Seducing Cinderella (15 page)

A seductive smile spread over her face. “Then come and get me, hotshot.”

He moved as fast as he did in the octagon, making the feet between them seem like mere inches. His hands delved into her hair on either side of her face and he hunched over to conquer her mouth and suck the remnants of what she’d left on her lips.

Their kiss wasn’t slow or tender, but deep and fierce, constantly changing angles as they devoured each other.

Eventually he wrenched his mouth from hers to kneel between her legs. He dragged his hands down her body until they reached her perfect breasts where they molded and kneaded and pinched her ripened nipples, making her writhe on the bench and her breaths quicken.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he said, just before he closed his mouth around a hardened peak and drew on it hard.

She cried out and grabbed his head, her nails scratching his scalp through his short hair, trying to pull him in even more. He placed his hands along her spine, holding her to him so she didn’t accidentally squirm away. Switching from one to the other, he kissed them as he did her mouth, tongue lashing, teeth grazing, lips sucking.

“Oh, God, Reid…”

Her stomach was pressed along his chest with her legs hooked onto his back just under his arms. And in between, her hips ground that hot pussy on his abs, searching for the means to an orgasm.

He kissed his way up her body, reveling in the wanton sounds of his woman. Placing one last kiss over her heart he lifted his head to find her staring at him with The Look—the one that told a guy when a woman was leaving Let’s Screw For Fun City and headed straight for Let’s Pick Out China Town—written all over her pretty face.

Normally The Look had him making up forgotten urgent appointments and sprinting in the other direction. He tucked her hair behind one ear and studied her for several moments, waiting for the familiar flight response to kick in. But all he felt was the need to gather her closer. The need to make love to her until muscle exhaustion forced them to rest.

It was in that moment Reid knew even if he had an actual appointment, he’d blow it off to stay with Lucie. It was in that moment, he knew he loved her.

“Reid?” she said softly. “You’re looking at me funny.”

“Am I?”

She nodded.

He removed her shirt, then cradled her in his arms as he stood and made his way over to her bed. Once she was settled in the middle of the mattress he climbed next to her and propped his head on one hand while the other drew lazy patterns over her body. “Funny how?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve never seen that look on you before.”

Her breaths grew more shallow and her nipples puckered into tight little buds as he trailed a finger around the soft curves of her breasts. “I doubt anyone ever has…but you’re not just anyone, are you?” He kissed her shoulder and raised his eyes to find a slight frown of her brow and her lower lip prisoner between her teeth. “You’re special. You know that, don’t you, Lucie?”

She smiled and nodded.

She was lying.

Her smile was one of the saddest he’d ever seen and it killed him that she still had insecurities. Insecurities that had no business gripping a woman as wonderful as her.

Reid took it as a personal affront. One he intended to rectify.

…

Earlier, as she’d waited anxiously for him to return home, Lucie had made a decision. No more would she ignore what was in front of her because of a silly compatibility theory based on a failed relationship. It was time to be honest with herself—to be honest with
him
—and embrace her true feelings for the man who knew her as no other ever had.

And that time was now.

Reid studied her with an intensity she’d never known. His eyes, rings of mossy green infused with streaks of topaz, bore into hers. Her gut instinct was to look away, to guard herself not only against him, but against what she felt for him. It was because of that instinct that she held firm…and let him in.

Lucie trembled lightly as she lay there, her heart and soul exposed to a man with the power to crush them. There was no denying she loved him, not when she felt this vulnerable, this afraid.

The callused tips of his fingers grazed her cheek before delving into her hair. His face was only inches away from hers and yet it might as well have been miles.

“Baby, you’re shaking,” he whispered.

“No, I’m not.”

He smiled as he nuzzled her cheek with his nose and kissed her jaw. “Yeah, you are. Don’t worry…I’m going to take care of you.”

Before her brain got on the hamster wheel about whether he was referring to the next sixty minutes or the next sixty years, he claimed her lips in the most sensual kiss of the century and killed any hope of brain activity for the immediate future.

His lips moved over hers, exploring the curves and contours, his teeth nibbling, testing the fullness of her lower lip, and his tongue traced the inner arc of the upper one. Every time her tongue ventured forward, he pulled back, not allowing her to participate to that degree. Over and over she tried to kiss him back, but he expertly avoided her attempts while continuing his explorations.

