Linc (A Cocky Cage Fighter Novel Book 3) (19 page)

"Dude, what the fuck?" I ask him, redirectin’ the conversation away from the shit storm I just barely escaped from. "Do you ever actually train here, or are you plannin’ to hang up your gloves to become a receptionist?"

"Look, fucker, since your ass never helps answer the phone or door, somebody has to do it," he replies.

"We need to hire someone. Why haven't we done that?" I ask as I lean my elbows on the desk, puttin’ my back to all the pryin’ eyes I know are still on me after witnessin’ that whole debacle.

"Um, well, I've lived here for what, two months now?” Jude says when he plops his ass back down on the stool behind the desk. “So I don't know of any receptionists right off, and I haven't had time to post an ad since I've been moving across a few states, covering the front and trying to fucking train every once in a while."

"Maybe we can get Sadie to do the whole ad and interview thing to find someone. Will you ask her?"

"Shit, she's so freaking stressed with her classes, I can't put that on her, too."

"I'll do it," Senn says when he walks up beside me, apparently eavesdroppin’ on our conversation.

"
You
want to find us a new receptionist?" I ask him in disbelief.

"Yeah. Why not?" He replies with a shrug. "Here goes the help wanted ad: Must be friendly, outgoing, and…flexible with excellent oral skills. Experience multi-tasking in a fast paced environment preferred. Will be working the front on a routine basis, but occasionally may need to...get a little dirty in the back. Please provide at least three references."

"I thought you were fuckin’ serious," I grumble.

"I am being serious," he says, which is contradicted by his smile. "Come on. Let me take care of it. I bet Mace will help me out. That kid is fucking hilarious and a helluva wingman. We went out to some clubs Friday night, and no shit, he went home with not one but
two
gorgeous chicks! Oh, and he said we should get a couple of ring girls in bikinis to help out around here. Great fucking idea, right?"

Sounds like Mace and Senn are gettin’ along just fine, which I'm glad to hear. I do hope they’ll at least spend a little more time trainin’ than tryin’ to sleep with every woman in a hundred mile radius. And Senn wonders why I want to keep him away from my sister.

I look at Jude to see what he thinks about leavin’ the search for help up to those two jackasses. "Fuck it," Jude says. "Let them do it. Beats me havin’ to spend my days up here when I need to be spending all my time training to beat the World Champion."

"Uh, you already
have
beat the World Champion," I say in confusion, since he just took my belt.

"Yeah, the welterweight one, but not the middleweight.
Yet
."

"Oh fuck!" Senn says at the same time I realize what he's sayin’.

"You're challengin’ Jax's title?" I ask him in surprise.

Jude nods. "Jax says he’s in if we can get the IFC to agree to let us fight for it." 

"Holy shit," I say offerin’ him a fist bump. "Good luck. Jax better watch out because I think you can take him."

"Thanks," Jude replies. "I appreciate that. I know I'll never be able to knock him out, but I think I can make him submit. Worked on you."

"Yeah, it did," I agree, flexin’ my arm that's almost as good as new. “Does that mean my belt will be back up for grabs again?”

“I guess so,” Jude says with a smile. "So, back to the catfight. That shit was hot, right?" he asks Senn, who expresses his agreement. "Fuck yeah it was."                 

"Maybe we should see how Sadie feels about your thoughts on this, 'hot catfight.'" Like I hoped, that sobered Jude right up and wiped the smile off his cocky face.

"Dirty motherfucker," he mutters before flippin’ me off, but thankfully walkin’ away.

Now I just hope Claire is gonna let it go that easily.

Claire

Sitting in my running car at the exit of the restaurant's parking lot, I try to decide whether to go left or right. Home or to Linc's. Spend the night alone, sulking, or spend it in the arms of a gorgeous, sweet man who will no doubt rock my world, several times. That reminds me of the comment his ex made earlier about him needing it more than once.
Hussy
.

I'm still pissed that he didn't tell me about her, or the whole truth about her being an ex-girlfriend who came back into his life suddenly. Not just an ex-girlfriend. Those two have a long history, almost engaged and lost a baby together, which had to be devastating. But whatever was between them obviously came to an end five years ago, since they hadn't seen each other until last week.

I turn right, deciding that I definitely want to see Linc and give him the benefit of the doubt. It’s not even a choice really, just a given. His porch light is on when I pull up half an hour later, so either he was expecting me or hoping I would show, since I haven't talked to him since I left him standing in the gym parking lot earlier today. Like usual, he steps out on the porch at the sound of my car crunching gravel, wearing nothing but a pair of black nylon shorts. I'm starting to think the man could do anything in the world to me and I would forgive him on sight. He's just so...good. It’s almost as if all his kindness and sweetness radiates from the top of his golden hair like a halo. And yeah, he might make mistakes, or a few imperfect decisions, but I don't think he'd ever do anything maliciously.

