Lila (Boyle Heights #1) Page 13

  Running his fingers down the middle, even over her spandex pants, he could feel how hot and likely wet she was. He touched the spot he knew would have her squirming, and she arched her back, kissing him harder. This was definitely an invitation for him to do more.

  “Has it been over two years”—he kissed her lips then nipped them— “since you last had sex?”

  “Since I’ve last had it in the flesh? Yes,” she said breathlessly as he caressed her a little harder. Her response had him moaning again, and he felt her squeeze his shoulder. “I told you. You’re the first person I allowed to even kiss me since then. And you’re the only person ever who I’ve done what I did on FaceTime with. It’s been hard for me to trust, so . . .”

  Sonny stared at her, swallowing hard. “You can trust me. I promise.” She nodded, staring in his eyes as his heart thudded in response to her go-ahead. “I’ve been dying to touch what’s rightfully mine now,” he said, bringing his hand up and under the waist of her pants.

  While she tensed a bit, Lila wasn’t stopping him. Sonny wasn’t about to make love to her right there. He had a feeling she wouldn’t want that anyway. But just like during his surprise visits, he got the distinct feeling of what she did want—what she might be needing for someone else to do to her—badly. So, he slipped his hand into her pants and under her panties, making his way down slowly as she spread for him a little.

  “Jesus,” he muttered, trying to keep it together before the touch of her burning wet flesh against his fingertips had him messing his pants.

  Lila moaned, squirming as he slid his fingers down her hot slit and then slowly into her. She was tight, and ever since he’d seen it, Sonny’s mind had been going wild imagining what she’d taste like when he finally got to go there. For now, he’d concentrate on making her feel good without having any accidents in the process, because even just doing this to her was such a fucking turn on.

  Sonny kissed her, mimicking with his tongue what his fingers were doing to her pussy. He hoped he could soon be tasting her down there too. He worked her, sliding two fingers in and out as his thumb caressed her engorged clit. The visual of what she’d done for him had him moaning in her mouth as her body began to tremble.

  With a whimper, Lila pulled her mouth away, needing to catch her breath as her body really began to tremble, and she moaned, arching her back. “That’s it, baby,” he said, stroking her a little gentler as he felt her begin to grip around his fingers. “Come, Lila,” he whispered against her lips. “Come all over my fingers.”

  Sonny squeezed his own legs shut because the incredible feeling of her slick wet flesh pulsating around his fingers was too much. Feeling her entire body tremble against his and hearing her soft moans nearly had him coming too. “No more,” she said, breathless, and he pulled his hand away to let her enjoy it.

  He watched her beautiful face as she smiled in woozy satisfaction, then brought his hand out from her pants. Just when she gazed at him, he stuck his fingers in his mouth, sucking her juices off them, then groaned, squeezing his eyes shut. “Fucking delicious,” he said as his aching cock throbbed just from the taste of her. “Next time I’ll do that to you with my tongue.” Her eyes widened and he smiled. “Yeah, that’s definitely happening.”

  The meeting hadn’t even started, and already, all Sonny could think of was getting the hell out of there. He could hardly wait to get Lila back to his place today. He only hoped after he came clean today she’d still trust him.

  At least today’s meeting didn’t require him to wear a monkey suit, but given the number of other celebs in attendance, there were bound to be cameras, maybe even paparazzi, so he didn’t dress completely down. He wore comfortable jeans and shoes, but still wore a sports coat and a button-down shirt.

  Leroy Deck, the starting center for the LA Clippers, was the first one to greet him when he arrived. “Hey, man,” Leroy said, holding out his hand to shake it then tapping his back with the other. “Feeling at home yet?

  “This has always been home to me,” Sonny said with a smirk. “But, yeah, it feels great that I’m back for good.”

