The Bucket List (15 page)

"That's a first! Are you feeling
all right?" Irving chuckled.

"I just think it's time I slowed down a bit, took time to enjoy what I have around me," she said. "Besides, a week from Saturday,
Corey will probably make up for that."

He'd be turning twenty-eight. It would be the last birthday she would celebrate with him.

"I've got to go now, Rachael. We have a show soon, I need to go and warm up."

"
All right. I'll give you a call when I've made arrangements. Take care, Irving."

When she hung up, she threw her phone across the bed and buried her face in her pillows. Why was life so fucking unfair?

Rae had thought a dip in the pool would clear her head up a bit. Actually, she had thought a good fuck would do the trick, but Nate had spent a good part of the morning doing that, she didn't want to knock on his door for another session. She'd just seem insatiable and maybe that would scare poor Nate off!

The last thing she had expected was to walk out and find the pool swarming with
fighters. So many almost naked bodies, dripping wet and glistening in the hot afternoon sun, rubbing sun screen on their tanned limbs, lying in the loungers just soaking the sun up; a few bikini tops untied as some groupies worked on their backs, so much temptation in one place. They all looked ripe and ready to be plucked!

Her first instinct was to run. If she was going to make it work with
Nate she couldn't mess it up before it had even started. But as she turned to head back she saw Dave by the door, just looking at her like something he wanted to eat. Obviously, he hadn't got the message when she'd told him he'd just been a good fuck, nothing more. She wasn't in the mood to deal with him so she turned back and surveyed the scene, looking for an empty spot to sit and hoping he would take the hint and leave her alone.

She found a lounger next to a diva and it wasn't until she'd put her bag and towel down that she noticed it was
Peyton. Corey had told her all about her, how she'd thrown herself at him and he'd only been more than too happy to take what he wanted. Big, stylish glasses covered her eyes but Rae knew her eyes were trained on her.

With a little smile, she slowly unbuttoned her shirt then let it fall to reveal her skimpy bikini. She knew she looked hot. The white material set off her tan and left absolutely nothing to the imagination.

"Like what you see, Peyton?" she asked as she lowed herself onto the lounger.

"Get over yourself!" the woman snapped. "I'm not like that."

"You sure? I can treat you a lot better than Corey did. Who better to understand what you need than a woman?" she teased sensually, grabbing her sun screen then sensually rubbing it on her toned stomach.

She could feel the woman's eyes following her slow movements.

"What do you say, Peyton? You... me... a hot tub?"

The woman swore as she stood and picked her things up.

"You're sick. No wonder you and Steele get along!"

She chuckled as she watched her walk away then made
herself comfortable. As if she'd ever be interested in her!

Almost straight away, someone took the seat
Peyton had just vacated. She let out an audible groan when she noticed it was Dave.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi."

She kept her eyes trained on the few people in the pool.

"Look, I know you don't want to talk to me but I though, since we're going to be bumping into each all the time we could at least be civil," he said.

"That would be
all right if I didn't know what you were really after," she answered.

"I'm not going to deny I'm attracted to you," Dave said. "But I'm going to respect what you said. I'm just looking to be friends."

She didn't believe him at all. He wasn't the first man to think if they somehow became friends she would sleep with him again.

"Dave, just let it go. What happened the other day
will never happen again."

Dave lay back and let out a sigh.

"I've done this a thousand times," he muttered. "I don't know why you've got under my skin so much, Rae. I'm old enough to know what happened was just a one time thing but I just can't forget it."

"You're going to have to, Dave."

He was probably a good man, but she wasn't looking to find out. He'd just been one of the many casualties she'd had to leave behind to get where she was.

"I know."

She sat there for another minute, contemplating returning to her room before she'd even had a dip in the pool. The last thing she wanted was to have Dave's eyes on her body the whole time, it was making her uncomfortable.

Her mind was made up for her when a certain rainbow haired warrior came out to the poolside, dressed in a pair of shorts and a towel hanging over his shoulder. His eyes looked around at everyone until they met hers, then a slow smile formed on his lips. Obviously, she wasn't going anywhere.

He made his way to her and her eyes took every detail of him in; his tats, the way he sauntered over, his gorgeous torso. She wondered how long she'd have to wait until she sampled his goods again. This time, she wouldn't be taken by surprise. She'd do to him what she had been imagining since she had decided on him to fulfil her dying wish.

"Hi," he smiled when he finally stood in front of her.

"Hey, handsome," she replied with a smile of her own, her eyes slowly travelling down his body.

She had to admit, she quite liked this feeling. He seemed more irresistible now after their morning together. That had never happened to her before.

"Have you thought about what I said?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah," she breathed.

His kiss had guaranteed she thought about nothing else.

He dropped his towel on the ground next to her lounger and held his hand for her in a silent invitation. With a little coy smile, she took it and let him help her up, then felt the searing heat of his gaze as he took the same liberty she had and allowed his eyes to eat up every inch of her scantily clad body.

"What are you doing tonight?" he asked, his eyes finally meeting hers.

She felt like she was drowning in them. It had been so long since just a look had got her so horny...

"Nothing. Why?"

"I thought maybe we could order in and talk," he replied. "You can tell me what you've decided."

