“What does your mama think ’bout you coming to all my fights?”
“I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m dating Clay.” Tabitha grimaced. “That’d be like doing it with my brother. Still, convenient that your fights are usually on the same night as his. Do you ever get jealous Clay’s are the last ones of the night?”
Wyatt shook his head. “Nah, I like letting him be last. He deserves the glory.”
“Then why do you do it?” Tabitha asked with a frown. “You’re always on a dang diet. You never get to eat ’cause you’re fighting in a weight class you’re too big for. I don’t understand why if you ain’t after the glory.”
“Bloodlust.” Wyatt showed his teeth in one of those mock fighter grimaces that always graced posters.
Tabitha giggled. “You are crazy. You’ve always been crazy, and spending all your vacation time and days off traveling across the country for this MMA stuff sure ain’t helping the cause.”
“I do it to get you away from Garnet and have you all to myself.” Wyatt tossed his towel aside and crawled onto the bed. “And I make more off the fighting than I do working for my dad, just so you know. A lot more.”
“And what’re you gonna do with all that hard-earned money?” Tabitha arched an eyebrow up at him when he stopped to hover over her.
“Spoil my girl rotten.”
She hit his arm. “Crazy.”
“Crazy sexy.” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “Admit it.”
“Well, I sure ain’t denying it.” She tilted her head, letting her gaze run over him for one long moment. “Might as well enjoy what you got to offer since you’ll probably come back to me bruised and battered tomorrow.”
“Hey, now, don’t be underestimating me. I got this guy. Easy.” Wyatt was more than confident about the fight tomorrow. “If I can take Clay, I can surely take him.”
“Yeah, but you can’t take Clay. I’ve seen him beat you plenty of times.”
“It’s fifty-fifty.” Wyatt frowned down at her. “You doubting my abilities?”
“I think you’re cocky,” she countered. “Scares me sometimes.”
“That’s a personal insult.” Wyatt grabbed both her hands before she could move to deflect him. Then he fell down on top of her, pinning her with his weight. “I may have to punish you for that.”
Tabitha screeched and fought his hold when he leaned down and licked at the curve of her neck. She shivered because her neck had always been extrasensitive. “Stop!” She giggled. “It tickles.”
He pulled aside her nightgown—a long, silky green one he had bought her for Christmas last year. Then he leaned down and sucked one taut pink nipple, making Tabitha gasp and arch under him.
“Now say sorry,” he said with a grin when he lifted his head.
Her breathing was already low and raspy, but she still managed to quirk an eyebrow at him. “What do I get if I do?”
“Say it and find out.”
“I’m sor—” Tabitha stopped abruptly when Wyatt kissed her before she could finish apologizing.
He forced her nightgown up past her hips while they kissed. Then he pulled back to tug it over her head. He groaned as he looked down at her. She was naked save a pair of skimpy panties. “Oh, baby, you are so hot. I’m gonna fuck you all night long.”
“I thought you weren’t supposed to have sex before a fight.”
“Who told you that?” Wyatt asked and then kissed her again before she could answer.
This wasn’t the first time they’d done it since they got to Chicago, so slow seduction was shoved to the wayside in the name of hard driving need and desperation. He was feeling aggressive with the excitement of the coming fight, and Tabitha met him step for step as he pushed off her panties and then took her in one hard thrust while holding her hands above her head.
Tabitha bowed to the pleasure, shouting his name when her eyes slammed shut. Then she wrapped her legs around his hips and moved with him, as with each hard thrust Wyatt loved her and took from her and gave all of himself in the process. The whole time he kept her pinned down, and she didn’t fight his domination of her, which turned him on even more.
His strokes were powerful and fast. Their breathing was harsh between choked cries of bliss. Tabitha stiffened under him; then a shudder seized her entire body as she came with long, surrendering moans of pleasure. He could have held out longer, but hearing her had Wyatt reaching for her beneath the veil of ecstasy. He bit his lip when the coil sprang free, and the warm, tingling feeling of his orgasm spread through his body, taking the last of his tension with it.
When it passed, both their chests heaved. Wyatt leaned his forehead against hers and swept his thumb over her wrist where he was still holding her down. Then he became gentler, placing kisses against her cheeks, her temple, and then down to her ear before he sucked one tender lobe into his mouth. Tabitha was the only girl he knew who didn’t have her ears pierced, and he liked it like that.
Tabitha slipped her hands from out of his steely grasp when it loosened. She ran her fingers through his hair and down his back that was sweaty again despite his shower. Then she wrapped her arms around him, holding on to him tightly. “You make sure you beat this fella you’re fighting tomorrow. I don’t want you getting hurt. Promise?”
He pushed up and gave her a wide smile. “I promise.”
Wyatt’s sister came to a lot of the fights, but not all of them. Jules’s life was even more hectic than Wyatt’s. She was competing all the time in judo, working at the sheriff’s department, and in between all that somehow studying for a law degree.
It was little wonder Tabitha and Wyatt’s sister had never hit it off. Jules probably thought Tabitha was the laziest person on earth for simply working at Maple’s and taking care of her mama. The rest of Tabitha’s life sort of revolved around Wyatt. It wasn’t a bad reality. It was what most people did, just lived and loved and got by, but Tabitha couldn’t help but feel unaccomplished when she was around Jules, who was far too ambitious to be human.
Which was the reason Tabitha was very happy the Chicago fight was one Jules had to skip for her own competition in California. It made a far more relaxed atmosphere for all of them. Tabitha went out to eat twice with Clay, Wyatt, and their coaches before the fight on Saturday night. She didn’t get to eat out much, so she really enjoyed it.
Clay and Wyatt’s fights were always like a little adventure for Tabitha. She would’ve likely been one of those people who lived out their whole life without leaving her hometown if wasn’t for Wyatt insisting she was his good luck charm and bringing her along.
Yet, even with the adventure, when it came time to watch Wyatt’s fight, Tabitha found herself sitting front and center, invisible in a sea of drunk, violent hungry men and squealing fight groupies. She had learned to dress simply in jeans and a T-shirt, so she fit in but wasn’t prone to draw attention to herself. She deliberately didn’t wear makeup and tied her hair back in a bun to hopefully detract from the bright color that she knew made her stand out.
She still got some unwanted attention, but Tabitha was good at nothing if not being aloof and silent until the drunk assholes moved on to one of the girls who were a little more outgoing and open to being hit on. She had sat through three fights already that night, and each one was bloody and painful to watch. MMA was very different fighting than boxing. Wyatt and Clay had moved up from the smaller fights that had little rules and were just survival of the fittest to more organized MMA fighting, but even in this arena, the lure was the no-holds-barred battle between two men who knew how to truly hurt their opponents.
Wyatt really was certifiable, and Clay along with him. Tabitha almost felt guilty for being the catalyst that brought those two together as friends. It was the collision of their combined ambitions and testosterone-fueled need to conquer that led to Tabitha sitting in this seat waiting for Wyatt to come out.