Frustration and sexual tension mounted deep in her center. Her hands grabbed his head to hold him in place and she was rewarded with a deep kiss. She moaned, tasting herself on his tongue. Before Reid she’d never known how good it could be to have a man worship her sex with his mouth. And she never imagined how much she would love kissing him afterward.

Lucie’s small victory didn’t last long. After a few brief moments he grasped her wrists and pinned them to the mattress above her head as he moved over her. His hips settled in the cradle of her thighs, his thick erection nestling between her folds.

He bent his head to kiss her neck and lick a path to her ear. He nipped her earlobe then sucked it into his mouth to soothe the pain away. Releasing it, he spoke, his hot breath feathering through her hair. “Lucie, baby, you drive me insane, you know that? You have no idea the control it’s taking me to keep myself from driving into you like a complete madman.”

She arched her body, encouraging him. “Don’t hold back. Take me,” she begged.

Pushing himself up just enough to look her in the eyes, he said, “Oh, I will. But this time I’m going to savor every moment. I’m going to take my time loving you tonight.”

Lucie opened her mouth to argue when he shifted his hips, sliding his cock up until its hard length rubbed over her clit, and her argument changed to a high-pitched moan.

“No talking allowed. Just feeling.” He repeated the move, causing her to see stars. “Got it?”

She nodded. She’d agree to anything so long as he kept doing that.

Reid kissed his way down her body, leaving moist trails over her breasts, down her rib cage, and across her stomach. His hands pushed her thighs wide, opening her as far as possible. She gazed down her body at his head poised just above her pelvis, his breaths skating over her wet skin and sending shivers of pleasure that hardened her nipples.

This time he kept his eyes open, lending another level of intimacy to the act as he hit her with that first long lick up her center.

She sucked in a breath, and her hips jerked.

“One of my favorite things is taking you to the edge,” he said, his voice low and gravelly. “The way you look just before you come is a thing of pure beauty.”

Another lap of his tongue with a flick at the top over her clit.

“Oh!”

“That’s it, baby. Keep watching me. Watch me make love to you with my mouth.”

Those were the last words he spoke before making good on his intention. Reid licked and sucked like he was kissing her mouth, his tongue diving into her, humming his appreciation of her taste.

She panted and fisted her hands in the comforter. Her hips began to thrust instinctually against his tongue, needing a consistent movement over her clit to match the pulsing deep inside getting faster and faster.

“Oh, God, I need you inside me,” she cried. “Reid, please!”

“Not yet,” he said in a voice that sounded as strained as she felt frustrated. “The edge. You’re not there yet.”

Was he joking? She bloody well
felt
like she was there. If she didn’t get something inside of her in the next few seconds, she was going to lose it.

He replaced his tongue with two fingers, rapidly rubbing over the sensitive bundle of nerves as he sucked at her lips and bit her inner thigh. The sheen of sweat now covering her body and the scent of her arousal hanging thick in the air confirmed his oral talents. He was driving her batshit insane and enjoying every second of it.

She released the comforter in favor of stimulating her nipples and squeezing her breasts. She’d always been too self-conscious to play with herself before, but the urge to touch them was too great. The tweaks she gave her nipples zinged straight to her center, and the tension in her belly tightened more and more.

Lucie’s vision became unfocused, but she heard Reid growl ,“Fucking beautiful” as he moved back up and entered her body just as she reached that edge and then shot past it.

Unable to help herself, she screamed and arched against him as her insides imploded and bore down on the massive erection now blessedly filling her to capacity. He groaned against her neck and tightened his arms around her as her channel continued to spasm and wave after wave of tingly vibrations spread through her body to the tips of her toes and the roots of her hair.

“Goddamn, you feel amazing.”

She would’ve agreed, but even the simplest speech seemed beyond her. As she came back to herself, wrapped in a euphoria she’d never known existed, Reid’s mouth captured hers in a sweet, languid kiss.

Losing herself in the heady post-climax fog and the sensual dance of their tongues, her body jerked in response when he began to withdraw, the thickness of his shaft rubbing along the sensitive walls of her sex.

Once he was almost fully unseated, he pressed back in, slow and deliberate, until she’d taken all of him again. She gasped and arched her head back, breaking the kiss. The sensations were too much, too soon. She’d never survive.

She placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed with the strength of a baby bird, her eyes begging with him. “Reid, I can’t…”

“Shh,” he said against her lips. “Yes, you can.” He pulled her hands away, entwined their fingers, and held them down just above her head as he withdrew again. Holding himself still at her entrance, he whispered, “Trust me.”

It wasn’t a statement of arrogance, or even a request. Staring into the fathomless depths of his light eyes, Lucie realized it was a plea. It said,
Trust me to pleasure you. Trust me to take care of you.
And dare she hope,
Trust me to love you.

“I trust you.”

His lips crushed her in a molten kiss as he drove himself to the hilt. She had a fleeting thought that this must be the very definition of pleasure-pain, wanting to push him away and claw him closer all at the same time.

But it only took moments before ecstasy had her firmly in its grasp and all that mattered was the exquisite feel of him moving steadily inside her, completing her as nothing else could.

Time stood still, the turning of the world ceasing in deference to their love making so it could last forever. Their bodies, slick with sweat, moved as one, as fluid as the rolling swells of the ocean tide.

His torturous, unhurried pace finally broke, his hips driving faster, their breaths growing shorter. Soon the familiar tension began to gather deep in her center, growing and spreading with every thrust of his cock until his passion consumed her, owned her.

Unbelievably she came yet again, his name spilling from her lips. But whereas the last one had pulsed with fierce intensity, this one carried her into a perfect oblivion on a seemingly endless current.

“God…
Lucie
,” he cried, his muscles tensing and quivering with his release. And as he poured himself into her body, she imagined him pouring his love into her heart as well.

Chapter Seventeen

Reid held a sleeping Lucie against his body and willed himself to remember every detail. How she fit perfectly in the crook of his shoulder. How, in the middle of the night, she hiked her leg all the way over his hips as though she was afraid he’d somehow escape if she didn’t. The way her hair draped over his arm and her hand rested lightly over his heart.

They’d made love and talked for hours last night, exploring each other in ways he’d never done with anyone else. Even after realizing he loved her he’d known his time with her was limited, but he decided to let his fantasy play out in the shadows of the night. He’d wanted to stay awake, to take advantage of every second he had with her, but eventually they fell asleep in the early predawn hours. Now the morning sun streamed through the bedroom window, chasing away the fantasy and leaving him with the ugliness of reality.

“Hey there.”

The scratchy sound of her morning voice made his heart skip a beat. But when she lifted her head from his chest with an impish smile, it might have stopped altogether.

She rested her chin on the top of her hand and seemed content to watch him. Those long, spiky lashes hung at half-mast and her lips were swollen from sleep, or maybe still from his kisses and bites mere hours ago. Her dark hair was tousled and even looked snarled in some places, but it framed her face beautifully.

“Hey there, yourself. Did you sleep well?”

Her smile went from imp to Cheshire cat. “Incredibly well.” She inched up and placed a tender kiss on his lips before snuggling back into his side and groaning. “Can we take the day off and stay in bed?”

She couldn’t have had a better request to drive home the fact that he didn’t live by normal standards where the occasional day playing hooky was okay. He shut his eyes and placed a kiss on the top of her head, giving her one last squeeze before letting her go and getting out of bed.

Retrieving his jeans and yanking them on, he said, “Sorry, sweetheart, but I don’t get days off, and we slept in pretty late already.”

“Ugh, I suppose you’re right. Okay, here’s the plan,” she said, crossing to the bathroom. You go for your run and by the time you get back I’ll have already done my yoga, downed the necessary amounts of caffeine to make it through the day, and made my phone call.”

Reid picked up his shirt and looked over to the open bathroom door, where he heard the water running in the sink. “What phone call?”

She emerged from the bathroom in a short robe, brushing her teeth and smiling. Pausing long enough to speak with a mouthful of toothpaste she said, “I have to cancel my date tonight with Stephen before I forget. Can you imagine if he showed up and
then
I canceled?” Then she added in a fun singsongy voice, “Awk-warrrrd,” as she returned to the bathroom.

He indulged in the idea of her calling off her date with Mann…But only a selfish asshole wouldn’t want the woman he loves to be happy, even if it couldn’t be with him.
Shit.
Clearing his throat he prepared to say the hardest three words he’d ever spoken.

