ll call it even,” I suddenly suggest.

He shakes his head with playful stubbornness. “We’re not even. I still owe you.” His eyes grow thoughtful, and he reaches into his pocket and extracts something. “Open your palm.”
He looks so intense that I open my palm and watch him drop something in it. “What’s this?”
“My IOU.”

I stare at the penny in my palm, then look up at him in confusion.
His voice sounds a little more harsh and textured all of a sudden. “I don’t have a lot right now, but I got this.”

“For a rainy day?” I ask.

“For any day.”

My eyes locked on the corner booth, or rather on the man in the booth.

Oh, Christ.

“Branna?” Aideen laughed. “Will you blink?”

I knew I was staring, and for the life of me I couldn’t make myself stop or at the very least look away. My libido sprung to life and had taken over full control of my body.

Pulse. Pulse. Pulse.

“Who is that?” I asked Aideen without taking my eyes away from the Greek God that was sat in the corner booth gulping down Budweiser like it was water.

“That,” Aideen wickedly grinned as she nudged me to the edge of the dance floor, “is Ryder Slater. Skull says he is from New York and that he just moved here with his younger brothers, one of his brothers – who is an identical twin by the way – is a fighter. He has fought here almost every weekend for the past few weeks, he is lethal and is only Bronagh’s age.”

I heard everything Aideen said, but my mind, and vagina, only focused on one crucial detail of her intel: Ryder Slater.

“He is gorgeous,” I gushed, unable to look away from him.
Aideen whooped over the music. “Go get him, mama.”
I felt molten heat creep up my neck. “I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?” Aideen asked, clicking her tongue.

I looked at my friend and frowned. “How does a woman like me talk to someone who looks like him? Because I honestly have no idea. I’ll make a tit out of meself.”

Aideen rolled her eyes and over the music she said, “Branna, will you listen to yourself? You sound like you’ve already been rejected by him, but you haven’t and you won’t, if you just be yourself. You’re stunnin’, babe, and you’re a hell of a girl, too. Lads dig that.”

I hated that my eyes welled up. “You’re so sweet to me,” I said and quickly dabbed under my eyes, careful not to ruin my eye make-up.

“We have got to get you laid,” Aideen grumbled. “And Ryder Slater will be the one to work out all of your kinks. Come with me.”

Everything happened rapidly fast then. Aideen grabbed hold of my hand and quite literally tugged me along behind her as she briskly walked off the dance floor, not caring that body after drunken body was in our way. I shouted for her to slow down, but either she couldn’t hear me over the music, or she flat out ignored me. I only shouted once because I became very self-aware that I was shite at walking in heels, and brisk walking in them could very well cause my immediate death.

When we made it through the crowd and across the dance floor I silently thanked God that I survived, but then quickly asked him to take my life when I realised where Aideen brought us to a stop. We were no more than a metre away from the very booth that the stunning Ryder Slater was sat at. He was looking down at his phone, but when he noticed we were standing next to his table staring at him, he pocketed his phone and gave us his full attention.

I stepped behind Aideen out of sheer mortification.

“Hiya,” she shouted over the music. “I’m Aideen, and this is Branna, we thought you might like some company. You look a little lost sittin’ over here on your own.”

How can she speak to him, or any man, with such confidence? I wondered. I would never be able to do that, not without looking like an utter fool in process.

I was jolted from my thoughts when Aideen turned to me, and roughly pulled me out from my hiding spot behind her. I stumbled to her side and knocked my knee against hers causing me to hiss. I resisted the urge to rub the sting away, because my attention was now on the grey eyes that were trained on me.

Oh, hell.

“Hello,” Ryder said at the exact same time the song playing changed. It allowed me to hear how deep his voice was, and how wicked his accent sounded.

I waved at him – like an idiot – and said, “Hey.”

His lip twitched and I wondered if he already thought I wasn’t worth the trouble of talking to.
“Would you like to join me?” he asked, raising his voice to be heard over the now thumping sound that filled the club.

I swallowed, and stared at him with shock.

Aideen jabbed her elbow in my side and answered for me. “She’d love to,” she gushed.
She put her small hand on the base of my spine and pushed me to the side of the booth Ryder was sitting on, and I didn’t know why, but I resisted. I suddenly felt like I was being fed to the sharks. I brought my face to Aideen’s and said, “I can’t do this, I’ll feel too idiotic to sit next to him. I don’t trust meself not to say somethin’ stupid.”

Aideen completely ignored me and turned me around to face Ryder – who hadn’t moved an inch since we arrived at the table – and nudged me forward with both of her hands. To avoid falling on top of Ryder, I had to turn on my side and drop into a sitting position next to him. I didn’t look at him out of fear I’d see amusement on his face, so instead I looked to my friend – I use that term very loosely – and tapped the empty spot next to me, but she shook her head, grinning.

I widened my eyes, and pleaded with Aideen not to leave me through my skull drilling stare.

“I’m goin’ to go and get us some drinks,” she stated. “You two get to know each other, I won’t be long.”
I gasped when she turned and almost instantly got lost in the crowd. I sat up straight and searched the crowd with my eyes in hopes I would see her, but I only saw strangers’ move their bodies to the playing music.

“Oh, my God,” I whispered.