"Why am I here?" I mutter aloud to myself.
I'm standing in front of Fighter's Den at the crack ass of dawn when I could very well be sleeping. Not that I'd been asleep to begin with. My entire night and the one before were spent tossing and turning, recounting my conversation with Jaxon. Not Tim. Jaxon. While we'd grazed among deeper topics regarding my passions and his personal concerns, most of our conversation held a flirty and near sexual vibe. I'd caught his eyes on my lips on more than one occasion and his gazes that drifted over my body had felt like a physical touch, igniting heat all over me. I found it hard to believe that he was as attracted to me as I am to him but last night held all the evidence I needed. The asshole in him was sure to make an appearance from time to time but it'd almost seemed like he was conflicted with himself. That made the two of us. I'm attracted to him, yes, but I'm not on board with pursuing it. The two of us was chaos waiting to happen. I wouldn't act on two lust induced interactions and I doubted he would either. And yet, here I am, standing in front of my father's gym with an excuse ready as to why I'm here when I really just want to see Jaxon again. I know my dad wouldn't question me since I'd stopped by this gym lots of times and his students knew me well enough. I guess the paranoia that I was actively seeking out one of his students this time was just getting to me.
The various sounds of grunts and strikes meet my ears as I enter the gym. The atmosphere in here is dense and thick with heat and it smells like sweat. Gross. My eyes dart over the men in process of their training. Or should I say, shirtless men. Nevermind. Totally not gross. I can't exactly say it's a hardship having a boxer as a father when you're greeted with sights such as this. Cameron, one of my closest companions as compared to the rest of dad's students, turns to me with a dazzling grin. He's seriously the most charming man I've had the pleasure of coming across and he's not hard on the eyes either.
"There's my favourite girl." He opens his arms wide for a hug.
"No, thanks." I decline with a laugh. "You're really sweaty right now."
"You're telling me you're passing up the opportunity to cop a feel of all this?" He runs his hands down his defined abs and to the very tip of his gym shorts, doing a little thrusting jig with his hips. Another laugh bubbles out of me at how ridiculous he looks.
"You're a terrible dancer." I inform him.
"I can put my hip thrusting to other good uses." He waggle his eyebrows suggestively. "Ones I'm really good at."
"Yeah, we're not having this conversation."
"I like this conversation."
"And I'd like to keep my breakfast in my stomach." Nate, another of the guys, calls from where he's doing pushups on a mat.
"He's just jealous of my thrusting skills." Cameron mock whispers.
Nate pauses mid-pushup to roll his eyes.
"I'm pretty sure my thrusting skills are far more practiced than yours."
"Ooh, are you trying to say you wanna show me?"
"Get the fuck out of my face." Nate laughs.
I shake my head at their immaturity but I'm smiling. These boys were something else.
"Hey, Em." Asher calls out to me when he walks out of the locker room. Wolfe is trailing behind him and grunts out his greeting. He's not a man of many words.
"Hi, boys." I smile at them. Asher gives me a quick hug that has Cameron scowling.
"Get your grimy hands off my girl." He warns. Asher merely snorts and goes about stretching.
"I didn't know I was your girl." I state in dry questioning. Cameron nods eagerly.
"We practically sealed the deal when you got a nice eyeful of my thrusting."
"Are we seriously back to this?"
"Should I demonstrate again?" He looks so sincere that I have to laugh.
"So what are you doing here, anyways?" Cameron asks, slinging an arm around me.
My amusement fades when I realize I actually came all the way here in hopes of seeing Jaxon. He's not even around the gym. What had I been thinking? Oh right, I wasn't.
"Just here to see my dad about something." I lie smoothly.
"Fantastic. Now's the perfect time to go get his blessing about your hand in marriage." He starts leading me towards dad's office and I shove him off of me with a giggle.
"Stay here." I point downwards at the spot we're standing and Cameron pouts. With a roll of my eyes, I give his cheek a quick kiss and head into my dad's office. Might as well see him now that I'm here. I knock on his door lightly before turning the knob and stepping inside.
"Hey da-" My greeting cuts off abruptly and I'm slightly horrified at what's before me.
My big, hulking father looks like he took a hard bitch-smack to the face from a box of crayola, Disney edition. Seriously. He's got on green eye shadow that reaches all the way up to his eyebrows, his cheeks are coloured with two precise pink circles, the red lipstick he wears is so heavily applied that it makes his mouth look three sizes bigger than it usually is, and a smattering of glitter decorates his hair. What. The. Hell.