“You shouldn’t cancel.”

She poked her head around the half-open door, her brows creased in a frown. She pulled the toothbrush from her mouth again. “What do you mean I—” Light blue foam dripped down her chin. “—ick. Hold on.”

When she ducked back in to spit and rinse he caught a glimpse of himself in the dresser mirror and almost threw a punch to shatter his reflection.

“What do you mean I shouldn’t cancel?”

He turned to see her standing several feet away, holding her arms across her chest as though trying to give herself a supportive hug. She was preparing to hear what he suspected that loser ex of hers had said to her. Preparing to get hurt all over again.

Reid swore a hot knife plunged deep into his gut when he looked into those big, dove gray eyes of hers. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t have this discussion yet. Hell, he wasn’t even sure what kind of discussion it needed to be. He had to get out and clear his head, a.s.a.p.

Crossing to her in just a couple of strides he placed a chaste kiss on her forehead and did his best to sound upbeat. “I just feel bad for the guy is all. I mean, only one date and then dumped on the day of the second?” Reid put his hand over his heart. “As a fellow dude, let me just say, ‘Ouch.’ Eating dinner with the man a second time just seems like a small price to pay to prevent an ugly suicide.”

She did a combo chuckle-snort that made his heart ache, and then pushed at his chest playfully. “You’re too much. Go for your run and we’ll talk when you get back,” she said before heading for the kitchen.

Reid blew out a big breath. Disaster averted…for now.

He changed into his running gear and was pounding the pavement in record time. The heat of the midmorning scorched his body as he pushed it harder than usual. The rhythm of his shoes striking the ground wasn’t meditative for him today, but instead felt like a countdown on a ticking time bomb. Counting down the seconds until he had to present Lucie with his decision.

The idea of leaving her made his stomach turn and his muscles knot up.

Before he’d gone to see his dad he’d been toying with the idea of asking her to come back to Vegas with him. And although he knew his dad was just a bitter old man with a narrow point of view, Reid couldn’t discredit everything he’d said.

Lucie definitely didn’t fit the description of the kind of woman who loved the lifestyle of a fighter. His mom had fit into that category, but not Lucie. She liked her somewhat small city and being one of the few PTs in the area, which gave her the opportunity to really get to know her patients. And even though she was one of the most disorganized people he’d ever met, he’d come to learn that she liked routine. She liked knowing what to expect and when to expect it. Trying new things and spontaneity—two things Reid took incredible pride in—were not easy for her.

Uprooting her to Vegas would be a huge culture shock for her. Sure, she’d be able to get herself on a routine like she was here, but the routine would include almost never seeing him when he was preparing for a fight. He spent the majority of his time training, cutting weight, and studying how to beat his next opponent. There was little time left in his daily routine other than falling into bed, only to get up at the crack of dawn the next morning to do it all over again.

And then there was the traveling, the publicity. The bullshit stories the tabloids printed. All of it was a bitch on relationships. He’d seen it happen with several of the guys. The stress caused fights and the women turned bitter, resenting the sport that consumed all their men’s time, and eventually, the men themselves.

It would kill him to see Lucie’s sweet disposition turn into something jaded and resentful, all because he couldn’t stand the idea of living without her. Just because she was perfect for him, didn’t mean he even came close to being right for her.

She deserved so much more. She deserved to come first not only in a man’s heart, but in his life. Someone who could take the occasional day off just to lie in bed with her, who had a successful career that didn’t involve the possibility of getting concussed or choked out.

Someone so very not
him
.

As he rounded the last corner to the apartment he slowed to a walk, procrastinating as much as possible. He anchored his hands on his hips and drew in deep breaths as if they could cleanse him of the sickness taking root in his gut. But with every step he took it only grew worse. He’d be lucky if he made it through his shower without dry heaving over the toilet.

For the first time in his life, Reid was dreading a fight.

…

Lucie sat at her kitchen table, head resting on one hand while the other drummed the theme song to
The Lone Ranger
while waiting for Reid to emerge from his bedroom.

After his run he’d given her a halfhearted wave on his way to the shower and now he’d been in his room for at least twenty minutes, which was about eighteen minutes too long to change into a pair of shorts and T-shirt. So now she was, of course, paranoid. It seemed being in love had turned her into a neurotic teenager. Yippee.

