Relentless Liberation

L.J.
Fine

Being stalked from town to town by
an unstable ex-boyfriend means demure bookworm Mina Roper is used to keeping a
low profile. But after a coworker brings her to an underground boxing
competition, shy Mina falls deeply in lust with gorgeous fighter Tyler Serano.
The problem? She’s convinced he’s hopelessly out of her league.

Tyler knows his matches are
brutally violent, so why does this sweet, subdued beauty keep showing up to watch
them week after week? Despite his overwhelming fear of commitment, Tyler’s innocent
curiosity evolves into a hot, all-consuming attraction.

Just when it looks like happily
ever after might be possible, Mina’s past catches up to her and she’s forced to
make a tough choice. Follow her usual escape strategy—or risk it all for a new
kind of life with Tyler.

Inside Scoop
: Mina’s past
includes a nonconsensual sexual encounter and brief violence, which could be triggering
for some readers.

A Romantica®
contemporary erotic romance
from
Ellora’s Cave

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this novel to my mother. You've
always encouraged me to follow my dreams and you never stopped believing that I
could achieve them. I love you more than you'll ever know.

Mina Roper had shown up religiously for three months. Every
time she entered the building, her nerves kicked into high gear and her palms
began to sweat. This wasn’t at all her usual scene but she kept coming back for
more week after week. Even though every time she did, it felt like all the
oxygen was yanked out of her lungs. She had no choice but to take slow deep
breaths—otherwise she might be asphyxiated.

It wasn’t the crowd that excited her or the caged violence
in the center of all the jeers and shouts. The rush of chance from the
high-stakes betting found in all corners of this vast yet cramped room wasn’t
it either. It couldn’t have her heart racing like this or cause these electric
tingles to shoot along her nerve endings. It certainly wasn’t the smell of
stale sweat mixed with fresh blood and antibiotic cream that made her face
flush and her panties damp.

No, it was just the dark, menacing man currently squaring
off with his opponent inside the ring. Tyler Serano. All of it was him. Which
was random and unusual, especially considering that she’d never even spoken to
him. She’d forced her libido into submission a long time ago, so the actual
physical reaction he inspired in her, above anything, was the reason her
interest was piqued.

In fact, it had been numb for so long that she’d gotten used
to its absence. She wasn’t at all sure that its resurgence was a good thing, no
matter what her friend Chloe might think. Actually she knew that it was
detrimental to her mental well-being. Someone like her lusting after someone
like him? These kinds of things never ended well. For
her
.

The first time she had set foot into the gym she’d felt so
out of place. It was as if she had stepped into an alternate reality and didn’t
know the laws of the land. The sights, sounds and even the smells had been
alien to her.

As Chloe had pulled her through the crowd to find a spot
with the best vantage point of the ring, she hadn’t been able to escape the
impression that everyone was looking at her, wondering why such a drab, mousy
girl was in their midst. Despite her best efforts to exude a confident, don’t-give-a-shit-what-these-people-think
attitude, she found herself fidgeting with her subdued outfit and smoothing a
hand over her long medium-brown hair. Rationally, though, she was fairly
certain no one even noticed her.

Few ever did.

But then the fights had started and she had been intrigued,
momentarily forgetting her insecurities. Never before had she witnessed
anything like it, and the pure aggression took her breath away. It was so
blatant and unmitigated, lacking the subtle put-downs and veiled insults she
had known her whole life. This was fresh, almost like a relief. No hidden
subtext, no ulterior motives, just raw human emotion displayed in its simplest
form.

She had stood entranced by what she was seeing until the
main fight. That’s when Tyler stepped into the ring and she had lost sight of
anything else. All former sense of relief had dissipated and it was as if
someone had lit her on fire from the inside out.

That had been
it
for her. She had needed no other
reason or further coercion to come back. As lame as it sounded, just watching
him was the most excitement she had gotten in—well, years probably. Maybe even
her whole life. And no matter what she did or how she tried to force him out of
her every waking thought, he stuck to her mind like Krazy Glue. She couldn’t
shake him off or get enough of him. He was like a drug and she had been
addicted from the first moment her eyes had landed on him.

Not that he noticed. Or cared.

It was what it was, though, and she honestly hadn’t expected
anything else. He wasn’t even the type of man she usually found herself
attracted to.

