Impact (The Fight for Life #2) (9 page)

Wow
, he mouthed.

“Oh, it doesn’t end there.” I downed the rest of my drink in one go and watched as it was refilled without me asking.

“On the house.”

“Thanks.” I picked up the glass and took a quick sip.

“So there’s more?”

“My boyfriend told me his mum was dead, but turns out she’s not and it’s sent him into some kind of tailspin and I feel like I’m standing on quicksand.”

“Quicksand, huh?”

“Yep.” I took another swig of my drink then looked up to see my new friend looking over my shoulder with raised eyebrows.

I swung round to see a very intimidating Leo standing right behind me. His eyes were dark and I could see the blood pulsing through the vein in his forehead.

Rather than continue to face him, I swung back to the bar. My friend appeared casual and unfazed by the sight of a beaten and bruised Leo. I guess he’d probably seen it all from that side of the bar.

I felt Leo move up next to me at the bar, and I shivered when his forearm touched mine. He took my hand in his. “Come with me.”

His grip was firm, but his touch was gentle and I could never resist his touch. I slid off my barstool and allowed Leo to lead me over to one of the comfortable-looking lounges in the far corner of the bar.

“I got back to our room and you weren’t there.”

“Hope you’re not looking for an apology,” I replied indignantly.

He ran his hands through his hair and clenched his jaw. “I’m not. I came to give you one.” Picking up my hand, he ran his thumb over my knuckles. “The second you left, I knew I’d done the one thing you asked me not to do, and I’m sorry.”

“It pissed me off, Leo.”

“I know.” He shook his head. “I fucked up in the ring too. I managed to piss off you and Nick all in one night.”

“What happened out there?”

He looked me in the eye. “I was wrong.” He shook his head, breaking our eye contact. “Simple as that.”

I took both his hands in mine and waited for him to look at me again. “Do you trust me?”

“I trust you more than anyone else.”

“When we get back to Melbourne, I’m going to need you to tell me what happened five years ago.”

“Why?” His eyes were more pleading than demanding. “Why do you want me to dredge up the past when we’re trying to move forward with our lives?”

“Because your past that you’ve tried so hard to keep hidden turned up alive and well at the looney bin and your knee-jerk reaction was to nearly kill yourself.” I raised my eyebrows. “In a nutshell.”

Leo closed his eyes briefly and several minutes passed in silence. I could almost see the cogs of his brain spinning out of control. Eventually he met my gaze. “I’ve never talked to anyone about it before.”

It had been a really long and emotional day, and I was ready to go back to our room. “Come on, ‘Lethal’ Leo Ashlar, let’s go.” I stood up and held out my hand for him.

I knew I was breaking through to him one small step at a time, and I’d keep fighting until I broke through completely. He was worth it and so was I.

When he opened the door to our room and held it open for me, I felt the electricity crackling between us. He had to be exhausted from the fight and his physically demanding week, but something told me we wouldn’t be going to sleep anytime soon. As if reading my mind, he slammed me up against the wall and kissed me hard. There was nothing sweet or tender about that kiss, but it was one of the greatest kisses of my life to date. I felt consumed, hungered for and wrapped up warmly in the promises he intended to keep. Our kisses felt like the glue that bound us together, and every single one was another beautiful moment in the story of us. We were drifting souls finding an anchor in each other. Lies and hidden truths were our stormy seas, and I sensed calm waters ahead, just beyond the horizon.

Leo’s hands were everywhere, touching me urgently. “I want you so bad.” He groaned the words against my lips.

“I’m already yours,” I panted.

My words were barely out when I was scooped off the floor and rushed across the room, past the bed and into the bathroom. He lowered me to the floor slowly to let me feel his hardness against my body. I was already high on lust and expectation, and that just about pushed me over the edge.

“Get naked,” he demanded as he turned the shower on. “We’re gonna try this again.” It was not a polite request. It was an absolute demand said by a man who was going to take what was his. I loved the tender and vulnerable side of Leo, but the demanding alpha Leo was so damn sexy, and my clothes melted off my body of their own volition.

