IRISH: a Bad Boy Fighter Romance (20 page)

I was on my way to meet Jake for training; Melody was heading over to our place to spend some time with Lennon. It did me heart good, seeing me girl makin friends like that. She hadn’t been back to work and sometimes seemed a little bored. I hoped Melody would convince her that a baby would keep her busy and content.

“Jake, keep yer eyes up here,” I growled as Jake checked his phone for the hundredth time.

“You know she’s due any day now,” he said and sighed. “Fine, I’ll put it over here.” He crossed the ring and set it on the edge.

He held up the padded blockers and I began to pummel him again, taking my pent up anxiety at Katie’s health and setting it free through me fists.

If I didn’t fight, I figured I’d fekking explode before age thirty.

Jake grunted with my new onslaught of kicks and finally called out, “Mercy! I give up! Where the fuck is Joe? You need a young dude to take this.”

I dropped back onto the balls of me feet, danced in place and punched the air as sweat trickled down me back. “He’s on a date. I think he’s meeting Charlotte’s parents.”

“Oh, it’s serious then. I told him, watch those little cute ones, they trap you with that honeypot and hang on tight.”

“Aye, I know about that,” I laughed and reached down for my water bottle.

My phone was lit up like Christmas. I picked it up and said, “Hello?”

I almost dropped it when Lennon blurted out her message to me in one long frantic rush.

“What is it?” Jake asked, wiping his brow and dropping the blockers to the floor.

I hung up, threw me gloves off and said, “Did ye turn yer phone off, ye daft arsehole? That was Lennon, Melody’s in labor and they’re on the way te the hospital.”

Jake snatched his phone from the ringside, shook it and said, “Shit, my battery died. What are we going to do?”

I thought he was going to faint he looked so drained of blood. I clapped him on the back, laughed heartily and said, “We git yer ass to the delivery room, Dad!”

Chapter Forty Eight

Lennon

I put the teapot on the table and glanced down the hall in the direction of the guest washroom.

Melody had been there a while, and I was starting to get nervous. She seemed to have popped so much recently, even in the short time we’d been back. I knew her due date was in a week or so, but she really did look ready to explode.

“Mel?” I asked and tapped at the door. “You’re freaking me out, girl. Are you okay?”

“Oh Lennon, I can’t get Jake,” she moaned from the other side.

“Did you call him?” I asked.

“Yes,” she wailed. “I need him. Bad.”

“What’s going on?” I asked, feeling my concern go from mild to volcanic in the span of a couple sentences.

“My water broke,” she said and grunted, “I think I’m having contractions.”

“Oh my god! Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked in a panic. “Come on, open the door and I’ll help you.”

“I made a big mess on your floor,” she said, sounding miserable.

“It’s just a floor, it will clean up,” I said, “please, open the door.”

I heard the lock click and the door swung open part way. I pushed on it and peered around the edge. Melody was sitting on the toilet with the seat down, her pants were soaked, and there was a huge puddle on the rug at her feet. She started to cry.

“Let’s get you to the hospital and I’ll call Knox. They can meet us there,” I told her and helped her up.

I managed to get a big towel wrapped around her hips to hide her embarrassment, helped her to the front door and into the town car that was waiting by the time we got there. Sylvie had caught on to the situation and had jumped into action as usual.

I managed to get Knox on the way to the hospital, by the sound of his voice I knew he would get Jake there…maybe even before us.

They checked Melody in and as I was wheeling her towards to elevator to head up to the maternity wing, I heard Knox yelling for me.

“Hold up, kitten,” he said, “I got the dad.”

I turned Melody around in the chair and Jake dropped to his knees in front of her. “I’m here, baby,” he said. “I made it.”

“Oh thank god,” Melody replied with tears in her eyes. “Now I can have this little guy.”

“Thank you,” Jake said and took the wheelchair from me. He wheeled her onto the elevator and they were gone towards the biggest day of their life.

“I can’t believe she’s having the baby,” I said, suddenly feeling wistful and more than a little bit envious.

“Let’s git ye home and work on one of our own,” Knox said in a low, growly voice. He grabbed me and kissed my neck, making me laugh and twist in his arms.

“Okay” I replied breathlessly and he pulled me close, acknowledging my acceptance of his demand.

How could I say no to him? Was it even possible for my body to deny him anything? This kind of love was so overpowering that I didn’t think it was.

The moment we arrived at the house, he threw me over his shoulder and ran up the stairs so fast I was sure he’d drop me.

I was breathless from laughing and shrieking by the time we got to our room.

