Preach walks away laughing. “Come on, I’ll take a quick shower upstairs and you can take a look at the part I don’t understand. I’ll let you watch me in the shower to make it up to you.” I wink at her and take her hand and start toward the elevator without waiting for her response.

Chapter 29

Elle

Nico comes out of the shower in a towel and I’m already sitting at the table half way done with the contract he wants me to look at. He comes up behind me and moves my hair from one side of my neck before reaching down to nuzzle me. He rubs his nose along the side of my neck and breathes deep. “You smell so good.”

“I used to.”

He chuckles and comes around the table to sit on the other side, opposite of me.

“I’m not done reading yet, but what part don’t you like. I don’t see anything too unusual so far.”

“That’s because you haven’t read my other ones.” Nico leans his elbows on the table and clasps his hands together. It’s a common every day posture, but there’s nothing common about it when Nico Hunter does it. His normally muscular biceps are huge, even more defined from his morning workout. Everything about him is just so purely, deliciously male. His square jaw, his green eyes that turn grey with desire when he comes near me, the way he looks at me like he’s a hunter and I’m his prey. He’s incredibly distracting. Even more so sitting in nothing but a towel. Lucky towel.

I bring my eyes back to his and he’s watching me with the sexy half grin that makes me melt and I know I’ve been caught looking at him.

“See something you like, Babe?” His voice is raspy and sexy as all hell.

“What? No! This is strictly a professional visit. I have to get back to the office. William is coming at three for a deposition on a case where we have co-defendants and I want to read this through before I pass it to him.”

Nico’s jaw flexes and his playfulness is gone. The mention of spending my afternoon with William has the effect of throwing a bucket of cold water on him.

“Glad I coated you with my sweat now. It’ll keep the other lions away.”

I roll my eyes at him. He half pretends he’s kidding, but I know he’s probably really happy with himself that I’ll be spending the afternoon with William while wearing his scent.

“Back to business.” I point down at the contract. “Why don’t you tell me what I’m looking for so it’s easy to find then?”

“Well, there’s three things that don’t sit right with me.” He counts them off on his fingers for me. “It’s three times the amount of money that I got last time for a title fight. They added a dropout clause for Preach. And they don’t have to name the contender until seven days before the fight.”

“Okay, let’s take them one at a time. Three times the amount of money. Doesn’t sound like a bad thing to me. What has you concerned there?”

“Nothing really. I like that part. But it’s not really necessary. So it makes me wonder why they’re throwing it at me. I know a rematch for my title is a moneymaker, but we would have expected one and a half times what I took for the first title fight.”

“Okay, is adding a dropout clause for Preach unusual?”

“Yeah. He’s never had one before. If I dropout after they sell the fight, I pay a hefty penalty. It makes sense. They spent it and they want me to make them whole. It’s a common clause for a fighter. But why Preach? As far as I know, they never put the trainer or manager on the hook too. And his is almost as big as mine. Mine is risk vs. reward. But his is all risk.”

“Hmm. What possible reason could they have for wanting to put Preach on the hook?”

“At first I thought they could be planning on spending a lot of cash before the fight and they were looking to lessen the blow by splitting it between us. But I told them I’d take Preach’s dropout penalty on my contract and they said no. They won’t let me take on his risk.”

“So that means it’s not about money, they want Preach invested. What reason could they have for wanting your trainer invested? Other than they want you to win badly and they think he will work you harder.”

“I don’t know. But it just doesn’t feel right to me. Preach is fine with it. He knows I’m in for the haul and won’t screw him. But it still bothers me.”

“Interesting. Let me give it some thought…maybe I can think of a different angle since I’m an outsider. What about the unnamed fighter?”

“Usually you know who you’re gonna fight before the fight. I guess mine is a little different because I never technically lost my title and the guy who holds it now just retired because of an eye injury. So there’s no clear opponent, although we all assume it will be Caputo, he’s the next highest ranked guy.”

“Do you study your opponents?”

“Of course.”

“So everyone who is a possible contender spends months studying you, but you could be studying the wrong guy and only find out seven days before?”

Nico leans back in his chair. “Yep.”

“Which term bothers you the most?”

“Preach having a penalty clause.”

“Not the part about not knowing who you’re going to fight?”

“Nah.” He crosses his arms over his bare chest. “I don’t need more than a day or two to learn a fighter’s moves.”

“Okay. How long do we have?”

“Two days.”

“What’s the rush? I thought you had at least two months after the fight this weekend before your next fight?”

“I do. But they want this signed before my qualifying fight this weekend. The deal isn’t a go unless I win, but they want it wrapped up before the weekend anyway.”

“Okay. Let me work on it.” I stand. “I should get going. I need to give my file a quick read before my afternoon deposition.”

Nico stands and grips me tightly against his body when I attempt to leave after a nice goodbye kiss.

“Twenty minutes.”

“I’ll be late.”

“I’ll be good.”

“I’m sure you would. But...”

My objection goes unheard when Nico’s mouth crashes down on mine. He kisses me long and hard with his naked muscles pressed up against me until my body defies my brain and succumbs to his demand.

An hour later I’m on my way back to the office, with Nico’s scent on my clothes and inside of me. I have a sneaking suspicion that Nico wanted it that way, knowing I was seeing William.