“It’s okay, Lena. The round has ended. Jase is fine.”
Opening my eyes, I blink until my vision readjusts. In the cage, Seth is up in Jase’s grill, talking and gesturing with firm movements. Devon is icing his legs, and Gabe is smearing something over a cut at his temple.
“What’s he saying?” I ask Sydney, although I have no idea why I think she knows the answer.
But she eyes them thoughtfully. “My guess is Seth is telling Jase to get him in a chokehold and force him to tap out.”
“How do you work that out?”
She looks over at me. “A couple of things. After a while, you get good at reading Seth’s hand gestures. Also, choking people is Jase’s specialty, so it’s a pretty safe bet.”
I shudder. Legal or not, there’s something scary about having a lover who’s known for choking his opponents. The umpire orders the others out of the cage and the second round begins. Whatever Seth said, it’s fired Jase up because he launches himself at Karson and knocks him to the ground. Grabbing him from behind, he wraps his legs around Karson’s waist and loops his elbow under his chin. Karson throws his weight around, trying to dislodge Jase, but he’s like a pit bull and doesn’t let go. There’s a steeliness in his eyes I recognize, and also a gleam of triumph.
He’s got this.
Karson can’t shake him. The other fighter bucks and flails to no avail. Finally, his face red, he taps the floor. The umpire ends the fight and hurries to separate them. Karson bends over, gasping for air, and Jase leaps nimbly to his feet, waving a fist. I scream, and so does everyone else.
Then he turns and looks right at me. Heat shoots straight to my core. He’s sweaty and bleeding, every muscle popping like crazy, and I want him to pin me against a wall and fuck me harder than ever before. But then his crew swarm, and his gaze is torn from mine.
“Damn, girl,” Sydney exclaims, bumping my shoulder. “That washot.”
It was. So hot I feel like I’m going to crawl out of my skin with want. My body aches for him, and so does my heart. I want to go to him, right now, but the umpire is taking his hand and raising it above his head. A pretty girl in a tube top and miniskirt fastens the world’s largest belt around his waist and then someone is shoving a microphone in front of him. The volume of the audience falls, as they all wait for him to speak. He’s grinning. The biggest, most stupidly sexy grin I’ve ever seen.
“Hi, everyone,” he says, his tone uneven, as though he hasn’t caught his breath yet. “This is such an honor. I wanna thank my coach, Seth Isles, and my training partners from Crown MMA. I couldn’t have done it without you.” At this, both Gabe and Devon hit their fists to their hearts. He looks over at Karson, who’s sulking in the corner. “I also wanna thank Karson for bringing his A-game.”
Karson glares like he wants to flip him off, but nods graciously.
“But there’s also someone else I need to thank,” Jase says, and then his eyes are on me.
I go still inside. He holds my gaze, and I wish I was closer so I could see what’s going on behind those slate gray eyes.
“A special woman gave me the motivation I needed to pull through.”
Oh. My. God. He’s talking about me.
Sydney gives my shoulder a push, and hisses, “Go to him.”
But I don’t move. I can’t. My feet are rooted to the ground.
In the cage, Jase clears his throat, and when he speaks again, his voice is thick with emotion. “I always thought love was a distraction, but it turns out it’s the most powerful motivator of all.” Then he hands the microphone to someone else and stalks toward me.
My legs are jelly. My spine, too. This man has turned all of me to goo. I can’t even tell how the people in the arena are responding to this unexpected turn of events because I can’t hear them anymore. All I can hear is the drumming of my pulse in my ears.
Jase stops in front of me and reaches out a hand. I take it, and he yanks me upright. I can see his eyes now, and they’re so freaking deep and warm, and the emotion in them rocks me, but he holds my arms so I don’t fall. Movements around us blur into the background. I stare at him, and he stares right back. The moment seems to go on forever, and I wonder which of us will be the first to break it.
* * *
Jase
I am the fucking super lightweight champion. But better than that, I feel like a man who’s worthy of Lena. Maybe it’s the adrenaline talking. Shit, maybe it’s just the caveman part of me that wanted to vanquish her ex, but I’m on top of the world, and all I care about is that Lena keeps looking at me this way every day for the rest of our lives.
Fuck, she’s perfect, and her eyes say everything her words haven’t. She wants me. She’s proud of me. She loves me.
“Lena,” I rasp, smoothing a battered hand around the sweet curve of her face. “I know what you did for me.”
Her lips part, but no sound emerges. I want to kiss them. I want to claim those pouty red lips in front of everyone here, but I need to talk to her first.
“This was all for you,” I tell her, willing her to understand. “I won for you.”
