“No photos, fellas. I think you got enough last night, if I’m not mistaken,” he grinned, shaking his head.
“Aw, come on, Chance. Just a couple of poses.”
“Okay, just a minute.” He looked around until he found the boys and called them all over. He explained what he wanted them to do and then he turned to the photographers. “We’re ready.”
All five of the guys jumped on David, trying to drag him to the floor, and the photographers were snapping away, getting shots that had Sam laughing and pointing at them as Joe slid down one leg and tried to drag his foot out from under him. He had two of them in headlocks, one under each arm, and he was still holding himself upright despite their best efforts. Then the small dark haired diva jumped on Joe’s back and was pretending to bite his neck and Sam shouted out advice as he tried to dislodge her. Sam was laughing so hard, she could barely stand up, doubling over and guffawing as the young man everyone called Mouse jumped on the tall diva and got her in a headlock. The diva flipped him over her shoulder and pinned him on the floor, sitting on him and tickling him until he shouted for mercy.
The whole place was in an uproar for the next twenty minutes or so, until David allowed the guys to pin him and he shouted to Sam for help. She managed to gather her wits enough to drag one boy off, then another, until David lay there on the mat, his face dripping perspiration and his arm shading his eyes. He didn’t move and she frowned.
“Are you hurt or just faking it?” she asked, standing over him.
She saw the flash of movement but was helpless to stop herself from tumbling headfirst as he reached out and tripped her. But she didn’t hit the floor. He was amazingly fast as he caught her and rolled her on top of his body, coming to rest plastered to him as the cameras clicked madly.
She was laughing breathlessly when he caught the back of her neck and pulled her down to devour her lips, his tongue driving into her mouth with such hunger and ferocity, she couldn’t help but respond for a breathless moment. He tasted so damn good, felt so damn good, she lost track of everything but his kiss, his body, the way his hands moved over her so deliciously, scattering her thoughts and shredding her resistance to the winds.
Wolf whistles filled the room and after she realized what was happening and struggled to free herself, he allowed her to scramble to her feet and then, with one amazingly fluid movement, he had flipped up to his feet and was facing her as she stood there, breathing raggedly and ready to smack him upside the head.
“I wouldn’t, if I was you,” he breathed softly, his eyes aglow with laughter and something else.
“What will you do, beat me up in front of everyone?” she whispered, her eyes sparkling angrily.
“No but a good spanking might settle that temper of yours. It was all in fun. You’re the only one taking it wrong.” His eyes were dark and unreadable.
She swallowed and drew a deep breath. “I suppose I just can’t handle having you make a spectacle of me for the cameras. If you want to kiss me, David, do it in private.”
“That’s easier said than done. You’re very kissable.”
She glared at him, trying to remain angry, but her sense of humor won and she grinned slowly. “I can see I’m going to have to learn to deal with being notorious.”
“If I can do it, you can. The first lesson in dealing with fame is to never be afraid to be bad. Being bad gets you places, Sam. And you are the main squeeze of the baddest boy in wrestling, so deal with it.” Hearing him say it aloud was enough to make her blush hotly, and several others close to them heard it as well. She flashed him a threatening glare and he just grinned broadly. “Promises, Sam?”
“I’ll deal with you later, Chance Braza.” Her use of his ring name made him laugh and she said softly, “And you can take that as a threat.”
They were seated at ringside and Sam had the feeling that every pair of eyes in the arena was on her. The cameramen panned her often and her picture appeared on the huge overhead screen too much for her comfort as she tried to concentrate on the action on the mat. The guys were enjoying seeing their own faces on the huge TV and they grinned and made the victory sign for the folks at home. Joe was grinning and she knew why. One of the younger divas had given him her phone number and her e-mail address. He was riding the top of the waves tonight.
The warm-up matches between the middleweights and the tag teams had the crowd screaming and yelling. And when the divas came out, Joe was cheering his pretty little brunette as she took on one of the bigger blondes. The girl was good. When she won, she pulled off her see-through tank top to reveal a very sexy lace bustier and she tossed the tank to Joe, who caught it and blushed hotly as she gave him a broad wink and a come-hither smile that would have melted most older men. He pumped his fists in the air and shouted, “Way to go, Heather!”
Wolfman and the sumo guy faced off for a cage match and Greg was on his feet yelling encouragement at his hero, even though Wolfman lost that one when the sumo knocked him out with a chair that someone slipped under the cage bars to him.
Then a ten-man free-for-all was announced and Sam watched as her very own bad boy climbed into the ring to join the melee. There were no rules. If you got thrown out of the ring, it was over. The last man standing in the ring won. She knew that David would most likely get tossed out because it was part of the program. It made the fans roar when the “heels” dumped one of the popular “faces”. But it was obvious from the start of the free-for-all that David was not going to let himself get tossed easily. The heel who was supposed to toss him ended up flying over the ropes and landing right in front of her and Sam gasped and did what came naturally to her. She helped him to his feet and asked him if he was okay.
The wrestler shook his head to clear it, glared up at his nemesis and then shouted, “Braza. This your woman?” in a deep, heavily accented voice.
David had just heaved another man over the ropes and he turned to glare at the tall blond man. The man reached out and dragged Sam against his sweat-sheathed body as she shoved at him in vain. It was like trying to get free of a slick vise grip.
“You have a death wish or something?” she gasped as the man pulled her close and then she couldn’t say a thing-because he had cut off her protest with a wet French kiss that made it nearly impossible to breathe. She kicked his ankles and slugged his shoulders but he was like a frigging brick.
David was livid that Van Burghe had suddenly decided to use Sam as a tool to get him out of the ring, but something truly snapped when the tall, buff wrestler from Germany also took the liberty of kissing her. He jumped onto the ropes and the crowd went nuts, knowing what was coming next.
“Take your hands off her, Van Burghe!” his voice boomed across the seats at ringside, much to the delight of the screaming audience.
Sam couldn’t breathe, he was holding her so tightly, so she did the only thing she could think of. Her knee came up hard and fast and the tall German gave a grunt of pain, loosening his hold on her. Even his cup couldn’t prevent that from hurting, she was sure.
“You little bitch,” he muttered foully as she struggled to get away from him.
“Let me go, dammit,” she gasped, as he reasserted his grip on her and she felt as if he were crushing her. Boy, he was sure pissed now.
Joe and the others were on their feet, which distracted the wrestler for a moment. He seemed startled by the five young men who were yelling at him to turn her loose. It gave her just a split second to grab his little finger and peel it back as hard as she could, causing him to loosen his grip on her again.
And then the man was suddenly gone.