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“I wouldn’t argue with that. Sell the coffeehouse and just stay naked in bed, waiting for me to ravish you every day? Sign me up.”
My fingers ran down her arm. Her skin was so soft, her body so feminine. I’d never laid eyes on anyone more beautiful.
And completely unassuming, which made her even more attractive.
If that were even possible.
“I want to go to your fight,” she said, completely out of nowhere.
I traced along her dainty fingers before wrapping her up a little tighter in my arms. “Where’d that come from?”
“I think about it, you know? About seeing you out there. I’m nervous to see you get hit because I’ll want to dive into the ring and help you. And kick his ass if he lays a hand on you. Which, obviously, it’s a fight, so that’s inevitable. You’ll have to take some punches, and that worries me. But I want to be there for you.”
“Wow, you really have been thinking about this.” I chuckled. “I’ll be honest with you because I want you to know what it’s like. He’s a badass fighter, Demi. And I’m going to put up the bestfight I can, but I’m not favored in any of the odds to win this fight. They want someone who can go a few rounds with him and put on a good show. And if seeing me get hit a shit ton of times is going to upset you, I think you should stay home. Or you can wait at the hotel for me, too.”
“I don’t want you to get hit,” she said, pressing her elbows to my chest so she could look at me.
“It’s a fight. Escaping without a hit is not an option. I’m just hoping I put up a good fight and hurt him a little, too.”
“I know you said people have been distracting you on your runs, and it can get frustrating.”
“Yeah, I think everyone is just reacting to all the hype from Leo, you know?”
“I know I mentioned it before, but my family has a lot of land, and it’s right on the lake. There are trails, and it’s really peaceful.” She held her finger to my lips when I started to interrupt because I was not going to be running on her father’s property. The asshole would probably shoot me for trespassing. “My dad isn’t even staying at home right now. My mom feels horrible about what happened, and so does Gramps. My grandparents’ home backs up to my parents’ property line, so there is a lot of open space. You are welcome there, Romeo. And I want them to know you because they’re going to love you just like I do.”
“If your father doesn’t accidentally shoot me for corrupting his daughter and outing his dark secrets.”
“Well, he’d have to get past me. You wouldn’t be alone,” she said with a laugh. “I’d be riding Teacup. She’s an older Arabian horse, so she’s not as fast as she used to be, but she can definitely outrun you.”
I chuckled. “I’ll think about it.”
“Okay. Let’s get some sleep for now. You’ve got an early workout, and I’ve got to get to work early tomorrow because I missed a few hours today.”
“How are you feeling about everything? You haven’t said much. It can’t be easy hearing your dad admit to everything.”
“I don’t know how I feel. Sad about what he did. Relieved that he owned it. Hopeful that maybe we can all move forward now that it’s out there. He can’t take back what he did, but he can try to do better moving forward.”
She was so honest and positive and full of hope.
I doubted her dad would be anxious to make amends. He wasn’t mad at himself for what he did; he was mad that he’d been caught.
But Demi didn’t see the world as the jaded place that I did.
And I wouldn’t tarnish it for her.
I wouldn’t try to change one hair on her gorgeous head.
“One day at a time, all right?”
I worried about the fact that some fucker who’d attacked her was still out there. There was no restraining order and nothing keeping him from coming around.
And then we had her brother, who was an addict and had already broken into her shop once before, and that dude was dangerous in his own right.
Her father had admitted what he did, but who the hell knew what he was going to do in response or if he’d choose to retaliate or come after me for telling her what he’d done. I didn’t have one doubt in my mind that he wouldn’t want me with his daughter.
But I wasn’t going anywhere.
I’d just have to prepare to battle a lot more people than I’d planned on.
