FIGHTER: An MMA Romance Novel (16 page)

T
he phone
in the pocket of his sweats kept buzzing with missed call after missed call. Jax ignored it while he stood at the sink washing dishes, and he ignored it now that he was seated at the tiny kitchen table Nicole owned. A bowl of broccoli in front of each of them, Nicole poured two glasses of water before she sat down.

It had to be the first time in history a girl had a dinner date of steamed broccoli and water, but from the way she was smiling, it didn't look like Nicole cared. What mattered was the company, and that Jax made sure she had a good time.

It was as much for his sake cause after Eric got through with him, Jax'd need all the tenderness and affection he could get.

Another call vibrated in his pocket. Eric was pissed that he was skipping out on tonight's session. Broccoli with Nicole was worth his anger. He was captivated by her. She had a kind of fire, a kind of spirit, that drew him in and wouldn't let go. Ever since Brazil she'd been on his mind, and Jax couldn't ignore what that meant anymore. Getting to know her only had him falling deeper under her spell. Preparing for the fight didn't matter when he had a chance to be close to her like this.

"We've done a lot of talking about me," Jax said, "and I'm about burned out on talking about the fight. Let's talk about you for a while. I'd love to hear about your life."

Nicole lifted her fork, prongs posed above the steaming broccoli in her bowl. For a moment she considered what he'd said, then she sighed and shook her head.

"Compared to what's going on with you, what's going on with me is pretty much nothing. If being there for Abby has taught me anything, it's that the things I think are so big and difficult aren't really all that bad. It could always be a lot worse. Especially after hearing everything you've overcome, I don't think I've got anything to complain about. I'm healthy, I'm making money, I'm close to my family. Besides, I've got the future to look forward to... with us."

The way she looked at him when she said it left him feeling fantastic. But despite her optimism about their future together, Jax couldn't ignore how defeated she sounded about everything else. He knew her heart still wasn't fully recovered after how Kade treated her.

"I didn't tell you about my past to put you down, you know," Jax insisted. "Like I said before, we all face our own struggles. Just because someone has it worse doesn't mean that your pain don’t matter. Abby's gotta get through her problems just like you gotta get through yours. Everyone deserves a little help from time to time. If you feel like talking about it, and that’ll help you out, I’m all ears."

With confidence, he flashed her a grin. Nicole looked skyward, but even as she objected, she grinned back. The curve of her lips captivated him. Memories of their time together in Kade's bedroom returned, and Jax felt heat flood him.
Soft skin. A slender waist. Beautifully curved hips. Full breasts. Skin the most beautiful brown he'd ever had the fortune to see. And her eyes...

"Alright,” she let out a burdened sigh. “Well. Since I found out what a pig Kade is, things have been tense, but not unbearable at work. For the most part he left me alone until today. Even though I work with him, we don't work closely. It wasn't until today that he found me and told me that all of this was happening."

"Yeah, my coach just told me this afternoon. It’s really last minute. I imagine it must be hard for you, if you have to put together all the media work that goes into promoting the event."

Videos, comments, viral media, Jax didn’t know much about it. For Nicole, he would learn. Even though he was far from the brightest guy, Nicole was worth way more than a little research.

"Well, it's what I went to school for," she said, words spoken through a charming smile. "It's kind of like being back in class at the end of a semester, when you've got all your projects due at once. It's chaos, and its hard work, but at the end of the day you know you worked your ass off to give it everything, and that's what counts.”

Her voice was his siren's song, and Jax knew he'd gladly jump overboard if it meant that he could hear it for the rest of his life. Plump lips moved with each word, near hypnotic. Jax ate, but his mind was elsewhere. Even his raging hunger was no match for how Nicole enthralled him.

"Do you have an angle yet for how you're going to approach everything?"

"Well, and I mean this in the most professional way possible, I think I'm going to focus on you and your journey to the top. Everyone already knows all about Kidwell, but people need to know more about you to get really geared for the fight. And I mean, what better motivation is there than working with a subject you're passionate about?"

The little grin had his heart beating faster. Jax couldn't take his eyes from her lips. Broccoli gone from his bowl, and the last few florets disappearing from hers, dinner was drawing to a close. With his diet, there was no way he could think about dessert, but there was
one
sweet thing he was desperate to taste again.

"Can I get you anything else to eat?" Nicole asked when she finished. "I feel really bad. I can go run to the store if you tell me what you're allowed to eat. Just eating broccoli for dinner feels so... So plain."

