Normally I would have brought one of the gym bunnies to the dinner, because all I needed was a pretty girl on my arm, but the big fight was only two days away and I didn’t trust myself. I’d become one serious horndog, and it seemed to get exponentially worse whenever MacKenzie was around.
So I needed a sure thing. Someone I could trust to not throw herself at me.
Cade’s friend Sara was on her own and trying to take care of a newborn. My trust fund was pretty well padded, so we settled on the terms: a few hundred dollars and a free meal in exchange for her company for the evening.
“Thanks for coming out tonight,” I said as I drove Sara home.
“Sorry I was so quiet,” she said. “I guess I’m not good at this escort business.”
“It was fine. You were great,” I lied.
She’d looked on edge for most of the night, but Chris didn’t seem to notice and MacKenzie was sauced, so I didn’t know how she would have known. All that mattered was that the night was finally fucking over. I could pay Sara and never think of her again.
“I feel like I could have been better if I was alone with you,” she said.
“What the—”
My tires squealed and I nearly ran off the road when she grabbed my dick. What the fucking fuck was I paying her for? I had made it very clear when I picked her up that I was not paying for sex. No extras.
“No,” I said as I lifted her hand out of my lap and put it back in her own where it belonged. “I told you, I just needed a date for the dinner. I don’t need any of that.”
“You’re telling me a guy like you doesn’t need this?”
She picked up my hand and stuck my middle finger in her mouth, all the way in, sucking it hard and licking at it with her tongue. I couldn’t help imagining her hot, wet mouth on my cock, and I almost pulled the fuck over right there. This girl definitely knew what she was doing. Goddamn.
But training mode was training mode.
“I can’t. I told you we wouldn’t. I’m sorry if you misunderstood the deal. I’m training.” I pulled my finger out of her mouth and wiped her saliva on my pants. Yuck. And my dick went soft.
Sara pulled her mouth into a little pout. “Sorry, I know you said no sex, but I wasn’t going to charge you or anything. I just…” She shook her head and looked out the window. “Never mind. Sorry.”
The rest of the ride back to her apartment was damn awkward. I was tempted to peel off as soon as she was out of my car, but I had to go inside and pick up my little sister, Sophia, who’d been babysitting Sara’s baby so that she could go out.
Sara fumbled with the lock, pushing and pulling at the door before it finally burst open, and I could see inside the tiny front room of her apartment. Sophia was there on the sofa just as I’d figured she would be, but the person next to her, Cade’s former adult film producer, I never thought I’d see again. And I sure as fuck didn’t ever want to see him in the same room with my little sister. Every single muscle in my body tensed instantly.
Fighting outside the ring was a bad idea for any serious fighter. It could lead to serious injury—of the other party, of course—and then there were all the rules intended to keep everyone safe in the ring. But they didn’t apply out here.
Sophia sprang up the second she saw me come in. Her eyes widened and she scurried back toward the kitchen. “We were just talking,” she said, as if I would be okay with my little sister talking to a pornography producer. I didn’t care if it was the softer stuff; stay the fuck away from Sophia.
I clenched my jaw and breathed deeply, trying to stay calm enough to not murder this little shit.
He stood up with a friendly-ass grin on his face, seemingly oblivious to the fact that I was a hair away from redecorating Sara’s apartment with his internal organs, and took a step toward me.
“Hey, Ian, remember me? I’m Rick. I was just stopping in to check on Sara.”
He was most likely there to try to talk Sara into coming back to work for him, but Cade told me she’d been out of the business for a while and was planning on staying that way. The bit about her being a designer wasn’t a total lie; she was going to school to be one, she just hadn’t finished yet.
It didn’t matter what reason Rick had for being here, though. He was not welcome. As soon as I got my rage partially under control, I stepped toward him. “I think you’d better leave.”
“I was just checking in on—”
“Rick, go.” Sophia interrupted him, her voice urgent. She knew me, and knew I wasn’t dicking around.
“Don’t you worry, sweet little Sophia. I’m just—” Rick started, but I didn’t let him finish.
I swept his feet out from under him, then grabbed his hand and twisted it, pulling him backward toward the door so that he had to scurry crablike after me in order to not break his wrist.
“You didn’t know Sophia was my little sister, which is the only reason I’m not killing you right now. Get the fuck out, and never come back.” I pulled him out the door and left him in the hallway. “If you ever approach Sophia again…” I didn’t finish because, hell, who knew what I’d do if I ever saw him with Sophia again.
Rick looked seriously pissed off as I slammed the door on him. Tough shit.
“Sophia, what the hell were you doing talking to that shit-bag?”
My sister folded her arms over her chest and glared up at me. “Ian, you can’t tell me who to talk to. You don’t get to do that to everyone.”