Page 137 of Green Flag
“It’s really complicated,” he sighed as we headed back inside, hovering by the door, looking out at the set-up of the shoot. One of the Ciclati motorbikes was up in a boxing ring, a punching bag hanging in the centre. “It’s the only way it would all work out.”
When my brows furrowed in question, he turned and gave me his full focus for the first time. “For her, I will be anything. I will do anything. Everything’s complicated—I’m pulled in too many directions, and I can’t bring her with me to most of them. And still, all I want is to be enough for her.”
I didn’t quite understand what he meant.
They’d be working in two different championships. That didn’t sound like taking her with him.
But before I could question my friend, there was movement coming out of hair and make-up. Four burly men flagged our two ladies and one of the studio workers.
Nix had hired security for Livie — no one else could find men that tall, that wide, with smiles that looked like they could kill.
“Do you not think four security guards are maybe a bit OTT?”
Nix’s glare was lethal as he slowly turned to me. “No, I do not.”
When they turned the corner, I could finally see my girl. They’d performed some kind of magic on her hair, where it was a mess of curls — thick, silky, stupidly tempting. My shackled hands would glide so easily through the strands because I was ready to be enslaved by her.
But she was blatantly going against what I’d told her earlier in the week.
Because she was wearing a dark green leather jacket with the same lacy black bra she’d tormented me with. And nothing between them.
To top it all, the silhouette of her luscious thighs was laid bare for all to see in her leather-look leggings.
She was delicious.
And I’d been denied a taste for far too long.
She was giggling away with Livie and one of the male on-set team members and I had to be sure I wouldn’t put on one of the glove props and batter him with it.
He wasn’t the one who made her cheeks flush and her breaths harsh as she shattered. But I still hated that he got her laugh so easily.
I caught her hips in my hands when she came to me, waiting at the ring for her. “What’s this?” I asked and lifted the leather jacket to reveal a bit of the skin she’d tried to hypnotise me with.
She shrugged, pursing her lips, trying to act serious. “An outfit.”
“It’s lingerie, Everly.”
“Good thing you’ve got a hot girlfriend then, isn’t it?”
Livie sat with the producer and I breathed in deeply. Somehow, the documentary series had also followed us here.
She stepped closer to me, taking all of my attention.
“I’m pretty sure I covered you up,” I said with a roll of my eyes.
“You want to keep me to yourself?” she asked innocently, eyes widening. “I think I’ll wear what I want. If anyone acts up… It’s a good thing you know how to fight.”
“As do you now.”
She shrugged. “I’ll remind you, Mendes, you said you wouldn’t want your girlfriend dressed like this,” she said and leaned into my ear to whisper, “I’m not actually your girlfriend.”
That shouldn’t have hurt.
But she was right. She couldn’t be when I was keeping secrets from her.
I jerked back, hands slipping from her waist, but with the reflexes of a damn panther, she held them back in place. “Smile, sweetums.”
“Keep that energy for the camera!” one of the team members said and she nodded before slinking away to climb up into the ring.