"Not at all," Jax replied. Alone now, he was able to give in to the instincts that drew him to her. On autopilot he rose from his seat to stand near her side of the table. "Let me take your bowl, and I'll clean up."

Nicole, looked up at him. The angles of her face were flawless, like she was a model from the pages of a magazine rather than a recovering party girl. Stunning. Radiant. The air between them grew thick and heavy. Jax felt the heat deep in his gut begin to invade the rest of his body, leaving his skin prickling with anticipation.

"No," she whispered. Those lips. Jax couldn't get over how heavenly they looked, and how he remembered they felt. "You didn't come all the way here to do dishes. Why don't we..."

As they moved, navigating each of her utterances, Jax couldn’t look away. At last he could take no more. His body pulsed with desire, he lifted a hand and cupped her cheek, locking her eyes as Nicole's words unraveled. He stooped down and when at last his lips explored hers again, Jax's spirits soared. The memory of them was nothing compared to how they felt in that very moment. How he hoped the could explore those lips time and time again in the days and years to come.

As the kiss drew to a close, Jax's hand moved from her cheek to her hair, tucking it back behind her ear before he ran his hand through it. "I'm so glad that I met you," he whispered. "I've met a lot of girls, but no one I've met has ever made me as happy as you."

The lips he idolized parted just a little as Nicole was overcome by the weight of his words. Jax couldn't keep himself away anymore. Dishes forgotten, modesty abandoned, he let their lips meet again. This time, when Nicole kissed him back, there was fire in her touch.

"I'm such a bad hostess," she whispered when their kiss broke. The sound of her voice roused him. "I haven't given you a complete tour. What do you say I show you the bedroom, and we get a little more comfortable?"

This time it wasn't alcohol and wild excitement fueling her desire. This time she wanted only him. Hand in hand, Nicole drew him to the bedroom door and into the room within.

N
icole led
Jax into her bedroom when he suddenly stopped. Confused, she turned to look at him with question marks in her eyes. However, it only took one glance to see that he wasn't hesitating, if anything he looked like he was restraining himself. Flames of passion flickered in his eyes like fuel being poured on a house fire. Jax circled Nicole's wrist with his large fingers and pulled her toward him, his strong arms wrapping around her as he leaned in and kissed her softly. Nicole would never stop being surprised by how a man as burly as Jax could also be so tender.

Their tongues danced softly against each other and Nicole melted into his arms, the strength of his hard body supporting her like a pillar. Jack ran his palm over Nicole's long dark hair and freed himself from her lips at last, staring into her brown eyes.

"You're so beautiful Nicole. I keep… I keep struggling to try to tell you this, I mean it's not just your beauty that I'm interested in. I've told you this before, well I've tried. When I tell you that you’re beautiful I mean all of you. When I look at you I see a woman that deserves everything, and I know I can't give you the riches and the fancy dresses. At least, not yet. But I can treat you like you deserve to be treated. And from what I've seen you haven't been treated anything close to what you deserve in a long time."

"Oh, Jax," Nicole looked at the floor, the unfamiliar feeling of shyness washing over her once more.
How did he do this to her? How could a few sentences make her clam up like a girl against the wall at a junior high dance?
She looked up at him, his pale blue eyes always searching her soul. Not knowing what to say, she kissed him once more.

Jax began peeling her clothes off one by one letting them drop to the floor in a pool of fabric around them. Nicole tried to help Jax take off his shirt, but she could barely get it up over his abs before she was struggling on her tippy toes to get any higher. Jax made quick work of stripping off the rest of way, until Nicole's floor disappeared beneath their clothes and they stood naked in each other.

"Look at you," Jax admired, "you’re perfect." His eyes slid over her curves, his hand following. Before she had time to revel in his touch, Jax kissed a trail down her collar bone and over her breasts. Soon he was down on his knees, kissing a trail over her stomach and down to her hip. From her hip, he dragged his tongue down over her wet pussy and tasted her sweet nectar.

Nicole clutched Jax’s shoulders with both hands and threw her head back with a moan. She opened her legs wider for him, hoping he’d continue. And when he hooked each of his arms under her thighs, exposing her sex to him, plunging his tongue into her pussy, she relaxed against him. However, she stiffened with a jolt when Jax held her spread eagle with his arms wrapped under her legs and his large hands holding her hips, and he lifted her up effortlessly until she was teetering in the air with Jax supporting her and her pussy only inches from his mouth.

“Oh, my god! Don’t drop me! What are you doing?” She cried. No man had ever made her feel so small before. So weightless.