  Noah and Gio came out to greet him and Tatiana. Unlike everyone else who was dressed down a bit like Sonny, Tatiana was in her power skirt suit with the skirt a little shorter than the norm and big fuck-me shoes. She’d been wearing them when he met her months ago, the kind that used to have his cock awakening just from seeing her strut that nice little ass of hers after tapping it a few times. She knew it too, because he’d told her so. He was certain it was why she was wearing this today. Only now, none of it did anything for him. The moment she got the chance, she linked her arm into his and leaned into him. Her heels were so big, even as petite a woman as she was, she was tall enough to murmur into his ear, “I called you last night. I heard you’d ducked out of Vegas a day early. I was hoping we could get together. What are you doing after this?”

  “Hey, if it isn’t Mr. LA.” Sonny and Tatiana both turned to see a smiling Felix walking toward them. Even then, Tatiana made no effort to move away from Sonny. “Glad you made it. Everyone’s excited about this season. What are you thinking? You getting us a championship title? We’re due.”

  “I’ll do my best. We got a good team this year.”

  “We sure do,” Tatiana added, tightening her grip on his arm. “And with you in it now, we should at least make the play-offs.”

  “Play-offs my ass,” Noah said, joining the conversation. “They paid a fortune to get this guy out here. He better make it happen.”

  A couple of the other guys from the team arrived and then more reporters. They were all here to discuss the next 5th Street charity event they’d all be part of. But Gio let them know they were also in for a surprise, something they all might be interested in being part of.

  They were taken into one of the private training rooms where they’d set up tables and chairs. They went over some of the events scheduled for the coming months: the silent auction for the signed sports memorabilia they’d all donated, the signing they were having in a few weeks, and the celebrity 5k walk coming that summer. The whole time Tatiana sat next him, her legs were crossed so he had a nice view of her long bare thigh, since her skirt was so short. There was also no shortage of her hand on his thigh and her leaning in to whisper comments into his ear. He’d previously enjoyed Tatiana’s forwardness. He appreciated a woman who wasn’t afraid to go after what she wanted. But for the first time since he’d known her, he moved her hands away a few times. It just felt wrong now.

  Then Gio clicked something on the Power Point he’d set up earlier. Everyone had busted his balls because he was being so formal about today’s meeting, since normally they all just tossed ideas and opinions around, even just chatted and caught up with each other.

  That was how the other two of these meetings Sonny had attended so far had been. He’d known the guys of 5th Street for years from other sporting events award shows and even TV spots on sports talk shows. But it wasn’t until now that he’d be considered an Angelino again that they’d asked and he’d agreed to be part of this charity program for the gym.

  “Assholes,” Gio said, laughing as they started busting his balls again for the Power Point thing as he flicked and hit a few things on the laptop. “It’s just one thing I want you to see before I show you the real thing since she’s here now.”

  He hit something else on the laptop and then a photo appeared on the wall. Two female boxers were in the boxing ring, wearing headgear, both brunettes, both sporting cornrows, and both with impressively fit bodies. The photo was perfectly timed to where the one with her back slightly turned away from the photo just landed what looked like a killer knockout punch on the other. Gio pointed at the girl landing the punch.

  “That,” he said with a big smile, “is what women’s boxing desperately needs. She’s a powerhouse and a natural. This photo was taken yesterday, only the third time she’s sparred against anyone in her life. We had her in there for the first time on Thursday. E
ven then, she almost knocked out a girl who’s been training for years. She’ll be the next badass in women’s sports since Ronda Rousey. And you, Tatiana, get the exclusive of unveiling this beautiful thing to the world.”

  Tatiana leaned into Sonny. “Beautiful?” She scoffed under her breath. “Yeah, she seems lovely.”

  “We just need to get the buzz and excitement going for this program,” Gio continued still looking very keyed up, “and with you guys endorsing and talking it up on your social media and such, that might just happen faster. But don’t just take my word for it. We have her here today. Before I tell you any more about her, let me have you guys come see for yourself.” He turned to one of the guys standing by a double door. “She ready?” The guy nodded. “And she knows there’s more than just Felix coming in to watch?”

  For whatever reason, that made the guy chuckle. “Yeah, she knows.”

  “And she’s okay with it?”

  He chuckled again. “Yeah, Noah just told me to tell you that he’ll handle the introductions and you guys just go along with it all, until after the presentation.”

