Bucking Bear (Pounding Hearts #3) Read online

  Chapter Eight

  Max

  My arms are lead by the time I finish up with the gym. I pushed them hard today, I have to. I am not going for the mister perfect award or anything but I need the raw brute strength to pound the shit out of Wade.

  Somewhere in between repetitions while bench pressing, a new angle to the fight has taken form for me. I want to not only win this one, but to also put a stop to any thoughts that I will not stand up or go in for a grapple. I figured I would want to do my usual, but I want to make sure I am not just preparing for what they expect me to do.

  Shaking my head as I sit before a red light, I try to visualize the plans taking a different shape. It’s hard to change this close to a fight. It makes me question my own sanity. But fuck it, one life and all that motivational shit.

  Heading into the dojo I hear shouts of hellos from all the people there. It’s like I’m Norm from Cheers. Except I don’t say “Hey everybody.” Most times I just nod.

  I think they have some pool going on, betting when I’ll start talking to everyone like some gabby girl. Doubt I will ever do that shit.

  In the locker room Brett is changing into his gear.

  Nodding my head, I ask, “How’s things going?”

  “Fucking awesome!” He grins as he sits down to tie his shoes. “What about you and Britney?”

  “Her name’s Grace,” I say smiling. “And why the fuck did you never mention her to me?”

  I snap a hand out at his shoulder, giving it a hard thump.

  “Ow, what the fuck, you giant freak of nature… Honestly, she didn’t cross my mind. She was a part of Mandy, ya know?”

  I look at him sideways. “Still couldn’t tell a brother you knew a fucking clone of my dream woman?”

  He laughs and punches me back on my shoulder. Fucking lightweight, didn’t even hurt. “Dude, she better be much more than a clone to you. Mandy will eat you alive if you hurt Grace.”

  “Yeah, I know that,” I sigh and lean back against the lockers. “I don’t think she has anything to worry about with me hurting Grace.”

  “Really?” He asks as he watches me for a long time. He is studying me and I figure it’s my turn to get all gossipy.

  “Yeah. She’s fucking awesome and her kid is just as cool.”

  “Yeah, Mandy was kinda freaked out when she saw you two. She was worried you wouldn’t want a chick around that has a kid.”

  “Hope’s not an issue, I like her. Her dad though…”

  “Carson, right? Yeah he was a bit of a schmuck back when I knew him. From what I gather things haven’t changed much though.”

  Shaking my head, I say, “No, they haven’t.”

  Changing the subject, I ask, “You got some time to work on arm locks with me?”

  Nodding his head, he stands up when I do. “Yeah, sure.”

  * * *

  My legs and arms are fucking dead when I walk out of the dojo, but I feel really fucking good after going over ground game technique. I haven’t been doing it nearly enough and it makes me feel like I am on a better level of surety. I want to be more widespread with my skills than I have been focusing on.

  Tomorrow I will be starting hard and heavy with takedown defense. Going to start with the basics and work my way up. I know it all, but I want to reinforce those long ago lessons.

  Looking down at my phone, I think of Grace.

  Damn, I need to see her again already. Taking her home last night sucked, and it still sucks not getting to keep her all night long. But until things are different, I sure as fuck won’t be complaining. I send her a quick text:

  Me: What’s the special of the day at Thursday’s?

  I wait a few minutes for her to text back.

  Grace: Nothing good, it’s salmon but it smells like socks.

  Me: Yeah, I’ll pass on that. I need some protein; I’m a growing boy.

  Grace: If you get any bigger I don’t know how you will fit!

  I pause at that. Surely she isn’t talking about my cock, but hey who knows?

  Me: It is pretty big isn’t it.

  Grace: OMG, I so did not mean it like that.

  Me: It’s ok. I don’t mind you thinking big thoughts about me.

  I start up the Escalade and back out of the parking spot. She doesn’t text me for a few minutes as I start driving over towards the restaurant.

