Pick Your Pleasure: The Heart's Desire Series Read online

  “Fuck.” He closes his eyes, before he drops to hover over me once again. “Kinsley what?” His breath hits my lips… so temptingly close to kissing me, but so fucking far away at the same time.

  “Kinsley Cooper.”

  “Come to the Smoothie King Event Center tomorrow night. Will Call will have two tickets for you.” He pushes up and steps over me before he tucks his cock back into his shorts. The quick glimpse he allows me to see will only torture me the rest of the night if he’s going to leave me here like I think he’s about to.

  “Why would I go there?”

  “Because after I win my fight, I’m going to fuck you senseless.” He’s a fighter. Damnit… that just made him even sexier. He slides a hoodie over his shoulders, zipping it up before he turns to leave me alone, still feeling the heavy weight of what just happened between us. Every nerve in my body is on edge and begging for him to come back and continue the connection we had.

  I hear the door hit the rock before I allow my eyes to take in the star littered sky. I send a single silent wish up for him to come back and finish where he left off, but I know that isn’t going to happen.

  Looking over the edge, I watch him jog down the road, away from me and toward the quietest part of town where everything seems to be darker than if he would’ve ran in any other direction.

  He has a fight tomorrow. That would explain why he was up here alone instead of out to party like the rest of the city. I’m sure it’s part of his training process to stay away from all the crazy before a fight, but I’m only assuming.

  I’ve never met a fighter, in fact, I really don’t like to watch people hit each other, so I’m not sure how this whole fight thing will go tomorrow night. But I do know one thing… there’s no way in hell I’m missing it.

  Chapter Two

  Kinsley

  “Mavick Black vs Drew Johnson, ‘The Fight of the Night’, UFC Fight Night 72 will be tonight at the Smoothie King Event Center. Black, also known as ‘The Dark Assassin’ will fight for the first time since a light heavyweight title loss to champion Beau Jones. Prior to that, Black was undefeated with 12 wins, 8 of them KOs.” I’m reading the newspaper, looking at a front-page picture of the man who sent me spinning last night on the roof top. “So his name is Mavick. Mavick Black.” I sip my coffee and start an internet search, hoping to find out some more information about the man I can’t seem to get out of my head.

  Mollie is still in bed, but at least she let me in before she passed out completely. Luckily this apartment is segregated enough that I can have some privacy, even though the moaning and head board slamming got on my nerves through the night. Most of the irritation was because it wasn’t me making those noises after how worked up I was. Thankfully, I have a pair of earbuds that helped drown out the sounds of sweet ecstasy while I laid there annoyed and alone.

  Tossing the last of my coffee back, I find myself looking at hundreds of pictures with Mavick fighting and only a few of him outside of that. He’s obviously a decent fighter, but it’s the intensity in his eyes that keeps capturing my attention. He has a passion for it and it’s very easy to see the more I creep the internet. I quickly find that it’s easy to find out about Mavick the fighter, but what I want to know more about is the man himself. The man I met on the quiet roof top that had me laughing one second and hot as fuck the next.

  It’s obvious all his social media accounts are handled by some sort of agency or something. They’re all very focused on marketing and the business side of his life. I can’t believe I didn’t even ask him his name last night. His directness silenced me before I had the chance to think clearly. Everything that happened with him was so unlike me and now that I’ve had time to think about it, I’m embarrassed by what I did. I don’t think I can go see his fight tonight; my own humiliation will prevent me from being able to move once I walk in anyway.

  Mollie stumbles into my room, her hair looking thoroughly fucked and out of control. “Shit, what time is it?”

  “Noon.”

  “Damn. Sorry, I suck.” I don’t disagree with her, wanting her to realize this was supposed to be a girl’s trip. But then again, I wouldn’t have had that once in a lifetime encounter on the roof last night if she wouldn’t have been busy with her own memorable night.

  “I’m going to kick that guy to the curb here in a few minutes. What do you want to do today?”

