I nod and want to tell him that she knows Nora also, and that she’s like my shrink, but suddenly he pounces out of the room, so I start gathering my athletic gear, when he returns.
“Tell her to present herself at the Southwest counter, with the code on this paper. There’s a ticket under her name so she can meet us in Chicago. I’ll take care of her room.”
“No!” I say in pure thrilled disbelief.
His answering two dimples go straight to curl my toes.
“Remy, I…”
I don’t know what I want to say, but actually I do.
I want this man to know that I am absolutely wild about him, and I’m not going to quit as soon as it gets steep. But I’m too afraid of being the only one to say something so … lasting.
If I say the L word, what will it mean for my future? I want him concentrated. I want my fighter to win. And I want him to say the L word to me not because he heard it first, but because deep in his inner complicated emotional world, he’s certain that he feels this for me.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask instead.
One dark eyebrow plucks upward as he comes over with his two dimples. “Why do you think?” He kisses my ear and whispers, in my hair, “Because your ass looks great in those tight pants you wear. It’s a guy thing.”
A laugh escapes me, and his dimples deepen. He tugs me closer and scents me, and I bury my face and smell his neck, then we need to part with a sound that’s a mutual groan. I go to my old room to get changed, and on my way there I’m texting Mel:
My man is so wild about me he just got tickets to fly my BFF over to meet me in Chicago. Just please don’t offer anything sexual in gratitude because a) I will have to kill you and b) that’s what I’M going to do but c) there’s always Pete and Riley around.
Melanie: OMG OMG OMG! You’re serious? I’m going to go need to work the boss so I can go!
Brooke: Work her hard! I’m dying to see u!!
The thought of seeing Melanie makes me grin and my insides bubble during the day. I urgently need to talk to her or I’m going to explode with what I’m feeling.
That day, as Remy works out, I get busy on my phone and make a few discreet calls to the hotels in town. Nora isn’t checked in any of them, but I know she’s with that Scorpion man. He’s so gross I can’t even fathom why my romantic little sister would get involved with him. He’s not even a sexy bad ass like Remington. But I’m formulating a plan, and Melanie is going to be the one to help me bring it about perfectly without setting off a single one of Remington’s protective instincts.
The thought makes me glance at him, and he’s easily jumping rope, making those slapping sounds as the rope flies all over him in twisting, turning, one foot, then the other, moves. My loins heat up as I remember the feel of him, the many times we’ve made love. I’d wanted to know what it feels like to have him inside me. Now I do. And I feel like I’m being possessed by everything man and powerful in the world.
Later, I stretch him, and my hands roam so freely over his warmed muscles, I feel like he’s been made for me. Mine to touch. Mine. Mine. Mine. Scorching heat rages through me as his slick torso clenches under my fingers. His chest is heaving, and he’s tired, and he needs to go eat, and all I can think of is jumping him when I get him back in bed with me.
As I go around the bench to work on his back, he snatches me in one arm and draws me onto his lap, his nose burying into my hair. “Hmmmm,” he softly growls in my ear.
My ni**les instantly perk. Now that I know that “hmm,” to Remington, means he wants to eat me and my traps and my biceps, I can’t help the pool of liquid heat that rushes between my thighs.
He draws back with glinting male eyes and tucks a strand that came loose from my ponytail behind my ear. “I can smell how hot you are for me,” he murmurs with a famished gaze on my mouth.
My breath goes choppy, and I slightly peer past my shoulder.
I see that Coach and Riley are busy picking up all the stuff Remy left littered about, like gloves and ropes, so I turn back into him and whisper. “Well, have you seen you?” My lips brush the shell of his ear as I slide my hands around his shoulders and run my fingers down his muscled back. “Have you seen you? I can barely take my hands off you. Taking my eyes off is like asking me to deliberately drown, I just can’t do it.”
His sparkling blue eyes capture mine, and he lifts one hand, and grabs my ponytail, working it free of its elastic band. He tosses the ribbon aside, then runs his fingers down my loose hair. “You’re mine now. I won’t let anyone else have you.”
“I know,” I sigh dramatically. Like it’s a chore.
He smiles tenderly at me, then forces my arms around his sweaty nape. I see the drops of moisture still clinging to his forehead and they just make me want to dry him with my mouth.
“I like me when I see myself through you, Brooke.” Gently, he seizes my ankles in his grip and guides my legs around his hips. His eyes glint in pure male contentment when his erection hits the spot between my legs, and he sweeps his head down and takes a nip from my outstretched arms, his teeth nibbling my bicep through the sleeve of my track jacket. “Hmm. And I like you like this even more.”
“Remington!” I try prying free but he holds me down by my hips, laughing as I pointedly slide my eyes in the direction of Riley and Coach, who are still cleaning up. “What is this? Free sex show day?”
“Take a hike, guys!” he shouts, and within five fast heartbeats, we’re alone. With the enormous gym and all the mat area, the weight equipment area, and the boxing ring, just for the two of us. The gyms he uses are always rented entirely for him, and the knowledge that no one will be coming shoots fire through my veins.