Page 46 of I Am Lioness

Ignoring her attempt to convince me otherwise, I proffered my hand to her instead. “Come here.”

She hesitated for only a moment and then scooted toward me, placing her hand in mine. I pulled her onto the bed and laid her down beside me, wiping the wetness from her cheeks and smoothing the hair off her face.

“I know with everything that I am, with every fiber of my being, that you were meant for me.” I said softly, staring into her eyes so she could both see and hear the conviction of my admission. “And I know deep down inside of you, where fear doesn’t exist, you know you were meant for me too.”

Her hands clenched the front of my tee, gently pulling me closer. “I’ve lost too much, Knox. I can’t lose you too.”

“You’re not going to lose me.”

“How can you say that? How can you be so sure? You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, next month, or even a year from now.”

“You’re right, I don’t. You just need to have faith, Hazel. Our paths crossed for a reason.”

“I can’t let you risk your life just to be with me.” She whispered.

“I can and I am. I'd risk anything for you.” I said with finality, placing a kiss to very corner of her mouth.

Hazel turned her head, brushing our lips together. Her fingers threaded into my hair and I kissed her with everything I had, pulling her against me until nothing could wedge between us. As the minutes ticked by, her touch grew more desperate, her kisses feverish, teeth nipping and tugging my lips.

“Knox… Touch me.”

I groaned, feeling every ounce of self-control I had slowly begin to shred away. I buried my face in the crook of her neck, my fingers digging into her hip. “I can’t. Not like this.”

“Please.” She begged, clinging to me as if I were her lifeline. “It hurts. It hurts so fucking much. Make it all go away just for a little while.”

The last thing I wanted to do was deny her, but there was no way in hell I was going to let this be what fueled us toward the inevitable.

“I want you, baby, but not like this. You want me to kiss you senseless, rub your back, play with your hair? Fine. But I refuse to let our first time be tainted by the demons of your past.”

I could see how badly she wanted to protest as she wiggled restlessly in my embrace, her eyes pleading with me. Holding on tightly to my resolve, I shook my head, hoping that when the time finally came, she'd appreciate me drawing the line beforehand.

I had feared returning to Austin would have negatively affected Hazel given the circumstances that lead to her departure in the first place, but as the days passed, she seemed to be coping decent enough.

Between spending most of our time in the gym and working—well, more like pulling teeth with Jason to schedule interviews for a new coach, Hazel didn't have time to dwell on much of anything.

Yes, there were sporadic episodes of immense grief that wrecked me to witness, but I did my absolute best to guide her through them and refocus her attention on the present, rather than the things we unfortunately couldn’t change.

With the finals approaching, not only had the League shrunk in size, Hazel’s fights had also been moved from Saturday’s to Friday’s. That did nothing to lessen the crowd. The arena was as boisterous as ever, jam packed with loyal fans awaiting to see the Lioness strike again.

Emmanuel and I sat in the front row adjacent to her corner, while Jason temporarily filled in Bernie’s shoes and waited beside the cage. I wanted to argue that it should have beenmestanding up there, but as much I hated to admit it, Fremont knew what he was doing.

Kate Jensen was Hazel’s opponent for the evening and as the inferior opponent, she was called into the cage first. She seemed slightly nervous yet still remarkably sure of herself, flipping off the masses who booed her with an arrogant expression etched on her face.

After knocking out Panterra early on in the season, it was obvious her head had blown up like a damn balloon and was apparently under the impression she could do the same to Hazel.Poor girl,I thought to myself, watching her bounce around on the balls of her feet as the announcer introduced my girl, stirring the crowd to life at the mere mention of her name.

As predicted and much to Jensen’s disappointment, however, the fight was over in less than fifteen minutes. Halfway through round three, she propelled herself toward Hazel with impressive speed only to find herself pinned beneath the Lioness until she slipped away into unconsciousness.

Hazel was bursting with excitement when she came bounding out of the locker rooms and into my arms.

“You killed it, baby. Congratulations.” I said, squeezing her against me.

She pecked my lips and smiled brighter than I’d seen in weeks. “Why, thank you, Mr. Carr. I’m thinking we should go out and celebrate.”

The words took me aback, rooting me in place. Hazel hadn’t wanted to go anywhere or do anything since returning to Austin. That she was initiating a night out rather than holing ourselves up in the suite was a pleasant surprise and there was no way in hell I could refuse her.

“We can go wherever your heart desires, Miss Perry.” I beamed, earning me another squeaky kiss.

An hour later, we were dressed for a night on the town and on our way out of the hotel when a familiar, blood-boiling voice stopped us dead in our tracks.

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