I knew this was in no way about getting clean. In fact, I was hoping we were about to get dirty. He raked his eyes up and down my body shamelessly, while the ultimate proof of his lust strained against his taut stomach. Every part of him called my name from his muscular arms to his tight arse just asking to be grabbed, but I couldn’t focus on anything for long when he stepped into the shower and beckoned me to follow.

His hand made its way behind my neck and I was pulled to him. His lips crashed down over mine, claiming what was already his. I opened my mouth, and his tongue instantly found mine.

We were two souls reconnecting. Two souls remembering. Two souls belonging.

He pushed me backward under the warm spray and I tilted my head back to enjoy its therapy. Leo’s lips immediately found my neck while his hands roamed my back, always pulling me closer.

His magic hands found my breasts and kneaded them with the expertise of a man who knew exactly what turned me on. I leaned back against the cold, tiled wall of the expansive shower cubicle and was granted the luxury of Leo’s mouth where his hands had just been. I lifted my left leg and wrapped it around him, willing his erection to grind me harder.

“You are so fucking gorgeous, Jules.”

I gasped. “I need you to fuck me.”

His hands smoothed their way down my back and cupped my backside, lifting me easily, the way he’d intended the night before. When he looked me in the eye, he would’ve no doubt seen my absolute desperation for him. I would never want any man the way I wanted Leo Ashlar.

“My pleasure.” With those two words, he thrust into me in one fluid motion. We were together in every sense of the word, and I revelled in the fireworks that exploded around us. The outside world had no business in that bathroom, in that hotel or in our lives. The feeling of having him deep inside me, holding me as if I were the only other person on the planet, was the single most intense and liberating feeling I could imagine.

“I love…” He paused. “I love fucking you.”

The mounting pressure circulated my body in escalating waves. “Harder, Leo. Fuck me harder.” I could barely grunt out the words as he pounded me faster, gaining more depth. I was probably going to have bruises down my back from being slammed into the wall, but I didn’t care. The water cascaded over our joined bodies and I was soaring closer and closer to the cliff’s edge. I wanted to jump off more than I wanted to breathe.

The slow burn was intoxicating and I was addicted.

“Come for me, baby.” Leo groaned the words out then sucked my nipple into his mouth, shooting desire right through my quivering body.

“Leo,” I screamed as the peak emerged and I threw myself into the darkness without a second’s thought. “Leo.” I repeated his name as I soared through my own personal ecstasy, flying on the wings of love and exceeded expectations. I was owned by one man and one man alone. There was this and there was everything else. I wanted this.

Leo gripped me tighter as he grunted out his own long release into my neck. “I need you.” The words were muffled by the water, but clear enough for me to absorb their weight.

We stayed there joined together in the aftermath of incredible sex until the water started to cool.

“That was incredible,” Leo whispered into my ear as he took his time drying me.

“It was.” I smiled at him when our eyes met. “Incredible.”

“Let’s go to bed.” He took my hand and led me back into the bedroom.

“You must be completely shattered.” I caught him yawning as we pulled back the covers.

We climbed into bed and entwined ourselves around each other. With our faces an inch apart, I gazed into his beautiful blue eyes. “You scared me today, Leo.”

“I’m sorry.” He placed his hand gently on my face. “I never want that. Ever.”

I watched his eyes close and his body relax. He was asleep in seconds, succumbed to the exhaustion I knew must’ve been right there waiting for the moment to claim him.

I kissed him three times, finding it hard to stop reminding his body of my touch. I wanted to make an indelible print on him so he knew we were forever.

“Sit down,” Nick said, skipping any pleasantries.

He’d asked for a private word before we flew home, so I’d agreed to meet him in the hotel restaurant for coffee the next morning. Juliette told me she’d order room service and pack our bags while I was gone.

I sat down opposite him and leaned back in my chair. Perhaps I was subconsciously maximising the distance between myself and the inevitable rant. When he didn’t say anything, I decided I should start by apologising.

“Sorry for wasting your time, Nick. I don’t—”

He held up his hand. “Stop. I’m not here to give you a bollocking. I’m sure you’ve done a good enough job of that yourself.”

