Fighting for Love (19 page)

He leaned down and brushed his lips across mine, nipping my bottom lip. That feeling he spoke of tingled all the way down my body, making me shiver. He was right; I had never felt that with anyone other than him.

“What makes it even more different, angel, is that I love you. I always have.”

I REGRETTED EVER PROMISING SHELBY
that I wouldn’t go after Kyle. Instead of staying at her house, I got her to pack a bag and she came back home with me. Kyle wouldn’t dare try to stalk us at my home, and if he did show up on my property I had every right to beat the fuck out of him.

Shelby fell asleep in the car, never once waking up when I picked her up and laid her in my bed. I couldn’t imagine what she felt when she saw those pictures, believing they were of me. If I saw pictures of her like that with a bunch of guys, I’d be beyond livid and ready to kill someone.

Finally, Saturday arrived and tonight’s fight would be me against Jeremy Bender at the Oracle Arena in Oakland. In two more weeks I’d have my fight with Kyle, and I couldn’t wait to feel the bones in his face crack. When I got in the ring, the thought of breaking someone in half never crossed my mind, except with Kyle. He hated me for taking away his title, and he would keep hating me because I was going to make sure he never got it back.

“What’s that look for, son?” Carter asked, putting on his gloves. “You look like you’re wound up a little too tight. Are you having girl trouble again?”

Early this morning, I called Carter to see if he would come to my house and help me work out in my own private gym instead of going to his. That way, I could stay with both Shelby and Gabriella while they were here.

My punching bag, however, probably wished otherwise.

“No, not exactly,” I said, answering Carter’s question. “It’s more like Kyle trouble. He’s trying to fuck things up with Shelby so I’ll fight like shit. Not going to happen, though.”

Carter came up behind the bag and held it in place for me. “Good, but make sure you keep your head on straight, son. Don’t let him ruin things for you. You’ve worked too hard and too long to give up everything for that boy.”

“I know,” I said, “but it’s easier said than done.”

WE TRAINED FOR THE REST
of the morning until Carter thought I was prepped and conditioned enough for the fight. Shelby wasn’t in my bedroom and Gabriella wasn’t in hers when I tried to find them, and neither one of them were in the pool. There was only one other place they could be, and sure enough when I opened the door to the theater there they were, watching the same movie they used to watch together all those years ago. Thankfully, it was at the end. The room had theater lighting on both sides of the wall, a fully stocked snack bar, and eight extra-large seats that reclined. I didn’t use it much, but Gabriella loved it.

“Do you not get tired of watching that over and over?” I asked incredulously.

Tears streaming down their cheeks, they both glared at me. “Do you not get tired of beating people up every weekend?” Gabriella countered sarcastically.

Grinning, I shook my head. “Nope. It’s what keeps me sane.”

My sister scoffed and rolled her eyes. “All right, then.
Steel Magnolias
keeps me sane, so how about that? You enjoy your thing and we enjoy ours. Simple as that.”

Shelby chuckled and bumped shoulders with Gabriella. It was good to see them getting along. I knew with time Gabriella would open up to her again.

“Matt, you know you’re not going to win against her, right? I always gave up when she’d do the same thing to me,” Shelby chimed.

Gabriella smiled and looked down at her phone. “That’s right. Now if you don’t mind, I have an appointment with Mom to get my hair done. You know how she gets when people are late.”

She turned and gave Shelby a hug before kissing my cheek and rushing out of the theater. “I see you two are finally getting along. Did you seek her out?” I asked.

Shelby nodded and wrapped her arms around my waist. “I did. Since you were working out I thought it would be a good time to talk to her. All it took was mentioning
Steel Magnolias
and I had her.”

Running my fingers through her long, brown hair, I tilted her head to the side and kissed the spot behind her ear. Last night with her lying in bed beside me, all I could think about was making love to her, and for the majority of the night I spent it hard as a fucking rock.

“What do you want to do?” I whispered in her ear. “We have a few hours before we need to leave for Oakland.”

Her breathy giggle was so damn sexy. “I actually thought it would be fun to take a swim. Besides, you’re kind of sweaty so it might be good for you to cool off,” she teased. “Not to mention you have to fight tonight. You might want to conserve that pent up aggression for the ring.”

“We’ll see about that,” I told her. “Go get your bathing suit on and meet me out at the pool. Are you hungry?”

She nodded, rubbing her stomach. “Yes, I’m starved.”

“So am I,” I said, but it wasn’t for food.

I MADE HAM AND TURKEY
deli sandwiches, and grabbed waters and two bags of chips before heading out to the pool. Shelby was already out there, laying on her back in one of the lounge chairs, in a white bikini that contrasted with her naturally golden skin. There had never been another girl that could get me so hard just being around her.

When she saw me approaching, she sat up and swung her legs over the chair. “Wow, those look good! And you have cheddar and sour cream potato chips, too,” she squealed, reaching for one of the sandwiches and a pack of chips. “I hadn’t had potato chips in so long. Jace and I never buy them, so it’s been years since I’ve eaten these. Plus, you know that my parents never bought them, so the only time I ever ate them was at school out of the snack machines.”

“I know,” I said, “I remember. You used to buy me a pack, too, when you’d tutor me in the afternoons.”

Her smile softened and her gaze started to mist. “Yes, I did. It was the first time I ever met you and we shared a pack together. After that, I just bought you your own pack.”

