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Ryleigh kept her head down amongst the catcalls on her way over, while her cousin made sure nobody got too close to her.
“You can hit me any time, sexy,” some drunk said while walking up to them, grabbing his junk.
Keenan shoved the man back and said, “Get lost.”
The guy stumbled away, and Keenan held still before Ryleigh. What was it about her? He couldn’t remember the last time he studied a woman so carefully, like he wanted to ingrain every little detail into his memory.
Ryleigh blushed when she looked up from the ground and met Keenan’s eyes. Her upper lip pulled, and Keenan wished to see her full on smile, so he could add it to his memory of her.
Devlin slung his arm around Ryleigh and said, “Let’s get out of here.”
“Yeah, the crowd is getting restless,” Kieran said.
“I know a place we can go,” Ronan said. The twinkling in his eye made Keenan groan. He had no interest in a club with loud pumping music. What he really wanted was sweeping Ryleigh up into his arms. Take her some place quiet and get to know the person behind the fighter.
Damn. Not even fifteen minutes ago, he’d wanted to go home to Tommy.
He followed his cousins and brother out of the warehouse into the darkness of the deserted parking lot. Aiden’s truck was parked two blocks away in case the cops would show up and write down their plates. It seemed like the others were headed in the same direction, so they talked along the way.
While the rest discussed their next stop of the night, Keenan couldn’t get those corn blue eyes out of his mind. Would she join her cousins tonight at some club where even more men would drool over her?
Keenan had fallen behind the rest of the group, and Ryleigh held her step to walk next to him.
“Thank you for pushing that guy away earlier…”
She obviously had a wild streak in her, but the way she’d thanked him, let him believe she also had a sweet side to her.
“No problem.”
He searched for his next words, but he didn’t know what to say. Other than being madly attracted to her, what could they possibly have in common? He’s a single dad, a construction worker who liked to cook for family and friends on the weekends.
She was a gorgeous young woman who liked to kick ass during illegal fights in deserted warehouses.
Luckily, she filled the silence.
“I’ve never seen you around these fights before.”
He paused his step for a moment and she adjusted her tempo, while the rest walked on.
“It’s not my scene.” It came out harsher than he’d intended. She winced and turned around to walk away from him, but he shot out his hand and held her arm.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean any disrespect. I appreciate the sport. But most of these guys out there are—”
“Dumb pricks?”
He smiled at her choice of words. “Yeah.”
They stood in a comfortable silence for a moment before he asked, “Why the name Luria?”
“My dad came up with it and I guess it stuck.”
Devlin shouted for Ryleigh to get into Kieran’s truck. Keenan knew their time was up, but he wanted to keep her with him for a moment longer. He knew he needed to let her go, but her feet also didn’t seem to want to move.
“I’m coming!” she shouted to her cousin, her eyes never leaving his. She took a step closer and placed her hand on his chest.
Ryleigh got on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, “Luria stands for ‘brave lioness’.”
She shocked the hell out of him when she nipped his earlobe. He felt himself harden for a woman for the first time in years, and he knew he was in trouble.
