The Fighter's Block (55 page)

He chuckled good-naturedly. “No, it didn’t hurt this bad until now.
The adrenaline has diminished.
”

Dani rolled onto her side and propped herself up on an el
bow. “Ooh, it looks terrible.” There were other marks on his face from his fight the night before, but s
he lightly brushed her fingers over the cheek that Scotty had
struck
with his cast. It
was
very red and swollen, but she could see that it was starting to bruise. She leaned forward and softly placed her lips against his face. “I’m sorry, baby.
Lemme
go get you some ice.”

Van
took
her wrist and wouldn’t let her leave him. Dani smiled when he pulled her closer to him, positioning her on top of his bare chest. “I can think of something else that would make me feel even better.”

She raised
her
eyebrow
s
. “Oh?
”

With a nod he gave her a wicked smile. “Yeah. It’s warm…and it feels
really
good when I’m in it…and I love how it’s always wet for me…”

“You think so, huh?” she smirked.

“Well yeah. A shower is usually wet when I—”

She slugged him in the shoulder and he laughed out loud.

“Van!”

But h
is laughter was contagious and she couldn’
t help but join in. Then h
e scooped her up in his arms and lovingly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

He kissed her on the lips, savoring every
emotion that
flowed
through him.

“Lady, I love you more than
you’ll ever know
.”

Epilogue

“I really
gotta
go,” Van said for the third time. “Seriously—”

“No, please, let me pay you for your help. Really—”

“I don’t want your money, man,” Van chuckled. “Just get home to your family, okay? There’s nothing more important than that. Take care.”

“Here, please, just—”

The man followed him to his truck but Van only smiled and shook his head no. He got behind the wheel, gave the guy a wave, and took off.

He was already running behind when he left the store, but he just couldn’t leave the elderly man stranded with a flat tire. He pulled over and changed it for him, listening to him express his gratitude over and over. He also listened to him talk about his daughter that would be visiting with her two kids—grandkids that he’d never seen before.
The man was absolutely thrilled. A
little nervous about the kids he’d never met, but Van did his best to convince him he’d be just fine.

“A bit of nerves will be worth it,”
Van had
told him. “You can’t feel the joys and successes in life without going through a bit of worry first.”

As he drove home, he thought about his own words. How many times had he been nervous before a fight? Or how much did he worry over difficult decisions, or what his future would consist of? And when Dani went into labor a year ago… God, he was a pathetic mess. He’d never felt so scared in his life. He was pretty damn sure she suffered more pain than he had in all his matches combined. After
eighteen
hours
,
the baby finally had to be removed by c-section.

He damn near passed out in the delivery room.

He shook his head at the memory.
Apparently childbirth was not like watching someone get
their
ass kicked in
the
octagon
.

But it was worth it. He was a blessed man to have
an incredible wife, a comfortable home, and now a one-year-old that
absolutely adored him
.

Life couldn’t get any better, could it?

He pulled into the driveway of his three-bedroom home, grabbed the bag of ice cream from the passen
ger’s seat, and hustled inside
.

At a one-year-old’s birthday party you’d expect a bunch of kids running around, balloons, noise, adults yakking up a storm… Not in the Kemp household. Van walked in to find Cody and Paul arm wrestling at the table, and six other grown men cheering them on.

Well, he couldn’t exclude his wife, who was right th
ere in the middle of it,
hootin
’ and
hollerin
’
too.

God, she was gorgeous.

No one even noticed him walk in, so he watched from a distance until Cody was the victor of the match and Paul begrudgingly slid a
few
bills his way.

Finally Van exclaimed, “Oh, you are not gambling at my kid’s birthday party.” He passed by the table and scooped up the cash with a smile. “This is going in
to
the college fund, thank you very much.”

Dani wrapped an arm around his waist and kissed him.
“Where have you been?”

“I called, but apparently there was too much excitement to notice,” he joked. “Just stopped to help someone.” He put the ice cream in the freezer, even though he was sure it was already half melted.

“Where’s Bruiser?” he asked, looking around the busy house.

Dani smiled
as she
pointed to Micke
y across the room, and Van quickly made his way to scoop up a giggly one-year-old from Mickey’s lap.

“
Da
!” came the slobbery greeting.

“It’s Bruiser today, huh?”
Marnie
laughed to Dani.

“It’s been Bruiser all week. Birthday Bruiser, to be exact.”

“Dude, I remember when he was telling me he was
gonna
name his kid Thrasher,” Cody chuckled.

“I
was told
Cage Master,” Paul said.

“Sweeper, Speed, and Clean Up Crew was what I
heard
,” Jaime added.

Dani rolled her eyes but laughed. “You haven’t even heard
the last
of them.”

“Well, thank God Van was okay with the name Violet,”
Marnie
said as he came over with his precious birthday girl.

“Of course he is,” Dani smiled at him. “He’s the one that named her.”

