Blazing Hot Fighters Read online

  BLAZING HOT FIGHTERS

  BLAZE FAMILY ROMANCE

  DARIA BLAKE

  FS ROMANCE PRESS

  Blazing Hot Fighters, A Blaze Family Romance

  Copyright © 2022 by Daria Blake

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Originally published as MMA Fighter x2 in 2019 by Daria Blake’s pseudonym Fiona Starr

  2 2 0 7 1 5

  Cover art by: Poppy Parkes

  Created with Vellum

  Who’s ready to go a few rounds… for love?

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Epilogue

  Sneak Peek - Blazing Hot Jock

  About Daria Blake

  Also by Daria Blake

  CHAPTER ONE

  Dani

  * * *

  “You don’t waste any time, do you?” My sister, Mia, pours creamer into her coffee as she shakes her head. “You’ve been in town for a hot minute and you’ve already hooked up with some guy?” Her smile tells me that she’s only teasing and actually dying for me to spill the hot and steamy details.

  The waitress brings our breakfast, sliding our plates in front of us with a smile. The scent of bacon wafting over the table makes my stomach growl. I pick up a piece and take a bite, enjoying the perfect greasy crispness. I look at my watch and do the math. “I’ve been in town for about… sixteen hours, thank you very much. Lola and James were at the club last night, so I stopped by on my way from the airport. It isn’t my fault I just happened to meet a guy. I don’t plan these things, you know. Besides, we both know you’re just jealous.”

  “Jealous?” Mia points a finger at me for some scolding and then smiles. “Okay, maybe I am. But just a little. And that doesn’t mean I am not madly in love with my husband.” The way her face changes when she mentions her husband sends a pang through me. My sister’s got it all; everything she wanted, anyway… a house, a career, a husband, and in about a month, a baby. As perfect as all of that is for her, it couldn’t be further from where I want to be.

  “How is married life?” I ask.

  “Still wonderful. Amazing. I’m happy. Jake sends his love.” She sighs dramatically and absently rests her arm on her huge belly, basking in her thoughts for a moment before she grins and leans in. “Okay. Tell me everything. What is his name? Was he a good kisser? Was he good at… the rest? Did you get his number? Will you see him again?”

  I count the answers off on my fingers. “Let’s see. I don’t know. Absolutely. He was—very much so. I didn’t ask. And I doubt it.” I arch an eyebrow at her. “That’s kind of the point of a one-night stand.”

  Mia sits back in her chair, her mouth open. “Oh, my god. Dani. You’re killing me. How do you manage it? I mean, picking up a stranger and then doing… that without even knowing his name? I can’t even imagine.” Her face flushes as she whispers the word that, and I can tell she is trying very hard to imagine herself behaving like her naughty older sister. “What did he look like?”

  I don’t make a habit of hooking up with random guys, but every once in a while, it happens. And last night was…

  I actually don’t know what last night was.

  If I’m being honest with myself, everything about it felt like I was with the opposite of a one-night stand kind of guy, but he didn’t dig for info, and I am never really looking for anything, so it was what it was and we both knew what that meant.

  The guy and I met at my friends’ club. He was paying his tab and was about to leave when he got shoved and then bumped my arm and made me knock over my drink.

  “Hey, careful!” I had to shout over the music.

  He turned to me, startled to see what he’d done. “Shit. Sorry. Let me get you another.” He waved the bartender back and signaled for her to get me another drink. Then he smiled at me and it was like the club disappeared for a second.

  The music was gone. The strobe lights and lasers stopped flashing, and all I could see was his eyes. I couldn’t tell what color they were in the crazy lighting of the club, but afterward, in my room, the way he held my gaze and smiled… I can still picture the hazel-gray.

  I sip my coffee and indulge my sister, who married her first love three years ago when they were both twenty-two. Jake really is the best brother-in-law. He loves my sister and they are perfect together. But that doesn’t mean she should be deprived of imagining the wide world of casual sex she gave up.

  If I can be of service and allow her to live vicariously through what she thinks is my very wild life… the thought makes me smile. “Average height, maybe five-ten. Clean cut, sandy brown hair, green-gray eyes, arms like trees, an amazing tattoo of a black dragon that goes up one side of his torso and wraps around the top of his shoulder. A mouth that was absolutely made for kissing.”

  A rush of heat runs through me as the image of him fills my head. He was definitely something else, even before we left the club. The way he danced… The way he held me on the dance floor and then later between the sheets. The guy had a body made for action. Shit, maybe I should have given him my number.

  Mia sighs. “Well, I am glad you had fun. It will be nice having you back in town for a while. Do you know how long you’ll stay?”

  I grab another piece of bacon. “No. With everything going on, I decided to just cancel my plans for the summer. I was going to spend some time with friends up in Vancouver. They rented a house for the summer, but with dad’s surgery… I want to be here. Besides, I can’t see you and mom running the gym. No offense.”

