The hot body that mesmerised him and the sassy mouth that tormented him shouldn’t belong to a man like Trystan, but it was her destiny. Trystan wouldn’t appreciate her, he would want to change her and no one should be allowed to alter this sexy, dynamic woman who was capable of miracles.

Except it was thoughts like that which made Dax push her away and act like he was now. He wanted her to remain the same because he couldn’t imagine a better woman and that thought was dangerous. She didn’t belong to him and she never would. He couldn’t let himself believe otherwise, not for a second.

Rolling her off his lap, she went to the floor and he stared at the glow of her abraded flesh. ‘What was that for?’ she panted, remaining face down and still at his feet.

‘Making me want you,’ he confessed. When she tried to move he put a boot on her ass and pushed down. ‘Don’t move.’

Rocking his foot, he made her body oscillate and though he witnessed a wince of pain cross her expression he kept going.

‘You wanted to get me off, what if this is what it takes?’ he asked. ‘What if I want to roll you over and piss all over you until you stink of me? Then whip those hefty tits ‘til they’re crimson, would you let me do that?’

‘Is this a test?’ she asked. ‘Like you said earlier, to find out what I’ll do for you?’

Dragging his boot off her, he rolled her onto her back and squatted down over her. ‘You’ll do anything your damn well told by me. If I tell you to spend all night buck naked serving beer to me and my friends, you’ll do it. If I deny you the right to use the bathroom until you piss all over yourself, you’ll do it.’

‘What’s with the sudden obsession with peeing?’

‘Still don’t know when to quit, Minx.’

Despite blanching with discomfort, she pushed up onto her elbows. ‘And you worry too much.’

‘It’s in the job description.’

‘Of thug for hire?’ she asked. ‘I’d think it’s just your job to show up and kick the shit out of the person your boss points at.’

‘In my line of work you can never trust anyone to watch your back. Sometimes you have to assume that everything will go to shit.’

‘And if life has taught me one thing it’s that you never know what is around the corner. I didn’t choose to be here and I don’t think that you did either.’

‘I wasn’t the one who planned to bring you here, or the one to decide what we did with you now that you are here.’

Extending his legs, he came back to full height and offered her a hand, which she took so he could haul her to her feet.

‘I know that,’ she said. ‘But I’m happy you’re the one sharing my bed and not him.’

‘Bruno? He can’t get it up,’ Dax revealed. ‘He’s Mauri’s right hand man, he trusts him with everything.’

‘But Mauri doesn’t trust you?’ she asked

‘He trusts me, Brad and Trystan are another story.’

‘You said something, that night in Vegas, about teaching me a lesson about my attitude.’

‘I think I just did,’ Dax said, taking her hand and lifting it above her head to make her twirl one-eighty. ‘I do love punishing that ass.’

‘Do you spank me so hard because I won’t let you fuck it?’

‘I could fuck it if I wanted to,’ he said, stroking the cheeks.

‘Are you Trystan’s bodyguard?’

‘In a way, though more like his mess fixer and problem solver. You’re not the first person he’s pissed off while he’s high.’

A wash of guilt prickled him when she reacted to a spot he caressed on her ass. Crouching to his haunches again he began to cover the red handprints he’d put there with kisses.

‘What are you doing?’ she laughed and twisted to rest a hand on his head.

‘Would you ever tell me to stop? When I hurt you—‘

‘You don’t hurt me,’ she said, rotating all the way to crouch facing him, taking both of his hands. ‘I’m… trouble. I know I’m difficult, but… I’ve never met a man who rises to it, embraces it… not like you do. I didn’t know I wanted a man who would challenge me… until you found me.’

‘Don’t,’ he said, shaking his head and bringing them both up to full height. ‘Don’t think this is more than it is. You’re my prisoner, here against your will and—‘

‘Where would I go?’ she asked. ‘I know we won’t be here forever, I know there’s a deadline. Bruno is a pig, but… I’ll put up with that if it means I have the chance to be close to you.’

Every curse word that Dax knew ran through his mind in new combinations until he’d exhausted them all. In coming to terms with his own growing attachment to this female he hadn’t figured how she might be feeling about him. Women fancied his body and were attracted to the glamour he could show them through Stark money, but then he’d had his share of the Stark female groupies too.

But for someone to care about him, it was so unimaginable that it hadn’t occurred to him. Maybe he thought this girl would be happy knocking boots with him for a while, but he hadn’t figured that she’d link him to any kind of emotion. Most of the women he knew always had ulterior motives of the practical, or material, variety. The others he kicked to the kerb long before they could latch on.

‘I’m using you for sex,’ he stated.

‘I know. I’m using you too. What woman wouldn’t want to use that body?’ Locking her fingers between his, she altered the angle of her hands so that her palms pressed down on his. ‘Lift me up.’ She locked her elbows.

‘Why?’ he asked at the same time he bent his knees then straightened, taking her off the floor and balancing her miniscule weight using his upper body strength alone.

She dipped her head to kiss him and with the taste of her tongue he forgot all about tomorrow’s worries and began to traverse to the bed.

‘When we get back to the city, can I come and see you fight?’

‘Not a chance,’ he said, lowering her onto the bed. When she was lying down he knelt astride her to grab the neck of his tee-shirt and haul it off.

‘Why not?’ she asked, sitting up to stroke his chest with such esteem that he felt the need to puff himself up. ‘Women aren’t allowed?’

‘They’re allowed, though most of them are in bikinis or hooker boots.’

‘I think I could handle that.’

He stood up to shirk his jeans. ‘I’m still not taking you.’

‘Why not?’

‘You’re too much of a distraction,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t be focused on the fight if I was more concerned about you being out in the crowd getting hit on.’

‘I can take care of myself.’

‘So you’ve said in the past,’ he said, snatching her foot when it moved towards his cock. ‘But there’s no fighting allowed outside the ring. It will get you barred, or worse.’

‘That means that even if you were in the crowd with me and I got hit on there would be nothing you could do about it.’

‘Oh, there’s plenty I could do, babygirl,’ he said, imagining the ways he would make a man pay for ogling, or upsetting, his female.

‘Can I ask you a question?’ she asked, opening her arms to him when he came down on top of her.

‘I wish I knew a way to make you stop asking them.’ Except he sort of did know a way and he proved it by tracing his lips on her jaw, over the tiny scar he’d seen there, and her creamy neck. ‘What is it?’

‘What would you do for me?’

This made him falter. ‘What?’

‘You asked me earlier, in the shower, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. So I’m asking, what would you do for me?’

‘Win,’ he said and then did the most effective thing he knew to keep her quiet, he kissed her.

Chapter Ten

They’d spent far longer naked than they should have. While she was with Dax she didn’t have to worry about disobeying Bruno’s commands, this felt real, and she wanted to stay in their private shelter for as long as they could. Regardless of whatever the hierarchy was in their day jobs, where she was concerned Dax overruled Bruno every time.