Page 19 of Fighter Daddy's Girl

“Might you have stepped out to go see a certain MMA fighter that you’ve been texting incessantly with all week?”

Try as I might, I can’t suppress the smile any longer and, instead, bury my face in my hands to stifle my laugh and try to save some shred of my dignity.

“I knew it,” she teases. “You went to see him.”

“I did,” I say from behind my hands.

Lila grabs my wrists, pulls my hands down, and looks at me. I don’t know if it was something in my voice or just that eerie sixth sense she has, but her eyes widen, and her mouth forms a perfect “O” for a moment before it turns into a wide, knowing smile.

“You slept with him!” she squeals.

I look around nervously. “Would you keep your voice down?”

“Sorry. I’m just so excited for you!” she says. “You’re finally a woman.”

A choked laugh bursts from my mouth. “How do you always know when?—”

“Because I know you, babe,” she cuts me off. “Now, tell me all about it and spare no details. I want it all, so gimme, gimme, gimme.”

“I can’t?—”

“You most certainly can,” she interrupts. “I didn’t get any last night, so the least you could do is let me live vicariously through you.”

“Oh my God,” I giggle.

“Come on, babe. Spill the tea.”

Amazingly enough, despite my reservations, I tell her everything. Well, everything without going into graphic detail anyway. I give her just enough to give her the gist of what happened in the locker room with Griffin. And when I’m done, she claps her hands over her mouth, her face red, and laughs.But then she jumps up and comes around the table, throwing her arms around me and squeezing me so tight, I can’t breathe for a minute.

“Girl, I’m so proud of you,” she chirps as she retakes her seat.

“Thanks, I guess?” I say with a laugh.

“I have to say, I had no idea you were such a dirty, filthy girl. I mean, in a stinky, smelly locker room?”

I shrug. “Griffin seemed to enjoy it.”

“Did you?”

“Oh, God. Yes. Like, a lot.”

She squeals again and claps her hands. “I’m so happy for you, girl. Shocked you actually jumped into the deep end of the pool, but happy for you all the same. I’m so proud of you.”

I shake my head and smile. “It seems weird to say, but thanks.”

Lila arches an eyebrow at me. “So, does this mean you’ll be coming with me to sample the buffet of boys? Like, you can be my wing chick?”

A frown curls my lips. “I mean, I’m always going to be your wing chick.”

“Oh, you have it bad for him. Like, really, really bad.”

“I do,” I admit.

“And does he feel the same way?”

“Yeah. I mean … I think so. It’s not like we talked about it or anything. But I kind of got the feeling that he does.”

Lila is grinning so wide, she looks like she’s going to split her head wide open. She grabs my hand and squeezes it as she bounces in her chair, clearly more than a little excited for me. Weirdly enough, she might be even more excited about all of this than I am.

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