  Grace: I so just blushed the entire time I took someone’s order. You are corrupting me, now I have all kinds of dirty thoughts in my head.

  I stop at a red light and fire off a quick text. Before I start driving again, I set the phone down in the seat beside me to focus on driving.

  Me: Tell me all about them when I get there.

  She texts me back twice as I am heading over there but I don’t have the chance to look at the screen. The drive is pretty quick though.

  Walking into the restaurant, I see DeeDee again and smile down to her. She is a cute little flighty thing. “You here to see Grace?”

  Nodding my head, I follow her as she leads me to my girl’s section. Sitting down in the booth, I check my phone and see what Grace text me back with.

  Grace: Wait, what?

  Grace: You’re really coming here tonight? Crap! I so am not telling you what I thought about!

  Grace comes out to my table, her cheeks flushed a beautiful red. She is smiling though and I like that about her. She smiles and when she does the whole world lights up with her.

  She has that kind loving motherly smile sometimes, it makes me warm somewhere in my stomach. Then she has that horny arousal smile that makes my cock instantly stick straight up. Right now she’s smiling like she’s both horny and embarrassed and it’s making me horny as fuck thinking about why she is smiling that way.

  She takes my order of steaks, potatoes and lots of veggies. With an eyebrow raised, she asks, “Where are you going to put all that?”

  “I gotta keep up with you, babe, so I need all the energy I can get. You were insatiable,” I say with a wink.

  Grace turns an even brighter red as she glances around us, making sure no one hear. Thankfully it’s after rush and the section is relatively empty. “You…That’s…”

  I grin and she huffs out a deep breath. “You… were… you… ugh!”

  Stomping away, I grin at her wiggling backside. Yeah, I probably shouldn’t but I let out a low wolf whistle. She turns around to face me and I swear if looks could kill…

  She turns back around and disappears behind the server’s station.

  I chuckle to myself as I look down at my phone. I swipe through all the email that has been piling up the last couple of days. Most of it is junk shit from companies I don’t even know about, but one is from my sports agent telling me he has something he wants to talk about and to call him as soon as I get a chance.

  Scrolling through the directory, I find my agent’s number and dial him.

  “Max! How’s it going man?”

  “Not bad, Colt, not bad at all. I just saw your email. What’s up?”

  “I wanted to feel you out about something I just got an email about. You ever heard of the Give-A-Dream foundation?”

  I lean back into the booth. “Sure, everyone has, haven’t they? What’s up? You need me to get Reaper to sponsor something? I know his school would love to do things with them.”

  “Well, actually, this one is more of a personal thing.”

  “Huh? What do you mean?”

  “Looks like a kid has been following you pretty heavily the past four years. The dad loves MMA and passed it down to the kid. Apparently you are their favorite fighter, they watch your fights religiously.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah.”

  Well, fuck. That’s a new one. I haven’t heard from any fans before. I’m a name now, I know that, but not the kind of name like Reaper, or shit, even that little fucker Brett.

  “Anyways, Max, the kid isn’t doing well. Been going down pretty fast due to Leukemia, and when Give-A-Dream fou
nd out that she wanted to meet you they sent an email to me.”

  Glancing at the watch on my wrist, I ask, “What time? I’m eating dinner now but I can be ready in about a half—”

  Colt interrupts with a laugh. “Not that fast Max, there is still some hope. I meant more like in the next couple of weeks.”

  “Well, shit. Yeah, I’ll do it. Whenever, wherever. Do I need to fly anywhere?”

  “Yeah, that was a concern of mine. She lives across the country in a small town outside of Cincinnati.”

  “That ain’t bad, I can get a ticket off the travel sites pretty quick for that.”

  “You really want to go, don’t you?” Colt asks and I can tell he is genuinely pleased with how I am acting. Though I don’t know why he would think I would do anything different. Then again he has never approached me with something like this before.

