Taking the Fight Read online

  “You can get your brother the fuck away from Reagan,” I gritted out. “He showed up at her apartment this morning.”

  Seth didn’t sound fazed at all. “I knew it was only a matter of time.”

  “Yeah, well, he better back the hell off,” I snapped.

  He sighed. “I’m out of town for the next few days, but I’ll be back as soon as possible. In the meantime, I’ll have one of my guys keep watch over Reagan. Nikolai knows you all are off limits, so he has no leverage over her.”

  “No, he doesn’t,” I replied angrily. I hung up and Carter met my gaze. There was no fucking way I was going to leave Reagan’s safety in the hands of one of Seth’s men.

  Carter turned to Reagan. “Your sister’s going to be furious when she finds out.”

  Reagan crossed her arms over her chest. “Yeah, I know. We’re supposed to work on wedding stuff tonight. The last thing I want is her worrying.” Eyes widening, she stepped up to Carter. “What if we don’t tell her?”

  Carter shook his head. “She’ll find out eventually and get pissed at me because I knew.”

  Frustrated, she threw her arms up in the air. “I’m all about being honest, but this is different. Emma will be up my ass twenty-four seven if she finds out. I’ll do anything to keep her from finding out.”

  Carter narrowed his gaze. “Anything?”

  She nodded quickly. “Anything.”

  “Good,” I exclaimed, “then you’ll stay with me.”

  Reagan’s head snapped my way. “Yeah, anything but that.” She rolled her eyes and focused back on Carter.

  Carter shrugged. “You can’t stay by yourself in your apartment, not when Nikolai can easily get to you.”

  “And with your brother in Vegas,” I said, “you can stay in his room or the guest bedroom.” Ethan and I had lived together for the past two years. Now that I had a title and was making plenty of money, I was going to seek out my own place. For now, at least, I’d have Reagan to myself.

  Groaning, Reagan hung her head. “I never should’ve told you.”

  “Well, you did,” I challenged. “Is it really so bad to stay with me?”

  Lifting her head, she glared at me. “I’m not going to answer that.” She grabbed her gym bag and slung it over her shoulder. “Look, I’m grateful you want to protect me, but we all know Nikolai will get to me no matter where I’m at. I’m staying at my apartment, end of story.”

  There was no reasoning with her, not when she had her mind set. “Suit yourself,” I pinged back. “But you’re about to be seeing a lot more of me.”

  She stormed off and Carter whistled. “I think she’s more hardheaded than Emma.”

  I watched Reagan stop at the punching bags and slide on her gloves. She pounded on the bag harder than I’d ever seen her do before. “Got that right. She does have a point, though. Nikolai’s smart. If he wants to get her, he will, even if she stays with me or not.”

  Carter grumbled with annoyance. “Yeah, I know. But we can at least make it harder for him.”

  “That’s for damn sure,” I agreed. “I know what I have to do.” Reagan continued to beat the punching bag, her eyes blazing like fire. I could only imagine what Nikolai wanted from her, and I was going to make sure he didn’t get it.

  CHAPTER 3

  REAGAN

  The longer I sat and thought about the deal with Nikolai, the more I realized how screwed I was. I knew precisely what Braden would do when I told him. Yeah, I made it clear I wasn’t going to stay with him, but that wasn’t what I wanted, in all honesty. There were so many times I wanted to find a way to be alone with Braden, but it never worked out, especially with people always around. My dad was my fighting coach, and Braden’s father was his. My brother and Ripp also trained with us. There was never a situation where Braden and I could be alone until today.

  I knew he'd see right through me if I agreed to stay with him. I couldn’t let that happen. Did the thought of living with him make my stomach jittery? Very much so. Was I attracted to Braden? As much as I hated it, the answer was yes.

  While watching him spar with Carter, I had to squeeze my legs together; it drove me insane how much I hated Braden for making me want him. Not only was he sexy as hell with his tattooed arms and tanned skin, but his eyes were a rare hypnotic green. I’ve never seen anyone with the same color eyes as his.

