Road to Victory (Dogs of Fire Book 5) (17 page)

“Please do, honey. I won’t have another break to see you in person for a week, so I’ll be over on Sunday before you go to your parents for dinner.”

“Oh, they’re coming here,” she said. “Why don’t you and Knight come too?”

“I’ll ask him.”

“Sounds good,” she said. “And try to give Knight a break.”

“Like break his leg?” I asked, hopefully.

“Nice try. Love you.”

“Love you too. Kiss Cash for me.”

“Will do.”

She hung up and I opened the gate to my garage and pulled into my space. As I stepped into the elevator and rode up to my floor, I debated on just how far I was willing to take this. Dani made a good point that he treated me exactly the same as everyone else, which is what we discussed, but if I was being honest, it still hurt... particularly the accusation of being late. It was his damn fault I was late, we weren’t with anyone else when he said it, ergo, there was no reason for his assholery in that moment.

This thought spurred on a little righteous indignation as I unlocked my apartment and stepped inside... and stalled.

I don’t know how I knew something was off because I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I realized I wasn’t alone. I have never been one of those women who will continue forward when I think someone or something’s going to jump out at me (I watch
way
too many murder mysteries to be that stupid), so I pulled open my door again, and made a run for it. I made it all the way down to the garage and was just about at my car when Knight pulled up in his truck. “You forget somethin’?”

I shook my head and even though I was still a little pissed at him, I had never been so relieved to see someone in my life.

“Sug? What’s wrong?”

“I think there’s someone in my apartment.”

“What the fuck?” he snapped, and quickly pulled into an open parking space. Jumping out of his truck, he grabbed my hand and tugged me to the elevators. “Who, Kim? Did you see?”

I shook my head again, squeezing his hand as I leaned against him. “I didn’t see anyone. I just felt... I don’t know... like I was being watched.” I sighed. “It’s stupid. Now that I think about it, it was probably nothing.”

“I want you to hang with Mrs. Thompson while I check it out, yeah?”

Mrs. Thompson was my neighbor. A really lovely widow in her seventies who acted as though she was much younger. “She’s probably out.”

He frowned and pulled me out of the elevator, knocking on Mrs. Thompson’s door. It opened. “Well, hi there,” she said.

“Hey, Mrs. Thompson. Kim’s just gonna come inside for a minute, okay? I think there might be a rat in her apartment.”

“What?” she said with a gasp. “Come in, honey. I’ll make some tea.”

Knight pushed me inside and pulled the door closed. I followed Mrs. Thompson into the kitchen and sat at one of her barstools. “I’m so sorry, I’m covered in horse hair.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I’ve got the cleaner coming tomorrow.”

I smiled. “Thanks. I really appreciate you letting me sit here for a bit.”

“Rats are the worst, although, I’d be surprised if we actually got any here. We’re far too high up.”

“It might not have been a rat, maybe just a mouse, but it was something creepy, so I asked my boyfriend to look at it.”

She patted my hand. “Good plan, sweetheart. You can never be too careful.”

“This is true.”

I had almost finished my tea when Knight knocked on the door.

“All clear,” he said. “Thanks Mrs. T.”

“No problem, dear.”

I hugged her and followed Knight to my apartment. He closed the door and crossed his arms. “No one’s here.”

“Okay. Like I said, I was probably overreacting.”

“No, I want you to go with your gut, sugar. Every time. It’s possible they could have gotten in through the fire escape. Now, as soon as you tell me why you took off without saying goodbye, I’ll have you walk around and see if anything’s out of place.”

“I’ll look around now,” I countered.

“Ah, no, you’ll tell me what the hell crawled up your ass now,
then
you’ll look around.”

“Um, excuse me?” I snapped. “What crawled up
my
ass? How about the fact that my boyfriend treated me like total complete and utter shit for the better part of four hours? Shall I go on?”

“I treat everyone the same during training, Kim, and I’d argue I treated you like shit, I just didn’t give you special treatment.”

