Bad Fighter Stepbrother (Book 2) Read online

  A new sense of guilt washed over her and she shuddered when it clutched at her heart. What if she was the reason he was injured? What if their fight had caused him to lose focus in the ring and that was why he was hurt?

  She felt miserable, and it would be weeks before she could see him for herself and make sure that he was okay. Grabbing a blanket, she curled up on the couch with it and cried herself to sleep.

  Chapter Five

  “Take it slow, damn it,” she snapped at him, and Aiden growled in response. He had been a pain in the ass for the last six weeks and everyone was ready to drug him just to keep him silent. The surgery had been successful and then it had been six weeks in the sling as his body healed the damage.

  Once he was out of the sling, he had wanted to get right to training to be back in top shape, but Emma had refused and had started him on light exercises that would strengthen the pectoral muscle. He’d been surly ever since arriving home and they were always fighting.

  In fact, Emma had no idea how to deal with him now and she wasn’t sure where she actually stood with him. He had avoided her the first week and only saw her when their parents were in the room. When he did see her, he cast angry glances her way, and she felt devastated that he was like that.

  The sessions had started while he was still in the sling, and it was miserable. He bitched constantly, and whenever she tried to talk to him, he pulled away. The sessions were filled with tension – it was like he couldn’t stand her touch anymore. She left each session completely spent and in tears, but Aiden never seemed to notice.

  Currently, a migraine was playing in her temples and she was ready to call it quits. She had never had such an obstinate patient! “I can handle more weight,” he cursed as he lifted the bar. She watched his face and his injury site to make sure he wasn’t straining too much.

  “Probably,” she said tersely, “but if we push too far and too fast, you will only tear it again...and then that poor surgeon will be upset with you.”

  He glared at her, but he fell silent as she counted out the reps before they moved on to the next exercise. Finally, after a half hour of excruciating exercises, Emma was stretched thin and wanted this to be over. “I thought we would finish with some hydrotherapy. I will get the tub fixed up and then you can undress and spend some time in the tub.”

  Aiden stared at her, but he didn’t answer, and Emma bit down the anger that was surfacing. Over the last few weeks, the guilt she had felt was quickly being replaced by anger. She was so angry with him over everything. He needed to talk to her more now than he ever had to before, but he refused to talk to her about anything except his physio.

  She left the room and began running the water into the tub. She felt him, rather than heard him, enter the room behind her and when she glanced back, she blushed as he took off his shirt and shorts. He slipped off his underwear as she said, “You know, I have a change room and robes for you to use.”

  He stopped and turned towards her, and she felt her stomach clench at the sight of him. Even in recovery, he looked amazing. She sighed at the hard lines of his body and the perfect six-pack that edged down to his hip. Surprisingly, unlike most fighters, he didn’t have a single tattoo and it was almost shocking seeing a man’s form without ink. She loved tattoos, but something about his clean skin made him seem more dangerous...and made her want to lick every inch of unmarred skin.

  She did notice several scars on his chest and other parts of his body from his fights, but most of them were old. The angriest one was the surgery site near his pectoral muscle, but even it was mostly healed. “I didn’t think it would matter,” he said quietly in response.

  “That what wouldn’t matter?” she asked.

  “If I was naked in front of you.” He sounded hurt and Emma looked into his eyes. They were filled with an angry sorrow that she couldn’t explain. “You made it clear that there was nothing between us.”

  She flinched at his tone, but she picked up a towel and threw it towards Aiden. “Stop being an ass,” she snapped as she crossed her arms. “It matters because you shouldn’t be getting naked in front of me. And besides, you said that you wanted to talk when you got back.”

  “Yeah, and...”

  “And you have been back for six weeks and you haven’t talked to me once, outside of meals and working through your physio plan. Even then, I mostly get one-word responses. This is actually the most you have spoken to me in the last six weeks.”

  He opened his mouth to reply and then closed it before he sighed. “You’re right, Em. I’m just so angry right now. It was stupid. The guy got the arm bar, and I tore the muscle trying to get out of it. Really, the injury was stupid and I didn’t have my head in the ring...I had it elsewhere.”

  Wrapping the towel around himself, he sat down on the chair in the room and threaded his fingers through his hair. For the first time since he got back, she realized that he was growing his hair out. The thought of why he would tore at her heart...he expected to never go back in the ring again. It was only a few inches long, but the thick black hair would have been a disadvantage during a fight.

  She knew what he was saying, but she ignored the guilt that had blossomed inside her. She walked towards him and crouched down in front of him. She took his hands in hers and forced him to look up at her. “Hey, it’s not your fault...things happen in the ring.” She cupped his cheek and he shuddered under her touch. “This isn’t the end, you know. You can still train and get back in the ring.”

  He shook his head and closed his eyes as she rubbed her thumb over his cheek.

  “No, I am getting older. Let’s face it. I have ten years left...maybe less if I am stupid in the ring. The more injuries I get, the shorter my career will be. And what will I have left after I retire? If I let the injuries add up, I’m going to be really messed up at the end. I have been in the ring since I was eighteen...even longer if you count all the amateur and competitions I went to as a child and teen. I’ve been extremely lucky not being injured too badly yet.”