  Dammit! Stop looking at him, Reagan!

  There was something seriously wrong with me. I’d made my decision and couldn’t back out of it, even if I wanted to. I didn’t trust myself being alone with Braden in his house. It was one thing being at the gym, but it was quite another to be in his domain. One of the things that kept me safe from him was the fact my brother was always around. He wasn’t here to tell Braden to back off with him in Vegas. The thought excited me.

  “Earth to Reagan. Hello?” Natalie snapped her fingers in front of my face as she walked past me to sit down at her desk.

  “Sorry,” I said, jerking my eyes away from Braden. “What’s up?”

  Giggling, Natalie tucked her strawberry-blonde hair behind her ears and typed away on the computer. “We both know you weren’t staring at Carter. He’s taken by your sister.”

  With a roll of my eyes, I dismissed her accusation with a wave of my hand. “Please. I have better things to do than stare at Braden Emerson.”

  Natalie snorted. “Whatever you say. But as I was telling you when you were rudely ignoring me, your dad and uncle’s schedules are jam-packed when they return from vacation. With Carter, Braden, Ethan, Ripp, and you all holding titles, it’s made the business boom even more. I thought you might want to start training some of the females.”

  Her words made me smile. I’d just thought the same thing this morning. “I might have to do that,” I agreed.

  I didn’t have to see Braden to know he was right behind me. I could always tell when he was near; it was like an electric shock would pass through my veins.

  “Reagan, you ready?” he asked.

  Natalie winked at me, and I glared at her. “Ready for what?” I made sure he could hear the annoyance in my tone.

  When I turned around, Braden smiled and flipped his ball cap backward. “I’m following you home. I told you that you’d be seeing a lot more of me.”

  “Great,” I grumbled, “just what I wanted … you up my ass.”

  Braden smirked. “Not my thing, sunshine, but I’ll make an exception for you.”

  “You’re ridiculous.” My gaze locked on his backward hat. “You look stupid, by the way.”

  Braden’s eyes twinkled. “You’re the only one who’s complained.”

  “Whoa,” Natalie called out, her focus locked on the computer screen. She waved for Braden to join her, “Braden, come here. You have to see this.”

  He moved behind the desk, his eyes narrowed at the computer. Natalie motioned for me to join them, so I did, as I was curious to see what had her so excited. “Okay, what’s so important?” I asked.

  Chuckling, Braden stood back and deliberately brushed his arm against my body. “Looks like I got half a million more followers overnight.”

  “What?” I gasped, focusing on the computer. There was no way. But when I looked at his followers, they had definitely increased. “How did that happen?”

  Natalie sat back down and typed away. “I don’t know. That’s a huge jump since the last time I checked.”

  “You keep watch over our social media?” I asked, grinning at her.

  Sheepishly, she glanced back at me. “I can’t help it. You’re famous and I work for you. You guys made me one of the popular kids in high school.”

  I fluffed her hair. “I’m sure you did that all on your own.”

  She snorted. “Not really, but I appreciate you saying it.”

  Natalie typed Braden’s name in the search engine, and a gazillion different articles popped up. There were so many I couldn’t focus on just one.

  Natalie gasped and pointed at the screen. “Oh my God,
I found it. It was an article posted last night.” She clicked on the link, and I read the headline when the story came up. This Year’s Hottest and Most Eligible Athletes. She scrolled down and there in the number one spot was a picture of Braden.

  “You have got to be shitting me,” I grumbled.

  He already had women fawning over him twenty-four seven, and now it would be even worse. Braden leaned in, his chuckle deep and seductive in my ear where only I could hear him. “Don’t worry, sunshine. I’m all yours.”

  Trembles vibrated through my body, and I fought the urge to suck in a much-needed breath. Heart racing, I moved away from him and grabbed my bag. “I have to go. Emma’s waiting on me.” Without looking at him, I turned on my heel and took off for the door. I could already tell Braden was going to make it hard for me to resist him.