Marnie
raised her eyebrows at him. “Seriously?
You
came up with a girly flower name?”

“Hey,”
Van
retorted
. “My
princess
is
gonna
be girly through and through. The nicknames will just be for keeping the boys away.”

“
With you as her dad,
the boys are
gonna
be running for the hills.”

He grinned with pride but didn’t have a chance to respond
when
Dani announced it was time for cake and ice cream.

After Violet was finished plowing her way through her birthday
dessert
, her daddy cleaned h
er up and sat her on his lap for an attempt at
opening presents. Violet was more impressed by her dad dramatically tearing them open for her and producing some pretty exciting
new toys for her, but she pretty much conked out on his arms towards the end.

Van put his princess to bed after the guests left, and since it was only afternoon and the baby would hopefully be sleeping for a while, he led his wife into the bedroom to have a nap as well.

Dani smiled as she stretched out on the bed. She expected Van to come kiss her, but she wasn’t surprised when he turned her over and began massaging her back.

“Oh, that feels
sooooo
good,” she groaned.

“This is our foreplay, so keep that in mind.”

She laughed, but she knew he was kidding. When Van gave a massage, he expected you to be left in a completely relaxed and euphoric state.
Normally she’d allow it, but tonight she desired sexual release with her man.

After a few minutes, she turned onto her back, and when Van lifted an eyebrow to question her intentions, she grabbed his shirt and pulled him down. He m
et her mouth with his instantly;
a smoldering kiss that go
t him hard on contact. His tongue pressed against hers as he
kissed her deeply
,
and then he pulled back,
nipping her lower lip and then kissing it gently.

Van slipped her shirt off and made a trail of kisses from her neck to her breasts
as he removed her lacey bra
. He looked her in the eye with his classic sexy smile and unbuttoned her jeans at the same time. Dani watched him and was enjoying the fact that his eyes didn’t leave hers the entire time he slid her pants off.
His eyes remained fixed on hers even as he lifted her leg and kissed the inside of her thigh all the way to her panties. His slid them aside and licked his lips at the sight of her glistening cream.

“
Mmm
, God, you are so wet.”

He
slowly
lapped up her sweetness, took time to kiss and suckle her sensitiv
e nub, and then drew circles with his tongue until she squirmed
.
With a smile he stripped off her panties and drove his tongue in deep, causing her to make a noise of
approval
as he pulled out and sucked her clit again.

“You like that, baby?” he murmured in a husky bedroom voice. “I got more for you if you can handle it.”

She smiled as she exhaled a moan. “I love what you do to me, Van. Oh, God…”

He
loved when she was right on the edge like that. He continued his routine, sliding two fingers inside of her as his
mouth
pleasured her some more.

He angled his hea
d so he could watch her climax as she pressed
against his face
and
gripped the bed. It was incredible to see her like that, totally succumbed to his
efforts
between her legs.

He pulled his fingers out; his dick was hard as it could get because she was so wet.

“I’m
gonna
fill that sweet pussy with something, uh, much bigger,” he told her with a crooked smile.

“Prove it,” she challenged with her own sexy smile.

“Damn, lady, you asked for it.”

She laughed when he quickly stripped his clothes off and attacked her with a growl, kissing her mouth as his cock slid inside of her. She gripped his ass and pulled him deep, and as their rhythm picked up speed, Dani threw her head back to enjoy
a second explosion of pleasure
.

And then came the slew of dirty phrases that always made him
finish with
glory
, and as she was just getting to the part about how
much she wanted him to come
, Van exploded inside of her, filling her with every
drip
of
passion that he had
.

Dani gripped him tight, moving against him until he slowed, loving every single muscle that moved in his body. She ran her fingers over his skin as he kissed her once more, and then he dropped onto the bed next to her with a
n exhale of satisfaction
.

Dani
remained on her back but turned her head to look at him. He did the same and they smiled at each other.

“What a perfect day,” Van said.

She nodded with agreement. “Yeah, I’d say so. Maybe we can—”

The baby squawked from the other room and they both laughed.

“Maybe we can take Violet for a walk in the stroller?” Van smiled
.

“Exactly,” she chuckled.

They shifted into family mode, and by the time they were ready to leave the house, a knock sounded at the door.

Van
held
the baby as he opened it
and was totally surprised. “Cole. Hey, man.”

“Cole?” Dani exclaimed. She opened the door even further to see for herself. “Oh
my gosh
!” she smiled. “We haven’t seen you for over a year! Where have you been?”

She gave him a friendly hug and he hugged her back. There weren’t any feelings on his part that he needed to hide anymore. Time and distance had done the trick, and then one
particular
assignment that he’d
recently
invested all of his efforts i
n.

“I’ve been working. Busy.” H
e tugged on Violet’s foot. “M
y God, she’s beautiful.” He looked between Dani and Van and added, “I don’t even know who she looks more like, but I’m
gonna
go the safe route and say she’s gorgeous like her mother.”