Passing His Guard (Against the Cage #2) (31 page)

His fast, unyielding pace quickly chased her to the pinnacle of release. She was hovering on the edge when his hand slipped from her hip down to her sex. He trapped her clit between his thumb and his cock, pressing the bundle of nerves against his steel shaft. She shattered. A million times over she shattered, coming so hard she turned her head and sank her teeth into Aiden’s bicep to keep from crying out. He cursed an erotic “Oh, fuck . . .” and slammed into her one final time before an explosion of hot seed jetted against her core.

As the last pulses of Aiden’s release shuddered through his powerful body, Ryann struggled to catch her breath. “You were right, you do work fast,” he teased, his breathless confession proving he was just as wrung out as Ryann was. “To hell with the gym, sweetheart, you’re the only cardio I need.”

She laughed, elbowing him in the ribs. “I came in here to shower and get dressed, you know.”

Aiden stepped back and grabbed her by his T-shirt, turning her to face him. “No you didn’t. You made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.” He tugged her closer and planted a solid kiss on her mouth. “I hate to bang and bail, but I really gotta go.” He hiked up his slacks and made quick work of tucking everything back in place.

“It’s all right.” Ryann crossed her arms over her chest, savoring the feel of snuggling into Aiden’s shirt. The hem line brushed against her thighs as she leaned her bottom against the dresser, enjoying the view of watching him get dressed. Still naked from the waist up, he was a feast for the eyes. All hard planes and rippling muscle . . . She could feel the heat blooming anew in her core just watching him.

He crossed the room to the closet where he kept his overflow of clothes and grabbed a new shirt from the hanger. Shrugging it over his wide shoulders, he quickly began fastening the buttons as he walked toward her. “Do you mind moving your stuff into my room so I can put Nikko in the spare room?”

“No, not at all. I’d just started to unpack anyway. It’s not a big deal.”

“Thanks, babe.” He scooped his jacket off the floor and attempted to shake the wrinkles out before slipping it back on. As he fastened the two buttons, he bent down and gave her one last kiss. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He flashed her a sexy grin and grabbed the front of his T-shirt, giving it a playful tug. “You look good in my clothes, Ryann.”

CHAPTER

 32 

G
ood morning, Mr. Kruze.”

“Good morning,” Aiden responded for the umpteenth time, ignoring the double takes and surprised greetings as he made his way toward his office. He walked into the firm with the same cool, determined purpose with which he’d walked out of it fourteen months ago.

In all honesty, there was a part of him that was surprised to see his name was still on the office door. Then again, his father was all about image. Heaven forbid all may not be well within the Kruze Kingdom. The man would do just about anything to save face, and scraping your kid’s name off the office door with an X-Acto knife didn’t exactly say
all is well.
And it was exactly that prideful arrogance Aiden was counting on to get him the clearance he needed to access his files.

His father believed it was only a matter of time before Aiden came to his senses and came crawling back home with his tail between his legs. The man had said as much the night Aiden stormed out of his parents’ mansion and said
fuck it all
. He stopped at his secretary’s desk as he passed by and said, “Shirley, would you mind getting IT on the phone to reactivate my security clearance?”

The woman glanced at him, did a double take, and choked on her coffee. “Right away, Mr. Kruze,” she sputtered.

Aiden was banking on his office key still working and shook his head at his father’s predictability when the metal slid home and the lock opened. It was too easy, really. And that thought lasted for a whole thirty minutes. He was on the phone with IT when his office door swung open then slammed shut. So much for not wanting to make a scene . . .

“Can I call you back?”

“Not a problem, Mr. Kruze. And what about the archived files? They require a special password clearance. Will you want me to reset that as well?”

“Yes, please. I appreciate your help.”

“Call me if you need anything else.”

Aiden hung up the phone and turned his attention to the pissed-off man towering over his desk.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.

“Hey, Dad. Missed you at the family reunion yesterday morning. Good times . . . What does it look like I’m doing? I’m coming to work. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? You and Mom practically moved heaven and earth to get me back here. Did you think I was going to sit at home and eat bonbons all day?”

His dad sat in the chair across from his desk and eyed him skeptically. “You expect me to believe that just like that you’re coming home and all is good?”

Aiden shrugged. “Mom said Cynthia Moralli broke the engagement. As long as you don’t go trying to marry me off to anyone else, why wouldn’t it be?”

“Quit lawyering me, Aiden.”

“All right, you want me to be real with you?” He pushed back from his desk and crossed his arms, facing off with the man who might as well be a stranger. Bennett Kruze mirrored his stubborn pose. Thirty years Aiden’s senior, the man had lost little of his imposing stature and none of his stubborn arrogance. Those ice-blue eyes cut into him from across the desk. It was a look that would cow a lesser man, but Aiden was immune to that intimidating glower. “I was perfectly content to remain in Vegas. I had a great fighting career and one I’m not just a little pissed about losing. If you want me here so bad, then you can sure as hell give me my job back. I want the Moralli account, too, which means whatever clearance you need to sign off on with IT, I expect you to do it.”

Bennett watched him with that same impassive stare Aiden had come to despise over the years. “What are you doing, Aiden? You and I both know you hated working for Moralli. Why in the hell would you want that case back now? Unless . . .”

His dad was smart—too fucking smart.

“What the hell are you planning to do?”

Something I should have done a long time ago.

Aiden’s father leaned forward, narrowed his gaze, and lowered his voice to a low warning growl. “Need I remind you of what is at stake here?—my career, my reputation, the reputation of this firm! And you, sitting there so self-righteous, are not innocent of any wrongdoing yourself. Whatever you’re thinking, let it go.”

