He actually did seem to take a few seconds to replay the conversation. ‘We weren’t talking about my cock, we were talking about an abstract cock. The cock of some loser who would call up a service to have a random tramp come and suck it for him. I don’t need a random tramp,’ he said, stroking her arm. ‘I have my own specific one.’
‘You don’t think I’m a tramp.’
‘No, I don’t, but you like it when I talk dirty,’ he said. Plucking the remote from her hand, he put an arm around her to move her away from blocking his view of the TV. He pulled her down to lie on his chest, but the embrace wasn’t one of love, he just wanted a clear view of the screen. ‘Do I need to remind you that you were the one who was locked up in a bedroom with another guy less than an hour ago?’
‘Saul was here for ten minutes,’ she mumbled. ‘Check the hotel security tapes if you want to.’ If Dax wanted to do that, he would find a way to get hold of them.
‘You’re way too addicted to my spunk to go tasting someone else’s. And now that I know he knows who I am, I’m not worried,’ he said, turning on the TV.
‘I had no idea that Saul went to watch underground fights. He must have known you before I did.’
‘I don’t know him,’ Dax said. ‘I couldn’t pick him out of a line-up, but yeah, he’s clearly a fan of the circuit. Guys don’t advertise that, keeping it quiet is one of the ways it stays underground and keeps guys like me outta jail.’
The knock on the door killed the questions she was about to ask, and she sprang up out of his arms.
‘Answer the door,’ she whispered, taking the remote control from him.
‘Ok,’ he said. It was unlike her to ask him for protection, which was how he’d taken her request, but that wasn’t her reasoning at all. She turned off the TV and began to head for the bathroom. ‘Where are you going?’
‘Invite her in, you know,’ Ivy said, eying him and gesturing at the bed.
‘Whoa,’ he said, rounding the bed to get hold of her. ‘I’m not fucking around with her, I don’t even know this girl.’
‘If I answer the door, she might get spooked and run. Invite her in and once we know it’s her and that she’s alone, I’ll come out and you can wait in the bathroom.’
‘How much does she charge for the hour?’ he muttered.
‘I don’t know. What does that matter?’
‘I didn’t stop at an ATM,’ he snarked. ‘They always want to be paid first.’
Though she glared to convey that she didn’t appreciate him being snide, she also kissed him before spinning around to dash into the bathroom. Without closing the bathroom door all the way, Ivy plastered herself to the wall beside it so that she could eavesdrop on Dax and Trudi’s exchange.
Listening to his footsteps on the carpet, she heard the room door open then Trudi’s voice rang out. Ivy would never mistake that keen yet sultry intonation.
‘I… oh my God, hell-oh.’
‘Hey,’ Dax grumbled. ‘Trudi?’
‘Even if I wasn’t I would say hell yeah right now, wow, you walked right out of every woman’s sex fantasy.’
Dax would be a hooker’s dream client. His sculpted body and skill in the bedroom would delight every female, if Ivy ever chose to share him, which she never would.
‘I’ll do you for free,’ Trudi said.
On top of everything else that Dax had done for her since they’d gotten together, he’d just proven that he would go so far as to humiliate himself for her as well; she would have to be generous when she doled out her gratitude later.
‘Thanks,’ Dax said. ‘Come in.’
‘Any time you need a ride, you can call me direct. I can’t believe that you waited. You requested me personally, but I’ve never worked you before, I would remember that for sure. How do you know me?’ Trudi asked.
The room door closed and Ivy hadn’t heard another voice, so she assumed that meant Trudi was alone. ‘You were recommended,’ Dax mumbled. ‘You work alone?’
‘I can call a friend,’ Trudi flirted. ‘How many of us do you want? After they hear how hot you are, I guarantee there will be a waiting list.’
Before this could get any more irritating for Dax and now that he had confirmed that she was alone, Ivy came out of the bathroom. Trudi had her arms around Dax, hanging off his neck, but he was motionless with his head tipped back trying to avoid Trudi’s kiss.
‘I think you know my wife,’ he said when he saw her.
Trudi turned and Dax took the opportunity to duck out of her embrace.
‘Ivy,’ Trudi said, and her desire cleared. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I’m here to see you,’ Ivy said. ‘You heard that I got married, right? This is Dax.’
‘That’s your husband?’ Trudi said, taking another good look at Dax. ‘How did you nab him?’
‘Actually, I have you to thank for that, in part.’
Dax came to her and paused only long enough to kiss her and smack her ass, then he went into the bathroom to leave the women alone.
‘I heard that you were asking around about me last night,’ Trudi said, sliding one foot forward to bear her weight on the rear one, she exuded attitude. ‘What do you want?’
‘I want to know if it was worth it? How much did you get for setting me up?’
‘You still pissed about that? Look, it wasn’t my idea. Carlos told me to give you that address. I didn’t know what was going to happen.’
‘You knew that it wasn’t going to be anything good,’ Ivy said. Going to the bedroom door, she locked it and kept her hand on the cool metal when she turned to press her spine against it.
‘What are you doing?’ Trudi asked, glancing at the bathroom door. ‘You better not think about hurting me, I have a guy downstairs who—‘
Ivy laughed. ‘You got a good look at Dax, didn’t you? Do you think I’m afraid of whatever sissy bodyguard you have sitting in the hotel bar? I don’t think so, honey. Besides, we have you for a full hour. Think about all the damage we could do to that pretty face in an hour.’
Trudi prickled, Ivy had to give the woman some credit for not wilting, except she knew Trudi would resort to feminine pleading before she would think of standing up for herself. ‘You’re not going to hurt me,’ Trudi said as Ivy came closer. ‘I know you, there’s no way that you—‘
Swinging her arm around, Ivy backhanded Trudi with enough force to make the woman squeal and twist away. Trudi cradled her cheek with an expression of shock swathed all over her face. Her pouting lips, still glistening with gloss, parted to take in another breath.
Behind Trudi, Dax materialised in the bathroom doorway. He didn’t make a sound, he just folded his arms and leaned on the doorframe to keep an eye on proceedings.
‘You fucking bitch!’ Trudi exclaimed and lunged at Ivy grabbing a handful of her hair.
Ivy was pulled to one side, and the bite of Trudi’s nails cut into the side of her neck. But Ivy wasn’t the bitch fight type, she bypassed the hair-pulling and scratching to slap Trudi again. Trudi screamed and tried to kick, but she was pulled back by Dax, who neither woman had seen coming.
Ivy wrenched her hair out of her ex-friend’s grasp, and while shaking it back from her face, she braced for another hit. But Dax was still there, holding Trudi back with little effort. He kept Trudi’s arms locked behind her back.
When Trudi tried to kick again, Dax’s powerful leg swept around, taking the hooker’s feet from under her and sending her to her knees. Dax went down with her to maintain his grip on Trudi’s arms; one of his shins clamped Trudi’s calves to the floor. There was nowhere for Trudi to go, no way for her to fight for herself.
The women could have finished their fight, and Ivy was confident that she would’ve come out on top. But Dax had intervened either because he hadn’t wanted to see his wife get hurt, or because watching such a pathetic excuse for a fight irked him.
While still holding Trudi, he looked up at Ivy, wearing his cool, aloof expression. One of the rules of Dax’s fighting circuit was that he couldn’t hit a man while he was down. Ivy understood that it was not sportsman-like. So as much as she might like to knock a few more lumps out of Trudi for betraying her, she got down to business.