"Hey," he says when I step on the porch. "I wasn't sure if you would show or not, but I'm really glad you did."

"Me, too," I reply stepping into his waiting arms for a hug. The peaceful silence only lasts a moment because I need answers for what’s been weighing on my mind all day. “Have you been seeing her?” I ask him, straight to the point while staying pressed against him.

His breath blows my hair before he answers. “We spent some time together last week, went to a football game at our old high school, and she came here and we talked on my porch. I’ve texted and called her, but only as friends, askin’ about her chemo.”

“So you haven’t…”

“I haven’t done anything more than hug her. She initiated that and was cryin’. I didn’t pull away because I felt bad knowin’ she’s scared and all, facin’ cancer.”

“You wanted to marry her?” I ask him.

“Yeah, but we were young. She said no because she was just startin’ college,” he tells me, rubbing his hands up and down my back. “Then she got pregnant and had the miscarriage. That was the end of us, too. I thought she cheated on me but maybe I overreacted.”

“Do you still…do you still love her?” I ask softly, and hold my breath as I wait for his response.

“I loved her then,” he answers. “A lot. But now, if I still love her or care about her it’s only as a friend. I don’t want to lose her to cancer now that she’s back in my life, but I don’t want to be with her either.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely,” he says placing a kiss on the top of my head. “You don’t have anything to worry about, baby, so what do you say we go soak away the stressful day in the hot tub?" he asks.

"Sounds great," I agree, trusting that he’s been nothing but honest with me. "But I didn't bring a swimsuit."

"That's a good thing," he says, pulling back with a grin. Taking my hand in his, he leads me off the porch and around to the back of the house. "There's a strict skinny dippin’ only policy around here."

I laugh. "Of course there is."

When we get to the huge, circular spa, Linc lifts the lid off of it, setting it on the deck and reaches in to turn it on. The tub roars to life, creating white, foamy bubbles. Multicolored lights illuminate it from the bottom.

"Very nice," I say, definitely impressed.

Standing in front of me again, Linc reaches for the top button of my white dress shirt and slowly undoes each one until the fabric slides down my arms, quickly followed by my bra. From there he undoes the button and zipper on my black uniform pants. I toe off my shoes and kick them out of the way so he can finish getting me undressed.

The cool, September air whips around me, making me shiver for a second before Linc picks me up and sits me down into the steaming water. "Oh, wow," I close my eyes and sigh as the warmth instantly relaxes all the tight, tense muscles in my body. When I'm able to open them again, Linc's submerging his six feet of perfect, chiseled nakedness down into the water across from me. "I could really get used to this. Every. Single. Night."

"I could too," he replies, and I know by the warmth in his expression that he means me being here, since he does have this wonderful machine every day.

"Now you may never get rid of me," I tease.

"Good. We’ll never leave the hot tub."

"Deal." Since he doesn't make a move toward me, I go to him. Straddling his lap, I wrap my arms around his neck at the same time his hands on my back pull me flush against his chest. His hard cock is very noticeable between my legs, and while I want to be intimate with him, I don’t grind on him, and he doesn’t press me down. Both of us are just content to be in each other’s arms for now. 

"You're it for me, Claire," he says into my hair, breaking the silence. "For three years I thought Abby was the one, but it was never this...right, or this easy. That's why she didn’t want to marry me, because she knew. We were just young and stupid. Maybe I still am, because you and I have only known each other a few days and I'm already fallin' head over heels for you. I think I have been since the second you stepped into that room."

His words instantly make me think about that first time I saw him, sitting on that couch in the strip club. He looked at me, standing there practically naked, not lewdly, but like heaven sent me specifically to him from above. I have a feeling that was the exact same expression probably reflected on my face. There I was, a nervous wreck, shaking in fear because of the embarrassing, demeaning thing I was about to do - dance slutty and naked in front of a complete stranger. And then I saw Linc. All those nerves vanished in the blink of an eye. Not just because he was gorgeous, but because he didn't look at me or treat me like I was some random woman or exotic porn star. No, he treated me like I was his. I felt more cherished and cared for sitting vulnerable and naked on his lap than I ever had in my life.               

"Claire?" Linc asks and I have no idea how long I've been lost inside my thoughts. He places a soft kiss on neck. "Can you give me some sort of response, baby?"

"Yes."

"Yes?" he repeats. "Yes, you can give a response or yes is your response?"

"Yes," I say again. "I could marry you tonight, Linc Abrams, and I know without a doubt, that I would never have a single second of regret."