  “I figured I’d go to a museum or something.” I choose to leave out the fight idea for now, not wanting to go into detail about what went down last night. I’ll let her think she was the only one that got any sort of action and it’ll be easier on me today. I’m sure she’d lose her shit if she even thought I talked to a guy, but then again, she’s been so wrapped up in her own lack of attention lately, she hasn’t pointed out mine like she has in the past.

  “I’ll take a shower and lose the dick. Be ready in about thirty minutes?” She looks in my direction, questioning me before she sees that I’m already dressed with makeup on, hair done and my shoes propped on the coffee table in front of me. “Well, it looks like you’re ready now, so I’ll hurry.”

  She rushes off and I listen to her mumble in the bedroom while she works to get the guy out of her bed. He staggers through half naked a few minutes later with all of his stuff in his arms. “Yeah, yeah. It was great and all that, but you have to go. I’ve got shit to do today and you can’t stay here.” Mollie follows him, pushing his back while he moves toward the door.

  He reaches for the door knob and opens it wide without even looking out before he does. A dark black hoodie hiding the same figure from last night stands in the door way. His eyes meet Mollie’s fling at the same time my heart flies into my throat. What the hell is he doing at our apartment. Mollie is the one who rented it, so there’s no way he could’ve known I was in here.

  “Ummmm. Well, hello.” I hear Mollie’s voice just as Mavick steps around the half-naked man to look past her and directly at me.

  “Kinsley.” He drops his head in a single nod before he bolts down the stairs, leaving Mollie with her jaw on the floor while she tries to understand how he knew my name. She slams the door on her guy and storms straight over to me. I hold my hand up to calm the frantic look on her face, not sure what she’s going to say. I can only imagine what she’s thinking; hell, I don’t even know what I’m thinking.

  “Ok… talk. Now.” She sits on the arm of the couch, turned toward me, staring into my eyes with a stern look on her face. I can’t help but laugh at her as her face twists and shows proof of just how many questions she wants to ask me.

  “There’s nothing to talk about. I met him on the roof top last night when you were busy leaving bodily fluids all over this place.” I move to take my coffee cup to the kitchen and do my best to change the subject. “What if we do some ghost tours?”

  “We can do whatever you want when you tell me the rest of the dirt on that hot as fuck guy that knows your name.”

  “Mollie, take a shower and get ready or I’m going to leave your ass here.”

  “Fine… but this convo isn’t over. You know I’m relentless and the fact that you’re acting weird only makes me want to dig even deeper.”

  “Alright, we’ll talk more on the tours. But for now, I just want to get out of this apartment and do something. We didn’t come to New Orleans to stay shacked up in an apartment talking about my non-sex life while your hair is matted from your own sexcapades from last night.”

  “I can respect that. Orrrr you could just come tell me while I shower and we’ll just kill all the birds at once.”

  “If you’ll get in the shower, I’ll tell you anything you want to know.” She jumps from the couch and flies across the room, pulling her t-shirt over her head before she turns the corner, disappearing into the bathroom. I wait until I hear the water and the curtain slide over the curtain rod before I take my seat on the toilet. This is something we’ve done many times, but usually it’s her ass sitting while I’m in the shower having to
listen to her.

  “So tell me all about this guy.”

  “I met him on the roof top. We talked some and then he asked me to come see him tonight. Other than that, there’s not much to tell.” Except that part where my hand was gripping his cock and I was internally begging him to fuck me into exhaustion.

  The curtain flies open allowing her to stare at me while the water drips from her drenched hair. “See him where?”

  “At some fight.”

  “What? Did he tell you where? Is this like a date or something?”

  “Not exactly. He’s in the fight.”

  “Holy shit. Kinsley, he’s a fighter.” She slides the curtain closed quickly. “You need new clothes. We need to hurry.”

  “No I don’t. I’m not even going to go.”