  “I’m really sorry you had to change your plans. And I’m sorry you had to stay in a hotel last night.” She slides the keys to the gym and the upstairs apartment across the table. “I made up the bed and left you some groceries.”

  “Don’t be sorry. I’m not. I’m glad I can be here to help.”

  She squeezes my hand. “We would have jumped in, but… you’re right that mom and I don’t know the first thing about the gym. We would ruin everything by the time dad got back on his feet. And Dad really needs Mom with him right now.”

  “Mia, I’m serious. It isn’t a problem. Don’t feel bad. It’s good to be back.” Unlike my sister, I spent so much time in my dad’s gym growing up, I could run it with my eyes closed. Even now, after being away at school for four years, I know Danny’s Fight Club inside and out. Dad’s emergency surgery will keep him out for at least a month, probably longer. When he called to tell me, I didn’t even blink—of course I’d come home and run things for him. No question.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Chase

  * * *

  “So what happened to you last night? One second we’re about to leave and the next you’re pulling some girl out onto the dance floor. And then the walk of shame at four?” My roommate, Logan, opens the fridge, pulls out a carton of eggs, and starts cracking them into a bowl.

  “What, did I stay out past curfew, mom?” He knows I’m playing, but he has also hit a nerve. What happened to me last night? It’s a question I have been thinking to myself since the angel and I parted ways. Every moment from when I bumped into her at the bar to me pulling her onto the dance floor to her leading me to the back room like she owned the place—like she owned me—is cemented in my mind.

  And when we got to her hotel… fuck.

/>   Everything about her was electric. From the second our eyes met, the animal in me wanted to claim her. And at the same time, there was something else going on—something I don’t usually see in a woman—but there was no denying the wild thing in her eyes too.

  She wanted to claim me just as badly as I did her, and I was there for it.

  Logan and I had been out with the guys, clubbing and drinking one last time before coach turned on prohibition and our strict training diet this morning. We heard the other day that we got in to The Gladiator cage fighting tournament, and once coach gets back in town this weekend, we have eleven weeks to get into the best shape of our lives. On our last night of freedom, I hadn’t planned on hooking up with anyone, but as soon as I laid eyes on her it was like a high-octane chemistry fire ignited between us and there was nothing I could do.

  I pour us both another cup of coffee and place the pot back in the machine. “I don’t know what happened to me.” I close my eyes and picture her face, trying to sear it into my mind. Long dark hair, warm brown eyes, a wide easy smile, and the toned body of a gym rat. She had legs that wrapped around me like we were made to fit together, but the thing that keeps my mind whirling is the sense of her inner strength.

  She knows who she is and what she wants.

  “What do you mean you don’t know?” Logan shovels a pile of scrambled eggs onto our plates and puts mine on the counter in front of me. He stands on the other side of the counter, waiting for me to explain myself.

  I shrug, still clinging to the picture of her face in my head. Her eyes. The way she smiled. And it isn’t just about the amazing sex we had—because that was fucking stellar. It was also the way she looked at me when we said goodbye and she kissed me at the door when I left for home. “I mean… It was clearly mutual that this was a no-strings thing, you know? Definitely a hot hookup and goodbye. But… I don’t know. I can’t get her out of my head and I have no idea who she is.”

  I have no idea who she is, but last night was fucking magical. I can’t believe I let her go without even getting her name. I could go back to the hotel… but that feels like crossing a line that we both drew together. She did mention at one point that she was in town for a couple of months… Maybe if I keep picturing her in my head, I’ll find her again.

  Logan freezes with the fork inches from his face. “Wait, you didn’t get her name or anything?”

  “Nope.” I sip my coffee and let the bitterness roll over my tongue.

  “Chase, man. I wish I had just a little bit of your kind of player in me.”

  “Nah, brother. You’re not a player. But maybe you could loosen up a little the next time you meet a girl. Don’t think too much… just follow the energy.”

  I wink at him over my coffee like I’m bestowing some sage wisdom from the Evergreen Player’s Playbook, when the reality is I feel like a fraud. Here’s my best mate, wishing he could add one-night-stands to his resumé, when he’s already in the right head space for a real relationship. Me? I wouldn’t know how to handle the real deal.

  “Loosen up, yeah. I’ll take that under advisement.” Logan clears our plates and rinses them into the sink. “I’m going to Danny’s. His son’s in town to take over and I said I’d be there.” He grabs his gym bag and heads for the door.

  “Right. I’ll catch up with you later. Charlie has those new gloves he wants us to try. I’m meeting him downtown. Catch you after.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Logan

  * * *

  I balance a tray of coffees in one hand as I swing the door to the gym open. Danny went in for emergency surgery on Friday and asked me to be here when Danny Junior showed up. The boss said that his kid knew his way around the place, but it had been a while since they worked here and he wanted me to be around in case he needed something.

  I step inside and take a deep breath, feeling all the stress of the world shake off my back. The smell of sweat and leather lingers in the air, along with the cedar that Danny uses to keep things from getting too rank. It’s the scent of work and results. It’s the smell of perseverance. And for me, it’s the smell of what’s become my second home.