  Braden followed me to my house and parked right beside me in his metallic, graphite-colored Mercedes Benz G-Class. He grinned devilishly at me when I glared over at him. As soon as he stepped out of his vehicle, I took a deep breath before grabbing my gym bag from the passenger’s seat. Then, pushing open my car door, I slammed it hard for good measure when I got out.

  “Are you really going to follow me around everywhere?” I snapped, charging toward the apartment stairs.

  Still with his hat on backward, he strolled up behind me. “The way I see it, you’re going over to Carter and Emma’s, and I’m headed there too. So we might as well go together. Carter and I have to discuss our guys’ trip next weekend.”

  Emma and I had to talk about that weekend too, only it was mine and her vacation getaway, not theirs. I stormed up the two flights of stairs. “What? No date tonight?” I shot back.

  Braden chuckled. “Nope. Got one Friday, though.”

  I jammed the key into my door as a pang of jealousy spurred in my gut. “Great. That means you won’t be following me around.”

  He leaned against the wall. “Now that you mention it, I’ll probably cancel.”

  Plastering on a smile, I turned to him. “No, go. I have a date too. I can’t have you screwing that up for me.”

  I saw his smile falter for a split second, but he played it off. “Oh yeah? With whom?”

  I pushed my door open. “That’s none of your business. You don’t see me asking you how many women you fucked last weekend.”

  Braden leaned in close. “Do you want to know?”

  Even though the thought infuriated me, I continued to smile. Braden was always brutally honest, so I didn’t want to know how many women he’d been with. “Don’t care,” I replied.

  Turning on my heel, I left him at the door and hurried down the hall to my bedroom. The second I stepped in, I shut the door behind me and tossed my gym bag on the bed, unable to catch my breath. My focus went straight to the window where I had the best view of the ocean. Peyton had her room filled with succulent plants, but I always turned to the ocean for peace. That was why I had an ocean-themed room with my blue and white bedspread and pina colada candles.

  Whenever Braden got close to me, I could feel the burn in my veins. Just watching him train put me on the brink of orgasm. What made it worse was when we would spar together. He’d always find a way to get me down on the mat with his body between my legs. That was why I refused to train with him alone. Then again, I’d never really gotten the chance to with so many people being at the gym.

  Waving a hand in front of my face, I blew out a breath, hoping the heat on my cheeks would ebb. Once I had enough time to cool down, I grabbed the wedding portfolio on my bookshelf and quietly crept down the hall to see what Braden was doing. He’d turned his ball cap to the front, but I didn’t regret telling him that he looked stupid with it backward; it kept him on his toes. However, I honestly did think he was cute with it that way, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.

  His focus was on a shelf on the wall lined with pictures, mainly of Peyton and me, but there was one of my mom and Braden’s mother together with their arms around each other’s shoulders. They were best friends.

  “I bet my mom can’t wait for yours to get back in town. I don’t think they’ve seen each other in four months. That’s like a century in best friend years,” I called out.

  Braden chuckled and turned around. “Is that how you are with my sister? It’s been a while since you’ve seen her.”

  Peyton was my best friend, but I loved her like a sister. Nodding, I focused on the picture of Peyton and me on the beach, posing for the camera in our bikinis with the ocean behind us.

  “I love her just as much as I love Emma,” I stated.

  A smirk spread across his face. “Then what happened with me? Our mothers forced us together our entire lives and yet you hate me. What gives?”

  Batting my eyelashes, I smiled back. “I don’t hate you, Braden. I just think you, my brother, and Ripp have the big-head syndrome. My cousin, Brooks, is excluded from this.” Brooks was the only one out of our group that was responsible. He chose to become an FBI agent instead of a fighter. Now he was away on an undercover mission, and I had no clue when I’d see him again.

  “Big-head syndrome?” Braden asked, grinning slyly. “Are you saying I have a huge dick?”

  I held up a hand, cutting him off. “I can’t with you right now. I’m talking about the disease you have where you think you’re all that.”