Like it wasn't obvious!

"Talk?" she asked.

Talking was the last thing on her mind, unless it was to scream for him to go harder and faster!

"Yes. Just talk," he smiled.

She hoped to God he was only joking. Her eye lids lowered and she licked her lip with the tip of her tongue as she remembered the morning. It had scared her at first but now her body was craving it, craving the connection it had found with him. He needed to be joking because she didn't think she could go a whole night without ripping his clothes off.

"
All right," she said, deciding to hand over the reins.

She knew nothing about relationships. If
Nate thought the best way to get this thing off the ground was to spend the night talking then she would just have to trust him. But it would be so hard...

"I promise you won't regret that," he said, bringing her hand up to his lips.

The contact sent a jolt of electricity through her body. No, she didn't think she'd regret it either.

"What are you doing to me,
Nate?" she whispered, her eyes on the lips that were still brushing against the palm of her hand.

Nate
only smiled and gently pulled her against his hard body.

"Hitting the ground running," he answered before placing a gentle kiss on her lips.

When he released her she could have sworn the earth was moving. What the hell was going on?

"I'm going to do a few laps. Are you coming to join me?" he asked.

"I think I'll just sit down here," she said a bit shakily.

In his seat, totally forgotten, Dave had witnessed it all. It had dawned on him that
Nate was more than just a one night stand and a sick feeling had formed at the pit of his stomach. He'd seen the way she had reacted to him, how everything and everyone had faded into the background. He'd felt the sexual tension, it had been that thick he could have cut it with a knife.

Even now, as
Nate cut through the water in powerful strokes, he saw the way she looked at him. When Nate eventually pulled himself out of the pool, he could almost see how her mind was working. It wasn't hard really because her eyes followed every single drop of water as they rolled off Nate's body. When he picked his towel up, her eyes followed his movements as he dried himself. It made Dave feel sick.

"I'll see you tonight,"
Nate whispered in her ear, and then he dropped another kiss on her lips.

He knew feeling this anger was stupid. Just because she had told him she didn't do relationships, then picked
Nate of all people, shouldn't mean shit. You won some, you lost some, everybody knew that.

"I don't get it. What does
Nate have that I don't?" he asked finally, when Nate had made his way back into the hotel.

"Honestly, Dave, I don't know," she answered as if still in a daze. "But I promise you I'll find out."

"So what will you talk about?"

Rae was sitting on John's bed, watching him dress for his date with Alyssa.

"I don't know. It's not like I make a list or anything like that," John said as he buttoned his shirt.

"You don't? What if your mind just goes blank? What if you can't think of anything to say?"

"If that's what's worrying you, stop. You always have something to say about everything!"
Corey said as he flipped through the channels.

"I'm being serious,
Corey. Nate wants to talk and that's just freaking me out," she said as she got off John's bed to join Corey on the couch. "What if I say something that puts him off?"

"Trust me, if he's still around after all the freaky shit you did this past weekend, a few words won't do any damage!" John said as he put his wallet in his pocket.

"I heard Adam is bragging about it to anyone who'll listen on the Cage Takedown roster," Corey said.

"Kennedy as well, I think he's teasing Kendrick about it. He's being very graphic as well," John put in. "All I can say is, girl, I didn't know you could bend like that!"

"I keep telling you I'm talented! Anyway, that shit won't be happening again. I think I'm going to be busy with Nate for a while."

"You think he's the one?" John asked.

"What one?"

John just laughed and dropped a kiss on her head.

"I've got to go. I'll see you guys later," he said.

When he was gone, she cuddled
Corey and put her feet up on the table next to his.

"So what made you pick
Nate, anyway?" Corey asked.

"I don't know. He's different," she answered. "I wasn't sure about him until this morning, though."

"That good?"

"Better. It wasn't just sex, he showed me a whole lot more. I can't explain it, I've never known anything like that," she told him. "I'm looking forward to getting to know him better."

"Wow," Corey said.

"I know.
Crazy, right? Who would have believed I'd ever say those words?"

"Don't let him hurt you, though, I'll beat his punk ass down if he does," he said. "Now, get going.
Nate will think you've stood him up."

"I was going to wait until your date showed up."

"It's not a date. Just sex," Corey corrected. "She won't be here for a while yet. You go, I'll tell you all about her tomorrow."

"Sure?"

"Go!"

"Okay, okay," she said as she gave him a little kiss and got up. "Don't wait up."

When she was gone, Corey opened another beer and settled on a documentary on the TV. He had no date that night, for some reason getting laid was the furthest thing on his mind. He was probably coming down with something. He thought of the hot ring rat he had blown off after the house show and how she hadn't turned him on at all. He'd never turned down sex in his life, not with anyone as hot as that girl had been. So his explanation was that he was overly tired and had caught a bit of a bug or something. He'd be himself again by the morning.

"Do you have anything to tell me?"

"Not that I can think of, no," Nate said, knowing full well some big mouth had already told Matt about him and Rae.

"So, I was just chilling in the bar downstairs with Adam and a few other guys, and he was telling us for about the hundredth time how he did that hot chick when someone just happened to mention how my little brother had done the same little screamer on a balcony just this morning."

Nate moved his phone to the other ear as he lit the last candle.