Free Paradise Fought (Abel) by L. B. Dunbar

instinctively wrap around me. He pulled me close without even acknowledging who I was.
    After a while, I turned to him. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”
    Without looking at me, he kissed my forehead and tugged me toward his room.
    “Maybe we could step outside,” I suggested coyly. I didn’t want to get caught in his room again. I needed him to focus on my proposal. He smiled slowly and followed my lead out the front door. We walked down the staircase and stood just outside the entrance to his building.
    “I have a proposition for you,” I began. He leaned in and his mouth crashed over mine. Startled, I didn’t kiss him back at first. His lips were large and wet, and I didn’t care for the way they engulfed mine. I pushed back gently, not wanting to upset him. I needed him.
    “Yes,” he groaned on my mouth, before covering my lips again. His hand slipped up my side roughly and squeezed my breast like a desperate teenager. I started to giggle and he jerked back.
    “What’s so funny?” he asked, a touch of edge in his tone.
    “You didn’t even hear my proposal,” I giggled slightly, trying to keep the nervousness out of my voice.
    “I like what you’re proposing already,” he said, as lips consumed mine again. My back hit the brick wall. We were near the entrance to the staircase, but not in the stairwell. The darkness of the corner hardly protected us, but someone would have to do a double take to see us.
    “I…” I attempted to draw back a second time.
    “Look, sweetheart,” he heaved as he began to kiss down my neck. “How about less talk and more action?” He tugged my hand to cover the bulge inside his track pants.
    “I need you to fight someone for me,” I blurted. His lips stopped. He hesitated on the base of my neck for a moment, before he dragged back and looked at me.
    “What?”
    “I was wondering if you could arrange a fight between yourself and someone. Someone well known, outside the underground.”
    “I don’t fight jealous boyfriends or ex-lovers, sweetheart,” he said sarcastically, before stepping away from me.
    “No,” I pleaded, reaching out for him. “Not like that. This is legit. I need help to arrange a match with another fighter. You…you seem like you want to go places, and I thought you could help me.”
    His eyes narrowed, despite the darkness. He gazed away for a second, then back at me.
    “Why?” he asked.
    “I…I have my reasons. You seem like you can take the person. You’re in the right weight class.”
    He eyed me further, curious. His eyes then roamed my body.
    “And what will you give me if I do this? If I arrange a fight?”
    My hands touched his chest and caressed upward. I let them drag over his shoulders down to his biceps.
    “What would you like?” I asked, in my best attempt at seduction.
    His arm shot out and wrapped around my waist. I was tugged against him and his mouth came forward to overtake mine again. An inch from me, he paused to ask another question.
    “Who’s the fighter?”
    I was about to answer when we heard footsteps coming up the path toward the entryway. It was more than one person from the sound of laughter that echoed in the quiet night.
    “Elma?” came a voice that was growing all too familiar, and continually annoying. Thor stepped in front of me, and I hid behind him. I didn’t respond.
    “Get your own girl,” Thor repeated his signature line. There was a pregnant pause as the feral scent of male testosterone filled the distance between Thor and Abel. I kept my head down, refusing to acknowledge him. This was too important to me. After a longer moment, Abel gave up the silent showdown and walked away.
    “Got somewhere we can go to discuss the details?” Thor asked seductively, addressing me over his shoulder. I nodded into his back. He spun for my hand and I led him across the complex grounds.

“I can’t believe she was with him,” I fumed, as I slammed the red cup on the counter. I’d downed the whole