The Fighter's Defiant Lover (The Burton Brothers Series Book 4) (8 page)
Read The Fighter's Defiant Lover (The Burton Brothers Series Book 4) Online
Authors: Leslie North
“Jasmine, are you ready to go? We’re going to miss our plane!” Dustin hollered up the stairs. He and Jasmine had finally moved out of Beck and Rachel’s house. They’d found a two-story condo only a mile from both Beck and Mason’s homes, and Jasmine had fallen in love with the tiny garden with its very own hot tub.
“Orlando’s calling,” Dustin yelled. They were flying to Orlando for MMA fights that could give him, Beck and Bryant each a title in their weight class. The media circus over this had been in full swing for the last two weeks.
Dustin and Bryant had been training every day for the last several months, and Beck had been given the opportunity to fight on the same night when the original fighter had been permanently suspended for using steroids.
The fights was being billed as the ‘Triple Threat’ of the MMA—three brothers, two by blood and one by marriage. They’d been lucky about the illegal fight—video had shown up on the Internet, but it had been so grainy and jumpy that everyone was calling it a fake, that it wasn’t Bryant Burton in an underground fight. The video vanished, and Mason and Tavvy would only smile when asked about it.
Alice, Rachel and Jasmine were going with them to Orlando, and Rachel was bringing Chaz. She’d promised him a trip to Orlando would include theme parks and fun, and Jasmine was just hoping they’d have plenty to celebrate. It wouldn’t be so bad if they all lost—or all won—but an uneven result might make for hard feelings.
“I’m ready,” Jasmine told him, handing him her suitcase and grabbing her sunglasses off the hallway table.
“Oh, wait, you forgot something,” Dustin said. His heart was pounding and he’d never been this nervous before any fight. He pulled out the black velvet case before he could put this off—yet again.
Jasmine stopped and stared at the black velvet. Dustin’s heart jumped to his throat. “Is that…” she started to ask and let the words drift away.
“It’s uh…I tried to get something you’d like.” Dustin pushed the case at her. He saw her hands shaking as she took it and opened it. “I was going to get you a diamond, but then I saw this. It’s a pink sapphire, and…and well, it seemed to be right for you.”
Jasmine gave a small cry and slapped a hand over her mouth. She looked ready to cry. Dustin stepped closer. “If you’re not ready…if you think—”
“I love it!” She threw her arms around his neck. “I love you!”
“You’ll marry me?” he asked. “I mean, since we’re in Orlando, you could have a princess wedding—you’re named after a princess aren’t you?”
She gave another squeal. “Oh, my gosh, I have to show this ring to Rachel. She won’t believe it. But we can’t get married without the rest of your family there—and the doctor’s told Avery she can’t fly.”
“Yeah, well, she can take the train—she and Mason left last week so they’d have plenty of time to sight see.”
“I’m glad Avery was able to go.” Hands shaking, she pushed the ring box at him. “Well, aren’t you going to put it on me?” He did. It fit perfect. Wrapping his arms around her, he said, “I can’t wait to get to Florida.”
Smiling, Jasmine asked, “So do we get married before or after the big fight?”
***
They decided to marry before the fight. Jasmine was sure it would be too much of a distraction, but Dustin told her thinking about it would be even worse.
Six hours after landing in Florida, Jasmine found herself in a hastily bought gown, standing in front of a preacher to exchange their vows.
Thank God it’s not an Elvis impersonator
, she thought.
Leaning closer, Dustin whispered, “You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
“I do?” Jasmine said.
He frowned. “You’re supposed to say I am.”
She leaned closer to him. “No, you’re supposed to say ‘I do’ or we’re not married.”
He glanced at the preacher. “Oh, I do.”
The rest of the ceremony passed in a blur. Jasmine was amazed she didn’t faint from hyperventilation. She’d been certain something was going to go wrong. How could she be marrying a great guy? It just wasn’t possible.
But it was. And afterwards, every Burton had to hug her. They cut the cake, toasted with sparkling water, and Jasmine wanted to cry. She had to slip away and Dustin found her in the garden in the gazebo where they had exchanged vows.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She shook her head. How could she tell him? Coming over to her, Dustin took her hand. “Don’t make me use a headlock on you.”
She giggled. “You wouldn’t.”
“Oh, I might. We could wrestle for the answer, but I’d rather you just tell me.”
The words burst out. “What if I’m just like my mom? What if start flirting with other guys, and you leave, and I end up married and married and ma—”
He put a finger on her lips. “First off, you planning to flirt with other guys? I mean I get that the Burtons are good looking guys—for guys—but you know Alice can take you down, and Rachel won’t put up with it, and even Avery would probably punch you.”
“Well, no, I wasn’t planning. But…things happen.”
“Great. We’ll deal with them if they do. Meantime, no way I’m ever walking out on you. Not even if you get fat—”
“Hey!” She punched his arm.
He grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Not even if you start beating me. I’m stuck—for better or for worse.” He pulled her in close. “In fact, I’m just where I want to be. Now, let’s get this reception done, because I want to get to the honeymoon stuff.”
He kissed her—long and hard. Jasmine could feel her worries melting under that heat. “I love you,” he said, pressing smaller kisses to her cheeks and eyes.
Jasmine gave a soft hum. “Hmmmm. Maybe that really is all we need. But what do you think about starting a family, Mr. Caldwell.”
“If that means lots of sex, count me in, Mrs. Caldwell.”