  “The fuck you aren’t. I’m not going to listen to your ass for the next three years while you look back on this missed opportunity because you’re a pansy ass that wont take this chance. Worst case scenario… he loses the fight and you end up getting ditched while he licks his wounds.” The smell of soap fills the air as her words sound rushed while she continues to hound me about what to do. “Or better yet, he loses and then lets you lick his wounds… but even then, you’ll get to go to a fight and it’ll be something you’ll never forget.” The curtain opens once more, so she can pull me into her glaring look again. “We did come here to do shit we’ve never done before. This is the perfect chance.”

  “Fine. He said there’d be two tickets. Looks like we’re both going. That is, if you ever get ready so we can leave the damn house.” I leave the bathroom as I say the last bit, not giving her a chance to throw out any more excuses as to why she’s made me wait to do anything this morning.

  It only takes her about an hour to get her hair and makeup on, which is faster than normal. I purchase us two tickets online for the ghost tour that starts in about an hour, refusing to let her force me into a full afternoon of shopping.

  The tour bus stops at a few creepy hotels and the guide fills us in on all the legendary stories that are meant to send chills up our spines, but it isn’t until we make it to the grave yard that I feel the chill.

  Ornate tombs fill the cemetery, quickly reminding us just how old this town is and how many lives have passed through here. The rumors of vampires and ghosts leave me unsure how to think, but I guess anything is possible.

  We move around the cemetery in a group, even though I keep getting drawn in by the tombs inscriptions, making up my own story as to how each one may have died. Mollie follows the group, leaving me behind out of her own boredom.

  I’m stepping around an elaborate tomb that’s overly decorated when I see him in the distance. I know it’s Mavick the second I see the hoodie. He’s resting his forearms against the walls of a tomb, his head lowered while he doesn’t move a muscle. I watch him for a few minutes, neither of us shifting from the position we started in.

  Seeing him like this does something to me. Something I can’t explain, but somehow it makes me feel even more connected to him. I want to go to him and wrap my arms around his waist and just let him know he’s not alone. And another part of me is dying to know who’s tomb he’s here to see. Is this something he does before he fights?

  I take a single step and regret it instantly because a stick cracks under the weight of my foot. He turns his head at the sound, our eyes connecting instantly. His face is red and tears trace down his cheeks before he catches them with his sleeves. He doesn’t say a word, but the intensity in his stare says everything. We’re both just frozen in time saying so much, yet nothing at all.

  My hand moves to my heart before I can stop myself. He watches until I spread my fingers flat against my chest, then he pulls the hood further down over his face and turns to run in the other direction.

  Curiosity has me wanting to read what the tomb says that he was so connected to, but out of respect for him I walk the other way and don’t give in to the temptation of being nosy. It’s obviously someone that meant a lot to him and I’m not about to disrespect his privacy when it comes to something like this.

  Chapter Three

  Kinsley

  The event center is massive and my nerves are all over the place as I stand in line with practically the entire city of New Orleans to see a fight I had no idea about just twenty-four hours ago. Mollie is proving to be my pillar of strength for tonight, because without her here with me, I wouldn’t have stepped out of the Uber in the first place.

  We finally step up to the window for our turn at Will Call and give my name. The attendant looks up at me with surprise before she turns to speak into a hand device, saying something I can’t make out because of all the noise behind me.

  “Someone will be right with you.” A few minutes later a man dressed as a security guard opens the door next to the box office and says my name.

  “That’s us.” Mollie speaks up for the both of us, since all of this seems a little to surreal for me at the moment. He gives a slight smile before he escorts us through the door, then down a hallway to bypass the next set of lines as everyone else is forced to wait to get in.

  An uneasy feeling of being overwhelmed floats near the surface, but is quickly calmed a little when the hall door closes and all the noise fades behind us. “You have VIP tickets. There’s a backstage room that we’ll hold you in until just before the main event is about to start. Until then, you can watch on the big screen and enjoy the open bar and even order dinner if you’d like.” Mollie’s head whips around to get my attention and I see her starting to put together the fact that I might be holding a few things back about my initial meeting with this guy.

