Fighting for Keeps (Rocky River Fighters 2)

“Oh. My. God. There must be hundreds and hundreds here,” she said, awe in her voice.

“More like thousands,” he replied, picking up a stack and thumbing through it.

Shaking her head, she stared at the stacks of money. “I don’t understand it. He let the house fall into disrepair, and he drove a truck that’s at least fifteen years old. There had to be things he needed, things he wanted. Why didn’t he spend any of this?”

“Maybe he wanted to leave it to you. He left the ranch to you, right? He had to know you’d eventually find it.”

“What if I hadn’t? What if I’d hired a professional cleaning service, found a realtor, and booked it back to England? And I saw him for a few minutes before he passed. He didn’t say a word about any money, just kept rambling on and on about—”

Frowning when she abruptly cut off, he asked, “Rambling? Rambling about what?”

Lips tightening for a moment, she said, “He never said a word about this. He wasn’t quite lucid, but this doesn’t seem like something a person would just forget.”

Taking her by the arm, he pulled her around to face him, rubbing his hands soothingly up and down her arms. “We’ll probably never know why he did it the way he did, or why he never told you. But regardless of that, this is a pretty amazing find, no?”

She gave him a timid smile before leaning into him, resting her head on his shoulder. “Of course it is. I’ve just never done well with puzzles I can’t find answers to, but I think this is one I have to accept I’ll never solve.”

Hugging her close, he held her for a moment before kissing her head and pulling back. “I should get going. I know how much you want to read that letter, and I want to get one more training session in before bed.”

“Will I see you tomorrow before the fight?”

“I wish I could say yes, but I have a lot to do. I’ll see you there, though. I’m going to need a kiss for good luck before I get in that ring.”

“You can have a million kisses for good luck,” she replied, eyes sparkling.

Chuckling, he pulled her in tight one last time. “I think a million kisses would lead to much more than kissing, and we definitely won’t have time for that. You read that letter after I leave, and call or text me if you need me. I might not answer if I’m training, but I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

“Thank you for coming over. Tonight was amazing. It was special,” she said softly.

“For me too, honey. For me too.”

Leaning down, he kissed her lips softly at first, and then with more intensity as his blood quickly heated. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he pulled away, lips lingering against hers for a moment. Pressing a brief kiss to her forehead, he let her go, feeling the loss of her in his arms down to his soul.

“I’ll see you tomorrow night,” he said, walking swiftly out of the room and down the stairs without waiting on a reply, knowing he’d be even more tempted to stay if he lingered.

He loved spending time with her, and he was happy he could tell her about the hidden cash. And he felt blessed to have been there when she saw her mother for the first time, to have given her a letter that most likely came from her mother. He longed to stay longer, but he knew he’d be tempted, beyond what he could handle, to take their relationship to the next level. His body was yearning for it, and his leopard was throwing a fit, urging to go back and pick up where they left off.

But it was too soon for that, and he needed to stop thinking about it, put it all from his mind. He had a fight to train for, and he needed to focus on that and nothing but that.

But damned if he wouldn’t give up the opportunity to ever fight again to be able turn back around and hold her in his arms all night long.

Seth’s focus was absolute, his brow furrowed as he concentrated on carving the swirling design into the edges of the table. This was the table he planned to give Amelia, and it had to be perfect for her.

He spent two hours this morning training with Jax, and then he came out to his small workshop behind the house to work. He couldn’t train all day, no matter how much he wanted to. He had to give his muscles a rest, get recharged for the fight. Working with wood might be his day job, but it wasn’t work for him. He enjoyed it, and it relaxed and soothed him on a level nothing else did.

Except for Amelia. It was such a contradiction, because he felt revved up, his body balancing on a precipice, surrounded by desire and need, every time he was around her. But something about her made him feel at peace and whole in a way he wasn’t sure he ever felt before. At least, not in recent years. He thought maybe he’d felt like that once, back when he was a kid, before everything went to shit. But even then, it wasn’t on this level.

Blowing the wood shavings away, he eyed the design, making sure it seamlessly fit with the others on the edges of the top of the table. It looked like one continuous design, and satisfied, he put the Dremel down, standing back to eye it from farther away. He thought she’d enjoy the flowers he etched into the swirling design. They reminded him of the wildflowers he brought her last night, and he hoped that’s what she’d think of when she saw them, as well.

As he was polishing the surface, he heard a knock, and he watched as Ian walked inside. He looked around for a moment before stepping up to the table, cocking his head as he studied it.

“That looks really good. It’s more girly than what you usually make, but I like it.”

“Yeah, well,” Seth replied, finishing his task and straightening up, tossing the rag on his work bench. “It’s for Amelia. Her uncle let the house kind of deteriorate, and she mentioned how bad her table looked last night. I thought I’d make this one for her.”

“That’s a nice thing to do. Things must be going well with her,” Ian said, leaning against the worktable and crossing his massive arms.

Seth was leaner than Ian, but he was by no means small. Compared to most men, human and shifter alike, he was much bigger than most he came across. But he looked downright small next to Ian. Ian was huge. The only man he’d ever seen come close to matching him in size, who didn’t look dwarfed by the tall, muscular tiger shifter, was Jax. Jax was an anomaly for a bird shifter, even a bird of prey, like his animal, the eagle. Most bird shifters tended to be smaller, more delicate and fine boned, even the men.