At this moment, the man sitting across from him looked every bit as ruthless as Moralli, and just as formidable. Too bad the show of force was lost on him. Aiden wasn’t a man to be bullied or intimidated. When he was pushed, he pushed back harder. His father should have known that by now—he was Bennett Kruze’s son, after all.

Aiden’s computer screen flashed, prompting his password reset. He wouldn’t need long to get the information he’d come here for, but it certainly would have been easier to accomplish without his father’s eyes of suspicion on him. “You think I don’t know that? Do you think I would do something that would compromise you or this firm? Do you think I’d disbar myself?”

“In a word . . . yes.” Bennett stood and straightened his navy blue suit. “I don’t think I’ll be handing the Moralli account back over to you. At least not right now. We have many other cases that could use your attention. Feel free to pick up the ones from Shirley that interest you.”

“Whatcha doin’, Gingersnap?”

Ryann shot Nikko a sharp scowl as he plopped down beside her. “You know I hate it when you call me that, right?”

The grin he gave her was pure wickedness, transforming that severe face into a startling handsome gleam. God help the poor woman who got snared by this wolf.

“Why do you think I do it?” he asked, his answer in the question. Turning his attention to the computer screen on her lap, his steel-gray eyes watched the YouTube video playing on her laptop. All hint of playfulness vanished as his expression became tense and guarded. There was a lot going on behind those eyes. His square jaw was set in grim determination, his brows pulled tight in an assessing scowl that seemed to be permanently etched on his face. Her eyes strayed to the scar slashing from high on his cheekbone down through his top lip. She couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to cause what should be a disfiguring injury, yet it only seemed to add to the guy’s dangerous good looks. This was the fourth time she’d seen Nikko Del Toro, and she had to admit he was very handsome in a very rugged, ruthless way. If he was self-conscious about his scar, he gave no indication of it. Ryann forced her attention back to the screen when she caught herself staring too long, her cheeks heating with embarrassment. She didn’t want to be rude or give him the wrong idea.

“What are you watching?”

“It’s a YouTube video of an MMA fight with Joe Paskel.”

“Paskel?—never heard of him.”

Nikko’s eyes never left the screen as he spoke, his attention wholly fixed on the fight playing out before him.

“This is the man Aiden’s going to fight tonight.”

“No shit? May I?” he asked, reaching over and plucking the laptop off her knees before she could answer either way.

As the fight went on, Nikko’s scowl deepened. Yeah, he’d be a gorgeous man if he wasn’t so terrifying. They watched as Paskel shot in and slammed his opponent onto the mat. “You see that?” he said, pointing to the screen. “Paskel is passing his guard.”

It kinda just looked like two men rolling around on a mat to her. “What’s ‘passing his guard’?”

“It’s when a fighter takes a more advantageous position over his opponent.”

They watched as Paskel jumped in for the win, repeatedly driving his knee into the felled fighter’s face. She grimaced as a spray of blood shot across the mat and Nikko muttered a foul curse. “That shit’s illegal.”

Ryann wasn’t sure to which “shit” he was referring. It all looked pretty terrible if you asked her.

“This is who Disco’s fighting?”

“I’ve been pulling together fight reels for Aiden so he can study his opponent before the fight tonight. I gotta confess, I don’t know what I’m watching.”

“You’re watching unsanctioned fighting. No-holds-barred kind of shit. This guy here is a grappler. See how he shoots in for the takedown? Knees are illegal when your opponent is on the ground like this. Disco’s gonna have to keep this fight on his feet.”

Hearing Nikko’s fight assessment wasn’t doing anything to calm her nerves. “Can he do that? Keep the fight on his feet?”

Nikko took his attention off the fight long enough to shoot her a lopsided,
are you kidding me?
grin. “Disco has amazing stand-up. He’s a way better fighter than either of these two. This guy’s just a brawler. He’s got shitty technique, but that doesn’t mean the bastard’s not dangerous. The trick with fighters like this is not accidentally getting tagged. Anyone can get lucky. What else you got on this Joe guy?”

Ryann reached for the manila folder sitting beside her and set the dossier in his waiting hands. Nikko shot her a surprised glance. “Damn, Gingersnap, I’m impressed. That’s awesome work . . .”

Ryann couldn’t help but smile at his compliment. For the first time since Nikko arrived, she let herself entertain the possibility that she might have judged the cagey fighter a bit too harshly. Obviously, Aiden liked and trusted the guy or he never would have asked him to corner his fights. No question Nikko was a total ball-busting hardass, but something about the guy told Ryann she could trust him, and people she could count on were hard to come by these days. It comforted her to know this man had Aiden’s back and that he wouldn’t be walking into the Lion’s Den alone tonight.

“Thank you,” she found herself saying.

Nikko froze, the tension he always carried in his shoulders tightening a touch more. He canted his head just enough to look at her, a puzzled frown drawing his brows tight. “For what?”

He genuinely didn’t seem to know.

“For this . . . for helping Aiden.”

Nikko grunted and turned his attention back to the file. “It’s nothing Disco wouldn’t do for me.”

And she knew that was probably true. Aiden might not have many people in his life he allowed to get very close to him, but he truly cared about the ones he did, and he’d move heaven and earth for them if it was in his power.

“How many other videos do you have?” Nikko asked, turning the conversation back to neutral ground.

“Four. Here . . .” She showed him the links she’d pulled up, and together they began watching the videos from the beginning. As the fights went on, Nikko pointed out flaws and weaknesses in the fighter, and by the end of the afternoon, Ryann knew more about MMA than she ever wanted to learn. But she was also a lot less fearful and fully confident that Aiden had this fight.