Page 49 of Seducing Cinderella

When she ducked back in to spit and rinse he caught a glimpse of himself in the dresser mirror and almost threw a punch to shatter his reflection.

“What do you mean I shouldn’t cancel?”

He turned to see her standing several feet away, holding her arms across her chest as though trying to give herself a supportive hug. She was preparing to hear what he suspected that loser ex of hers had said to her. Preparing to get hurt all over again.

Reid swore a hot knife plunged deep into his gut when he looked into those big, dove-gray eyes of hers. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t have this discussion yet. Hell, he wasn’t even sure what kind of discussion it needed to be. He had to get out and clear his head, ASAP.

Crossing to her in just a couple of strides, he placed a chaste kiss on her forehead and did his best to sound upbeat. “I just feel bad for the guy is all. I mean, only one date and then dumped on the day of the second?” Reid put his hand over his heart. “As a fellow dude, let me just say, ‘Ouch.’ Eating dinner with the man a second time just seems like a small price to pay to prevent an ugly suicide.”

She did a combo chuckle-snort that made his heart ache, and then pushed at his chest playfully. “You’re too much. Go for your run and we’ll talk when you get back,” she said before heading for the kitchen.

Reid blew out a big breath. Disaster averted…for now.

He changed into his running gear and was pounding the pavement in record time. The heat of the midmorning scorched his body as he pushed it harder than usual. The rhythm of his shoes striking the ground wasn’t meditative for him today, but instead felt like a countdown on a ticking time bomb. Counting down the seconds until he had to present Lucie with his decision.

The idea of leaving her made his stomach turn and his muscles knot up.

Before he’d gone to see his dad, he’d been toying with the idea of asking her to come back to Vegas with him. And although he knew his dad was just a bitter old man with a narrow point of view, Reid couldn’t discredit everything he’d said.

Lucie definitely didn’t fit the description of the kind of woman who loved the lifestyle of a fighter. His mom had fit into that category, but not Lucie. She liked her somewhat small city and being one of the few PTs in the area, which gave her the opportunity to really get to know her patients. And even though she was one of the most disorganized people he’d ever met, he’d come to learn that she liked routine. She liked knowing what to expect and when to expect it. Trying new things and spontaneity—two things Reid took incredible pride in—were not easy for her.

Uprooting her to Vegas would be a huge culture shock for her. Sure, she’d be able to get herself on a routine like she was here, but the routine would include almost never seeing him when he was preparing for a fight. He spent the majority of his time training, cutting weight, and studying how to beat his next opponent. There was little time left in his daily routine other than falling into bed, only to get up at the crack of dawn the next morning to do it all over again.

And then there was the traveling, the publicity. The bullshit stories the tabloids printed. All of it was hell on relationships. He’d seen it happen with several of the guys. The stress caused fights, and the women turned bitter, resenting the sport that consumed all their men’s time, and eventually, the men themselves.

It would kill him to see Lucie’s sweet disposition turn into something jaded and resentful, all because he couldn’t stand the idea of living without her. Just because she was perfect for him, didn’t mean he even came close to being right for her.

She deserved so much more. She deserved to come first not only in a man’s heart, but in his life. Someone who could take the occasional day off just to lie in bed with her, who had a successful career that didn’t involve the possibility of getting concussed or choked out.

Someone so verynot him.

As he rounded the last corner to the apartment he slowed to a walk, procrastinating as much as possible. He anchored his hands on his hips and drew in deep breaths as if they could cleanse him of the sickness taking root in his gut. But with every step he took, it only grew worse. He’d be lucky if he made it through his shower without dry heaving over the drain.

For the first time in his life, Reid was dreading a fight.

…

Lucie sat at her kitchen table, head resting on one hand while the other drummed the theme song toThe Lone Rangerwhile waiting for Reid to emerge from his bedroom.

After his run he’d given her a halfhearted wave on his way to the shower, and now he’d been in his room for at least twenty minutes, which was about eighteen minutes too long to change into a pair of shorts and T-shirt. So now she was, of course, paranoid. It seemed being in love had turned her into a neurotic teenager. Yippee.

Finally she heard the door down the hall open. Picking up her pen, she pretended to concentrate on the Sudoku puzzle in front of her that she’d randomly written numbers on. Thank goodness they’d never discussed math puzzles or he’d know she was full of shit. She couldn’t do one of those correctly if her life hung in the balance.

When she pretended not to realize he stood in the doorway of the kitchen—she’d die before she let him know how crazy his absence made her—he cleared his throat.

She looked up from the newspaper with a smile…that died when she saw the bag in his hand and the look on his face.

“What’s going on?”

“I got a call from Butch. Scotty’s back, so he wants me to come back to camp to finish my training before the Diaz fight.”

“Oh.” Ignoring the twinge of slightly crushed pride from the insinuation that she couldn’t do as good of a job as the other guy, she looked at the situation logically. “Well, that’s good. It’s important you get back to your normal routine and people.”

“It has nothing to do with your capabilities, Lu. You’re an excellent PT. You’ve already worked miracles with my shoulder. I couldn’t have been this successful this quickly with anyone else. I mean it.”

“Thank you.”Pride: soothed.She offered him a warm smile. “I understand, really. And since I still have the vacation time, I can finally see Vegas!”

“I don’t think that’s such a hot idea. I’m not going to have time to be with you like I had here. It’s a totally different ballgame there. I won’t be able to take you around. You’d be stuck in my place all day, every day.”

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