Unlikely Match, page 5
Behind the thick black frames of his glasses, he widened his eyes to comical proportions. It took nearly every ounce of my self-control not to break into hysterical laughter. He opened his mouth to say something, but before anything could come out, a high-pitched shriek echoed in the empty gym and a flurry of pink launched into Tyler’s arms.
A frazzled gray-haired woman trailed behind the little girl, who was now perched happily on Tyler’s left hip. “I’m so sorry, Tyler. I tried to call you.”
He pressed his lips to the crown of the child’s head and smiled at the older woman. “It’s okay, Rachel. I am always happy to see my Lollipop.”
“Steve got hurt at work.” Rachel placed a hand on her chest and closed her red-rimmed eyes for a moment. “It isn’t too bad, but he broke his arm and I need to pick him up from the hospital.”
The brief, hurried conversation between Tyler and Rachel faded into the background as my eyes locked onto dazzling emerald ones the exact same shade as Tyler’s but framed by a much more cherubic face. The girl smiled at me, and without a moment’s hesitation, I returned it.
My heart stuttered in my chest. Tyler in his role as caregiver was going to be my undoing if his little sister and her shy smile weren’t.
Chapter Ten
Tyler
Lolli snuggled deeper into my chest as I assured Rachel that she could take as long as was necessary, that we’d rearrange the schedule and she should contact me if she needed anything. I meant every word. The woman had been a heaven-sent gift to Lolli and me and I was fairly certain that without her we’d never have survived our transition from normal siblings to whatever the hell we were now called. Guardian and ward? That sounded so antiquated and sterile. Even though I’d happily lay my life down for her, I wasn’t her parent either.
Internally, however, I was throwing a temper tantrum of epic proportions. I’d planned on asking Clayton out for dinner after our training today. I needed definition and clarity to whatever was going on between us. The girl in my arms, clinging to my neck, was the exact reason I couldn’t play it cool and wait it out.
Even if we were an impossible family to define, my responsibility to her was a big one. And that included not parading a line of men in and out of her life when I got bored. I owed her the stability she had been robbed of.
As Rachel left, I turned to Clayton. Sure, I’d talked about my sister, but reality was far different from theory. And I wasn’t fully convinced he’d actually understood that I was her guardian and charged to protect and care for her—even when that meant I went more than two years without a date, much less sex.
Clayton, however, was paying zero attention to me and completely entranced by the small creature in my arms. If I’d thought the man was hot as hell before, the softening of his face and small curl of his fingers as he offered Lolli a little wave sent him into an indescribably sexy stratosphere.
I kissed her head again and hitched her higher on my hip. “Clayton, this is my baby sister Lauren. Lolli, this is my new friend Clayton. He’s making me big and strong.”
She straightened in my arms and held out a small hand. “I’m pleased to meet you, Clayton. Ty told me all about you. You’re gonna keep him from getting hurt again, right?”
As much as I loved my sister, in that moment I wished for nothing more than a large piece of duct tape that I could slap over her mouth to keep her from saying shit like that. “Lolli—”
Clayton’s laugh—that amazing sound that I was stupidly enthralled by—cut off my words. “No, he is going to keep himself from getting hurt again. I’m just giving him a few tips on how to do that.”
Lolli bounced in my arms. “Can I watch you, Ty? Please, please, please, can I watch?”
The chance of me saying ‘no’ to Lolli on a good day was pretty damn close to zero. The chance of me turning her down when she stuck out her bottom lip and gave me those puppy-dog eyes was about a negative thirty. But this time it probably wasn’t my call.
I looked up at Clayton and lifted my shoulder lightly. “I’m sorry. Would it be too disruptive if she stays?”
A twinkle lit up his blue eyes. “I think your sister would be just the motivational tool you need.” He held out a hand to my sister as I lowered her to the ground. “Why don’t you come over here and help me…adjust your brother’s training.” He tossed me a grin over his shoulder and led Lolli to one of the seats pushed against the far wall. “You have three more sets on the jump rope you love so much, then twenty burpees.”