“Trust me, you’ll like it.” Jax murmured, walking her back toward her bedroom wall until her back lightly hit it with a thud. She could easily brush her fingertips against the ceiling if she reached up, but Nicole had a death grip on Jax’s shoulders the whole time. There was no way she was going to let go of him up here.

She looked down at him and he smiled.
She did trust him.
She could see in his eyes that there was no way he’d ever let any harm come to her. With the wall making her feel more steady, and Jax as her pillar, she watched as he buried his face into her pussy. She couldn’t believe how much more sensitive she felt with the threat of falling pulsing danger through her veins. Jax’s tongue rolled against her clit, flattening and pressing her nub firmly.

Nicole couldn’t do a single thing except enjoy the moment. She rocked her hips slightly, pressing her pussy into Jax’s mouth and moaned loudly when he plunged his tongue into her tight hole. He thrust his tongue into her, fucking her with it, but she knew from experience that it was no substitute for the girth he’d slide into her later.

Her thoughts went blank and electricity jolted through her limbs as Jax swirled his tongue back up to her clit. Feeling brave and safe in Jax’s arms, Nicole let her hands float up from his shoulders and rest flat on the ceiling above her head. Jax sped up his focus on her nub, flicking his tongue over her and then flattening it firmly, never tiring. Inside, Nicole could feel her desire blossoming, like a new bud facing the spring sun. The bliss built up in her, like the petals slowly unfurling to meet the morning light, until at last the sheer ecstasy burst open in her like a new rose finally opening to share its beauty with the world.

Nicole trembled as her orgasm rolled through her from her fingers touching the bedroom ceiling to her toes dangling down over Jax’s shoulder.

Suddenly, Nicole was freefalling. A small scream escaped her lips as Jax let go of her legs and let her tumble down. Just as she was bracing herself for the pain of the fall, he grabbed her with both hands circling her waist, and held her against the wall. Her heart was thudding in her chest and her head was spinning. First her orgasm then the fall. She couldn’t make sense of the moment.

“You almost dropped me,” she finally managed.

“No, I would never drop you. I just wanted to wake you up a little.” He smiled down at her. “I still have plans for you.”

Nicole looked up at him from her lidded eyes. She was right to trust him; he would never let her really fall. Not from his shoulders and not in life. When she glanced down, she couldn’t help but gasp. Although she’d seen Jax naked before, she’d never really had the chance to appreciate his body. Now, staring down over it as she was, she could see the ridges of each cut muscle making their way down to his thick, long cock. A cock that was ready for her.

Wrapping her legs around his waist, she shimmied up him a bit and Jax easily held her against the wall. She hovered over his large member, enjoying the way the heat teased her pussy with a promise of the pleasure to come. But Jax wasn’t in the mood for teasing. Pulling her down firmly, he pushed his thick shaft into her until she could slide down no more. Nicole couldn’t believe how full she felt. Her heart felt full, her spirit felt full, and Jax was making her feel like a virgin again with his girth. Never had one man fulfilled her in so many ways.

Jax’s hands moved up from her hips and his arms hooked up around her shoulders so she was under his control. He thrust his cock into her slowly at first and her sweet juices coated him. His speed quickly picked up, each time he pushed in he seemed to go deeper and faster than the last time. Nicole was overwhelmed by the intensity rippling through her as he fucked her. Her hands slid over his shoulders and she dragged her nails over his broad back and tightened her legs around his thick waist. Jax held Nicole so tight she was gasping for air, but he didn’t relent. Faster he pumped into her, until Nicole could barely keep her eyes open from the pleasure. She could feel his cock pulse inside her and he grunted loudly as he filled her in yet another way. With his seed.

When the last twitches of his cock stopped, Jax pulled out of Nicole and helped her find the ground with her feet. She felt disoriented as he kissed her, like the entire world was swirling and shifting under her feet.

“You’re amazing,” he whispered, his voice thick.

“Mmmm, Jax, I feel the same way about you. Oh, my god that was so good.” A smile was her reward as he guided her to the bed.

“I’m glad, but you know you should probably get a little rest. We’re far from done.”

“Oh is that so,” Nicole murmured, hoping it was true.

“It is.” He answered. “What kind of fighter doesn’t have enough stamina to make it past the first round?” His blue eyes twinkled as he teased her. “I hate to tell ya, but you’re gonna be tired at work tomorrow. I’m gonna have you up all night.” He laid down on the bed next to her.

“Well, I can’t think of any better reason to need coffee in the morning,” she purred.

And Jax made sure that if she was gonna need coffee anyway, she might as well make a whole pot.