“Oh, you gave me special treatment, alright. You snapped at me for being late, when we were alone, and you know very well you’re the reason I was late! I wanted to go first, but you said not to.”

“I thought you’d come fifteen, twenty minutes after me, Kim. Not an hour. If I expect the rest of the team to be on time... the team, by the way who have flown in from all over the country... then you can be too. Especially considerin’ you are the one person who has to drive less than fifteen minutes, so I don’t think it’s too much to expect that you fuckin’ well be on time!”

“I hit traffic!” Sort of. I couldn’t figure out what to wear to meet the rest of the team and had a bit of a wardrobe crisis, then a minor meltdown because I was meeting the American Olympic team, so it was partly that and partly that I hit traffic.

“Yeah? Forty-five minutes worth of traffic?” he challenged.

“Well, no,” I admitted. “But I did hit traffic.”

He slid his hands to my neck and stroked my cheek. “You need to be on time, sugar.”

“I know,” I conceded. “It’s just that it’s the Olympic team.”

“The same team you are on.”

“It’s the Olympic
team
, Knight.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, honey, I know. You’re on it.”

I faceplanted into his chest and wrapped my arms around his waist. “How the hell did I get on the Olympic Equestrian team, Aidan?” I asked. “That’s just not something that happens to normal people.”

“I didn’t realize you were normal.”

I smacked his butt. “Don’t be a dick.”

He laughed. “You good?”

“Not yet.”

He squeezed me, kissing the top of my head. “You need to be okay with my training style, because I really need to fuck you right now, and I have a feeling that’s gonna happen a lot.”

“Why is that gonna happen a lot?”

“Because you were amazing.”

I looked up and met his eyes. “I was?”

“Yeah, sugar. Almost perfect.” He smiled. “So was Jack.”

“He’s incredible, huh?”

“Yeah. How do you know him?”

“Our families have vacationed together. Don’t worry, he’s totally gay.”

Knight chuckled. “Yeah, I picked up on that.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, sugar, he’s pretty obvious about it.”

“Ohmigod, he didn’t make a pass, did he?”

“Not today, no.”

“What?” I squeaked. “He’s made a pass before?”

“A while ago. When he didn’t know who I was. We talked it out. He’s cool.”

“Wow. I’m not sure how I feel about that,” I admitted. “If he comes near you, I’ll scratch his eyes out.”

“Good to know.” He kissed my nose. “Now, look around and see if anything’s out of place. After that, I’m gonna fuck you, then I’m gonna call Mack and sort out a better security system.”

“I don’t need a better system, honey. This one works fine.”

“Did someone get into your place?”

I rolled my eyes. “Possibly. But if they did, it’s because I didn’t set the alarm.”

“What the fuck, Kim?”

“I never set it... well, I do if I’m going to be gone overnight, but not when I’m out for a few hours.”

He dragged his hands through his hair. “That changes now, got it?”

“Yep. I’m going to take a shower,” I said, and headed toward the bathroom. “Are you coming?”

He caught me around the waist and pulled me against him. “Kimmie, I really need you to not be so fuckin’ flippant about this.”

I sighed and faced him, sliding my fingers into his hair. “I’m not. I’m freaked out, but I’m less freaked out when you’re here, so can we just forget about it for now? I promise I’ll set the alarm.”

He kissed me gently. “What am I goin’ to do with you?”

“Fuck me.”

He lifted me so I could wrap my legs around his waist and carried me into the bathroom. After peeling off my jodhpurs, panties and all, he took some time to lavish attention on my clit, giving me a sweet, but brief orgasm before removing the rest of our clothes and lifting me into the shower.

“Hands on the wall, sugar.”

I did as he instructed, the warm water cascading over my back, while he cupped a breast and pinched the nipple. “Baby,” I whispered.

His free hand slid to my belly, then down between my legs, his finger moving over my clit and into my wetness. I mewed, pressing my bottom against him, wanting more.