  Opening his eyes, he gazed into hers. “But I have no idea what I’m going to do. All I have ever been is a fighter.”

  She shook her head and felt her anger slip away a small amount at a time. “You are more than a fighter. What about the therapy center you wanted to start?”

  He shook his head. “It was just an idea; I have no idea how to start it or what to do to run it.”

  She rubbed his hands between hers and said, “You will have everyone’s support if you decide to do it. Mom would be happy to let you set it up on the ranch, and you know Tony will be here to support you.”

  He stared into her eyes for an eternity as the room echoed with the sound of the tub filling, “And you...would you support me?”

  Emma blushed and stood up before she moved to the tub. “Yes, of course I would support you. We could even connect our businesses.”

  She glanced back at him as she turned off the water. His face was filled with hope and she felt a swell of pride knowing she had caused that. She added some oils to the water to help with his relaxation and started the whirlpool. “I thought you hated me,” he said and his voice was filled with sadness. Emma turned back to him.

  “I thought you hated me.”

  “Why?” His eyes were full of question.

  “Because it was all my fault that you got hurt. You were so angry with me when you left, and you said yourself that your head wasn’t in the ring. Then you got hurt and when you came back, you were so angry with me that you haven’t been civil to me even once.”

  Aiden shook his head as he stood up and crossed the room to her. He cupped her cheek and let his thumb trace the curve of her jaw. “You didn’t cause me to get hurt. I am a professional fighter, nothing should have distracted me from what was happening in the ring. But I let things get to me and that is my fault.”

  His thumb moved over her lips and he followed his movement with his eyes. “And I was mad. I thought that you wouldn’t want me and that I wa
s nothing but a broken man to you. I didn’t want your pity, Em...I still don’t.”

  “I don’t pity you,” she answered. “I would never pity you, but I am here to help you.”

  “I know, but I want...” his voice trailed off, and he broke the connection between them as he withdrew his hand and turned away.

  “You want what?”

  He took in a deep breath and he turned towards her. His expression was so vulnerable that Emma felt like she had the ability to destroy his heart by how she reacted to him. “I want you,” he said simply, but it was filled with so much longing, she could feel how much he ached.

  “Aiden...” she began.

  “Stop,” he interrupted her. “Let me finish for once and just listen. I fell in love with you when you came to that first show and I fought Derek. It was when your mom decided to work with my dad as Derek’s trainer after she watched me fight, but my eyes were on nothing but you. My head was on that beauty looking horrified that I was fighting her brother.”

  He took a step back and leaned against the counter in the room. “Then, when you started coming to the gym to watch your brother, I realized how amazing you were. I started checking around at school and realized I wasn’t good enough for you. You were at the top of your class, had lots of friends, and were dating that smart kid...Jimmy...Jake...”

  “Jack,” she finished for him.

  “Yeah, Jack.” He nodded. “By the time you broke up with Jack, Alison and my dad had moved in together, dragging us all along with the ride. Then they were married. It was torture for me all those years and I acted out. I wanted to be with you so badly, but I didn’t think I could. I acted like an ass, but underneath it all, I was cheering you on. I bragged about you and everything you accomplished. Every year, I realized more and more how I wasn’t good enough.”

  He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, and she realized that he wasn’t used to having it. “I fought harder, took on more challenges, and spent every holiday trying to show you I was worth more than a scowl.”

  She shook her head. He couldn’t possibly be telling the truth. Could he? “I thought you hated me,” she said quietly.

  “God, no!” he exclaimed, “I have wanted to be with you for nine long years. How could you have not noticed?”

  She blushed. “I don’t know. The way you would snark at me, the arrogance, the cocky grin you only seemed to give me, the way you would make fun of me, the name calling...”

  “Name calling?”

  “Sprite and pixie...and little fairy...you still call me those things.”

  He laughed, “I called you those things because I thought you were so beautiful you had to be magical.”

  Emma’s blush deepened. “I never knew...” her voice trailed away, and she moved towards the tub again to focus on something other than the need raging through her. She needed to touch him after all the things he had said. “But why now? Why would you try to be with me now?”

  He moved behind her, and she felt the heat of his body, although he didn’t close the distance. “Because I was tired of regretting it.” Echoes of Julia’s words came out of Aiden and she knew that he had his own regrets about their relationship. “What about you, could you feel something for me? Something more than physical attraction?”

  She nodded and closed her eyes. Sure, what she felt was physical, but there was more to her attraction. She worried about him every time he stepped into the ring – she had for years, even if she didn’t admit it. She always waited, breathlessly, until her mom would give her an update of how he did in his last fight. When he wasn’t fighting with her, she loved being with him, and she’d had a crush on him since that first match when she met him.

  “Yes, I do feel something for you,” she whispered and she leaned back, closing the space between them to feel the heat of his body against hers. He melded around her perfectly, and she knew that regardless of their family, they would find a way to make this work – they had to.

  He kissed the top of her head, and she sighed, “I was so worried that you hated me and that we could never make it right between us.”

  “So was I.”

