Pushing the Limits (13 page)

“I told you not to underestimate me,” she said, moving her hips and raising her legs to capture his free arm, maneuvering it into position to secure an armbar.

Of course there was no way even her leg strength could keep his arm pinned, but he was enjoying her attempt. Especially the view of her ass raised in the air in the tight workout pants.

“You know, you are in the perfect position to be spanked right now,” he said, lowering his body closer to hers. Her hold tightened and he felt a slight strain in his elbow.

“Don't even think about it or I'll snap your arm,” she countered.

“You really think you have control right now?” he asked, quickly freeing his arm and switching position, pinning her inner thighs to the mat with his shins. Grabbing her arms in one hand, he pinned them above her head on the mat.

“Not fair. You have fifty pounds on me. Literally,” she said, struggling and wiggling beneath him, which only resulted in his getting hard.

“You were the one who wanted to play,” he murmured, lowering his lips to her neck as she continued to stretch in an attempt to free her limbs.

All four were effectively useless and she was completely at his mercy. He slid his tongue along her exposed collarbone, where her skin glistened with sweat, and ran his free hand along her ribs, across her stomach to the ticklish spot he knew about, right below her belly button.

“Dane, stop! Tyson would be so pissed if he knew you were doing this inside his cage right now,” she said.

He slid his hand beneath her shirt and under the damp elastic of her sports bra, fighting for access to her breast beneath the tight, clingy fabric. “I'm sure this cage has seen its share of action.” He didn't believe for one second that Tyson and Parker hadn't already christened the training cage when Tyson had been training her for her role in her latest movie.

“Dane, what if someone comes in?”

“Door's locked,” he said, flicking a thumb over her nipples and lowering his mouth to hers. His tongue slid along her bottom lip and it was meant to tease her, arouse her, but his actions betrayed him as his own arousal soared. He caught her lip between his teeth and bit gently and she raised her head off of the mat, crushing his lips with an urgent need of her own.

When he pulled back a long moment later, they were both breathing hard.

“Take my pants off,” she said, wiggling her hips beneath him.

“What happened to Tyson being pissed off?”

“I'll blame you and you'll get knocked out. Take my pants off and fuck me, Dane . . . right here in the cage,” she begged.

He slid his legs off of hers and reached for the pants.

Her hands and legs now free, she quickly grabbed his head as her legs circled his waist, and she rolled them both on
the mat.

Shocked, it took him a second to realize he'd been played. “Wow, that was cruel,” he said, struggling to free himself and regain top position. She was strong and it didn't help that his hard-on was getting in the way.

She laughed as he re-pinned her. “Are you going to be good now? Can I trust you?” he asked.

An odd expression flickered in her eyes momentarily, before she grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back down on top of her. She reached for her own pants and underwear and lowered them to her knees, before doing the same to his.

He slid his cock between her legs, moaning at the wetness already waiting there for him.

“Dane, I want you inside me,” she said, below him.

He nodded, but then he stopped as the tip of him hesitated at her body's entrance. “We don't have a condom.”

Her eyes widened. “You didn't come prepared?”

“I came to the gym to train, not have sex with my girlfriend in the cage,” he said, his body aching to be inside her.

She grinned, and he realized what he'd said. His face felt hot and it had nothing to do with the intense arousal he was battling.

“Girlfriend?”

He swallowed hard. “Yeah, girlfriend. Is that a problem?”

She reached up and, taking his face, she lowered his lips to hers. “Only because we don't have a condom,” she whispered.

He needed her. He couldn't take it anymore. “I'll pull out,” he said, teasing her with a slight pressure of his cock that was pure torture for him.

She nodded. “Okay,” she whispered.

He hesitated, though where he found the strength, he had no idea. “You're sure?”

She nodded eagerly. “Yes. Get inside me, please,” she said, gripping his shoulders and lifting her hips toward him.

He didn't wait a second longer, thrusting the length of his cock deep within her.

She cried out and he felt her body tighten around his shaft.

He brushed her damp hair away from her face as he stared at her. “Damn, Colby. You are so beautiful. I'm completely out of my mind about you,” he said as his hips rocked back and forth, thrusting in and out of her body. Without a condom, the sensation was intense and he hated to stop, hated to pull out of her warm, soft folds, but he was getting close. Too close. “I have to pull out.”