I pressed my lips together and arched a brow at him, but I fell into the routine that was gradually getting easier to perform. Even though my muscles ached when I left—and hurt like hell the next day—the small changes I was seeing in my body encouraged me. More than the training I kept being promised would help me to defend myself, I was rather proud of the small definition sculpting my body.
Clayton hadn’t lied when he’d said he was going to use Lolli to help with my training. He had me bench press her giggling fifty-two-pound self for ten reps then plopped her on my back while I did twenty push-ups. By the end of the session, Lolli was incredibly pleased with herself and completely in love with Clayton.
And I wasn’t certain that I could walk to the locker room, much less to my car.
I dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I’m going to take a quick shower, then we can head out. Think about what you want for dinner, okay?”
Lolli tugged on my arm just as I turned to walk away. She crooked her finger at me and I obediently bent at the waist and turned my ear for her to whisper in it. “Can Clayton come over and eat with us?”
Immediately I glanced across the room to where he was wiping down equipment and putting things away. “He probably has to get home to his own things.” The possible truth of my words sent a trail of ice skating down my spine. We’d gone from an adversarial relationship to ripping each other’s clothes off with about zero seconds of conversation in between.
Hell, for all I knew, he had a husband or wife and three kids at home. All his talk about wanting commitment and needing a certain type of dynamic could have been a steaming pile of bullshit.
Lolli’s soft ashen curls swished as she shook her head violently. “No, Ty, he’s like us. He doesn’t have a mom or a dad. He told me so. He’s all by himself.” She pulled harder, the threat of her ripping my already gelatin-like arm from the socket very real. “Please, Ty.”
He’s like us.
Three simple words that managed to slice through me with precision. For better or worse, I’d had both my dad and my stepmom for much longer than Lolli had and that fact never ceased to be a point of pain for me.
Mr. Studly chose that moment to walk over with a shit-eating grin firmly in place and directed squarely at Lolli. “‘Please, Ty,’ what?”
Before I could answer, Lolli made up my mind for me. She released my arm and turned all her charm onto Clayton. “We wanted you to come to dinner with us. We’re going to stop and get pizza on the way home. What do you like on your pizza? I like pepperoni and bacon, but Ty likes spinach and tomato and…” Her words trailed off and she contorted her petite features into a disgusted face.
“Brothers are weird. I’m lucky I don’t have one. Well, other than Joey,” Clayton confirmed very seriously with a curt nod of his head. He lifted his chin at me and I didn’t miss the mischief reflected back from his cornflower irises. “We can hang out while you shower.”
I took one step toward the locker room and hesitated, wobbling on the ball of my left foot. Clayton was practically a stranger—a stranger I’d willingly fucked just a few days before, but still. Was I really prepared to let him watch my baby sister, the one I’d nearly lost three years ago? I looked over my shoulder to where, despite the frothy pink dress she was wearing, Clayton was talking her through some boxing stances.
A soft glow radiated from her as she valiantly tried to mirror Clayton’s posture with moderate success. Her tiny fists balled in front of her, she extended her arm when he showed her a jab, a left upper cut and a right hook. He looked up at me and winked, erasing the moment of doubt that had filled my abdomen with a tight ball of nerves.
Instead, something much more sinister took hold—a warmth that spread through my chest, not only for the man himself, but also for the picture playing out before my eyes. Before I got far more introspective than I should for having known the man just a little over a week, I hurried to the locker room and raced through my shower.
Apparently a pseudo-family night was on tap.
Chapter Eleven
Clayton
My reality was quickly becoming a convoluted mess that I couldn’t explain. I hung the right when Tyler did and kept following the silver Land Rover, even when the thudding of my heartbeat in my ears nearly deafened me.