  His mouth trailed from the top of her head to her ear, and she arched against him as his lips curved around the sensitive flesh. She felt his erection pressed into her back and she rocked against it. She felt overwhelmed with need, and she wanted to feel close to him completely. She was shocked when he stepped away from her.

  Turning, she looked up at him. “I want to try to make this work,” she finally said after she had pooled her courage. He smiled and nodded.

  “Get in the tub with me.” She glanced at the steaming water and blushed deeper. She was ready to have sex with him, but she wasn’t sure if she was ready to do it right now. For the first time, she felt comfortable with him, like they had shared so much more than a simple physical connection.

  “Okay,” she finally said after hesitating for a few moments. “Just let me go and lock the doors.”

  When she returned, she found Aiden already in the tub. His eyes were closed as he allowed the warm water and jets to work wonders on his sore muscles. She hesitated, looking back to the door and wondering if she should leave him alone. As she turned to leave, she heard, “Where are you going?”

  She turned back and blushed. “You look like you are enjoying the water too much for me to disturb you.”

  “I would enjoy it more if you were in here with me.” His words sliced through her and severed any of the inhibitions she was having. Instead, she focused on the desire shining in his eyes.

  “If you’re sure,” she said slowly.

  “I’m sure. Now, take off your top...slowly.”

  She blushed an even deeper shade of red before she turned her back to him and started to pull off her t-shirt. “Turn around so I can see you.”

  Closing her eyes on the rush of heat that flooded her body, she shook her head before she turned. “Open your eyes. I want to see those beautiful purple eyes of yours.”

  She did as he commanded, feeling like a marionette moving by the strings he had attached to her heart and soul. “Now, take off your shirt, slowly.”

  His hand slipped beneath the water, and Emma realized that he was stroking his cock as she took off her shirt. When it slid from her body, she tossed it onto the chair with his clothes. “Good. Now, take off your yoga pants.”

  She nodded and did as he asked without saying anything. She looked at nothing except him as his arm moved back and forth under the water. Her pussy clenched at the thought of his thick shaft, and she couldn’t stop the shiver that raced down her spine.

  “Let your hair down.” Emma reached up for the tie keeping her long hair in a ponytail and slipped it from the silky locks. She ran her fingers through the waves to brush it out and smiled as she felt them tumble against her back. She felt amazingly sexy.

  Groaning, Aiden drank her in with his eyes as his hand moved faster under the water. “Take off your bra and panties.”

  Emma did as she was told, tossing the white, cotton panties and bra to the side. She felt a little embarrassed. If she’d known she would be doing this, she would have worn a sexier set than her standard cotton. “You are so fucking beautiful, Em. Never forget that.”

  She blushed as shivers raced over her skin, but she wasn’t sure if it was because she was scared or turned on. “Come and join me in the water before you catch a cold,” he grinned at her and it was that same cocky grin. For years, it had irritated her, but she’d come to love it.

  Doing as he asked, Emma sank into the hot water and sighed as the warmth enveloped her. She crouched on her knees facing Aiden. He reached out and wrapped his arms around her as he pulled her in for a kiss. She let him as she ran her hands down the side of his face. The kiss was tender...like a homecoming and she greedily savored this celebration.

  His tongue swept into her open mouth, and he licked deeply inside of her. She met his tongue, sparring with her own as their teeth clashed. She suc
ked his lower lip into her mouth and nibbled at it as he groaned under her. He shifted in the tub, sending a wave of water over the sides, but Emma ignored the mess. All she wanted to focus on was the need building in her stomach and the hardness of this man in her arms.

  He pulled her up until her breasts were level with his mouth and then he nipped the sensitive bud. She cried out as a touch of pain blossomed around her nipple, but then moaned when he soothed the ravaged skin with his tongue. His hand massaged her other breast, squeezing and pinching as he worked the one nipple in his mouth.

  She dug her fingers into his hair and realized that she liked it longer. Aiden switched to the other nipple and gave it the same treatment as the last as she writhed against him. Her orgasm built and her body hummed like a coil about to spring.

  Aiden dropped his hands to her ass and lifted her, another wave sending water out of the tub as he shifted between her legs. She stood in the tub, her hands braced against the edges with Aiden looking up at her from between her legs. “I have wanted to taste you for so long,” he said a second before his tongue slid between her sweet folds.

  Emma screamed out when his tongue pressed against her aching clit and an orgasm shot through her. Lights danced in her eyes, and she couldn’t do anything but hold the edge of the tub as Aiden continued to lap at her clit. He sent shiver after shiver through her, and she wasn’t sure where one orgasm ended and another one began.

  His tongue caressed the opening of her sex and then plunged deep inside her, sending another fluttering of passion through her. She’d never been so excited, or so sensitive, and she rotated her hips, grinding her sex against Aiden’s mouth. He moaned as he sucked and licked her pussy, and then she was crying out again as lights danced in her eyes.

  Aiden chuckled as she collapsed against him, her body spent. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, “I have never cum like that before.”

  Manoeuvring in the tub, Aiden pulled her against him to straddle his hips. His erection slid between her folds, and she rocked her pussy against him. Groaning, he said, “Never apologize. I love that you are so turned on by me.”