Safeword: Arabesque (Safewords Book 9) (64 page)

“Honestly? I figured I'd miss the first few fights and was just aiming to be here in time for the middleweight fights so I'd be sure to be seated by the time the heavyweights started. Things worked out well today though, so here I am.”

Cassie spoke from her other side, “All work and no play,” she said in a sing-song voice.

Luckily, the announcer dude chose that moment to step out and begin talking, so Sam was saved from being reminded she really needed to stop working so much.

The group watched the fights progress, four fights per weight class, four weight classes, and each fight could go a maximum of twelve minutes in this round, though most didn't last five minutes before someone was either knocked out or the fight was called before one of the men was seriously hurt. Someone did get hurt in one of the middleweight bouts, and was taken out on a stretcher. The crowd loved it, but Sam was really worried about the guy. By the time Tom's weight class started she was wondering if this was such a good idea. Sure, Tom could kick just about anyone's ass, but these guys were playing for keeps. His was the last fight of the night and she wondered if he was watching from backstage, or if he were in a quiet room getting his head where it needed to be.

The announcer introduced the first two heavyweight fighters and Sam couldn't take her eyes off of one of them. Ethan Levi, according to the announcer, was six foot five inches tall and weighed in at two hundred and seventy one pounds. He looked bigger than life, with muscles on top of muscles – just on the verge of looking like a bodybuilder, though not quite. She could tell he hadn't just bulked up, he was just that strong, and he moved like a dancer. He was going to be lethal once they locked him into the cage. He was bald and tanned, and probably her age, early thirties. She wondered what he’d be like in bed.

Cassie bumped her shoulder. “Quit drooling.”

“Hey, I've given up on men for the time being, remember? Let me drool from a distance.”

“Yeah, I'm still not sure I get... oh shit!”

The moment the signal was given to start the fight, Ethan Levi had delivered a punch to the face followed by a punch to the gut and then an immediate kick to the face. His opponent was down in less than three seconds. And these eight fighters had fought in smaller venues in order to make it to this one; no one got here who hadn't already proven himself. Wow.

Tom's fight was a good one, going almost eight minutes before the fight was called with Tom as the winner. He’d been given three passes for friends to go backstage after the fight, along with the two passes for people to be with him during the fight, so she and Francisco and Zee headed backstage when his fight was over.

As she turned a corner in the backstage hallway, she ran straight into a wall of muscle and looked up to see Ethan Levi looking down at her. His voice was smooth, cool, and deep; and made her weak in the knees as he said, “Are you okay? It's kind of crowded back here. Sorry I wasn't walking on the right side of the hallway, that was my fault.”

Sam felt the heat pour off him, and her heart fluttered, but she tried to ignore her reaction. “No, I'm good. No need to assign fault.”

He towered over her, but he wasn’t intimidating, just big. His face and body were relaxed as his deep voice quietly said, “You someone's girlfriend? Going back to congratulate or give your condolences?”

Part of her wanted to scream she was no one's girlfriend, but this man's voice was sexier than his body, which was pretty damned sexy. That made him dangerous, and after the last couple of embarrassments of a relationship she'd had, no way was she going to get serious with someone she met outside the scene. She answered as simply as she could. “Congratulate.”

He smiled. “You didn't say if you were a girlfriend or not.”

“No, I didn't,” she said, working hard to deadpan it and give no emotion.

When she tried to walk around him, he used his larger than life presence to keep her from maneuvering to get past him. She looked back up into his eyes and noticed they were a beautiful, shimmering dark green, like the brilliance of a mallard's head in sunlight. His grin was teasing and mischievous, so she dropped her attitude and said, “Look, I just want to go see my friend, make sure he's okay, and then take him out for a good meal since he has another fight tomorrow and won't be drinking. You won't be fighting him tomorrow, but if you both win your fights tomorrow you'll fight him Sunday in the final event, so right now you're kind of the bad guy in my world. Hitting on me will get you nowhere.”

He smiled, such a beautiful smile. “Friend. Okay, I guess that answers my question. Go take care of your friend. I'll try not to hurt him too badly Sunday, if it comes to it.”

He stepped closer to the wall, giving her space to get around him, and she walked past him without looking back.

Safeword: Matte

Safeword: Matte – In Training

No Safeword: Matte – The Honeymoon

No Safeword: Matte – Happily Ever After

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