“No . . .” she begged, clinging to him, holding his hips in place.

“Are you close?” he asked.

She nodded. “Don't stop . . . please.” She panted, rocking her own hips faster.

Oh, fuck. He wasn't sure he could handle this. He tried to think of other things, but the feel of her body clinging to him with an urgency that matched his own was almost too much.

But a second later, her back arched and her body trembled. “I'm coming,” she said, her breathing fast and labored.

Thank God.

After he felt her spasm around him, he pulled out and gripped his throbbing, thick cock, desperate for release. Stroking up and down the shaft, it erupted a second later and he came on her belly, shaking with an intense pleasure. He rolled off of her and lay next to her on the mat. “Wow. Now I may have a different reason to avoid the cage,” he said, reaching for her.

She laughed as she snuggled closer under his arm. “I don't think you have anything to worry about. I'm pretty sure no one else will do that to you in here.”

“You're damn right about that.”

“No.”

“Think about it.”

“I don't need to,” Dane said the next day.

Tyson moved to block his attack on the heavy bag and Dane let his aching arms fall, shaking them out at his sides. “Dane, whether you like it or not, there's going to be press around this fight. Lots of press. Wouldn't you rather it be on your own terms? Get a chance to address whatever rumors are circulating . . . Talk about the fight and not your past.”

As if that were possible. There was no talking about fighting without his past resurfacing. The moment he agreed to sit down with a reporter, he would be opening himself up to a firing squad of personal questions about the Consuelos fight he still wasn't ready to answer. He'd never be ready to talk about that fight to the media.

Keeping the real story about what happened that night to himself and taking all of the blame was the only way he could suppress at least some of the remorse he felt.

“Forget it. I agreed to the fight, but nothing more.”

Tyson looked away.

“What the fuck was that?” he asked. His blood ran cold, cooling his sweaty body instantly.

Tyson sighed. “That's not actually true.”

“Damn it, Tyson!” He knew he should have reviewed the MFL contract more before signing it, but he was so nervous and sick that day, he hadn't been thinking straight. He tore off the training gloves and tossed them onto the floor.

Tyson reached for his hand to unwrap it, but he moved away, unwrapping them himself.

“You want to do something to help me? Get me out of this interview,” he said.

“Look, I get it. But you're going to need to talk to the press at some point before the fight. There's media events and the prefight conference. As your coach, I'd prefer you get this shit out in the open and have time to deal with it before the night of the fight. You can't bring all of this into the octagon with you that night if you want a shot at winning.”

“Fuck!” He swung his bare knuckles toward the heavy bag, the sting of the leather tearing his flesh, making him wince.

“Smart,” Tyson muttered, picking up his towel from the floor and tossing it to him. He put his hands on his hips and tried again. “I'll get Faith to send me a list of questions in advance. We will go over them and send her back an approved list.”

He knew the reporter would ask what she wanted anyway, but he sighed, not seeing a way out of it. Tyson was right. He wouldn't be able to avoid the media forever, and the night before the fight wasn't the right time to deal with the past for the first time in front of a crowd. One-on-one with Faith might help prepare him for that. “Fine. But this is the only interview I'm doing.”

Tyson nodded. “Okay, let's clean up that hand and then get inside the cage.”

“Fantastic idea,” he said through clenched teeth. The idea of punching his coach made him feel a little bit better.

* * *

“Shit,” Colby hissed, spilling her latte as she ducked behind a wall at the Knock Out Sports studio the next morning. Peering around the corner again confirmed that it
was
Dane sitting in the hot seat on the set of
Against the Ropes
, getting powder applied to his face, as Faith Hart ran over the list of the questions in the interviewer seat. “Oh. . . . this is so not good.” How on earth had they convinced him to come on the show?

It had to be in his fight contract. There was no way Dane would willingly put himself in this position.

Though at that moment, she suspected
she
was sweating more than he was.

Or at least as much. She watched his knees bounce as he played with the collar of his shirt. He looked nervous and stressed, his handsome face unsmiling as he continued to nod whenever Faith asked him a question.