  “Perfect. Thank you so much.” I finally speak once he shows us the room we’re supposed to stay in. I’m overtaken with the comfort and it’s obvious this room isn’t just for anyone. Mavick has given me the prime experience of tonight and for that I have to say I’m anxious to see him fight. I’m even more excited to see him after he’s done. Something tells me he’s going to be one hell of a force to be reckoned with if what I saw online was true. He has a point to make tonight and I can’t help but feel honored that he wanted me to be here to see it.

  The guard hits the remote before he leaves, turning on the sound of the announcers talking about Mavick and his recent struggles in the industry. “We haven’t seen him since his loss back in April. Even though he’s been in hiding, I’m going to have to give The Assassin my vote tonight. Something tells me he’s here to take it all back and remind us who he is.”

  “Jesus, Kinsley. I’m so damn glad we both went shopping today.” We both sit on the couch, I slide my heels off and tuck my legs under my body as I look around and take in everything around us.

  The door opens and a woman dressed in a black pencil skirt and jacket approaches us. “I’m Samantha. I’m here to take care of you both tonight. Can I get you something to drink?”

  “Yes we’ll both take a shot of tequila and then can you make us something fruity?” Mollie answers before I have a chance to think about what I want to drink. I don’t object since I would’ve probably asked for the fruity drink myself. It’s the tequila that I could do without, but maybe it’ll help drown any nerves that will come to surface when we go to our seats.

  Three tequila shots and four different fruity drinks later, we’re being escorted down some stairs. We seem to be the only two back here that aren’t part of the work crew, so we stand out in our tight dresses and tall heels. I take the stairs slow, intentionally not wanting to fall on my face after the alcohol. Mollie has already stepped through the little door that must lead to the crowd, because I can’t hear anything except the roaring crowd yelling ‘Assassin’.

  Most of my reservations are gone, which is how I’m able to smile and give a little wave to Mavick when I get to the bottom of the stairs. His eyelids drop partially and I can practically feel his eyes scrape down my skin as he starts by looking at my hair, then quickly lets his eyes take in the rest of me.

/>   “Fuck no.” The older guy behind him tries to pull him by the arm and stop him from approaching me, but he fails when Mavick yanks his arm out of his hold. He backs me against the wall, never saying a word. The cord from his earbuds dangle on his chest between us and I wish I could hear what he’s listening to.

  His hands are already hidden beneath his gloves, not to mention he’s holding them at his sides. So damn close to me, but not touching me at all. The weight of his stare leaves me breathless and wishing we could do all of this without his entourage watching us so closely. Nothing like having an audience.

  He begins to move his head slightly as if he’s starting to dance to the music playing in his ears. His stare intensifies while I watch him, making me want to know what he’s thinking. Is he preparing himself mentally for the game, or this just his way of reminding me of what he has planned for me tonight. Either way, he’s sexy as fuck right now and I’m officially ready to climb his body and not give a shit what anyone around us thinks. He’s deep. Deep inside me with this stare and I can’t wait to see if we have anything outside of a strong sexual attraction to each other. But right now, that’s all I need to have the courage to move with the guard who begins to escort me into the coliseum.

  The lights go on and off as I make my way down to the center of the crowd, all the while the boos and obnoxious yelling startles me as the other guy makes his way into the room on the other side. The guard rushes me, and I can only imagine it means Mavick is about to enter behind me. The last thing I need to do is be in his way when he’s trying to get into the ring and fight, so I walk fast.

  “And in the blue corner… Mavick Black, ‘The Assassinnnnnnnnn’,” the announcer draws out his name as the crowd goes wild. Chills spread over me as I look around the building and listen to the screams and even some cries while he makes his way to the center. It’s very apparent he’s in his own house and these people love him.