  “Yeah, like I have anything that is so important I can’t put it on hold to go help out.”

  “Alright, good. Let me talk to my assistant, Whitney, and get all the information together. We’ll call you back soon with the details. Sound good?”

  I see Grace walking towards me and my mind is instantly back to how beautiful she is. I say into the phone, “Yeah, Colt, sounds good. If they need anything at all, no matter what, just tell me.”

  “Alright, cool. Have a good night, Max.”

  “You too, Colt.”

  I smile as Grace sits down my plates of food, and then her one. I wasn’t kidding when I said I was a growing boy. I eat this much normally. I have to keep up my body’s need of proteins and vitamins.

  We eat in a companionable silence as she takes her lunch with me. I am finishing off my second steak when I ask, “So I was wondering if you and Hope would want to go to the zoo Friday? They have a pretty cool lion exhibit going on there.”

  She smiles as she asks tentatively, “Really? You want to take us both out?”

  “Well yeah… Why? Don’t you want to go? Hope likes zoos from what I remember her telling me.”

  “Oh yeah, she does. It’s just that… I wasn’t...” she doesn’t finish what she was saying.

  “Wasn’t what, Grace?”

  “I wasn’t sure it wasn’t just a night of…”

  I interrupt with a big grin. “Mind blowing sex?”

  She whispers, “Stop! Someone is going to think…”

  “What, that you’re my girl? I seem to remember marking you on that amazing brea—”

  “One more word and I will so not let you do that again!” she whisper hisses.

  I grin. “I seem to remember as soon as I touch you close to anywhere fun you don’t have much care in what I do.”

  “Shush. I am being serious… Do you really consider me your girl?”

  “Of course.”

  She sits back with a big smile on her face. “Oh.”

  “So what about Friday?”

  “When do you want to go?”

  “Whenever you two are ready.”

  “Hope has school in the morning. How about noonish?”

  Nodding my head, I say, “That sounds good to me.”

  We finish dinner and I talk her into walking me out to the Escalade.

  She stands on the walkway in front of my SUV as I wrap my arms around her. She is much taller this way but still shorter than I am. I kiss her mouth tenderly as I feel her arms wrap around my neck. She doesn’t instigate the passion I can feel us both holding back, but it is quite evident that we are both want the same thing.

  When I pull back, I kiss her on the forehead and hold her tight for a moment.

  “Call me tonight if you get bored, or I will call you tomorrow,” I say.

  “Okay,” She smiles at me.

  Turning away, she starts for the door. I can’t help that my hand reaches out quickly and gooses her asscheek. Damn, that thing is firm and sexy.

  “Eeek!” she blurts out and turns to face me.

  “Did you just pinch my butt?”

  “Yep.”

  Rolling her eyes, she turns back around and wiggles it really hard as she walks inside. I can’t help but watch her walk the entire time. She has one fine ass.

  Chapter Nine

  Grace

  Less than a week.

  I’ve known Max for less than a week, but already I’m falling hard for him.

  If I had a choice, if things would have worked out any differently, I would have waited a long time before introducing him to Hope. I’ve never introduced her to any of the guys I’ve dated before. Not just because they were mostly losers who didn’t deserve to meet her, but because there’s this real fear that she’ll grow attached, that in the end she’ll get hurt. As her mother I feel like I need to be shielding her from the hurts of this world for as long as I can, not bringing them to her door.

  Watching Max with her, following her around the zoo and swinging her up, sitting her on his shoulders so she can see over the crowds is both elating and terrifying—and it’s not because he’s so tall. There’s this ease to him when he’s interacting with her, as if it just comes natural. As if he really cares.

  She insists on holding his hand and tugs him around, pointing out all of her favorite animals. And she’s just jabbering away, telling him things like how hippos can’t swim, they can’t even float, and he’s listening, absorbing every word.

  “Hey, look,” I call out to get their attention and point to the enclosure I’m standing by.

