“You’re okay with this? With me fighting him?” Never would she have asked another man that question, but it mattered. Jig mattered, and what he thought of her choices was important.
He let out a gruff laugh. “That little twig? Bet you snap him by the end of the first round.”
“You wish it was you getting to hand him his ass?”
With a shrug, he smirked. “Can’t say I’d turn down the opportunity to shove his balls up his ass, but you’ve earned this, baby.”
Baby. Was there still a chance…?
Joy surged in Izzy’s heart. He was curbing his own alpha protectiveness in favor of allowing her to be her independent self and run her life. But he had her back. No, he stood at her side. Not once had he or his family of brothers abandoned her. They kept showing up, even when she’d tried to push them away. They showed her she could rely on others. She could have a family that wouldn’t desert her and would protect her heart.
Jig took a long step closer. She had the feeling of being caught in a trap, about to be devoured by a hungry predator. “Two weeks,” he said when he was so close his breath tickled her ear.
She shivered, and her eyes fluttered close. She wanted his lips on her, his hands, anything to renew the connection and ease the ache being without him caused.
“I know,” she whispered. “I—I was just—”
“Freaking the fuck out and running like the coward you are not?” One hand wrapped around the back of her neck, squeezing until she opened her eyes and met his gaze.
“Yes.” She swallowed. “Exactly.” She’d spent her entire adult life fleeing from relationships, just as her mother had. Sure, she had never let it get to marriage and never had thrown away relationships after they started, but she was just as bad because she never allowed them to begin in the first place. She protected her heart to her own detriment. Just as her mother had.
The realization was jarring, and thankfully she had a man to help her realize the self-destructive tendency before she completely destroyed any chance at happiness and love.
“You done with that shit?” His mouth hovered just above hers, and she nearly wept with the need to feel it against hers.
“Yes.”
“You ready to be my woman? My ol’ lady? You and me. Nothing coming between us.” As he spoke, his beard tickled her chin.
“Yes.”
“You ready for me to tell you I love you?”
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. He loved her? “Y-yes.” She trembled in his embrace. Those were words she’d never expected to hear from a man. Tears filled her eyes and emotion clogged her throat until she couldn’t swallow. Her heart was full in a way she’d never imagined possible.
“Good,” he said, his eyes growing lust-filled. “You ready to beat this fucker’s ass so I can drag you back to that locker room and eat your pussy ’till you’re screaming?”
Fuck yes! “Yes!” This time she couldn’t keep the elated grin off her face.
Jig kissed her hard, thoroughly, until her knees jellied and need curled her belly tight. “Then let’s do this because I’ve gone two weeks without watching you come, and I’m at my fucking limit.”
“You coming in the ring with me?”
“I’d like to see you try to keep me out.”
Izzy smiled. This just might be the best night of her life, and she hadn’t even dished out the payback yet.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
JIG RUBBED HIS woman’s shoulders as she waited to be called into the ring. Her hood was up, game face on, and she bounced like there were springs in her heels. “Chill, babe. You could take his guy out with one of those sexy black dresses you own and five-inch heels.”
Izzy laughed, and the shoulders under his hands softened. “Cute, Jig. Very cute.”
The emcee climbed into the center of the ring and announced the fight, calling Slick into the ring first. He bopped around, looking all smug and conceited. Jig couldn’t keep the smirk off his face.
Sure, he fucking hated the idea of Izzy getting in the ring with this guy. But it was necessary to her. And she could take him. There was a chance she’d get banged up, and it would tear at Jig’s insides, but he was man enough to deal.
“In the next corner, we have Izzy The Empress.”
Jig gave Izzy’s shoulders one final squeeze, slapped her ass, and kissed her hard before sending her off.
Half the crowd fell silent, looks of confusion crossing their face. Not Jig’s brothers. They went fucking wild, screaming, stomping their boots and chanting “Jig’s ol’ lady.”
He chuckled. She’d hate the fuck outta that.
Even the women had come, dying to see her after weeks of radio silence, and their wild, high-pitched cries were the loudest of all.
Izzy glanced back at him, tears in her eyes. It was about time his woman realized she had a family now. A family that would be all up in her shit all the time, and wouldn’t desert her even if their lives were on the line.