Well, she thought with a frown, that wasn’t exactly true.
For the last four years she hadn’t actually been attracted to anyone, so she
couldn’t say what her type was anymore. But she felt certain that if she
had
a type he wouldn’t be it. While he was still completely out of her league, he
seemed too abrasive and unrefined. Animalistic. The type of guy who would chew
her up and then spit her back out without a backward glance. And yet here she
was, for all intents and purposes salivating over a man who “didn’t do it for
her”.

Even now she was hypnotized by his graceful movements as he
danced around his opponent inside the ring. The beautiful muscles in his
powerful arms and back flexed and contracted with every hit he landed, and the
black ink of the tattoo spanning his broad shoulders rolled with his movements.
The sheen of sweat coating his skin made his well-defined body glow under the
jaundiced light shining down on the fighters.

The bout had been in progress for a few minutes and Mina
held her breath waiting for it. She dreaded this part every time she saw him
fight, but knew it was inevitable. It had to happen at least once before he
would finish the fight. She saw the moment he made the decision and knew it was
coming.

And here it was.

There was a grunt and a swing as his challenger landed a
right hook along Tyler’s jaw. Mina winced. The force snapped his head back but
then he pinned his foe with a smile. It was more like a feral baring of teeth,
made all the more menacing by the crimson stain of blood coating his pearly
whites and the manic look in his dark eyes. She could practically hear his
deep, predatory growl over the noisy crowd before he spit the blood out.

Then it was game over.

Watching the strength in his agile movements as he
completely obliterated his adversary never ceased to amaze her. It was
something she both admired and was fascinated by. From what little she could
learn about him, it seemed like strength was just a part of his personality,
much like insecurity was very much a part of hers. How she longed to possess
even half the nerve and self-assuredness that radiated off him in waves. How
different her life would be.

With one last jab to the temple, Tyler took his opposition
out and the crowd went crazy. The excitement in the air was palpable as some
cheered, some cursed and money exchanged hands. Why anyone would ever bet
against Tyler was beyond her, though. The man hadn’t lost a single fight in the
time she’d been coming here and watching him. Her gaze flicked over his hard,
lean body and she marveled at the fact that he was barely even breathing heavily.

Yeah, it didn’t look like his winning streak was going to
take it on the chin anytime soon. He was seriously in some kind of shape.

Chloe elbowed her playfully in the side and gave her a
knowing smile, snapping Mina out of her ogling. “I really think you should
finally let me introduce you to him.”

Just the thought of being in any kind of situation where she
was expected to speak to him had her heart in her throat and her blood running
cold. If the mere knowledge that he was in the same room with her could cause
her to become hypoxic—even if said room was huge and filled to bursting with
rowdy patrons separating them—she couldn’t bring herself to contemplate what
would happen if his actual attention was focused on her. Even for so brief a
time as an introduction would take it would probably be enough to kill her.

“No, absolutely not” was her standard response anytime Chloe
pressed the issue. Never having been encouraged in the past by a friend to
pursue any man—or really anything she desired—had Chloe’s persistence on this
issue throwing her for a loop. That her friend seemed to think she was capable
of attracting any man, let alone that man, was mind-boggling. But Chloe’s
confidence in her seemed completely genuine and Mina found her all the more
endearing because of it.

“I see the way you look at him, Mina,” Chloe said as she twisted
her long blonde hair over her shoulder. “I’ve never seen you look at anyone
like that. The force of that longing in your eyes alone is enough to take the
chance and go meet him. I know for a fact he’s single.” She singsonged the last
bit.

“I’m perfectly happy with our current arrangement. I eat up
his body and drool over him from a nice, safe distance and he doesn’t know I’m
alive. It works out quite well for both of us.”

Chloe rolled her eyes and was about to reply when she
spotted something over Mina’s shoulder. Her eyes narrowed and her pretty bow of
a mouth angled down into a frown.

Mina followed her friend’s gaze and saw Chloe’s boyfriend
Brian counting out money as one of the resident bimbos rubbed up against him
and ran her manicured claws down his chest. Actually, the more she looked at
the woman the more familiar she became. That was Amanda, a woman Mina and Chloe
had seen sniffing around Brian a time or two before. Seemed she didn’t care
that Brian was taken and it also seemed that Brian was disinclined to set her
straight.

