In that second, I couldn’t give a damn about a fight. Not with the woman I’ve loved for so many years in my arms and her words ricocheting in my head.
My everything…my everything…my everything…
I’ll never unhear it.
I’m not fooling myself. There will be people who will resent her love for me and mine for her. Mom definitely will. Especially since I broke my promise to her. Regret and sadness twinges inside my chest for that. And a part of me wants to ask her if she’s certain that this—thatI’m—what she wants. Because it will estrange her from the family she loves, the family we both love.
But then Eden tilts her head back, a wide grin illuminating her face, brighter than the arena lights, and I shove those doubts aside. She loves me. And right now, that’s all that matters.
“He’ll be right there,” she says, not turning to Jake but stroking my cheekbone, the bridge of my nose, my mouth. “He has ass to kick.”
The corner of my mouth quirks. “You going in there?”
She shakes her head, sadness flickering across her expression. “No, I can’t. I’m sorry.”
I press my mouth to hers in a brief, hard kiss. As if she needs to apologize. I understand why she can’t watch another fight. “You’ll be here when I get back?”
The sorrow evaporates under the heat of her smile. “There’s no other place I’d rather be. Go get him. For you. And for Connor.”
I draw her close for another embrace, closing my eyes and savoring her. Then I pull away and charge out of the room. The sooner I win this match, the sooner I can get back to my woman.
Mine.
Goddamn, that feels good to finally be able to say.
…
I cradle Eden’s hips. Lift her off me until only the tip of my cock remains between those beautiful, puffy, wet lips. I grit my teeth as I slowly lower her, watching as my flesh, glistening with the evidence of her need, disappears inside her.
“Fuck,” I grunt, her flesh taking me deep, spasming around me. Christ, she feels so perfect. Squeezing me like a fist, sucking me like a mouth. My thighs tense, ass clenches. Electrical pulses sizzle in the soles of my feet, racing up my body, my spine, only to dart back down and tingle in my balls. They draw up tight, and it won’t be long before I give in to that welcoming oblivion.
I spent three weeks without her. Yeah, I can’t hold out.
Her fingernails bite into my shoulders, and, head thrown back onto her shoulders, she cries out. “Knox, please,” she begs, hips twisting, writhing. “I need to come. So bad. Give it to me.”
No way I can deny her. Not when she pleads so pretty like that.
Reaching between us, I circle her clit, even as I pound up inside her. Her sex ripples around me, sucking me deeper. I don’t let up on that swollen nub, rubbing, massaging. With a hoarse scream, she convulses on top of me, her walls clamping down hard, milking me. Taking me over that edge with her. Grabbing her ass, I hold her up and drive into her, fucking her, branding her as mine.
“Mine,” I growl as I come, pouring so hard and long into her, a part of me is afraid it won’t end. And the other part is worried it will.
As the sharp-edged pleasure eases, I leave the bed and quickly dispose of the condom in the bathroom, hating to be separated from Eden for even that long. Sliding in beside her, I tug her into my arms, and she eagerly curls around me, settling her head on my chest, bending her thigh over mine. She brushes her hand over my chest, resting it over my heart.
“Tell me again,” I murmur into the darkness.
Soft lips graze my nipple, and my emptied cock twinges. “I’m yours,” she whispers. “And I love you.”
Rolling, I pin her under me, threading our fingers together and guiding her arms above her head. Lowering my head, I take her mouth, sliding my tongue between her lips, and she opens for me, welcoming me. Her taste, that silky moan she makes, her touch on my face, in my hair—none of it will ever get old. Ever.
“If I haven’t said it before, let me say it now,” she breathes. “I’m proud of you.”
A warm glow throbs right over my heart. No, she hadn’t been able to watch the fight, but after winning the match in the fifth round by unanimous decision, I returned to the dressing room. And no one celebrated harder than she did.
“Are you sure you’re okay with retiring again?” she asks, gaze steady on me.
“I told you, I want my life in Chicago. With you.”
She nods, smiles. “I just don’t want you to have regrets.”
