Without Doubt

Ava Sterling is tough and
the most straight laced girl you will ever meet. Her family and her
past have managed to alter her future permanently and she has no
desire to allow anyone else into her life or her heart for fear of
rejection or further altering. Ava is alone in the world with the
exception of the grandest responsibility she did not create on her
own but on her own she will carry for the rest of her
life.

Declan James is a MMA
fighter, party all night kind of guy. Responsibility is nowhere to
be found in his life or so he allows everyone around him to
believe. Coming from wealth and a carefree lifestyle, Declan gets
what he wants, always. And what he wants is Ava. In his pursuit of
getting what he wants, Ava in his bed, his plan changes quickly
without his consent. Against his plans of being the next hot
bachelor to cross the tabloids as he makes his way to being the
Ultimate Light Heavyweight Champion, Declan falls in love. He falls
in love without hesitation and without doubt.

Neither Declan nor Ava are
aware that fate has inconveniently intertwined their lives forever.
Will they be able to survive the aftermath of the truth?

© 2013 by CJ Azevedo. All rights
reserved.

No part of this book may be
reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying
without written permission of the publisher or author. The
exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in the
critical articles or reviews and pages where permission is
specifically granted by the publisher or author.

Although every precaution has been
taken to verify the accuracy of the information contained herein,
the author and publisher assume no responsibility for any errors or
omissions. No liability is assumed for damages that may result from
the use of information contained within.

Books may be purchased by contacting the publisher and author
at:

Cover Design: Regina Wamba of MAE I DESIGN
Cover Models: Hannah Rose Peltier and Tommy David
Editor: Erin Roth of Wise Owl Editing

So much thanks!

My first shower of thanks go out to my two
small children. T and V, you make my heart smile! You will be much
much much older before you see this, but I want to thank you for
hanging out with daddy while I take my own ‘time out’ to do my
thing! I love you guys like crazy!

My critique partner, who will remain
nameless… although I’m not really sure why! (Haga;) You were a true
asset to the more-ahem, challenging scenes in Without Doubt. Thank
you for your insight and handholding! You’re absolutely
amazing!

Deven, my sister and confident, the word
Bestie doesn’t fit. You are so much more than that! I have so much
fun conquering autocorrect fails with you while seriously trying to
get these books written. Thank you for bringing me back when I
start freaking out. You’re the best at that!

ACS tours has been a magnificent blessing.
Ashley Wilcox, you my dear friend were a great discovery! You have
given me so much guidance and knowledge, which I am so grateful
for. Thank you for everything you do that you don’t have to! I look
forward to continue working with you!

Fairy God Mother, Jen Diaz, thanks Love for
all of your in put on this book and your help with spreading the
word! I’m so happy that our paths have crossed!

BLOGGERS! I am truly astonished at all of
your hard work and dedication to this Indie world. I’m thankful for
you opening up your page to me for promotions and interviews! It’s
been a blast getting to know some of you!

Mary Tatar of Mary Elizabeth’s Crazy Book
Obsession, thank you so much for all of your time and hard work on
the blog tour for Without Boundaries. I loved working with you and
I am still so in love with the book trailer. Thank You!!

Author Sarah Daltry, you have been extremely
helpful with your wealth of knowledge and willingness to share and
teach! Thank you for your support and all of your sharing and
promoting of Without Boundaries and Without Doubt!

Author Marie Wathen, it has been so lovely
watching you flourish on your journey! I love that I had the
opportunity to work breifly with you and have a chance to build a
friendship in this community of ours! Thank you so much for being
there for me during my quick little freak outs when I was
publishing Without Boundaries and trying to run that darn little
sale! And thanks so much for all of your your sharing and
support!!

Readers, my heart swells when I think of the
responses I’ve received from you on Without Boundaries. You have
asked for Without Doubt and it’s finally ready for you, I can’t
wait to hear more from you! Thank you so much for all of your
support!

Dedication

To my Husband, who finally
“got it”. Thank you my love, for all of your support.

Declan

Tonight’s training session was rough. We
typically don’t miss coming to Max’s Tavern after Thursday night
sessions and tonight is no exception. The guys and I stroll into to
the bar and take our normal booth. It’s an old, rundown bar, small
in size and low on patrons. It suits me perfectly. I rarely make it
in here on a weekend, so I’m not sure what business is like on
those days, but Thursday nights call my name.

Greyden, Keegan, Luca and I pile into our
booth and not two minutes later some girls from the gym approach
us. One of them, Rachel, is a girl that I hang out with sometimes.
She’s hot and a little annoying, but I usually have enough alcohol
in my system when she’s around to help me deal with that.

Rachel sidles up next to me with a shy look
on her face, but I know from personal experience that she’s
anything but shy. I wrap my arm around her lower back and pull her
closer. She giggles. I think I’m going to need a few drinks in me
right away.

“
What are you beautiful
girls up to tonight?” Greyden asks, laying it on thick. Grey’s been
out of sorts lately so when he raises his eyebrows towards Allison,
the girl he keeps around, I’m surprised. She’s always with us, but
it’s been a while since he’s been interested in openly flirting
with her.

The tiny brunette walks up to Greyden and
sits on his lap, leaning over to whisper something in his ear.
Greyden’s eyes widen and he hisses through his teeth. I can only
shake my head because I know that whatever she just said made him
one happy guy.

“
All right, first round’s
on me! Beer and shots coming up!” Greyden bellows as he stands and
throws his girl over his shoulder. She squirms and giggles as
Rachel laughs next to me.

