Page 9 of Fighter

No.

I break our embrace suddenly, so suddenly she gasps and looks up at me with confusion. “Did – did I do something wrong?”

“What’s your name?” I demand. “Your real name. No more of this Roxy shit.”

She hesitates, which shocks me. She’ll kiss me and grind against me but won’t tell me her real name? But after a moment, she takes a breath and gives me a tiny smile.

“Samantha. Sam.”

“Sam,” I muse, tasting her real name against my tongue. “I like it, Samantha.”

A surge of desire shoots through me and I lock lips with her again. This time, I grab the hem of my T-shirt, which is now hers, and lift it up over her tits, then grab them with both hands.

Her nipples are firm, nice and hard between my fingers. I roll them gently, causing her to moan and grind against me even more. A fire is burning in my balls, which are tight with the seed I’ve been saving up until the fight’s over. But I don’t know how on Earth I’m going to be able to hold out now.

Save me, Elmore. I don’t know if I can save myself…

I tell myself to stop. Stop kissing her. It’s the only way out of this. If I keep going, I won’t be able to stop myself. So much is riding on the fight tomorrow. If I blow it now…

With every bit of willpower I can muster, I pull back again, and again Samantha looks at me with bewildered eyes.

“I – what is it? Is it me?”

“No,” I say quickly. “You’re perfect, baby. Why do you think I brought you back here? From the moment I saw you at the club, I knew.”

“You – you knew?” she asks timidly.

“I knew I would never be able to let you go,” I tell her. “And I want you, baby. I want you more than I can explain, but I – I have this rule…”

How am I ever going to explain this to her without it sounding absurd?

“A rule…?”

I hate how she looks right now. She thinks this is her fault, but it couldn’t be any further from the truth.

“I – I’m not allowed to come before a fight.”

Her first reaction is the right one; her eyes flash with the thought that what I said is either completely ridiculous or a cruel joke. But she corrects herself, obviously not wanting to be rude, and slowly nods like she’s trying to understand.

“So it’s not me?”

“Not you!?” I roar. “Baby, it’s you that’s making me think about breaking this rule for the first time.”

“First time…” she says softly, a smile spreading over her pink lips. “It’s – it’s funny you should mention that, because…this is really my first time.”

“You’re joking,” I reply. Is she? Or were my suspicions correct? But all we were doing was kissing. No girl is that innocent. “You said you have a boyfriend.”

“He’s not really my boyfriend,” she replies, almost as though the idea offends her. “He’s Tressa’s boyfriend’s friend. She thought it would be nice if we dated.”

“Tressa is…?” I point upstairs to where Anastasia would be. Samantha nods. “I see.”

I can’t help but smile as I think of all the things I’m going to teach her. “I’m going to marry you one day,” I tell her, causing her eyes to widen. I move right in and cradle her against me, but focus on her eyes, trying to ignore the heat emanating from between her legs. “But right now I have to hold back. As much as it kills me, I have to, because if I don’t win my fight tomorrow, I’ll never be able to provide for you. That ten grand I gave you guys was the last money I had in the world.”

Sam’s beautiful eyes look up at me and I see a future – a future that could be destroyed if I make the wrong move now. No, as hard as it is, I have to deny myself the thing I want most in the world. Her.

“I’ll – I’ll give the money back—”

“Tressa won’t let you.” I shake my head. “And even if she only takes half, five-thousand isn’t enough. I need to win tomorrow. And then…then I’ll show you what kind of man I am.”

---