“That’s exactly what I was going for,” she says, stepping closer and cocking her head. She smells like flowers, and it hits me that I should have bought her a bouquet or something. Man, I’m out of practice.
“You look fucking amazing,” I tell her, laying my palms on her shoulders carefully, because she’s so soft and my hands are rough. I don’t want to mark her beautiful skin before we leave. “Every guy there is going to wish they were me tonight.”
She smooths her hands over my chest, and I wonder if she can feel my heart thundering through the jacket. “And every woman is going to wish they were me.” Her teeth catch her lower lip, scraping through the lipstick. I can’t take my eyes off them. “It’s not fair how good you look. Aren’t fighters supposed to have cauliflower ears and crooked noses?”
“Not all of us.” Although, as she knows, I have my share of scars and flaws.
“I love the way you’re looking me at,” she whispers. “Like you want to eat me up. But we should probably go inside and get ready to leave.”
“Later?”
“Yeah.” She worries her lip again and watches me with those big, gorgeous eyes. “Later.”
She tries to move past me, but I hold her tight. I need to have a taste. Just one, then we’ll do the responsible thing. I take her mouth with all of the savage desire that’s been growing within me since I first opened the door. With a sigh of surrender, she softens against me and parts her lips. My tongue plunges in, finesse long gone, and I consume her like I’m starving. In contrast, she’s gentle and relenting, letting me take what I want, giving me what I need, her whimpers muffled by my greedy kiss.
Chest heaving, I draw back. Her lips are plumper than before, the lipstick gone and natural color shining through. Groaning, I kiss her once more, softly, then back away from her.
“Sorry. Couldn’t resist. You just…” I make a helpless sound, and she nods.
“I get it.”
Thank God one of us does, because I don’t. I’ve always had a healthy libido, but I’ve never been so overwhelmed by need for a particular woman. My cock is straining against my pants, desperate to bury itself in her, but we both pretend it’s not there and eventually it begins to behave.
“Come in. Nick is already here.”
She moves past me, then whips out a pocket mirror and reapplies lipstick before we continue to the living room. Why that disappoints me, I don’t know. Perhaps I wanted my manager to know exactly what we were doing. As far as Lena goes, I wanteveryoneto know what’s between us, even if I don’t fully understand it myself yet. Unfortunately, that’s not in the cards just yet. She’s determined to keep us quiet until I’m not her client anymore, and I respect that decision.
“Hi, Nick.” Lena greets him with a handshake, then perches primly on the edge of an oversized armchair. Most of my furniture is super-size, because otherwise my brothers and I wouldn’t be comfortable. We make them look normal, but the chair dwarfs Lena. She meets my eyes. “Do you have your speech ready?”
I nod.
“He’s been practicing,” Nick says. “He’s ready to go, even if he doesn’t believe it himself.”
Her expression softens, and I become a gooey marshmallow on the inside.
“You’ll be great.” She touches her hair, which is arranged in ringlets over her shoulders. “You’ve got this, Jase. I have absolute faith in you.”
Okay, so that makes me feel ten feet tall. “Thanks.” My voice is gruff. I’m not comfortable talking about shit like this, but I appreciate her words more than she’ll ever know. When was the last time someone else told me they believed in me? I search my mind, but I’m not sure that anyone ever has—apart from Seth, perhaps. Not a woman, certainly. “That means a lot.”
And it makes me want to screw her senseless. When this fundraiser ends, Lena LaFontaine is getting really lucky.
She shrugs. “It’s just the truth. Shall we get going then?”
“Guess so.” There’s no one else holding us up. Although I must say, she’s worth every agonizing minute of the wait. With more nerves churning in my stomach than I’ve ever had before a fight, I take Lena’s hand and tuck it into my elbow, holding her close. We head out to the driveway, where a limo is waiting, and I help her into the backseat, then climb in after her. Nick sits opposite. He’s left his laptop behind but pulls a phone from his pocket and starts typing. I swear, the guy is permanently glued to technology. I bet he’s even found a way to channel his sleepwaves into productive communication.
I mentally run through my speech again. I feel like such a goddamned fraud to be speaking at an event about literacy when I can’t remember the last time I read anything that wasn’t on social media, but Lena’s presence steadies me. She wouldn’t have signed me up for this if she didn’t believe I could do it. Reaching over, I take her by the waist and lift her onto my lap.
“Stop manhandling me in front of your manager,” she mutters, leaning close so Nick can’t hear. Not that he’d notice if she yelled it out of the sunroof. He’s absorbed in whatever is on his phone.
“You don’t really want me to stop,” I reply, more confident than I actually am.
Sighing dramatically, she settles into my lap and loops one of her arms around my neck. “Okay, maybe not. But don’t mess with my hair, or we’re going to have a problem.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Although I’m having fantasies about tugging on those curls while she rides me. My dick stirs again. She raises an eyebrow. What can I say? I’m a horny bastard where she’s concerned.
I keep her on my lap until we arrive at the fundraiser, where Nick pockets his phone and waits for me to leave the limo first. Apparently I’m expected to make a big entrance. I take Lena’s arm, bringing her along with me, so when I step into the flashing lights of a dozen cameras, she’s by my side. We cross a paved pavilion and walk up a staircase lined with reporters and photographers. None of them can get close to me, which means this is my jam. I can handle public displays just fine from a distance. It’s when they want me to talk that my confidence plunges.
Lifting a hand, I wave to a guy I recognize from one of the big sports channels, and nod to a popular YouTuber who once did a flattering feature on me. They’re rabidly curious about Lena, I can see it from here, and she must be able to as well because she flattens herself to me as though she’s trying to make herself small and inconspicuous. Fuck that, she looks like a million bucks and she deserves to know it.
