She’d stayed here ever since. He’d been surprised by how much her presence brought this house back to life. In just a few short days, Kelsey had made what had become just a house into a home again.
There was a very selfish part of him that hoped she’d fall in love with this place—fall in love with him—and not want to return to Maine. She hadn’t spoken another word about leaving, and he refused to broach the subject. If he brought it up, she’d pick a date. Right now, he was okay with living in the moment and giving her time to come to terms with the fact that she couldn’t leave him. At least, he hoped that was how it ended.
Pushing off the doorframe, he moved to stand behind her and brushed her hair to one side. He kissed her neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist. She immediately melted back into him. Damn, he loved this.
“You got in really late last night,” she muttered. “I was hoping you’d sleep in.”
He had. About two a.m., he’d gotten a call requesting a wrecker for an accident. He’d hated leaving Kelsey, but he’d loved coming back home to her. She’d been asleep, and he shucked his clothes, spooned up behind her. She had instantly snuggled back against him. It was the best night’s sleep he’d had in a long time.
He glanced over her shoulder. “Were you making me breakfast in bed?”
“I was, actually.”
His chest swelled with love. Ever since his realization that he was falling for Kelsey, he’d had a hard time keeping it to himself. But he didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on her.
“I can think of something else I can have for breakfast,” he said, and spun her around, kissing her hard on the lips. She laughed against his mouth and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I like the way you think, Black.”
He deepened the kiss, tangling their tongues together. He lifted her up onto the counter, but grunted when a sharp pain sliced through his side. She immediately pulled back.
“Are you okay?”
She’d asked him that too many times to count since the fight.
“I’m fine.” He tugged her forward and stepped between her spread thighs. “Now can we get back to business?”
Their lips were just about to meet when his phone went off, signaling a text. Groaning, he bowed his head, and Kelsey kissed the top of it. “Duty calls.”
Straightening, he tugged his cell out of his pajama bottoms, expecting to see a wrecker request for him to call in. Instead it was from Mitch. Shit. He tried turning so Kelsey couldn’t see it, but wasn’t quick enough.
“Holy shit. Are they already throwing another event?” She hopped off the counter and rounded on him. “They can’t be fucking serious.”
God. She’d used the f-bomb. When she started throwing those she was beyond pissed.
“It looks that way.”
She turned wide eyes on him. “Lance, please, don’t participate. I’m begging you.”
Groaning, he scrubbed his face with his hands. “Can we please not do this right now?”
“When then?” She crossed her arms tight across her chest. “Tonight, after you add more injuries to your already damaged body? Jesus, Lance, when are you going to stop?”
“I’m not doing this.” Mostly because he knew she was right. He couldn’t keep fighting like this. The thing he worried about the most was if this grueling schedule kept up, he was going to start to lose. With the bank denying him that loan, he had no fucking clue how to get out of this if his body gave out, too.
But he wasn’t going to admit that to her, or she’d be more rabid over the subject than she already was. Thankfully, his phone chimed again, and this time it was a request for a call in.
He held up the phone. “Got to take this. I’ll talk to you later.” He kissed her real quick and hurried out of the room.
Damn it. They’d had a great few days. No tension. Just the two of them and mundane, everyday shit. One call from McNealy and their little bubble had been busted. He was going to end up losing this woman because of those two assholes.
Lance strode through the warehouse, ignoring the calls from the fans as he passed. He wanted to get this fight over with and get back to Kelsey. Recreate the bubble they had around them until the McNealy’s text this morning.
“Black.”
He turned in the direction of his name. Gabe waved at him from the office door, then he ducked back into the room. Fuck. This was all he needed.
He pushed open the door to their office to find Gabe had moved to a leather couch and was lighting up a joint while Mitch sat behind a monstrosity of a mahogany desk. “What do you guys want?”
Mitch didn’t speak for a moment as he spun a pen between his fingers. Finally, he laid the pen down. “How would you like to walk out of here tonight with us completely square?”
Lance stiffened. There was no way he’d heard that correctly. “I…what?”
Mitch glanced at his cousin and snorted. “Damn, we shocked the shit out of him.” He turned back to Lance. “One more fight and we’re even.”