She wished she could give him a kiss, tell him it would be okay. She knew how hard this must be for him. She prayed Faith didn't hit him with tough questions for the sake of a controversial show, but the woman's baby brain had been in full effect lately. The week before she'd asked Carlos “The Beast” Alward about his alleged affair with ring girl-turned-Maxim model Karmen Koza.

Nothing was off-limits.

The producer counted down to the start of the interview and she saw Dane wipe his palms on his thighs.

Colby stayed close to the wall. Sipping her coffee, she noticed her hand shaking. She was nervous for him.

There was no denying her attraction to the tortured fighter, but she was starting to think there was more to her feelings
than the wild, passionate sex they enjoyed. She was in love with him.

Unfortunately, at some point he was going to find out the truth about her and then that would be it for them. Damn. Why hadn't she been honest with him from the beginning? Maybe he would have helped her with the story. After all, he was giving an interview right now.

She sighed as she listened to him explain how he was adjusting to training after being away from the gym for almost a year. “It's a lot tougher than I remember,” he said with a nervous laugh. He went on to describe his new schedule, and for the first time she realized how hard he was working to prepare for this fight. They'd barely seen each other since he'd started training the week before, and she missed him. He texted every day and they talked on the phone for hours at night after his training, but her admiration grew as she listened to him talk about the cardio circuits and the two-hour power-training Tyson had him doing to help build his muscle mass back to where it once was. No wonder he was exhausted every evening when they spoke.

Yet, he was still arriving on time for work at her father's company every morning and her father had said he was doing great. If anything, his new, busy schedule was making him even more focused at work.

Her father and her brothers liked him, which was a first, and the last time she'd spoken to her mom, she hadn't exactly being tactful when she'd asked if Colby would be bringing him to dinner again soon.

There were going to be a lot of disappointed people when things ended.

“That's quite an ambitious routine,” Faith said on set. “Then again, if anyone can help prepare you in a short time, it's Tyson Reed.” She paused, plastering a sympathetic look on her face before continuing. “But do you really think you'll be ready to get back in the cage?”

Dane nodded. “Yes, I do.”

He almost convinced her of his confidence and she prayed Faith would let it go at that.

Faith eyed him. “Physically, I don't doubt it . . . but what about mentally? Are you ready to face the crowd, hear the bell, square off with an opponent in the octagon?”

Colby held her breath. Dane's knuckles turned white as he clenched his hands together on his lap. “I'm not sure I'll ever be able to climb into the octagon without fear and doubt and a reminder of that night a year ago,” he said. “But I know I'll never conquer any of those emotions if I don't get back in there.”

His pure, unfiltered, honest emotion made a lump rise in her throat.

“This fight is labelled as a redemption match for Rico, but really it's my redemption match,” he said.

“To prove something to the MFL and your fans?” Faith asked, moving closer to him.

He shook his head. “No. To prove something to myself and, more than anything, to be able to move on.”

“The contract is for this one fight only. Is that your plan? One last fight and you walk away permanently?” she asked.

Dane hesitated so long, Faith shifted in her seat, glancing at the cameraman with a little shrug.

A pin drop could be heard in the studio, and Colby was terrified everyone could hear her pounding heart as she waited to hear his answer.

Finally he spoke. “If you'd asked me that question a week ago, the answer would have been a definite yes . . . but I don't know anymore. Being back in the gym, I feel like I've found a piece of myself that was missing for a long time. And I thought I was okay with that part of me no longer existing, but I want to be whole again. And fighting makes me whole.”

Tears stung her eyes as she stared at the man she was in love with. He'd been through so much that past year and he was climbing back out of the darkness that had surrounded him. She felt sick for deceiving him. She wished she had some idea how to climb out of the mess she'd created.

* * *

Colby was exhausted, and the last thing she wanted to do that evening was hold up round cards in front of drunk, disgusting men. Since watching Dane's interview that morning, she was making herself crazy with the back-and-forth battle about whether or not to drop this whole story. Dane had already given an interview to
Against the Ropes
. Everyone knew he was back and preparing for the fight, and he'd addressed the emotional topic of being ready after the Consuelos fight.