“Then what did you want to talk to me about?”

“I want your commitment.”

“Okay.” I was completely confused.

“If you’re interested, I want to help you take it all the way, but I need your commitment.” He sat forward and rested his elbows on the table. “The apartment above the fight club is empty, and it’s all yours if you want it. I could give you a job training the young boxers too in exchange for rent if that’s something you think you might be interested in.”

“What?” I sat forward, blindsided by his offer. “Are you serious?”

“Deadly.”

“But I fucked up last night. I don’t get why you would want to train me again or offer me a job.”

“You’re a better fighter now in a lot of ways. Your Muay Thai training has made you a fighting machine. Pete Sanders might be an arsehole, but he knew he’d get a helluva fight from you even though the weight loss would make it almost impossible for you to win.”

I shook my head. “I wanted to prove him wrong so bad.”

He tapped the side of his head. “Your mind was all over the place. Even though I was pissed you didn’t listen to me, it was an unbelievable feat what you did out there.”

Silence hung between us for a few moments.

“Can I think about it?”

“Juliette told me you saw your mother.”

My eyes snapped up to meet his. I gritted my teeth but couldn’t say anything.

“Are you going to reconnect with her?” He appeared hesitant as if he knew he was leaning over the edge of the cliff and I might just push him off.

“Nope.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

I cracked my knuckles under the table. “You got a problem with that?”

“Nope.”

“Good talk.”

“Look, mate. I think you can go all the way, but you need to make sure you leave the past in the past.”

“Have you really thought through having me back in Lilydale more often? Your wife was friends with my mother,” I said. “Most of them hate me for cutting her off.”

Nick scrunched up his nose. “I guess I didn’t tell you about that.”

“What?” I asked.

“Karen and I are divorced.”

“Oh god. Sorry, man. When?”

“A while now. Said I was married to the club and my fighters.”

I took a sip of my coffee and smirked. “You are kind of intense.”

“Only way to be. My fighters get one hundred percent from me because I coach, manage and promote. It’s not an easy job to do everything, but it’s best for my fighters and that’s my priority.” He appeared genuinely content with his choices, but I couldn’t imagine ever being happy about Juliette being out of my life. I wanted more from my life, but it wouldn’t mean much without her in it.

Nick glanced at his watch. “Come on. It’s time to check out and head to the airport. Is Jules coming down?”

“She might be out there already. Let’s go.”

As we walked out, Nick patted me on the back. “Think about my offer. I really think it’s time.”

When they emerged from the restaurant into the lobby, Nick headed for the front desk and Leo headed towards me. Good god, he was handsome. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to the way my body reacted to his overwhelming presence. His grey t-shirt clung to broad shoulders and bulging biceps while his navy board shorts hung perfectly on his lean waist. I tried not to be too obvious in my ogling, but I failed dismally given the smirk on Leo’s face when I raised my eyes to his.

“Hey,” I said when he got closer.

Leo wrapped his arms around me, squeezing the air out of my lungs in a move I was unprepared for. “Hey, beautiful,” he whispered in my ear.

“Leo,” I croaked. “Struggling to breathe here.”

He released me immediately. “Sorry.”

“Everything okay?” I asked. I was worried Nick was going to tear him to shreds.

“Everything will be okay, Jules.” He bit his bottom lip and glanced at Nick, who was approaching us. “Let’s go home.”

We checked out and were returned to the airport by the same driver who’d picked us up. I gave up trying to lighten the mood. Both Leo and Nick appeared to be deep in thought, so I put my earbuds in when we found our seats on the plane and selected Rob Thomas’ solo album
Something to Be
as my in flight entertainment. With
Street Corner Symphony
playing in my ears, I even managed to drift off to sleep. It was Sunday afternoon by the time we landed in Melbourne and we’d parted ways with Nick. Words I couldn’t hear were exchanged before they shook hands and Nick headed to the carpark. He’d offered to drive us home, but we’d insisted we’d get a cab.

Leo held my hand during our half-hour cab ride into the city, but he seemed a million miles away. It had been drizzling when we landed, but the rain was falling harder now, blurring the view and fogging the windows.