Page 35 of A Fighter’s Love

“You do?”

“I don’t think you should have any doubts about me,” Dale said. “Surely you felt it the other night when I backed you up against the wall, you had your legs around my waist and—”

“Oh fuck, the details of you two together.” Jackson groaned and squirmed on his seat. “You want me to get a stiffy in here?”

“Of course, I always want you hard.” Dale grinned.

Jackson grunted a reply Jenny didn’t quite catch. He rubbed her thigh and blew out a breath. “You see, Jenny, we have this thing,ourthing, but Dale…” He seemed to struggle to find the right words.

Dale tipped his head and raised his eyebrows, urging Jackson to go on. “But I what?”

Jenny took a sip of her water. The bubbles popped on the roof of her mouth.

“Dale, he…he likes to fuck, a lot. To be honest I’d say he was damn greedy for it all the time.”

“Hey,” Dale said. “I’m in the prime of my life. I was made to fuck.”

“Tell me about it,” Jackson said with a sudden dirty grin. “But you just can’t decide if it’s me or Jenny, can you?”

“There’s no decision, it’s both of you. You know that.”

Jackson chuckled. “See, plain old greedy.”

Dale mock scowled. “I can’t help it.” He turned to Jenny. “For so long I’ve seen how Billy treated you, hated it, we both did. I was just waiting for you to find the courage to leave him, stand up for yourself, then I knew you’d blossom. And to be honest.” He wafted his hand in her direction. “One look at you tonight, in that dress and it’s clear you’ve already grown your wings. You’re magical, beautiful, you represent everything I admire in a woman.”

“I do?” Jenny swallowed tightly. Emotions pinged around inside of her. The last thing she wanted was to well up with tears but Dale had just hit the nail on the head. Leaving Billy had been everything and more she’d hoped it would be.

“Yeah and watching you stand up for yourself, it was so fucking arousing.” He huffed. “Maybe I’m perverted, I don’t know. But it was like seeing a girl turn into a woman in the blink of an eye, and not any old woman, but one I couldn’t stop thinking about…” He paused. “When I wasn’t thinking about Jackson that is and then…”

“What?” Jenny asked, carefully storing his words so she could examine them later, when she was alone and quiet.

“And then Jackson said that he…” Dale’s words trailed off.

“…I confessed,” Jackson carried on. “That you’d caught my attention, too, in the trouser department.”

Jenny giggled again, at his choice of words and the way he moved on the seat as if adjusting himself.

Dale smiled and it was the smile she was used to, not the one he’d given her in the car, which had been full of tension. “Have we freaked you out?”

“No…well…yes a little.” She paused as the waiter set down three plates. Each one held a single scallop set on a bed of rocket and drizzled with pea-green oil. A single strand of samphire sat on the top.

They all murmured their thanks yet no one picked up their cutlery.

“A little?” Dale repeated.

“Well a lot actually. It’s been rare in my life that one guy wanted me, but now two. And not just two regular guys, but two handsome, sexy fighters who are suggesting that we…” She drew her words to an abrupt halt. Was she jumping the gun? Had her conversations with Stella and Sian sent her way past the mark? “Suggesting that we…” Still she couldn’t say the word ‘threesome’. It was so alien to her, despite the images running through her thoughts and stealing her fantasies.

“That we all get it on together?” Jackson said in a low murmur. “The three of us, at the same time.”

“Er yes…that.” She picked up her knife and fork and hovered it over her scallop.

“It’s okay,” Jackson said. “We get that Billy was a total arsehole for years and we’ve probably confused you further by admitting to our relationship.”

“As well as our joint attraction to you,” Dale added

“I’m okay about that, really, it’s cool.” She cut a sliver from her scallop and popped it into her mouth. She barely tasted it.

The two men looked at each other, then Jackson picked up his knife and fork.

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