Unfortunately, if she gave up on all of this now, without discovering a new angle, all of her time and effort would be wasted. She wasn't confident she was the lead candidate for the promotion, and she needed something to bring to a new studio if and when she decided to move on.

She sighed. She had to continue. She was already in too deep. She'd already lied to Dane about her job, and she already knew too much about what was going on at Xtreme Fight to walk away now.

And her lie had already formed a gap between them. One he didn't know existed. Yet. She thought he was falling in love with her and the thought only made her heart sink. That would change once he learned the truth.

Going in through the side door of the building, she leaned against the wall and forced several deep breaths, hoping to
clear her muddled thoughts. Was the story worth losing Dane, the first man she'd ever really fallen for in her life? He was such a good guy—kind, caring, understanding, and passionate. He'd understand if she told him the truth now, before things got more complicated, wouldn't he?

The sound of yelling coming from the office upstairs paused her thoughts. She moved closer to the base of the stairs to listen. She heard Cameron's voice, and then one she didn't recognize.

“Look, the note says the ligament is torn. If I fight next week, I'll only do more damage and then I could be out for even longer.”

“You're asking me to find a replacement in a week?” Cameron said.

“Come on. That shouldn't be hard. There are guys coming in here every day begging for a fight opportunity. Finding someone to take my place on the card should be easy.”

The sound of pleading in the man's voice obviously had no effect on the organization's owner as he said, “The promo is done. You're the main fight on the card. I can't bring in a nobody substitute without fans demanding refunds. You're fighting.”

“I don't have clearance,” the other guy said.

“I'm going to pretend I didn't see that note. Burn it. Or you can burn your contract.”

Shit. Cameron Bennett really was an asshole.

“You can't do that, man. I have a family to support. I'm under contract for six fights and you know I'm one of your best fighters.”

“Do I look like I give a shit? I've given you your options. It's on you, man.”

“Fuck you. You want me to fight injured so that your son will be guaranteed to win. You know I'd be taking that belt away if I was fighting at a hundred percent.” His tone was loud, cold, and angry.

Cameron's was cool and unfazed. “I need to know. Are you fighting or not?”

A long silence followed. Colby's own heart was pounding. She could imagine how the fighter must feel.

“I'll fight,” he said as the door swung open and he left the office.

Colby quickly moved away, trying to act as though she hadn't heard every word.

The fighter limped down the stairs and nodded at her as he passed on his way toward the door.

“Hi,” she said quietly, hesitating before following him outside. “Hey . . .” she called, chasing him in the parking lot.

He turned. “Yeah, what?”

“Have we met yet? I'm Colby.”

He looked uninterested. “The new ring girl, yeah. I'm Joe. Sapiro,” he said, with a sigh. He looked tired and defeated already.

Up close, she recognized him from the promo posters as the welterweight fighter in the following week's championship match. “Joe, right . . .” She bit her lip, casting a quick glance over her shoulder as she moved closer to him. “Listen, I overheard you talking to Cameron. He's making you fight injured?”

He frowned. “Happens all the time,” he said with a shrug.

“But it shouldn't.”

He shook his head. “You are a ring girl for a slimy fight promoter. You should know life isn't fair. I gotta go . . .” He turned to leave, but she caught his arm. “What?”

“Why don't you go to the Nevada State Athletic Commission and file a complaint?” The organization would be shut down by morning if enough guys filed these compliancy complaints against Xtreme Fight.

He looked at her as though she were insane. “I do that and I get a reputation as being a pussy and a rat, and I'll never get a fight in this city again.”

“Maybe not with other slimy fighting leagues like this one. But you said you're one of the best fighters in this organization. Why not fight for the MFL?”

He scoffed. “Sure. 'Cause it's that easy. They turn away hundreds of fighters a day. I'm the best this league has, but I don't compare to those higher-level fighters.”

“How do you know?”

His expression hardened. The look of a man who was frustrated with the shitty cards he was being dealt, knowing he had to play them anyway. “Why do you even care? What's it to you if I fight injured or not?”

She swallowed hard under his intimidating stare, then matched it with one of her own. “Because this is bullshit. Forcing fighters to fight without medical clearance or ignoring suspensions is illegal and dangerous.”