  The two of them were just happily walking ahead of me, off in their own little world. And for a moment, the briefest moment, I let myself believe this was something more. I know Max likes me, I know he’s extremely interested in me, otherwise he wouldn’t be here. But seeing him holding Hope’s hand, trying to keep up with her as she skips along—her blonde pigtails swinging to and fro—from back here the two of them look just like the other fathers and daughters walking around here. And it was such a beautiful sight, such a beautiful thought, it hurt.

  “What’s up?” he asks as the two of them turn around and walk back to me.

  “You’re walking past the best animal here,” I smirk.

  Hope drops Max’s hand and walks up, grabbing onto the safety rail. Lifting up on her tiptoes, her eyes scan the cave-like structure. “What animal is it, mommy?”

  Hunching down, I wrap my arm around her shoulder and then point to the big brown ball of fuzz curled up in the corner. “There. He’s being a lazy butt, napping in the corner.”

  Max snorts behind me, amused.

  I cast him a quick glance over my shoulder. “Isn’t he like family? Aren’t you going to say hi?” I ask innocently.

  “Nah,” Max says coming up behind me. “You don’t wake a sleeping a bear.”

  “I thought the saying was don’t wake a sleeping tiger?” I retort.

  “Yeah,” Max rumbles, and he’s standing so close now all the little nerves in my body are suddenly hyper aware. “Don’t do that, either.”

  “Look, Mommy!” Hope bounces up and down, drawing my attention back to her.

  The bear stretches out on his back, waking up from his nap.

  “What do they say about bears?” I wonder out loud as the bear in the enclosure scratches his belly before rolling over onto all four paws. “Oh yeah, it’s don’t poke the bear, right?”

  Hope isn’t even paying attention to us anymore. She’s watching the grizzly with rapt attention as it stalks around, straining her little body against the safety bars.

  “Yeah, I think that’s what they say,” Max answers, bending over me, his breath hot against my ear.

  I shiver and feel myself leaning back, molding against him. His lips brush against my ear and I have to fight back a moan. It’s been a hellish week of seeing him every night for dinner but unable to do anything about all this sexual tension building between us because I had to work.

  “This bear can’t stop thinking about poking you,” he whispers.

  With a flush of heat, I pull away before I completely forget myself.
It’s insane how he can get me so worked up with so little effort on his part. It’s like my body has this secret dial that gets cranked all the way up when it comes to him. Everything is more amplified, every touch, every whisper, every promise is felt tenfold.

  “Mommy!” Hope squeals and backs away from the safety rail as the bear stalks towards us. She’s afraid, and honestly I can’t blame her. From afar the bear is all fat and fuzzy, deceptively cute. But as the beast stalks closer, its size and eyes are fierce and intimidating.

  “It’s okay, honey,” I say and pull her closer. “It can’t get to you.”

  Besides the safety railing there’s a small ravine carved into the artificial stone separating the bear from us, but still the animal seems determined to reach us. After stalking back and forth and accepting that it can’t cross the ravine, the bear leans back and stands up on his hind legs for extra height.

  “Mommy,” Hope whimpers, clutching at my skirt.

  “It’s okay—“ I start again but Max steps in.

  “Come here, little one,” he rumbles and gently pries her fingers off of my skirt.

  She turns to him and grabs at his shirt, clinging to him now. As he swings her up into his arms, she lets out this little sigh like all is right in the world now.

  Max chuckles and we share a brief look. My heart is heavy in my throat.

  Walking back up to the rail, Max stares the bear down until it lowers down to all fours and wanders away.

  “Even if he could get across,” he reassures her as she lays her little head against his big shoulder. “I’d never let him get to you.”

  Max

  “Watch closely, Grace, this could be the future of your genetic offspring. Already the fifth set and he’s just now breaking into double digits!” Brett taunts from behind me as I try to line myself up with those stupid little fucking arrows on the bowling lane.