Dom (Galactic Cage Fighters Series Book 11) Read online

  “Phoenix will probably refuse the services.”

  “Then we’ll keep it a secret, that he won’t know about it.”

  “How long do you plan to pay for him to have a fake girlfriend?”

  “As long as it takes.”

  “What does Amelia think of this plan?”

  “I haven’t told her yet. I wanted to wait to see if it works.”

  “You know she is going to be furious if it turns out badly.”

  Nigel sighed. “I know, but I don’t have any other options here.”

  “You could release Phoenix from his contract.”

  “It would hurt Amelia to have him leave for good. They’ve become best friends. I would do anything to keep her happy—anything.”

  Dom nodded in understanding. “I’ll speak with Lydia and see if she has anyone.”

  “Thank you, I’ll owe you big time.”

  “Yes, you will. Where are Amelia and her family tonight?”

  “They went to the fight with Sam. Didn’t Sam tell you?”

  “No, she’s currently not speaking to me after I turned her away. She doesn’t take rejection well and, to be honest, I handled it badly.”

  Nigel gave him a sympathetic look. “Poor bastard. Maybe you should talk to Lydia about getting someone to service you.”

  The idea of touching anyone but Sam made him feel sick inside. They had almost made love a couple of weeks ago, right here in Nigel’s office, actually. But he had come to his senses just in time to stop it, and when he told her that nothing else could happen between them, she insisted that she would finish out her term in her work contract, no matter how awkward it now was between them. At every opportunity she taunted him and teased him. As a Martian halfsie, his skin was redder than most, but at this point his balls had to be bluer than an iceberg.

  “Maybe I will.” He knew that was a lie. There was no one he wanted more than Samantha Porter. He could sense her emotions and that had scared the hell out of him. So he had pushed her away, as always, and had regretted it ever since.

  Nigel stood up. “Come on, let’s go down to the banquet hall for the after party and enjoy ourselves a little.”

  Dom stood up to follow him out of the office, knowing that it would be a mistake to see Samantha right now while he was feeling vulnerable and wanting to change his mind about their relationship. But it appeared his need to see her outweighed his common sense. I have to see her.

  Chapter 2

  “Kick his ass, Zara!” Sam yelled as she jumped up and down next to her seat. The GCFA fight for the evening featured Zara the Amazon and her partner Zen the Sin against a full alien Sorian male and female pair. Right now, Zara was taking down the Sorian male while Zen had the female Sorian pinned down. She couldn’t help but think that the Sorian was one lucky bitch to have Zen on top of her. He was sex personified. Yummy.

  “Here’s a towel to keep the blood off,” Amelia offered. Sam took it from her but didn’t bother to try to wipe away anything. It was the entire reason she wore her black tank top and black jeans, after all, so she could get up in there and experience the fight without worrying about getting messy. All the other women sitting in the VIP section were so prim and proper, wearing their cute little dresses and barely-there skirts. Some of them had even put on raincoats. Not Sam, though; she loved it. She might be a bonafide computer geek, but she loved her some knock their teeth out action.

  Her friend, Amelia Jones, had come with her, and it would have been fine, because she really liked Amelia, but Amelia’s family was another story. The mother looked like she was about to have a heart attack and the father was gripping the arms of the seat so hard she thought he might break it. Amelia had told Sam she had a touchy relationship with her parents because they wanted her to have a quieter lifestyle, but she had to admit that Amelia was definitely making an effort to get along with her parents right now.

  The bell rang, ending the third round. Sam turned to go back to her seat and used the towel to wipe away the blood that had splashed on her neck. Amelia’s mother looked horrified. Sam grinned. She wasn’t into actually participating in sports herself, but she was a big fan of the GCFA.

  “Aren’t you afraid you’ll catch something?” Amelia’s mom Doreen asked, placing a hand over her own neck.

  Sam shrugged. “Not really. Their alien DNA keeps them from getting diseases humans can catch. It’s not like I can become a Sorian from their blood. I’d have to be born with their genes.”

  “I heard they can create a species, like they did that robot guy,” said Amelia’s father Fred.

  Amelia rolled her eyes. “Dad, Maxim isn’t a robot. He’s a Droid halfsie.”

  “Whatever, he wasn’t born that way, those scientists changed him. They wanted to make a weapon or some kind of super soldier for the military. If they can make one, who’s to say they can’t replicate a hundred of them?”

  Sam and Amelia shared a frustrated look. Amelia reassured her parents, “It would take a lot more than a little blood to change someone into a Droid, and Maxim is a very nice man. Also, it’s highly illegal, since the all the world governments have banned creating droids.”

  Amelia clearly had her hands full getting her parents to accept her profession and her relationship with Nigel. Sam wished her friend all the luck. She was grateful when the bell rang for the next round to start, giving her a reason to spring to her feet to resume cheering the fighters on.

  Zara came out swinging and punched the Sorian female, knocking her down. Then she turned to see that the Sorian male was running circles around Zen, creating a small wind tunnel that would suck the oxygen away from him and cause him to pass out.

  Zara ran at the Sorian, using her full speed, and caught him around the waist, knocking him into the fence hard. The impact forced the air out of the Sorian’s lungs. Sam could actually hear him wheeze, she was so close.

