Page 28 of Until You're Mine
“Think whatever you want.”
“All right, I choose you, naked.”
Her mouth dropped and then she snapped it closed and let out a growl.
“You want to do a little bruising now, don’t you?” I made the universalbring itgesture. “I’ll let you use whatever method of submission you want on me. I’ll even make a bad joke about being able to give you all the vitamin D you need if that’ll get you to stop pretending I don’t exist and that you don’t feel something for me.”
“That’s hardly motivating.” She shook her head. “This is why I’ve been avoiding you. I’m not getting pulled into some stupid…I don’t even know what. I have too much stress in my life as it is right now, and I’m just not doing it.” She unhooked the knot at her waist, and the makeshift skirt fell away. The peek of leg was plenty captivating, but faced with a full view of her long legs in her tiny bikini bottom, I couldn’t decide which was my favorite. Then she turned to stuff the fabric in her bag, giving me a nice glimpse of her ass, and I was conflicted all over again.
Her. Everything about her.
I couldn’t even convince myself it was solely physical anymore, either. The way she looked was all tied up with those stolen stretches of time when we’d both dropped our guards, and I wouldn’t be so agitated if I hadn’t already gotten in deeper with the girl than I should’ve.I’m so screwed.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Liam and put some space between me and his frustrating, sexy-as-hell sister.
We put on headgear and gloves—so I knew we’d be going hard—and then he explained that for every hit he landed, unblocked, I had to run to the pier and back. On the dry sand.
Now I got the hell aspect.
I put up my guard and dodged, bobbed, weaved. I caught a flash of hot pink. My attention snagged on Brooklyn lathering on sunscreen. A swipe across the chest, and—
Whack.My head jerked back, my ears rang, and my teeth popped as they came back together. I shook my head, regaining my bearings. Every damn time Brooklyn was around I ended up taking a hit. So much for my focus.
“Time to run,” Liam said. “Since you can’t stop staring at my sister, go ahead and sprint to the lifeguard tower instead of the pier. And unlike her, I actually have a watch to time you, so make sure to impress me.”
Chapter Fifteen
Brooklyn
Liam stepped up to me, completely blocking my sunlight with his massive body. He crossed his arms and gave me the stern look I swore he must’ve been born with, it came so naturally. “What are you doing?”
I shrugged, putting as much cluelessness as I could into it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” A lie, but he’d have to drag it from me. Shane thought he was so damn irresistible, talking about how he was in my head. And okay, maybe he was, regardless of how hard I was trying to keep him out of there. But if he wanted to fight dirty—and he’d made it clear he did—I could fight dirty, too.
“You should leave him alone.”
“Me?He was the one talking about how he just exudes testosterone. But I can’t, what? Be a girl in a swimsuit on the beach? Better tell all these other women to pack it in. There are fighters in need of training, and that always takes precedence over everything else.”
His eyes grew even more steely. “Don’t act like you don’t know what you’re doing. You’ve dealt with guys like Shane for years, and you know how to handle them. I’ve seen you crush them and brush them off without a second thought. If that’s what it takes to get whatever shit show’s going on between you two over with, I’m all for it. We’ve got training to do.”
“That makes me sound so mean. If you’ll remember, the first time I fell for a guy like that,hecrushedme. That’s why I was a lot harsher there at the end.” Not to mention how determined I was to get far away from the MMA world without further complications.
Liam sighed. “My point is, you’re letting him get to you. Don’t engage if you can’t handle it.”
Why was every male in my life purposely pissing me off today? Trey hadn’t called me back after I’d left him a message last night, then Shane decided to get all testy, now Liam was poking a raw nerve. “I can handle it just fine. And if your fighter can’t handle me being on the beach, he’s not going to do very well once there are ring girls and fangirls screaming his name. Really, I’m helping you train him to focus better.You’re welcome.”
Shane was on his way back, the dry sand slowing him some. He was still moving ridiculously fast, though, and I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing Liam and I had fought about him.
I stood and tossed my sunglasses aside. “I’m going for a dip. Not to purposely throw your precious training off, but because it’s hot, and there’s an ocean, and that’s what people do here.”
“Brooklyn,” Liam said, and I spun to face him, waiting for him to say the words I knew would get tossed at me eventually. About how I’d messed up things with one of their prize fighters before. They wanted me to come in and fix the business side of the gym, but without getting in the way. Without having emotions. I sort of longed for the time when I’d been better at closing them off—when I’d had that wall of anger and pain protecting me. “Just…be careful. That’s all I’m saying.”
I didn’t know if he meant with Shane or the ocean. Considering I’d grown up playing in the Pacific and was a strong swimmer, I tended to think he meant the former, which was what I was trying to do in the first place.
Liam’s words had taken the wind out of my storming-off sails, but once the water reached my waist, I glanced back to where he and Shane were back to doing drills, and my frustration swelled again. Why couldn’t I just brush Shane off? Why did I keep engaging, in spite of knowing it’d only make things worse?
In spite of it only tempting me to explore the connection I didn’t want to feel.
Last time I’d felt a connection this strong, I’d gone the impulsive route and given in to the pull without considering the consequences. Conrad and I started dating halfway through my senior year. He was a few years older and my dad and brothers were not happy about it, but after an extremely rocky month, things settled. I’d been accepted to the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, and I’d heard amazing things about the professors, so I was super excited to start the next stage of my life. Near the end of that summer, Conrad told me he didn’t want me to go. Having three hours between us wasn’t ideal, but I’d thought we could make it work. Then he pointed out how rarely we saw each other outside of the gym and told me he needed me there with him as he moved up the ranks to the big leagues.