"Really?" he asks, and I can hear the smile in his voice before he pushes back to look at me and I see it on his face.

"Yes," I say again meeting his beautiful navy blue eyes. "You're right, I think
you
are the easiest decision of my life. No maybes, ifs, ands, or buts, just Yes with a capital Y."

"Exactly." He laughs before brushing his lips over mine, then exhales a deep breath. "I was afraid you'd go runnin’ for that restraining order."

"Definitely not running," I assure him. "Just so we're clear, there are no other exes who could pop back up in your life, right?"

"No. I swear. And don't take this the wrong way, but I'm glad Abby came back last week. She helped me realize that what she and I were missin’ all along, you and I aren't. There was never any…I don't know, cohesion with us. We were tryin’ to go in different directions at every turn. Instead of endin’ things, one of us would give up or give in, and force it to work out," he says then pauses, liftin’ the charm of his necklace, a light blue heart, angel wings and a tear drop with “Thomas” and a date inscribed. "Like the baby."

"You wanted a family and she didn't?" I ask, assuming that’s what happened since he said she didn't want to marry him. Idiot woman. But I guess I should thank her for not snatching him up when she had the chance.

"Yep. I didn't know that was somethin’ I even wanted until the day she told me she was pregnant. And even at nineteen I knew I was ready for the responsibility and the commitment. She wasn't. Her plans didn't include settlin’ down or givin’ up her independence to have a family, especially not with me."

"I can't imagine how difficult it would be to become a mother so young," I say. "It definitely wasn't easy for my mom to be a single mother. The hours she worked...I practically raised my sister and brother, taking care of them after we got home from school. Sometimes it was one meal at a time, and our cabinets were empty. I would worry about where the next one would come from. But our mom never let us down. She made sacrifices, and did everything she could for the three of us. We got through the tough times together and had a lot more good times than bad, before she died. So I've always wanted my own children, as selfish as it would be to raise them the same way. But like our mom, I think I could love them enough to make up for the insignificant material things they may always want but never have."

"I could easily give them both," Linc says with a contagious smile.

"I know you would, even if you started over with absolutely nothing tomorrow. Because you're the type of guy that takes care of what's his."

"Damn right," he growls bringing my mouth down to his. "And I'm gonna spend the rest of the night and the rest of my life takin’ care of you.”

With the simple sweep of his tongue against mine, a frenzy ignites between us. Even though I’m still straddling him, our bodies pressed flush against each other, we can’t seem to get close enough.

“I need you. Right…fuckin’…now,” Linc tells me between pants. His fingers delve between us and thrust inside my pussy to ready me, but I’m already there.

“Now,” I agree, reaching for his cock to replace his hand. I ease down his thick length with no resistance and start to ride him slowly, savoring every inch that’s stroking me where I’m desperate for him.

“God, yes, baby,” Linc groans against my mouth. “You feel so damn good.”

We stay connected by our mouths and lower bodies for what feels like hours, not racing toward a climax but simply needing to be joined, melded together like this.

“Move in with me,” Linc says with his forehead against mine after we start to come back down.

“What?” I ask, pulling back to look at his face in the glow of the jacuzzi lights.

“I want to see you every day and every night,” he says, cupping the side of my face gently in his palm when I hang my head. “I want you to live with me.”

Inside I’m torn. There’s nothing I’d rather have than this with Linc, the sweet and naughty breakfasts, the nights spent talking about anything and everything about our days. Kissing him goodnight and having him hold me until I wake up in his arms with the sunrise. Too bad, that’s just not something I can do right now.

“I wish I could,” I tell him. “I really do. But I can’t leave Mandy alone.”

“Why not?” he asks softly. “She’s a grown woman-”

“She’s an addict,” I tell him honestly. “It’s bad enough trying to keep her clean with us under the same roof, but if I left her…it’ll only get worse. I’m trying to convince her to enter another inpatient rehab facility. She went once before. It helped for a few weeks but then…”

“Let me help,” Linc says, smoothing his thumb over my lip where I’m absently chewing on it.

“No, you’ve done enough and it’ll take forever to pay you back the money she owed Vito.”

“You know you don’t have to pay me back.”

I start shaking my head before he finishes his sentence. “No. I want to be with you, but not because of your money. And if I take it, I’ll feel guilty, like I do now, owing you twelve thousand. It’s too much, too soon. Just let me take care of it, okay?”

“Fine,” he agrees with a sigh. “Get her clean and then get your ass over here with me, permanently.”

“Deal,” I reply with a smile. Leaning down I brush my lips over his, picking things up where we left off, before all the serious talk. “There’s no rush,” I tell him. “We’ve got all the time in the world, right?”