  The female Sorian was back on her feet and came to her partner’s aid, hooking her arm around Zara’s neck for a headlock. Zara slammed her elbow back into the other woman’s rib cage. She loosened her hold on Zara, and then suddenly she was gone completely, as Zen, now recovered, picked her up and threw her against the fence, knocking her out completely.

  Zara and Zen began pounding on the Sorian male, double-teaming him. The Sorian tried to kick Zen to break free but Zen moved to the side to avoid the impact. The Sorian on his own was no match for the two of them, and with one last right hook, Zara knocked him out. The bell rang, ending the match, and the crowd went wild.

  “Hell yeah!” Sam jumped up and down in circles with her fists pumping in the air, humming a victory song. She turned to find Amelia smiling at her and her parents clearly trying not to laugh. At least she could offer them some comic relief.

  “I love it when women kick ass. I think Zara knocked his tooth out. There was a lot of blood and I heard bone crunch. It was awesome!”

  Amelia shook her head. “I had no idea you were so bloodthirsty.”

  Sam smiled at her friend, grateful to have found someone like her. Sam was always so involved with creating new programs for her computers, she didn’t often get to have a social life. Amelia had been wonderful. They had become instant friends, and Amelia was now obsessed with improving Sam’s wardrobe and took her shopping for sexy outfits all the time. If it weren’t for Amelia, she would be in her suite right now, crying again over that bastard Dom. Instead, Amelia had called her up and insisted that she come with her and her parents to watch the fight, and now Sam could say she was glad that she came. She hadn’t thought of him at all—except for three or four times.

  The thought of Dom took some of the fun out of things. She stopped jumping and looked off into the distance. She didn’t hear Amelia’s question until she touched Sam’s arm to get her attention.

  “Sorry, I spaced out. What did you say?”

  “I asked if you were planning to go to the after party.”

  “I’m wasn’t planning on it. It’s not really my thing
. Besides, I’m not dressed for it.”

  “Too bad, Nigel just texted me that he and Dom are on their way.”

  Sam’s head jerked up. “He told me he wasn’t coming!”

  “Well, I guess he changed his mind.”

  She bit her bottom lip, wondering if she should go or not. Amelia answered the question for her. “Oh, you’re going. Go up to your suite and shower. Put on that white slip dress that I bought for you to wear for the GCFA board dinner that didn’t happen. I expect to see you in the banquet room in twenty-five minutes or I’ll come hunt you down and drag your ass there.”

  “You better listen to her dear, my daughter is very stubborn and will do exactly what she says. It won’t be pretty,” Amelia’s mother added with a wink.

  Sam envied the relationship that Amelia had with her parents. Even though they had their differences and their own opinions, it was clear that they respected and loved each other.

  Sam didn’t know what it would be like to have parents like that. Her own mother had gotten pregnant in high school. She had given birth to Sam sure, but then dumped her on her grandparents to raise while she dropped out of school and ran off with some guy she met in a bar. Sam didn’t even know who her father was.

  Her grandparents were great, but her grandmother had died when she was just five years old, so she didn’t remember a whole lot about her. After that it was just her and her granddad. He was the best man she had ever known, but he wasn’t an expert on how to raise little girls on his own.

  She learned more about fixing stuff than about how to be a girl. It wasn’t until she came to the GCFA ship and met Amelia and some of the other women that she had ever gone shopping for sexy clothes or learned how to put on makeup the right way.

  “Sam,” Amelia’s irritated voice let her know she had drifted off in her thoughts again.

  “Sorry, yes, fine. I’ll go change.”

  “Good, and put on some lipstick, too.”

  “God, you’re bossy,” Sam grumbled, moving down the aisle.

  Amelia’s dad chuckled. “You have no idea what it’s like living in the house with two bossy women. They sure do keep things interesting, though.”

  Sam waved goodbye as she pushed her way through the crowd. She was so nervous about seeing Dom, she could feel the anxiety eating at her stomach. He had broken her heart and bruised her ego—not that she had that big an ego to start with—but she wasn’t one to back down from things though. Something else her granddad had taught her: face her demons, because they were never as big and bad as she feared they would be.

  Since that first meeting with Dom, weeks ago, there had been an instant attraction. She had been hired to help uncover a money-laundering scheme that Nigel was being blamed for. They had needed an expert with computers and computer programming and Sam was one of the best in her field. A lot of people called her a hacker, but she got paid good money from companies who wanted her to test their security measures. She took pride in being able to crack some of the most secured systems in the galaxy.

  Her granddad taught her to use her mind not her body to move up in the world, and to judge things around her with her wit, not her emotions. But apparently all her hard-learned lessons had gone straight out the window when she walked in the door and met Dom.

  The moment he said hello, her mind went blank and her body took over doing the talking. At first, she had been confused about whether he was attracted to her, too. There was a lot of flirting and back and forth between the two of them, but then he would turn on her, becoming emotionless and bossy. He’d hired her to be his assistant, but she’d quickly figured out that would never work long-term, because she simply couldn't think straight when he was near her. So a few days ago, she had decided to push their attraction to the max and see what would happen. Amelia had even given her some pointers and told her to pretend she was confident even if she wasn’t, to act in ways that she normally wouldn’t. To be brave.