“
Come outside with me? I
need a quick smoke before I start drinking.” She pulls on my arm
until I stand up in front of her. She has beautiful eyes; she could
be a really pretty girl if she wasn’t so… I’ve heard my mom say a
million times to Macie when we were growing up that “less is more,”
but someone must’ve forgotten to tell Rachel that because she’s
wearing enough makeup to rival a drag queen.

“
I don’t smoke,” I
protest.

“
I know, but I do. So come
with me so I don’t have to stand out there all alone.
Please?”

I may not be in the mood for her tonight,
but I’m still a decent guy. I’m not going to make her go out there
alone, so I swoop her up in my arms and press her up against the
length of my body as I walk us toward the door. She wraps her arms
around my neck and smiles brightly at me, her breath mingling into
mine. Her feet dangle down by my shins until I set her down
outside.

“
So, are you ready for
your fight next week?” Rachel asks as she lights up her
cigarette.

It’s cold. I’m wearing
jeans and a long sleeve Henley and I’m
still
cold. She’s wearing one of
those tops that come around her neck, baring her shoulders, back
and chest, and a mini skirt. She’s got to be freezing.

“
Yeah, I think so. I
fought this guy once before; he’s good, but I was able to take him
on our last match. I’m pretty confident I’m ready to do it
again.”

Rachel comes and cuddles up to me. I can see
goosebumps rise up on her arms and chest from the cold ass night as
she turns her upper body away from me, making sure she blows her
smoke in the other direction. I appreciate the thought but I can
still smell it. I hate the smell of smoke.

I grab the cigarette from her slender
fingers before leaning close to her face and speaking lowly. “You
done with this now, sweetheart?” I smirk when I see her eyes
dilate. I know that I can probably throw out her whole pack right
now and manage not to piss her off. She simply nods so I stomp it
out with my shoe before wrapping my arms around her to try and warm
her up a bit.

“
Declan?” She says my name
softly, as if she doesn’t want to startle me.

“
Yes?” I reply just as
softly. She may be annoying sometimes, but I do like the
girl.

“
Why won’t you take me
out?” she asks, sounding a little sad.

I don’t want to be an ass
to her; she’s nice enough. We always get along when we’re together
but I just don’t want to date her. “We’re out right now,” I point
out. I do
not
want to have this conversation. I don’t owe her anything. She
has been hinting for quite some time she wants more, but she always
comes when I call, and sometimes even when I don’t, like
tonight.

“
That’s not what I mean.
Take me
out
out.”
She looks about ready to beg.
That
I won’t deal with.

“
I don’t date, Rachel.
C’mon, let’s get back inside, you’re freezing.” I grab her hand and
pull her back inside to our booth. Everyone’s there but our
drinks.

“
Grey, what happened to
getting the drinks? I’m thirsty,” I ask as I sit down and Rachel
invites herself to sit on my lap.

“
There’s a new bartender.
She said she’d bring them over for us.” He covers Allison’s ears as
though she won’t be able to hear him before he continues. “She’s
ridiculously hot too, wait ‘til you see her, man.”

“
I’m not new, so don’t try
anymore of your shenanigans. Here are your drinks; can I get you
anything else?” The sweet voice comes from behind me and I’m
automatically drawn to turn and look at whom it belongs to. A tall,
leggy blonde with wavy strands of hair falling into her face lets
her green-eyed gaze fall to me. Her skin is golden tan, from either
her genes or the sun—no fake bake for this girl, her glow is real.
Those legs seem to go on forever until they disappear beneath her
denim cut offs. She’s crazy beautiful.

All of a sudden I feel a little
claustrophobic with Rachel sitting on my lap, so much so that I
have to fight the urge to push her off of me.

Ava

I really didn’t need this tonight. It was
bad enough watching Declan carry the overdone, underdressed Barbie
outside, now I have to listen to these girls giggle like idiots and
the guys eat out of the palms of their over-tanned hands.

“
Sorry, doll face. We’re
in here just about every Thursday, but we’ve never seen you. Didn’t
mean to offend you.” Greyden, as he introduced himself to me at the
bar, tries to sound sincere and he just about pulls it off. Then he
smirks at me with sex eyes.

Not happening, buddy.

“
No offense taken,
Greyden. I’m good. Just wave me down if you boys need anything
else.” I smile sweetly at them and start to walk away as the girl
sitting on Declan’s lap calls me to stop.

“
Excuse me, Bartender?
Boys? What about us girls? Aren’t you going to offer to get us what
we need too? That’s a bit sexist of you, don’t you think?” She
looks about ready to pitch a fit. I deal with these gold-digging
bimbos every weekend and I simply can’t let this opportunity pass
by. First I glance at Declan to see his reaction to the words
coming out of Barbie’s mouth. He doesn’t seem too happy, his mouth
forced into a straight line, eyebrows pitched downward and eyes
squinted.

“
Well, Barbie, I tend to
take care of the patrons that will be paying the tab. Based on the
way you
girls
are
dressed tonight, I think it’s a safe bet that, in this case, that’s
going to be these boys here, not you. Mmkay? However, if it’s super
important to you, I’d be happy to bring you your Cosmo or Piña
Colada or whatever your little heart desires tonight. Just wave me
down and I’ll be right over.” I blink my eyes dramatically and
offer a condescending smile before I turn and continue on to the
next table. As I walk away, I hear the guys burst into laughter and
the girls getting all crazy with them. I really don’t
care.