“Greedy,” he said, kissing my shoulder.

“How about you take care of that, handsome?”

I lost his hand on my breast, but only long enough so he could guide his cock inside me from behind, then he doubled his attention on my nipple and my clit as he slowly thrust inside me. I dropped my head back, connecting with his shoulder as I groaned in ecstasy. “Harder, honey.”

“Hands back on the wall, baby.”

I did so immediately and was rewarded with his dick slamming into me harder and harder until I came so fast, I let out a scream, but his hand squeezing my breast had another orgasm building as he continued to fuck me. “Yes, honey. Oh, God, baby.”

“Come, sugar.”

I let myself fall into the abyss of climax and he held me close for a minute while we caught our breath. “Fuck, baby, it’s better every time.”

“I know,” I whispered.

He slid out of me and turned me to face him, pushing my wet hair out of my face. “I love you, Kim. God, you’re fuckin’ perfect, you know that, right?”

I smiled, leaning forward to kiss his chest. “Then why are you all the time mean to me when I’m riding?”

He laughed. “I’m not ‘
all
the time mean to you,’ but when I am, I’ll make it up to you every time, sugar, I promise.”

I smiled up at him. “Can we have a code word of some form?”

“Code word? Like a safe word?” he asked, his expression lascivious.

“Not like that, well, okay, yeah, like that in bed... I’m open to trying anything with you... but for when we’re in public and you’re being a dick.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I can’t promise things’ll change when we’re training, Kim.”

“But it will make me feel better and if I use it, you’ll know I’m close to throwing something at you.”

Knight guided me gently under the water. “How about “iguana”?”

I giggled. “Perfect.”

“Can you use it in a sentence?”

“If you don’t stop being a dick, I’m going to chuck this iguana at you.”

He let out a low laugh. “Original.”

“Thanks. I should have been an adwoman.”

“I absolutely see a career change in your future.”

“Aw, thanks, honey. You’re always so supportive.” I kissed his chest, running my tongue over his nipple.

His hands tightened in my hair. “Yeah?”

“Mmm hmm.” I kissed my way down his body until I was kneeling in front of him. “I think I should reciprocate.” I grinned at his hardening cock... always so ready... and kissed the base before wrapping my lips around the tip. Knight hissed as I gave a gentle suck. I took him deeper, cradling him with one hand as I worked the shaft with the other.

“Fuck, sugar!”

I grinned. God, I loved how he responded to me blowing him... it was probably why I loved doing it so much. His legs stiffened and he pulled my hair gently, so I knew he was close, I quickened my strokes and then he groaned and thrust against my mouth. I took all of it, milking him until he was dry. When he relaxed, I gave one more suck, kissed the tip of his cock and climbed back up his body, kissing his neck, then his mouth.

“You’re so fuckin’ good at that,” he said.

I smiled. “It’s because I love it, honey. But only with you.”

“Yeah?”

I nodded. “Never really did it with anyone else. I guess I just didn’t trust them like I trust you.”

He kissed me again. “Good answer, Kim.”

“I’m hungry.” I smiled against his lips. “Are you cooking, or am I?”

“I will,” he offered. “But after I call Mack.”

“Honey, seriously, my system’s good.”

“Not really up for discussion.”

“I’m too in love with you to be mad right now,” I admitted. “You can have your little alpha male moment.”

“Oh, can I?” he asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “So nice of you.”

I giggled. “I’m a giver.”

“That you are, sugar.” He kissed me one more time and then we stepped out of the shower and got dressed.

Kim

August

W
E TOUCHED DOWN in Rio ten days before the Opening Ceremonies, after a smooth and uneventful flight. The horses had gone a week before in order to go through quarantine, and I was nervous as we loaded Fozzie onto the plane, since he’d never flown before (and memories of watching International Velvet thousands of times had me worrying throughout the flight) but they were safe and being looked after.