To be fair, though, that was just the way Brian was. For a
bookie who managed an underground boxing ring, he was a genuinely nice guy. And
a flirt. Mina knew he didn’t mean anything by it and deep down so did Chloe.
But that didn’t stop her friend from feeling possessive, which was a common
occurrence now that Amanda had set her sights on Brian.

“Hang on for a second, sweetie. I’ll be right back.” Chloe began
to make her way over to them. Mina knew what was coming next and that meant
they were going to be here for a while. She plopped down into a chair, crossed
her arms and legs and waited it out as Chloe lit into her man.

Though she hated to see them fight, she had to admit she was
glad for the shift in Chloe’s focus. That woman could be like a dog with a bone
when she got an idea into her head. She knew Chloe wouldn’t let her crush on
Tyler rest.

Why couldn’t she have just said no when Chloe had first
asked her to come to one of these things? Then there would be no infatuation to
speak of and they could all go about their merry ways, no worse off than when
they’d started. But at the time, lust had been a stranger to her for so long
she didn’t think anything of it when Chloe had finally dragged her to her first
fight.

They’d been working the same shift at the small bookstore in
the equally small town where Mina had just recently taken up residence when
Chloe had first brought it up. Brian belonged to an exclusive gym that Mina
frankly hadn’t even heard of until that particular conversation. It turned out
that every other Tuesday night the members closed the gym down and turned it
into an underground boxing arena.

Brian managed it all. He set up the fights, acted as a
bookie and made sure the cops stayed away. It had all sounded so illicit and
dangerous when Chloe had explained it to her, like something Mina would read
about in one of the novels she adored so much. At the time, she’d wondered why
Chloe was even telling her about it given its sensitive nature but by the end
of the story her purpose became all too clear.

The gist was that Chloe was determined to find Mina a man.
She’d often commented in the short time they’d known each other that she was
surprised Mina was single and even in the beginning Mina could see the wheels
turning in her head.

But in Mina’s mind, it wasn’t strange at all that she was
alone. Men just didn’t see her like that. Never had. She was too plain, too
awkward and too shy. Then to top all that off she was invariably attracted to
men who were hopelessly out of her league. The few times she’d tried to put
herself out there, to reach for happiness in that area, she’d been slapped back
into place so hard it had knocked the wind out of her.

Especially the last time. That had been the most painful
experience of her life and she had no desire for a repeat.

So no, she’d long ago resigned herself to the fact that the
fairytale happy ending that so frequently occurred in those beautiful yet
fanciful novels just wasn’t in the cards for her. She was built more for a
supporting role anyway, like the heroine’s best friend. Someone had to play
that part. It might as well be her.

Thinking she could use a little excitement and knowing that
Chloe’s plan to hook her up with someone would be fruitless, Mina had agreed to
go with her to the fight that week. Well that and the fact that Chloe was
relentless. Mina more than likely couldn’t have gotten out of going if she had
wanted to and thus her aforementioned obsession had developed, which had led
her here, to this moment.

Pinning away for a man who never noticed her while she
waited for her friends to quit arguing long enough to give her a ride home.

Slowly the crowd trickled out of the gym until only pockets
of people were left chatting or cleaning up. About twenty minutes had passed
and Brian and Chloe were no closer to a resolution. Mina sighed, wondering how
late it would be when she got home.

The shifting of the air beside her and the sound of metal
sliding against linoleum plucked her out of her thoughts and had her turning
her head. Immediately her heart started to beat out a rapid staccato in her
chest, her limbs tingled with that pins-and-needles sensation and she almost
choked on her own spit.

Tyler was sprawled out on the chair directly beside her. His
long legs, encased in gray sweatpants, were spread and stretched out before
him. He’d put on a white zip-up hoodie and his short dark-brown hair was damp
and messy from a recent shower. She’d never seen him outside of the ring and
she couldn’t decide if he was sexier all sweaty and bloody, or cleaned up and
lounging next to her with the lazy grace of a jungle cat.

He must have felt her eyes on him because he turned his
attention from Brian and Chloe to her. The weight of his dark, intense eyes
finally,
finally
settling on her was so heavy she was having trouble
breathing. The corner of his full, luscious lips kicked up into a wry grin as
those near-black eyes scanned her face and landed on her mouth which, to her
utter mortification, was hanging open.