I was driving in what was becoming an increasingly snazzy neighborhood, where I certainly didn’t belong. Hell, these weren’t just the kind of luxury homes that had lined Joey’s neighborhood growing up. These were fucking mansions. Beneath the small amount of fame I’d garnered, the moderately swanky condo I owned and my gym—that was rapidly draining all my finances, personally and professionally—I was still the kid from the projects.
Not only was I all but intruding on Tyler and Lauren’s time together, I was also completely out of place in their world. I slid my truck into Park on a circle drive behind Tyler’s SUV. I leaned my hip on the front fender, crossed my arms and affected as trouble-free a smile as I could, lifting my chin at the monstrous brick building Tyler and Lauren called home when they exited his vehicle. “Got yourself a real fixer-upper here.”
He cocked his head to one side and stared at me for a long moment before dropping his gaze to where Lauren stood close to my side and giving her a brilliant smile that damn near took my breath away. “Lolli, why don’t you go get paper plates and take them into the family room. We can eat in there tonight.”
With the bouncing of her frilly dress and equally buoyant curls, she practically skipped up the steps, not bothering to look back at me or her brother.
His penetrating gaze saw far too deep and, I feared, far too much. A moment of pride flared in my chest. Damn, I was good at picking up on the personality type I loved so much. Maybe Tyler wasn’t what the world thought a Dom should look like, but he had every fucking trait ingrained in his soul—even the ones that were slightly annoying, like seeing through my bullshit. “Second thoughts?”
He had to be joking. The concept of being welcomed into something so personal, something so damn close to the dream I barely allowed myself to have, meant more than I could possibly make him understand. I dropped my gaze to the tan tips of my high-end boots peeking out from beneath the hem of my jeans. “Doubtful. This is officially my cheat day and I plan to eat at least half of one of those pizzas all on my own.”
“Look at me.”
His sharp command immediately brought my eyes up to meet his—and my dick to twitch in my pants. Yeah, he was created for this.
Several moments ticked by in silence before he reached for my hand and laced our fingers together. “This was my father’s house. It’s huge, obnoxious and means nothing.” Behind the thick-framed glasses, he narrowed his gaze. “You’re loaded yourself. This should be much more your norm.”
Guilt kicked in my gut. I was far from broke, but each month that my gym ran in the red, I grew closer to that inevitability. Even a hint of losing the relative comfort I’d worked so hard for created a tingling path of anxiety dancing along each nerve. Maybe I’d never be back to the place where I’d grown up, but I was gradually growing closer, and it damn near terrified me. Poverty had left scars far deeper than any opponent I’d ever faced.
And it was an enemy that seemed to be knocking on my door as my personal finances were drained to fund my fledgling dream.
“My dad bailed when I was born and my mom worked two jobs to keep a shitty roof over our heads.” The words tumbled from my mouth and I was helpless to stop them. “No matter how much money I’ve earned, I can’t seem to lose the kid who went to bed hungry in the projects to the sounds of gunshots and sirens.”
A half second of silence ended with him firmly gripping the back of my neck and pulling my mouth to his. A whimper lodged in the back of my throat and I melted into the embrace that tightened around me and the lips devouring mine.
“Tragic backstories do it for ya?” I winced as soon as I finished speaking. It was a flippant remark and mildly insulting, given the depth of emotion he’d poured into the kiss that had managed to sizzle my nerve endings and flood my heart with a million things I had no business feeling so soon.
He pressed his forehead to mine and tightened his hold on the curve leading to my shoulder. “As much as I didn’t want to in the beginning, I like you.” Tyler rocked his hips forward, his hardened length making itself undeniably obvious on my thigh. “But knowing that makes me respect you, Clayton James. A hell of a lot.”
The kid was a decade younger than me, a solid six inches shorter and at least fifty pounds lighter, but he was quickly bringing me to my knees just as much emotionally as he could physically. Things I never knew I needed to hear fell with ease from lips that were swollen and far too enticing.
