“I’m sorry,” she explained, still rushing around the room. “I don’t mean to run out on you like this, but if I’d known you’d still be here this morning, I would’ve canceled this last night.” She paused her rushing for a moment to glance at him a bit uneasily. “I just assumed . . . you know, like all the other times . . .” She looked away before she added the last comment, “That you’d be gone when I woke up.”

Swallowing hard, he took a deep breath. No way was he going to blow this. He knew he was walking on a tightrope; one wrong move and he could go down head first or worse. He could do the very thing they’d each said they wouldn’t do and the tightrope could snap altogether, leaving no possibility of trying to climb back on. But he had to ask. “Who’s Logan?”

She glanced at him for just a second before looking back down into the drawer she was now shuffling through. “He’s working on the mixer with me. Now that we have all the funding, we need to sit down and decide what the best way is to go about this and get as much out of the fundraiser as possible.”

While Nellie continued to explain how normally she didn’t work on weekends, Abel half listened. He was already undoing his fly as he walked around the bed toward her. Knowing that this was, in fact, a business meeting and not something that had nearly set him off, he needed to release some of the tension that had built up so quickly.

A bit startled but immediately smiling as he took her hand and pulled her to him, Nellie kissed him back, as ravished as Abel felt. “I’m already late,” she gasped in between kisses.

Lifting her to the bed, Abel smiled. “I’ll make this fast.”

He opened her robe as he laid her down gently. Exposing her naked body, Abel stared at her, pushing away the possessive mentality that now dangerously began to swallow up any sound thoughts of keeping this fun and uncomplicated. As much as he wanted to spread her legs, drop down to his knees, and pleasure her until she was screaming his name as she had last night, he now wanted to be inside her again—to remind her that she didn’t need anyone else as long as he was willing to f**k her into oblivion.

Pulling the condom out of his pocket and ripping it open, he slipped a finger in her to make sure she was ready. Smiling with the confirmation that she was more than ready, he pulled her behind off the edge of the bed, and she wrapped her legs around him. Then he did exactly what he’d wanted to—slammed into her with a purpose, squeezing his eyes shut. Again he was overwhelmed with feelings of wanting to—needing to—make to make an unspoken statement here. Her gasping moans as he f**ked her faster and deeper with conviction made it all the more pleasurable. This was his secret sinful way of punishing her so good for having made him feel even for a few moments what he’d felt while she’d been on the phone.

Nellie trembled and moaned with pleasure, her bottom in the air now. As Abel grabbed her ass with both hands and plunged into her harder and harder groaning loudly, things were becoming clearer. There was no mistake about it. There was something so much more satisfying about doing this to her now, something more than just the physical ecstasy of it. He could no longer say that this was only about the sex with the certainty and conviction he’d had when they’d first started this—whatever this was.

As much as he hated to admit it, and as much as he’d like to think he could keep his feelings under control, he felt firsthand today how easily that self-control could go up in smoke if he ever had to be witness to or even hear about Nellie with someone else. Last night he’d had a couple of other revelations. What he was feeling for her now had surpassed anything he’d thought he’d imagined in the previous times he’d spent time with her. He even thought he saw something in her gaze when he called her beautiful. The sparkle in her eyes when he told her how beautiful he thought she was, almost made him say more than he should. Then the infuriating reminder came hurling at him as it did now.

Nellie might be enjoying this as much as he was, but she’d made one thing perfectly clear last night: She was great with this arrangement, and “things were for the best this way.” The reminder of her words and the very thought of Noah saying she wanted to let loose had him squeezing her ass a little tighter now—slamming into her even harder. She may be great with this arrangement, but after today, he wasn’t so sure he was anymore. Things just may’ve gotten complicated.

***

Still mulling through the bothersome thoughts of Nellie having breakfast with another guy, even if it was only business, Abel was grateful for the much-needed interruption to his thoughts. It was all he’d thought about all the way home and even as he showered then had breakfast with his mom and brother. Now Andy, his publicist, was talking his ear off as Abel drove to the gym. Abel had an idea of what it would be like going into this fight as far as the appearances and interviews he’d be required to do to make it big out of 5th Street. Felix had filled him in on some of it. In fact, Felix had even hooked him up with his publicist. He said if anyone could get the buzz going, Andy could because he was the best. Abel just hadn’t realized how overwhelming this would be. Felix seemed to thrive in the spotlight. Abel hated it, especially when the media aired stories that had little to do with the fight itself and were nothing more than what Andy called sensationalized journalism.

This was what Andy was going on about again today. The press had gotten wind that his opponent, who was now the heavyweight champ, had once trained at 5th Street. This wasn’t news to Abel. 5th Street had always been the place to train in East L.A. even back before the gym had become what it was now. Boxers from out of town like this guy were known to come in and not only check out 5th Street but work out there. While Abel had heard about “Hammerhead” McKinley having trained at 5th Street once upon a time, the guy was ten years older than he was. The media was trying to turn this into some kind of grudge match between one of the owners of 5th Street and a former patron of the gym who’d had a falling out. Abel had never even met the dude. It was so stupid.