  Braden thrust his head back and laughed. “And what? You think you’re not the same way? I’ve seen all the men who want you, Reagan. It’s hard not to when all they do is stare. You enjoy the attention.” He marched over and stood in front of me, his body so achingly close I could feel the heat radiating from him. “And don’t you dare say otherwise. We both know it’d be a lie.”

  I did like the attention, even more so now that I’d won my title and had millions of followers. What I craved more, though, was his attention. There was never a lack of it, but I could never get enough. I wanted more than the verbal sparring that was common between us. My phone beeped with an incoming text, so I stepped back to distance us.

  Emma: Where are you? Carter just put the burgers on the grill.

  I quickly texted her back.

  Me: On my way.

  “We have to go,” I said, looking up at Braden. “What are we going to tell Emma when she asks why you’re with me?”

  Braden’s lips tilted up. “She’s marrying my cousin, Reagan, and I’m the best man. We could always say we’re trying to conserve gas.” His gaze narrowed playfully. “You make it sound like there’s something secret going on between us. Am I missing something?”

  “Nope. There will never be anything between us,” I claimed. “That’s wishful thinking on your part.”

  Braden stared into my eyes and then down to my lips. “Whatever you say, sunshine. You know one day, you might regret not taking me up on my offers.”

  I followed him out the door and locked it while he strolled down the stairs. “I’d rather be a nun,” I shouted.

  He laughed the whole way to his car. Who was I kidding? I wouldn’t last a second as a nun.

  CHAPTER 4

  BRADEN

  Reagan reluctantly got in my car, and we headed out to Carter and Emma’s. Her scent surrounded me, and it made me want her even more.

  “Now that you’ve kept the featherweight title, what are you doing during your time off? I’m surprised you didn’t want to go to Vegas with your brother and Ripp.”

  Reagan scoffed. “Hard pass on that. All they’re doing is hanging out at Kase’s club and screwing random chicks every night. It’s the only thing you guys ever do besides fight.”

  “Hold up, sunshine,” I cut in, “You seem to have a severe misunderstanding of what I do. Am I out in Vegas? No. I’m right here with you.”

  Reagan turned her body toward me, her lips pursed. “Why didn’t you go?”

  I stared at her for a second before focusing back on the road. Why didn’t I go to Vegas? There were two reasons. I didn’t want her alone, not when we had enemies who I knew st
ill watched our every move. I could feel it in my blood; it was like a part of me was always on alert. And the second reason …

  “Are you sure you want to know?” I asked her. I had a habit of always telling the truth, and Reagan knew that. I’ve never hidden my desire to be with her. Yeah, I played it off sometimes by joking around, but all the words that came out of my mouth were the truth.

  Reagan cleared her throat and turned back to the window. “Never mind. I don’t think I do.”

  A smile spread across my face as I turned down Carter and Emma’s street. “I’ll tell you anyway,” I announced. “I figured with your brother and father gone for a few weeks, I’d have you all to myself.” Reagan jerked her head my way just as I pulled into the driveway. “Can you blame me for wanting to stay?” I asked, turning my attention to her.

  She shook her head. “Why do you say shit like that?”

  “Because I can, and it’s the truth,” I replied.

  Reagan huffed. “And how many other girls do you say the same crap to?”

  I looked right into her bright blue eyes. “None. You’re the only one.”

  “You expect me to believe that?” She narrowed her gaze, challenging me.

  “Believe what you want,” I fired back. “I’m not the one lying to myself.” Her mouth gaped and I left her in the car, loving that I had the last word. She was lying to herself. I could see it in her eyes that she wanted me; it was the only reason I gave her such a hard time.

  I rang the doorbell of Carter and Emma’s beachfront Santa Monica home just as Reagan slammed my car door. Carter answered the door and his gaze shifted to Reagan storming up the walkway.

  “Seriously? Do you two ever get along?”

  I smiled at him. “Eh, Reagan loves me. She just doesn’t realize it yet.”

  Reagan grumbled something under her breath and walked past us into the house. Carter shook his head and laughed. “Better watch out, she’s going to kick your ass.”