Having Cat nose to nose with him, he couldn’t avoid her gaze. There was no way to hide from his discomfort, so he gave in and admitted, “Making a good appearance matters to me.”
One side of her mouth curled and she squirmed atop him. “You could just stay naked. I promise you, that would always be a good appearance.”
From the moment he met her, Cat had lightened his mood and often made him smile. “You have sex on the brain, woman.”
“How could I not when I have you under me?” After one sweet, very emotional kiss, she added, “How does all that relate to you and this woman you cared about?”
Yeah, he still had to go there, didn’t he? With a disgusted sigh, Leese said, “College wasn’t on the agenda, but I was athletic, so I started working out in a gym, training.”
“As a fighter?”
“Yeah. And I thought I was good, until I got around guys with real talent. I had a shitty attitude about it all and I carried a massive chip on my shoulder.”
“You’re saying you weren’t a nice guy?”
He’d been a real asshole, but no reason to spell it out that plainly. “I was always trying to prove something. To myself, but to others too. Then I met this girl...” She was everything Cat wasn’t. Stacked, definitely. Bubbly, yes. A blonde bombshell and the life of the party, whereas Cat was petite, serious and preferred quiet time in front of a canvas.
The biggest difference, though, was how Cat affected him. He’d admitted defeat with the other girl, but for Cat he’d take on the world. From the get-go, she’d stirred an innate need to protect, shelter—and claim.
“How did you meet her?”
Never before had he known a woman who wanted to hear about past crushes. Cat didn’t look offended or snarky, just curious. “I did the local circuit fighting, and she hung out with fighters. Since we were often at the same MMA events, I’d been hitting on her for a while. She was always nice, not really encouraging me, but not kicking me to the curb either. One night we were dancing at an after-party when I found out she was pretty hung up on someone else.”
Cat winced. “You were filler?”
He idly stroked her satiny bottom, thought about it and shrugged. “The other guy was dragging his feet, so she needed a distraction.”
“Ouch.”
He smiled. Yeah, at the time it had stung. But now he realized it was mostly because he’d chosen to misunderstand. “She’d never led me on. We’d dance, talk, but nothing more, and honestly, she danced with a lot of guys. Everyone knew the score, except for me.”
“So you never had sex with her?”
“No.”
“Wow, poor girl doesn’t know what she missed.”
How could he remain maudlin with Cat smothering him in compliments? For far too long, he’d been disappointed in himself. His single goal had been to be a better person.
Cat made him feel like the best man around.
“Since she’s very happily married now, I doubt she sees it that way.”
“To the foot-dragger?”
“Yeah. He’s a good guy. One hell of a fighter.”
“Is he as good-looking as you?”
Grinning, Leese turned her under him and settled between her warm, slender thighs. After feathering kisses along her jaw, he said, “I’m not weighing in on another dude’s looks.”
She moved right past that to ask, “Are you still hung up on her?”
“Definitely not.” And now Leese knew he’d never really been emotionally involved, because what he felt for Cat was far richer, stronger and more real than anything he’d felt with any other woman, period. Every past relationship paled in comparison. “It was physical attraction, that’s all.”
“So...you lusted after her?”
“Yeah.” And Cat didn’t look happy about it. “But I still acted like a dick when she turned me down.” He rested on his forearms over her, enjoying the way her small breasts plumped against his chest. It’d be nice to wrap up this conversation so he could move on to more important matters—like planting himself firmly inside her, hearing her cry out, watching the beautiful way her face contorted as she climaxed.
He had to draw a deep breath to regain his control. Time to condense the story. “Like you, she had some people after her. I was feeling burned, and I didn’t know they wanted to hurt her...” It still pissed him off to remember how stupid he’d been. “They claimed to be related to her, and when they chatted me up, wanting information on her, I stupidly shared.”
Cat went still. “Did she get hurt?”
“Luckily, no. It didn’t take me long to realize they were bastards, so I went to the big guy she liked and told him everything.”
“Wow.” She wrapped her legs around him and locked her ankles at the small of his back. “That took guts.”
“Honestly, I didn’t know what else to do. There were three of them. They spiked my drink, then beat the shit out of me while asking me questions.”
“Oh my God,” she breathed.
Leese felt his ribs ache at the memory. “I tried not to tell them anything, but—”
She touched his mouth. “You were drugged.”
“Yeah.” But if he’d been smarter, he wouldn’t have found himself in that situation. “I don’t know what they gave me, but I couldn’t fight back. It was like my legs wouldn’t work. I woke up that next morning and realized how badly I’d fucked up. Going to her boyfriend was the only thing I could think of to do.”
A sheen of tears softened her blue eyes. “You are the most remarkable man.”
Taken aback, Leese said, “How the hell do you figure that?” Jesus, he’d given her no reason to cry. “I just told you—”
“That you owned up to things,” she finished for him. “And you corrected what you could. Very few ever do that. But even though she’d rejected you, you faced her boyfriend, explained what had happened and tried to help her.”
Maybe. But in his heart, Leese knew that didn’t exonerate him.
Sniffling, smiling at him with admiration, Cat asked, “Did it all work out for her?”
Leese occupied himself by cupping her breasts; it was easier than seeing her tears. “Yeah, it did.” No thanks to him.
“And the guy she married? How did he take it, when you told him your role in things?”
That was the part that had always stunned him the most. “Instead of being pissed and stomping me—which he could have done—he thanked me, involved me, confided in me, and his friends, her friends, made me a part of that group.” It had been a life-changing moment. “It felt good, being on the honorable side of things.”
“You know what I think?”
Given her starry-eyed infatuation, he could guess.
“You were always honorable. It’s just that sometimes we aren’t tested, so how can we really know? Most of us go through our lives with mundane problems that are easily resolved if we don’t dwell in melodrama. But some people face life-and-death situations, and they come away with proof of their convictions.” She searched his face. “You, Leese Phelps, now have proof.”
He’d never really thought of it that way. “Part of my learning curve involved admitting that fighting wasn’t for me. I’m good, but I knew I’d never be the best, so what would be the point?”
“That’s how I feel about art. I love it, and by teaching I can make a difference with it.”