Finally she heard the door down the hall open. Picking up her pen she pretended to concentrate on the Sudoku puzzle in front of her that she’d randomly written numbers on. Thank goodness they’d never discussed math puzzles or he’d know she was full of shit. She couldn’t do one of those correctly if her life hung in the balance.

When she pretended not to realize he stood in the doorway of the kitchen—she’d die before she let him know how crazy his absence made her—he cleared his throat.

She looked up from the newspaper with a smile…that died when she saw the bag in his hand and the look on his face.

“What’s going on?”

“I got a call from Butch. Scotty’s back, so he wants me to come back to camp to finish my training before the Diaz fight.”

“Oh.” Ignoring the twinge of slightly crushed pride from the insinuation that she couldn’t do as good of a job as the other guy, she looked at the situation logically. “Well, that’s good. It’s important you get back to your normal routine and people.”

“It has nothing to do with your capabilities, Lu. You’re an excellent PT. You’ve already worked miracles with my shoulder. I couldn’t have been this successful this quickly with anyone else. I mean it.”

“Thank you.”
Pride: soothed.
She offered him a warm smile. “I understand, really. And since I still have the vacation time, I can finally see Vegas!”

“I don’t think that’s such a hot idea. I’m not going to have time to be with you like I had here. It’s a totally different ballgame there. I won’t be able to take you around. You’d be stuck in my place all day, every day.”

Something was wrong. Was he really that worried that she’d be upset he wouldn’t have the time to entertain her? “That’s okay. I can go sightseeing by myself during the day.”

He brushed a hand forward over his hair and dragged it down his face. “I’ll be too tired at night to spend any time with you, Lucie. It’ll be like not seeing me at all.”

No. No, no, no. He was
not
doing what she thought he was doing. She stood up and crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes in warning. “What the hell is really going on here, Reid? You’re trying awfully hard to get me to stay home. With really lame excuses, I might add.”

“Look, please don’t make this any harder. You know I care for you, but this”—he pointed back and forth to each of them a couple of times—“was only temporary. Remember?”

“Remember? Yeah, Reid, I remember. I also
remember
last night when all of that changed. You’re not honestly going to stand there and deny that, are you?”

He didn’t say anything for several minutes—seconds? Hell, it could’ve been an hour, she didn’t know—with nothing moving on him except the ticking of the muscles in his jaw. So he was aggravated. Big flipping deal. She was about to go nuclear.

At last he cut through the silence with words that could’ve been samurai swords for as sharp as they were. “Last night was great. Just like all the other nights. But the arrangement is over now. You wanted Mann to notice you and be interested—which he has, and he is—fulfilling my part of the bargain. Your part of the bargain to get me healed in time to fight for my championship belt has also been fulfilled. So that’s that.”

“No that’s
not
that! You’re running away like a damn coward,
that’s
what this is. Not any bullshit excuse about following the terms of our so-called deal.” Adrenaline buzzed through her veins, making her slightly lightheaded, but she just grabbed onto a wooden chair for balance and pressed on. “Things changed between us, Reid. You know it, and I know it.”

“I’ll admit things went from clinical to personal, but it would’ve been impossible for it not to. Sex with someone you care about is personal. But that’s not enough to base a long-term relationship on, you know that.”

Their voices were rising, and somewhere in the back of Lucie’s mind was the warning that much louder and she’d have Mrs. Egan knocking on her door. Or worse, calling her brother. But she didn’t care.

“What about
love
, you big dumb jerk? Isn’t that enough? Because I do. I am totally and utterly in love with you!”

The world fell silent. Not even the ticking of the clock on the wall dared make a sound as the two of them stared at each other. Maybe time had stopped. Maybe this was one of those moments where an angel would suddenly appear to give her sage advice or the chance to rewind life a couple of minutes so she could take back the words that made her more vulnerable than she’d ever been in her life.

His eyes were strangely cold, much like she imagined they looked as he stared down an opponent before the ref called for the fight to begin. She’d never seen them like that before, and they were killing her. Then he spoke and she realized she was wrong…

“You loved your ex-husband, too, Luce. Look what that got you.”

It wasn’t his eyes that ended up killing her, but his words.

“Get out,” she managed around the lump in her throat. She blinked, trying to keep the hot tears at bay. “I don’t want to see you ever again.”