“Again!” Chaz shouted. Jasmine gave a small groan. They’d just come out of the exciting world of Winnie the Pooh for the third time.
Rachel bent down so she was eye level with her son. “How about we go find Peter Pan?”
Jasmine held her breath while Chaz considered the offer. His pout vanished and he grinned. “I want to see Captain Hook!”
“Great! Wonderful, at least we don’t have to do this one again,” Dustin muttered.
Jasmine jabbed him in the ribs. “When you have two of your own, you’ll be spoiling them by going a dozen times.”
“Never—well maybe.”
She grabbed his hand and pulled him back, so they could trail behind the others. Jasmine glanced around, thinking what a wonderful group of people she could now count as family.
Mason was pushing Avery in a wheelchair. He’d insisted she needed to stay off her feet. Avery had sulked for an hour, but now seemed to be enjoying the luxury of being looked after hand and foot. And every other grandmother stopped to ask when she was due.
Alice patted her own almost flat belly. “Dammit, I want to start showing!”
“You will, sweetie,” Bryant promised. And dragged her off, away from the others.
Jasmine smiled. Bryant was doing a great job of being a good loser. He’d lost his title fight by a split decision. He’d fought hard, but his opponent not only had him by five inches in height but four inches in arm length.
It had looked like Bryant would gain the upper hand when he’d rocked his opponent’s world with a series of hard kicks to the outside of his thigh. But the other fighter had taken Bryant to the ground. Bryant had grumped around for two days, but Alice was working hard to show him he was still a winner in her books.
Bryant would need to fight his way back up to the top, but that didn’t seem to bother him much. And Mason had already told Bryant what they’d start working on when they got home.
Dustin had won his title fight, knocking out his opponent in the fifth round. The fight had been brutal to watch, and Jasmine glanced at Dustin—she still wanted to touch the bruises on his face and smooth them away. Not that she could. With a black eye, he looked more like one of Captain Hook’s pirates, and he kept getting looks now.
As for Beck, he’d won his fight in eighteen seconds. It had set a new record in his weight division, and the man hadn’t even had to take one hit. His opponent had rushed him, and Beck simply hit him square in the face, knocking him out. Beck was still strutting around, which explained why he’d been fine with taking Chaz yet again to see Pooh Bear—the man was happy with the world. Rachel kept poking him and telling him not to get an ego going.
Glancing at Dustin, Jasmine decided she could like married life. No wonder her mother kept getting hitched—she was looking for this. Would life have been different if her dad had stayed? When she thought what she’d do without Dustin, she shivered.
But she knew she’d pull herself together better than her mother had. Maybe some of her mom’s problems had been due to disappointment, but it was really about doing the best with what you had. Right now, she had a lot.
Heck, she was even looking forward to a return to Las Vegas—the fights were often booked there. She’d be able to see some of her old friends, and Timmons, but she wouldn’t be going back as a showgirl. This time she’d be the wife of a champion.
As they headed into the line, Jasmine’s phone rang. She glanced at the number but didn’t recognize it. For a second, her heart jumped. But she answered.
A nice voice came on the line. A man. “Mrs. Caldwell?”
“Yes.” Jasmine tried to place the man’s accent. How did this person know her last name and her number. She glanced at Dustin, but he was chatting with Mason right now.
“May I introduce myself. My name is Dmitri Aknos.”
“What?” She grabbed Dustin’s shirt sleeve and whispered hurriedly, “It’s Dmitri Aknos!”
Dustin gestured for her to give him the phone. She practically threw it at him, and he grinned. “Dmitri? How’s it going. You’ve caught my wife by surprise. I thought you were going to call later?”
Dustin put the phone on speaker. “Dustin, please extend my apologies. I wished to congratulate you both on your marriage. Such a blessed event. And also to extend the use of my private floor during your New Year’s Eve trip to Vegas.”
Dustin smiled. “News travels fast.”
“When a big fight is booked, everyone wants to know. I am in your debt for helping clean up a part of my organization that would not have been good for my long-term interests.”
“Oh, hey, we owe you, too. But I’ll pass along your good wishes, and we’ll certainly take you up on your most generous offer come the end of the year.”
“Good. Tell Beck I made a nice bit of money from his effort, and tell Bryant I expect to see him back in the title spot before the end of next year. He was robbed in that decision!”
Dustin grinned. Jasmine poked his side. “Do I get my phone back?”
“Hold on, Dmitri. Jasmine wants to say a word.”
Face flaming, Jasmine took her phone back and stammered out something—she must sound an idiot. Finally, she hung up and turned to Dustin. “You didn’t tell me you were pals with the guy!”
He shrugged. “We’ve talked a few times. He said he wanted to call you.” He wrapped his arms around her. “And now, are you ready to ride with me to Neverland, where we can be young forever?”
He began to nibble on her ear. When his hands began to wander, she slapped them playfully away. “Behave yourself.”
“It’s never, never land. So never. You know this ride is mostly in the dark, right?”
She giggled and put her hands over his. “I don’t want to be young forever. I want to grow old with you and someday to be sitting in rocking chairs and talking about ‘do you remember’ and having you—”
“Still chase you around the room because you’re irresistible?”
Jasmine gave a hum, and then said, “Do you know, I bet that Dmitri guy would know how to get someone killed.”
“Always the bloodthirsty girl. Come, my pirate wench. Want to ditch the ride and find a quiet corner where we can neck?”
Jasmine gave a laugh. “With you… Always.”
The End.
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