  I met Danny Morgan five years ago when I stepped through that door looking for a trainer. I was new in town, literally fresh off the bus and looking for a place to land. I’d just been discharged from the Marines, and the last thing I wanted was to go back home. Not that my home town was so bad, but with my mom gone from cancer and my dad drinking the way he always had, there was nothing for me to head back to.

  Danny brought me in and signed me up for a free membership in exchange for helping out around the club. He said he liked to help out a fellow Marine, and that he wasn’t getting any younger. The truth was he had this place running tighter than a drum. He didn’t need anyone, least of all some stranger. But he took a shine to me. He connected me with Chase, who needed a roommate, and the rest is kind of history. I’ve got a life here now—a good one, too. And I owe it all to Danny Morgan.

  “What are you doing?” A woman comes around the corner with a baseball bat over her shoulder and a look that says I better explain myself right now or she’s going to swing for the cheap seats. “Come out from behind the counter.”

  I throw my hands in the air like I am surrendering and step out onto the floor. “I come in peace. I’m a friend of Danny Morgan’s. He asked me to come in and help his son.”

  “You know Danny?” She doesn’t lower the bat. “Prove it. Where is he now?”

  “Triple bypass. He’s at Memorial Hospital. His wife, Agatha, texted me that he was doing fine. She also asked me to water the plants.” I keep my hands up even though her smile says she is no longer thinking about knocking my head off. “I’m waiting for Danny Junior. Have you seen him?”

  She shakes her head and steps past me, leaning the bat into the corner behind the counter. When she turns around, her smile is radiant. “I’m sorry my father misled you. It’s one of his favorite things to do.”

  I have no idea what she’s talking about. “How’s that?”

  “He made you think he had a son.” She holds her hand out. “I’m Daniela, Dani with an i. I’m the old man’s daughter.”

  I shake her hand and laugh. “So, you’re Danny Junior?” It takes a second for my brain to rearrange the information I’ve been given into a new, very attractive order. I replay the conversation I’d had with Danny Sr. on the phone. He definitely said “he” when he referred to his kid, though I don’t think he ever said the word “son.”

  “My dad’s the only one who says junior. It’s just Dani. Sorry about the bat—I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow.”

  “No problem. I brought coffee.”

  “My dad told me about you.” Dani leans against the counter opposite me and watches me, a playful smile on her lips.

  “Did he?” I have no idea where this might be going. At all. I brace myself for impact. She’s wearing jeans that end above the ankle, black sneakers and a black tank top that shows off the shape of her shoulders and upper arms. It’s clear she’s no stranger to the gym. “He said you remind him of his brother. My Uncle Mick.”

  “Really? That’s cool.”

  “Yeah. Everyone said my Uncle Mick was a really nice guy.”

  “Ah… the nice guy… ouch.” I swear it’s like I am out of the game before it begins.

  Her mouth drops open as if she’s offended, but I see her cheeks blush and it makes me think of Chase. “What? There’s nothing wrong with being a nice guy,” he says.

  What would my roommate do in this situation? Loosen up, he told me. Don’t think too much. Follow the energy. “Yeah, but it would have been awesome if your Uncle Mick had been mysterious or maybe even a little dangerous.”

  “Oh, I see. Tired of being the nice guy, are we?” She leans in and arches a brow at me. “Maybe you aren’t cut out for the wild side?”

  I bend over the counter so our faces are only a few inches apart. The sun reveals tiny flecks of gold in her b
rown eyes. Her hair smells amazing. I hold her gaze, unwilling to back down now that I’ve gone there. It’s so unlike me to be this aggressive, this direct, but Chase’s words spur me on. “So nice guys can’t be wild at all?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe? Or maybe some things are really just baked in.”

  “Maybe you should let me show you my kind of wild.”

  She pulls back a tiny bit as if she’s surprised or maybe a little bit impressed, and then her smile takes over her beautiful face. “All right, nice guy. You’re on. Tonight? Dinner?”

  I can’t believe I am doing this, but here it goes. I level my gaze at her and lock on. “Seven. I’ll pick you up here. Can’t wait.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Dani

  * * *

  The day goes by in a bit of a blur of getting back into the swing of running the gym and meeting all the members who come in. A few of the old regulars stop in to train younger fighters or go through their own workouts, but on the whole, most of the faces are new to me.

  I smile as each of the guys who walk through that door ask after my dad first thing, and then laugh because most of them are surprised to see that Danny Sr.’s “kid” is a woman.

  I watch Logan when he steps into the ring for a sparring session. He peels off his tank top and has one of the guys check his gloves as he bounces in place. His wide shoulders are muscled and thick, and he has a ropy scar that runs along his rib cage. As he turns around, I see his Marine Corps tattoo—a bald eagle with its wings opening for flight, standing on a globe and anchor. I’m too far to read the words on the ribbon underneath, but I know it says Semper Fidelis.