He nipped a trail along my jaw to my ear and dropped his voice an octave. His hot breath tickled my flesh and taunted me with unspoken promises. That was, until the ones he voiced stole my ability to think. “But leave the sarcasm to me, big boy.” The fingers that had been digging into my back dropped to my ass and gripped it. “I’ve had much more practice, and a smart mouth on you is certain to end in you going an awfully long time without relief.”
I pulled back and stared at him. Right before my eyes, Tyler was transforming, and it both humbled me to watch and insanely turned me on. His posture was straighter, his smile cocky and confidence rolled off him in waves.
Damn… I really was good at spotting the inner Dom locked away.
As he held my hand tight in his and led me to the door, I couldn’t help but ask, “So what happens if I promise to behave?”
In front of the double glass doors, he turned me to face him and pulled my nose against his. “If you can manage that, big boy, you’ll get a reward.” He swung the door open and pulled me inside. “First you can explain why you are on a strict diet in retirement.”
Chapter Twelve
Tyler
“You’re going hard on me because you’re training for this big fight, right?” That has to be it, I told myself as I stood hunched over in the ring, my hands resting on my knees, desperately trying to drag air into my lungs.
Clayton was focused on being at peak level performance and had forgotten that his sparring partner happened to be a shrimp who barely had a hold of the proper stance, much less any concept of how to fight him properly.
He stood as still as stone, one hand poised over top the other, a grappling glove half removed. “I-I have been taking it easy on you.” He lifted both brows and blinked slowly.
I straightened and did a quick scan of the empty gym. Joey had disappeared into the back when we’d taken our last break and Clayton had chuckled as he informed me his best friend would routinely vanish to text his latest girlfriend—in private. Undoubtedly so he could include a dick pic.
We were still in the early days of our relationship—one date under our belt plus a family night with my baby sister—and I wasn’t convinced Clayton was willing to own what we were publicly. My stomach rolled. Hell, we hadn’t really defined anything, even privately, after that first lengthy conversation.
A droplet of sweat ran from Clayton’s neck, down the center of his chest, and crisscrossed between the solid muscles of his abdomen. It was both insanely hot and a glaring reminder that, despite his reassurances, he was way out of my league.
He quirked the corner of his mouth into a shameless smirk and didn’t bother doing the same assessment of our surroundings before crossing the mat and standing right in front of me. “See something you like?”
What the hell? I pulled myself to my full height, which was still several inches shorter than him, and lifted a single brow. Clayton’s blatantly hungry stare dissolved before my eyes and I was fairly confident that he’d have dropped to his knees if we hadn’t been standing in the middle of the ring. This man was clearly some sort of warlock and was weaving a spell over me that managed to give me a strength and confidence I never knew I could possess, while he somehow held all the cards.
“Yeah, but it would look a lot better in your office, completely naked and waiting for me.” I kept my face impassive as I spoke, but nerves warred with contentment within me. It was the first time I’d taken such a bold step.
What I hadn’t told Clayton the night he’d confessed his submissive status was that I wasn’t completely ignorant. An adventurous ex had wanted to try dabbling in a D/s lifestyle, but he’d insisted on being the Dominant. Our casual play had morphed into something that had created resentment in me. We’d never explored to see where we’d best fit. He’d simply made the declaration and assumed that I’d follow.
I had, for the briefest period of time, then the relationship had gone up in flames and I’d known within myself that I needed more control in my personal life. Certainly a psychologist would link that to the utter lack of control that was constant in my world. First, at the hands of my father and stepmother, who had demanded my attendance at every charity function, and even more so with their passing. I adored Lolli and would lay the world at her feet, but it certainly hadn’t been my choice.
The quiet proclamation from Clayton had not only opened the door to a relationship between us, but had also offered me the hope of claiming the authority that seemed to click my world into place. Even in the small instances where I’d given him commands and tested the waters, a cloak of serenity had slipped itself around my shoulders. He’d given me the gift of recognizing who I was without even realizing it.