“Yeah, so you wouldn’t have to share,” I teased, hoping to make her laugh. “I’m not stupid, angel, I knew you wanted that whole pack of chips to yourself.”

Finally, she burst out laughing and smacked me in the arm. “Hey, they were good. Do you remember when we went skinny dipping in my pool?” she asked.

Groaning, I closed my eyes and lowered my head. We were in high school, and we wanted to add another first to our list. Her parents left for the evening, and she called me to come over. It was fun until …

“Oh, how could I forget?” I remarked jokingly. “We were in the middle of getting it on in your pool when your parents showed up because your mother forgot something. It was kind of cold having to hide out in the bushes until they left.”

Shelby covered her mouth with her hand and laughed. “Yeah, but it turned out perfectly once they left.”

Yes, it did,
I thought. Her parents didn’t come back until the early morning, so I stayed with her and we made love all night long. Most teenagers our age couldn’t say what true love was, but Shelby and I knew without a doubt that what we had was real. It was so real to me that I even bought her a ring, except the night before I was to give it to her, she ended everything.

To this day, I still kept the ring.

Taking Shelby’s hand, I pulled her to her feet and reached behind her back to untie the string of her top, letting it fall off her body. “What are you doing? Your sister will be back soon,” she gasped, putting her hand over her breasts to cover them up.

“Well then, I guess we better hurry.”

Pulling her to my body, I jumped into the pool, taking her with me. She screamed and laughed the entire way into the water, and as soon as she came up for air, I grabbed her by the hips and pushed her to the wall of the pool.

“You’re crazy,” she murmured.

Just like I did with her top, I untied both sides of her bottoms and let them float away in the water. “Wrap your legs around me and hold on tight, angel,” I commanded.

Holding us up with one hand on the edge, I pulled down my shorts with the other and set her down on my cock. She gasped and put her arms around my neck, arching her back, which made it easy for me to suck her puckered nipples. All the way up her neck, I trailed my tongue over her skin until I got to her lips. She opened for me and brushed her tongue against mine as deep as she could go, holding my face in her hands.

“You taste so damn good,” I growled, pushing into her hard.

She moaned and tightened her legs around me. “I’m so close, Matt.”

Her insides clenched tight around my cock and I knew it was only a matter of seconds before she exploded all around me. Her moans and cries were so fucking hot that I knew I could get off just by listening to them. However, my chances of that were cut short when my sister walked through the back door with her bathing suit on, a towel in her arm, and her gaze on her phone.

“Fuck,” I hissed.

Breathing hard, Shelby opened her eyes and gasped, “What is it? Why did you stop?”

The answer to that question came loud and clear when my sister looked up and finally spotted us. “You have got to be kidding me,” she shrieked. “There is no way in hell I’m getting in that pool now.” Turning on her heel, she hurried back inside, mumbling how disgusting it was to catch her brother having sex.

Shelby sunk down as far into the water as she could go and put her hands over her face. “Oh my God, this is embarrassing.”

“Not as embarrassing as it is for her, trust me. You should’ve seen how red her face got,” I added jokingly.

Shelby moved her hands and sighed, her face as red as could be. “Maybe we should finish this later?” she suggested.

Still hard inside of her, I wanted to finish it then, but couldn’t have her feeling uncomfortable. Sliding out of her, I swam over to our bottoms, which were floating in the water across the pool, and handed hers to her while also slipping mine on. Her bikini top was on the lounge chair, so I reached over the edge of the pool for it and turned her around so I could tie it in the back.

With her back to me, I pushed my cock against her ass and whispered in her ear, “We finish this tonight, angel. As soon as the fight’s over we’re coming right back here and I’m going to fuck you as long and hard as I can. I hope you’re ready for that.”

Chuckling, she smiled at me over her shoulder. “You promise?”

“You better believe it.”

THANKFULLY, AFTER THE FIASCO IN
the pool, Gabriella didn’t mention anything about it when I saw her sitting in the living room watching TV. Matt was still getting his things together for the fight, so it was just me and her, my face heating up in embarrassment again. She had her raven colored hair perfectly straight down her back with a pair of jeans and a black tank top with ‘Team Matt’ written on it in red. I loved it.

“Where did you get that?” I asked.

Immediately, she lifted her gaze and saw me staring at her shirt. “Oh, I had it made. Matt thought it was pretty cool, so I told him I’d wear one to all of his fights. I’ve been doing it now for five years.”

“I really like it,” I told her. “I need to get one made so I can wear it to his fights.”

Her eyes lit up and she fumbled with the zipper on her bag. “I have an extra one in my bag. Do you want to wear it tonight? It’ll go good on top of the blue tank you’re wearing.”

“You wouldn’t mind?”

She scoffed and started searching through her bag. “Please, I have a gazillion of them and all in different colors.” When she found what she was looking for, she grabbed it and threw it my way. “This one has blue letters on it instead of red like mine.”

“Great, thank you,” I murmured. Slipping it on over my blue tank top, I smoothed it down. “How does it look?”

“I think it looks hot,” Matt said from across the room. “Are we ready to go?”

Gabriella got to her feet and put her bag over her shoulders. “I’m ready, but I’m following you guys so that afterwards I can just drive home from there. If I don’t get the chance to see you before you fight, you better kick ass out there, okay?”