"Hey, sweetheart." He grins at me, all nonchalant, and I'm beginning to think that maybe I'm still asleep in my bed because what the fuck kind of alternate universe did I step into?
"Dad...why do you look like that?" I ask cautiously. Maybe he was feeling neglected? Did I need to stop by more often? Did losing my mother peak this newfound interest?
My dad points out a finger and only then do I notice the little girl sitting on the floor with him.
"Say hi to my daughter, darlin'." Dad tells the little girl and she beams up at me with a toothy grin. My heart muddles into mush and I'm instantly taken with her. Holy shit, she's freaking adorable.
"Hi! I made your daddy a princess!" She exclaims and smiles so wide, two dimples pop out on both of her cheeks.
I have to admit, I'm impressed. My dad is one of those men that gets as masculine as they can be so for this little girl to turn him into...that, means she's probably got him wrapped around her finger.
"Is that so...princess?" I cock a brow at my dad.
"Yup." He nods. "I'm supposedly late for the magic ball."
Can this get any weirder?
"That reminds me. I have to go get more glitter from my car."
Apparently it can.
"Here. Watch her for me, will ya?" He says, standing up. I'm slightly alarmed that he's leaving me with a child I have no identification of.
"Are you seriously going to your car to get glitter?" I ask incredulously. Why the hell does he even have it to begin with? He stops beside me in the doorway.
"Yes. And beads for when we braid our hair."
My jaw hits the floor.
The little girl giggles and it's such a sweet sound that I find myself observing her again. Her ringlets of brown hair are tied into two ponytails on either side of her head and she's totally rocking the poofiest pink dress I've ever seen. She has a large smile, save for a few missing teeth, and rosy cheeks that are so plump I want to bite them. But it's her eyes that give me pause. Something about that shade of green seems alarmingly familiar to me. In fact, I've only seen it on one person. When it hits me, I gasp in surprise and turn to my father.
"Is this Jaxon's daughter?"
"Yup. He had to bring her in her today." Dad says and then exits the room, calling out a quick "watch her!"
That meant that Jaxon was here after all. I don't know why this makes me nervous because I'd initially come here wanting to see him. I guess a part of me was glad that I wouldn't bump into him again because this was so not staying away. But I wasn't listening to myself, was I?
I walk over to the little girl and sit on the floor with her. I was completely at ease with kids so this situation was perfectly fine with me.
"What's your name, princess?" I ask her, realizing I've never been informed of it.
"Lizzie." She grins and I can't help but smile at how well it suits her.
"What's yours?" She asks, lying down on her stomach and placing her chin in her hands. I chuckle at how she's poised herself. She really is the cutest thing I've ever seen.
"I'm Emily." I tell her. I decide to join in on her positioning and lay on my stomach as well, propping myself up on my elbows.
"I like the makeover you gave my dad." I say mischeviously and make a mental note to take pictures. Lots of them. Maybe even frame a few.
"Thank you. Can I give you one?" She asks excitedly. Wow. Karma must really be laughing at me right now. The look she's giving me, though, is so hopeful that I wouldn't say no to her if my life depended on it. I'm suddenly understanding dad's dilemma.
"Sure you can. And maybe I can give you one." I suggest. Her eyes light up like I just promised to buy her a house made of candy.
"Really?" She breathes and I laugh.
"Really." I nod my head. "Wanna pinky swear it?"
She hold her little pinky out and I enclose it around my own. The smile she gives me is so radiant that I want to cry at how adorable she is.
"I'm loving your look as well." I smooth a hand down on the ruffles of her dress. Goodness, it's poofy.
"It's my princess dress!"
"That so? You must be Princess Lizzie then."
"Daddy calls me Lizard, sometimes." She giggles and my heart swells involuntarily. Damn, that's cute.
"He sounds like a great dad." I find myself thinking aloud.
"The bestest! He lets me dress up and makes my hair. He even puts nail polish on me but he's very messy at that." She whispers the last part as if we're exchanging secrets. Meanwhile, my heart is increasing in size and I can't help but admire what a great single father he is. He's clearly his daughter's hero. I can sympathize with that about my own father and it only confirms what part of me already knew; deep down, Jaxon Cage is one hell of a great guy.
"Daddy!" Lizzie squeals, snapping me out of my thoughts.