Our room. I still couldn’t believe it was mine as much as it was his. He’d never done anything to make me feel less than one hundred percent welcome.

What was his, was mine.

And what was mine, was his.

Including my body.

“Ye got too much on,” he said in a thick voice. He grabbed the collar of my blouse and pulled it apart, popping buttons off as they landed on the floor and clattered away.

“That’s Chanel,” I gasped and watched my delicate silk top get torn to shreds.

“I’ll buy ye twenty of them if ye want,” he replied and tore at my skirt, “I need ye naked, kitten, or I’m gonna fekking burst.”

I responded by tearing at his clothing, but it was work out gear so it didn’t exactly rip like I’d intended. He rolled it off his muscled limbs and laughed as I tried to be as fierce as he.

“Let me look at ye,” he said and stood back to admire my body. A couple months ago if a man had raked his hot gaze along my naked self with that look of hunger in his eyes, I would have been desperate to cover up.

Not with Knox though, I joined him and let myself drink in the sight of his glorious body. He was so lean and muscled that his arms and abs rippled with each movement.

I let my eyes drop to his cock standing proud and hard, throbbing for me. That was the greatest source of power for me now, the ability to make him hard with a single look or touch.

“God, yer fekking beautiful, kitten,” he exhaled with a harsh breath. He rushed me and picked me up, I squealed and wiggled in his arms as he threw me onto the bed and hovered over me.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” I laughed and moved up a little on the luxurious comforter.

He dove between my thighs and spread me wide. He went down to lick and suck me into sheer and utter joy.

And for a moment, when we were together, the world fell away and we were just two people in love joining our bodies in a state of ecstasy.

Chapter Forty Nine

Knox

“Shit, Knox, your tie is crooked,” Jake said with a laugh.

“And ye got baby puke on yers,” I replied with a grin.

It was the big day, I was finally marrying me kitten after what felt like years of waiting. In reality it had taken us a few months to get here, but every moment of waiting had been worth it.

I’d signed the contract for sponsorship, breaking the previous record for earnings from a single deal. I’d become the single richest fighter in the world, and had already given half of it to Lennon. She just didn’t know it yet.

I hadn’t wanted a pre-nuptial agreement; in fact I’d had my lawyers draw up a document that made her half owner of the Knox O’Connor brand.

Everything I had was hers.

I let Jake redo the tie on my tuxedo and wiped the baby spit off his. We stood in front of the mirror and looked each other over.

“Ye almost look respectable,” I told him with a grin.

“Almost. And you don’t look so much like a street thug,” he laughed.

I shouldn’t, we’d had the tuxes tailor made by some designer that Lennon had insisted on. The same guy who handled one of her favorite hip-hop singer’s wedding. The bloke married to the reality TV star with the big arse. I never could remember their names, but I watched because Lennon loved their shows.

“How much longer?” I asked, adjusting my tie again, just a little to the left.

“Forty minutes. I’m going to go check on Melody and the baby. You stay put so you don’t accidentally run into your bride,” Jake said leaving me alone in the hotel room so he could help Melody with their son, Jacob Junior.

Lennon and I had rented out the entire hotel in one of the little beachfront resort towns along the coast of Maine. I’d suggested somewhere in Mexico, but her face had blanched white and the idea was off the table.

It was best to let her make all these decisions though; it kept us both happier. Mostly because I didn’t care and she cared too much…I loved her for it.

I heard a tapping at the door and said, “Come in, it’s open!”

The door swung inward and Lennon burst through in a rush of white silk and lace.

“Kitten, isn’t this bad luck?” I asked in shock at her stricken face.

“Knox, I need to tell you something right now,” she said in a breathless voice and fell into me arms. She smelled like heaven, as light and airy as the delicate fabric of her gown.

“What’s goin on, kitten?” I asked and hooked my finger under her chin to tilt her face to me. “Tell me.”

“Okay, let me think,” she said taking a couple huge deep breaths. “So I haven’t been feeling well but I put it up to nerves about the wedding. I threw up earlier though.”

“Oh shite, ye got the flu?” I asked gently.

“No,” she replied. “But I asked Melody to go into town and get me something. And it’s positive.”

“What is?” I asked her slowly like she was daft.

“This!” she cried out and handed me a wad of toilet paper wrapped around a white stick.

“What is this?” I asked suspiciously. She seemed so off I had no idea where she was taking me.

“Oh, don’t touch it because I peed on it.”

“Okay,” I said and took it from her hand. I peeled back the paper and looked long and hard before it occurred to me what it was. “Two blue lines mean…”

“It means I’m pregnant,” Lennon said joyfully. “I’m having a baby!”