Knox stepped back and pulled off his shirt. Kicked off his shoes. Shucked his jeans. Naked, he stood in front of her and taunted her. “You think you can break me? You think I can’t take what you want to dish out?” He gave her body a slow perusal before he met her eyes again. “Bring it.” Then he walked away.

She let him get to the bedroom before she took him down with a full frontal sweep.

And she tried her damnedest to break him. They didn’t speak beyond grunts and moans and the occasional scream. She didn’t need to direct him, because somehow he knew what she needed.

They fucked on the floor.

They fucked against the wall.

They fucked on the bed. Twice.

They fucked against the windows.

When she came the last time, her body shuddering violently as he plowed into her, she whispered, “Mine. You are mine. I’m never going to let you go.”

He closed his eyes, his muscles aching, his body absolutely fucking spent. He had scratches and bite marks and hickeys from his neck to the tops of his feet. He’d never felt so used. So owned.

And nothing in his life had ever felt so right.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

FIGHT night had finally arrived.

Spirits were high when they set up camp at the event center.

Knox and Blue were handling the promotional duties. The referee was present in the locker rooms for the weigh-in. Luckily, none of the fights would have to be scrapped.

Maddox remained low-key but involved. Deacon, Ivan, Terrel, and Fee were on the roster, along with three other fights. He’d drilled his fighters relentlessly. So Knox had ended up on his ass plenty of times, since he was the only one big enough to go head-to-head with Ivan. Shiori had been called on to spar with Fee. Blue had partnered with Deacon. But all the prefight prep did was cement the other problem with their training program—not enough practice partners.

The promotion side was much more hectic than getting the fighters pumped up in the locker room. The payouts were nominal for this type of event; the experience for the fighters was worth way more. But each winner would get a payout, so Knox would have to stick around and wrap that up afterward. Ticket sales had improved, so maybe they’d recoup some of the up-front costs.

Two other MMA programs provided fighters besides Steve Atwood. Apparently, as acting head of Black and Blue Promotions, it was Knox’s job to make everyone feel welcome and foster camaraderie among Colorado dojos. Which was fine. He wasn’t bad at glad-handing. But Ronin was. So how had he made it through these things? Because Amery had been with him?

Was that why Knox wanted Shiori by his side?

She’d stayed in their fighter’s room as support for Fee.

Katie walked by in her ring-girl outfit, and Blue’s eyes about bugged out of his head.

“Man, why do you still go all slack-jawed and stupid when you see her?” Knox suspected Katie went out of her way to sashay past Blue as many times as possible. Plus, she stayed in her getup after the event ended while she did final reports and tallied up payouts.

“Because every fucking time I see her dressed like that, I’m reminded there is a god and he has a nasty sense of humor to place an apple like her in front of a snake like me.”

“What?”

“Never mind.” Blue walked away.

“Where are you going?”

“Bathroom to rub one out.”

Like he needed to know that shit.

Knox did the final run-through with the announcer and the sponsors. He made sure the judges had everything they needed. He even managed to keep a civilized tone with that smarmy prick Steve Atwood.

Fifteen minutes from fight time, Knox and Blue walked into the fighters’ room and saw complete chaos.

Fee was lying on a bench. “What the hell happened?” Blue demanded.

Ivan pointed to the portable lockers the event center had brought in. “She went to put her bag in her locker. The handle stuck, so she pulled on it and the whole thing came down on top of her.”

Blue murmured to her in Portuguese.

Tears rolled down her face and she shook her head.

He stood and walked over to Knox.

“Is she okay?”

“She’s in no shape to fight now. We can have medical check her out, but she’s confused and in pain.”

Fuck. “Get her seen. That’s what’s important.”

Blue motioned to Gil, and he crouched down by Fee. Then he returned to Knox’s side. “What now?”

“We cancel. We’ve had to cancel fights before, so it’s not a big deal.”

“I’ll go tell the announcer and the judges,” Blue said, and turned to walk out.