I turn towards the doorway and nearly choke when I see Jaxon leaning against the frame, watching us with an impassive look on his face. Did I mention he's shirtless? Because that's definitely worth mentioning. Common sense happily skips out of my brain and I can't stop myself from running my eyes all over his body. I had no clue bodies like that even existed in real life until now. I can't decide what I should focus on first but my attention darts to his gloriously defined abs, every ridge of his six-pack outlined to perfection and heading into the most prominent v-line I've seen. His gym shorts ride low on his hips, leaving little to the imagination, but hell, do I imagine. His biceps are huge, bulging a considerable amount from the way he's got his arms crossed. Even his forearms looks strong and muscled, a couple of veins slightly protruding. The clearing of his throat brings my focus back to reality and I can feel my face flame as he watches me check him out, smirking and not at all hiding how much he's enjoying this.
Luckily, I'm saved when Lizzie runs up to him and he turns away from me to bend down and pick her up. He lifts her in the air over his head and...wow. I've never seen him smile like that. His normally hard face is now relaxed and carefree and he's never looked more breathtaking. I think I want to send out a little prayer for that smile. It's a full-blown grin that changes the entire composure of his face, revealing straight white teeth except for one of the front two being the slightest bit crooked. For some reason, that makes his smile so much more attractive. I notice then that he has one dimple on his right cheek and I know now where Lizzie gets hers from. His eyes are bright and shining and I'm thinking that my ovaries may have exploded as I watch a beaming and shirtless Jaxon Cage smack kisses all over his little girl. I've never been the primal type, but man, the image in front of me makes me want to take him right there. Repeatedly.
"Cut it out, Daddy." Lizzie says in between giggles. He lets out a genuine laugh and I want to faint because fuck me, that deep rumble sounds heavenly.
"Me too?" He asks, tilting his cheek toward her. Can I?! My pathetic heart screams. I think I want to lick his dimple. Lizzie gives him a sweet kiss and I'm ridiculously jealous. Lucky.
"I made a friend!" Lizzie exclaims, pointing at me, and I'm touched. Jaxon's eyes gradually go over me, pausing on my ass, which I'm sure is sticking out from the position I'm in. I quickly scramble to my feet but my clumsy ass teeters on my heels and Jaxon's arm shoots out to grab me. His hand is locked on my waist and I think I forget how to breathe when his fingers tighten. I've never been more thankful for my lack of coordination. Our eyes lock and the intensity between us is so strong I could almost touch it. His touch feels way too good and I know it could easily become addicting. For probably the hundredth time since meeting him my brain warns me to stay away.
"You okay?" His low voice washes over me.
I want to scream that I've never been better but that's highly inappropriate.
"Totally." I rush out instead and force myself to step away.
His hand drops and I instantly miss the warmth that had been radiating from him.
"Is Emily your friend, too?" Lizzie asks him and my breath catches as I wait for his answer. A very good question, I must admit.
Jaxon regards me for a few moments, like he's genuinely trying to figure me out.
"Something like that." He finally says and I won't lie, a huge part of me is disappointed. But it's the truth because we don't know much about each other besides whatever this is.
"She's pretty, Daddy." Lizzie comments and this time my heart stops altogether. I'm not proud to admit that I really want to hear his answer to that. The way Jaxon regards me now is nothing like last time. There's evident heat in his gaze and I can't help but notice that's exactly how he'd been looking at me during my date with Tim. Jaxon looks at me from under impossibly long and thick eyelashes, his eyes hooded.
"Very pretty." He agrees and I think my face just about catches on fire while I try to ignore the victory dance my heart is doing.
"I see you're boxing today." I change the subject because I'm awkward like that. If he notices, he doesn't say.
"Someone told me I should take initiation, turn the situation around." He shrugs and my heart stutters because that's what I said to him. For some reason this means a lot and I don't stop myself from beaming at him. I also don't miss how his breath noticeably hitches as he watches my smile and this only causes it to grow.
"Sounds like a wise woman." I quip and he smiles a little in return. He's smiling at me and he took my advice. Wow, I'm on a roll.
"I'm gonna get started now." He jerks his thumb towards the main area and I nod in understanding. He pauses then and I tilt my head in curiosity.
"Do you think you could continue watching Lizzie for me?" He asks and it's the first time I've heard his cocky ass sound even remotely hesitant.
"You trust me?" I tease but there's an underlying tone of seriousness. He looks at me almost like he can't understand me and I get the feeling he's taking the question as seriously as I am.
"Yeah." He says slowly. "I do."
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A/N
I was hoping to make this chapter cute, funny, and lighthearted so hopefully I achieved that!
How are you guys liking Cameron? You'll definitely see more of him.
Thoughts on Emily and Lizzie's interactions?
Any comments or feedback would be gladly appreciated so please don't hesitate!
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Thank you :)