  *****

  “Sam, why is there a cartoon character on my computer screen that keeps erasing whatever I type?”

  She smiled to herself, hearing the frustration in Dom’s voice over the intercom. Walking over to his office, she leaned against the doorframe, admiring his good looks. Damn him for being so sexy.

  “That’s my virtual editor correcting your atrocious spelling.”

  He glared at her from Nigel’s desk. Even his glare turned her on. No man had ever gotten to her like this, and at the age of twenty-eight, she was ready to do something about it.

  Sam had her red hair parted into a long braid down each side of her head. She was wearing a very short mini skirt that showed off her legs. She got complimented often on her legs and ass, so she had decided to showcase them. This whole outfit was much sexier than anything that she usually wore. The leather vest she wore was form fitting and it actually helped lift her smaller breasts up. She would take all the help she could get.

  She walked over to his side of the desk and leaned forward, feeling her skirt lift up higher. It pleased her to see that his eyes followed her every move, like he couldn’t look away. Could he tell that she wasn’t wearing any underwear? She was definitely aware of him and it made her feel daring and very, very naughty.

  Sam knew she was pushing his limits. He had spent an hour orienting her to the appropriate behavior and that he never got involved with his employees. She had a hard time believing him and tested her theory out by asking him if flirting was off the table. Then he made the mistake of challenging her. He said that if she couldn’t abide by his rules, he would have to fire her because he couldn’t have his personal life and business life mix. Challenge accepted.

  She cleared her voice to get his attention. “See, this is my virtual editor. When you type something, it will grammatically fix anything that you do wrong. It saves time so I don’t have to proof your stuff.”

  “Then why do I need you, if I have a computer program that can do half your job for you?”

  She turned slowly and leaned close to him. She knew that he could scent her desire for him, and it was having the reaction she was looking for. His eyes darkened in response and his breath was hitched. She licked her lips.

  “Because...my virtual editor doesn’t have breasts or short skirts with no panties on.”

  Sam could see that her words had an instant effect on him. She could see the outline of his hardened cock pressing against his jeans. That had to be uncomfortable.

  He cleared his throat, trying to sound firm. “That’s not proper attire, Samantha.”

  She lifted herself onto the desk and slid until she was right in front of him. She crossed her legs, making sure to show off the heels she was wearing, which made her legs look even longer and sexier.

  “Maybe you should take something off, then. What do you say, Dom? What do you want to take off of me?” She placed her feet on his seat and opened her legs, exposing her bare flesh.

  “Sam.” He ran his hands up her bare legs.

  “Yes, Dom?”

  “You’re fired,” he growled out as he spread her knees wide.

  She moaned when his thumbs parted her. “Good, I was going to quit anyway.”

  Sam was on fire for him, needing him to fill her, but her inexperience kept her from knowing how to tell him. He stood up and lifted her further onto the desk, then leaned down to kiss her.

  He dominated her mouth with his tongue and lips, nibbling on her and sucking at her tongue. She loved how he took control; none of her past boyfriends ever had, which was probably the reason those relationships had never worked out.

  “Sam, you taste so good. You drive me insane and I have to have you.”

  She gasped for air and felt his fingers start to penetrate. It was strange but—so good.

  “Good, I’m glad my first is going to be you.”

  He froze in what he was doing and stared down at her. “What do you mean by—first?”

  His fingers slowly left her and he moved away from her. She shivered at
the sudden chill. “Samantha, answer me.”

  She closed her legs to give her some modesty. “I’ve never—you know.”

  “Not once? Not ever?”

  Sam shook her head. “It’s not a big deal.”

  Just like that, the moment was ruined. He moved away from her like she had some kind of contagious disease. “No big deal! You’re a fucking virgin!”

  “Well, technically, if I were fucking, then I wouldn’t be a virgin, now would I? But yes, I am.”

  “Why? How?”

  She sighed as she climbed off the desk and smoothed her skirt down. “It’s not that hard to comprehend, Dom, I just didn’t have sex.”

  “Have no men attempted to…”

  “Yes, they have, but I didn’t want them. I don’t see what the big deal is.”

  “The big deal is that you weren’t supposed to be a virgin! This was supposed to be just a fling and now…”

  She felt like he had slapped her for having saved herself. She pulled her shoulders back. “Now nothing. I take it I’m still fired.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  “Then there’s nothing else to say.” She walked out of the office, belatedly wishing she had remembered to slam the door behind her hard, but she had missed her moment. The tears didn’t come until she got to her suite and shut the door.

  *****

  That day was etched into her memory. Every time she closed her eyes, she replayed the scene over and over in a fruitless effort to figure out where things had gone wrong. What had she done or not done? Amelia had checked on her the next morning and told her that she hadn’t done anything wrong. Dom clearly had his own issues that he needed to work out.

  “Maybe I should just leave.”

  “Absolutely not. Don’t make it that easy for him to call the shots. Stay as long as you can and make him confront what’s going on between you two.”