Me, I was ready for anything. In the past two months that Lily, Emerson, and I had been together, I’d discovered I didn’t always have to be a smart-ass. I’d turned into a guy who was stupidly in love. And I wouldn’t change a second.
I gripped Lily’s waist and kissed her neck. “You doing okay?”
“Mmm, better than.” She pressed a hand to her belly. “Probably should’ve skipped that corn dog. I’m nervous.”
“No reason to be. He’s going to kick ass.”
“Yeah, but Giovanni’s incredible. And Carly’s about to pop, so he’ll probably be taking some time off. He’ll want to go out on top.”
I bit her ear. “I want to go out on top. Bottom’s okay too.”
“Pervert.” Her laughter quieted as Kim, ring card girl extraordinaire, climbed into the ring to announce the match.
I held Lily through three rounds, then four. Neither of them were tapping out. Half the rounds were freaking draws. By round five, Emerson was stumbling around like he was drunk, and Giovanni was wheezing like he needed oxygen. Lily had her knuckles pressed to her mouth and the crowd was torn between screaming for their favorites—and they were pretty evenly split—and watching in shocked silence as the men pummeled each other.
Just when I was I sure they’d go another five rounds, Gio dragged Emerson into a combination that defied logic and gravity. Legs tangled, they crashed to the mat. Somehow they reversed positions, and amazingly, it was Emerson who raised his fist to deliver the final blow.
I expected the sound of bones crunching, but there was only the ref’s whistle. It was over. He’d won.
Hot damn.
The audience went wild, screaming, yelling. Boos sounded from Gio’s legion of fans, but they were drowned out by the cheering. Lily and I led the brigade. No one was going to shout or whistle louder than we would for the guy we loved.
Once Emerson headed back to the locker room, I grinned down at Lily. She was still pale, but her bright green eyes burned with excitement. “So…” I looped an arm around her shoulders, and we joined the groups of people swarming for the doors. “How do you feel about a quick shower?”
But she didn’t smile. “No way.”
My smile faded. “Why not?”
We’d all been insatiable for weeks, unable to get enough of each other no matter how many times we were together. I hoped she wasn’t growing tired of our sex-a-thons, since I had a feeling I never would.
Sex with Lily and Emerson was basically the pinnacle of life as I knew it.
“It’s a long shower or nothing, pal.” She poked me in the ribs and sprinted down the hall, taking the most likely route to the locker room.
Halfway there, she turned back. “Guess who has a date tonight, by the way?”
“Hmm. It’s not you. Unless you count naked Chinese.”
“Works for me. But no, it’s not me. Try my dad.” She pumped her fist. “He’s going out with a woman who, get this, is one of Emerson’s landscaping clients. He had to give her up when he started training with Einrich, but he still tries to help her out when he can. One day, he couldn’t make it, and he mentioned my dad being handy with a long lopper and—”
“Whoa. Dirty.”
She giggled. “They’re going out for steak and a movie. I’m so happy I could bust.”
I caught her around the waist and lifted her off her feet, giving her a smacking kiss. “Me too.”
“Hey you two, gonna get in here sometime soon?”
Emerson’s lazy drawl had me looking over Lily’s head to where he stood in the bathroom doorway. He wore his shorts and a telltale maroon hoodie wrapped around his waist.
Recently, he’d had some sweatshirts made that said “Lily’s Dollhouses”, and he’d taken to wearing them before fights. Lily’s business had exploded from the increased exposure. Instead of people thinking it was an old-fashioned hobby, she was doing all kinds of tricked out designs to accommodate her new clients. Her latest project was a replica boxing ring. I kept telling her she needed to include a tiny Em with a jacked up dick, but so far, she hadn’t obliged me.
The shorts and hoodie wrapped around Em’s waist weren’t all he was wearing. He also sported a colorful assortment of bruises—and a let’s fuck smile.
I gave Lily a light shove. “Sounds like we have an appointment of our own, babe.”
She rushed toward Emerson and smiled at me over her shoulder. “And I think it’s going to take all night.”