  “Got it.” Gio turned to everyone sitting in the room. “Let’s go check this out.”

  Again, Tatiana hooked her arm into Sonny’s and leaned into him as they walked out, but his new teammate Toby Nixon walked alongside him. Then Felix was there on the other side of Tatiana. This made it impossible for him to tell Tatiana what he wanted to: to get the hell off him. But he knew it was his own fault. The last time he’d been here, she’d done the same thing, even playfully called him her boyfriend. Only he hadn’t given a shit then, and since he’d been looking forward to nailing her after that meeting, he just went along with it. Unlike today, where he hadn’t done a thing to encourage the behavior except not tell her to stop, the last time he’d gone along with all the discreet touching and even groping when no one was watching.

  He was just glad he was coming clean with Lila today. There were too many cameras here today, and with this unveiling shit, he had a feeling there’d be more. The moment he was out of here today, he’d be calling her.

  Chapter 10

  Lila

  Lila loosened up, hitting the speed bag, and shook her head from side to side. Gus, the meathead cocky guy Gio had sent in to help warm her up, advised her how to stretch her jaw too. He’d already cracked a few jokes about warming her up being his pleasure and other ways he could help her loosen her jaw. He was that close to her unleashing on him what Gio and Noah now called her lethal combination knockout jab. After a few glares, he’d gotten the hint and was being somewhat professional.

  She still wasn’t sure what to think. When she got here earlier, she’d seen the crowd of what appeared to be big wigs or maybe other famous boxers that often came in to 5th Street. That bitch-face reporter was there, so Lila could only assume something big was going on. Either that or that meeting the guys were having with Felix was a big thing. The reporter didn’t look to be doing much reporting though. She’d been too busy hanging off one of the guys in particular. Neither had been facing Lila when she walked in, but some of the other guys had been, and she didn’t recognize any of them anyway. Although the two very tall black guys were likely basketball players. Some of the Lakers and Clippers players were known to come in here from time to time. Though, pathetically, Lila wouldn’t recognize any of them either. She’d just never been a fan of basketball, or any sport for that matter except for boxing, and that only started recently when she seriously began giving boxing some consideration.

  Since she’d run into Gio as she got here, he’d been happy about her being here early. He’d asked her to go into the training room, and he’d sent Gus to warm her up. But she got the feeling he wasn’t telling her something. Just as Lila’s eyes met Gus’s, who annoyingly kept trying to prolong the eye contact, the door to the training room opened, and in walked Noah and Hector. “How we doing?” Hector asked.

  “She’s doing beautifully,” Gus said, smiling at her from the other side of the speed bag.

  Lila nearly rolled her eyes but managed not to. “Couple things,” Hector said as Noah went and grabbed more tape to finish taping her hands. “We brought in Odessa Cantor, someone a little more experienced with a few knockouts under her belt, for this sparring. She weighs just a little more than you do. I still think she’s got nothing on you, but we wanted someone who might hold out a little longer than the last two did for this presentation. Another thing, we’ll have a few more people in here watching than just Felix.”

  “Like who?” she asked, feeling alarmed, not to mention a little pissed because she remembered all those people earlier. “Did you bring in reporters and cameras?”

  “No, not for this,” Noah said, rushing toward her. “They’re here for that meeting we had. But we would like to show you off to some of the people in that meeting. Big names.”

  “Celebrity athletes?” she asked as more alarm and heat inundated her. “You never—”

  “Relax. They’re just people like you and—”

  “Bullshit! You never mentioned—”

  “Listen, listen, listen,” he said, urgently holding up a hand. “Do you know Leroy Deck? Tony Nixon?”

  He rattled off several other names, all of which maybe sounded familiar, but Lila had to admit she had no idea who they were. She shook her head, glancing at Hector and Gus. Both looked appalled that she didn’t know any of them.

  “Sylvester Sabian?” Hector asked as if she should know that. “Only the best shortstop in the big leagues, who everyone in Los Angeles has been talking about, even my mom, because he just signed with the Dodgers?”

  “I think,” she lied, feeling even more embarrassed about her lack of sports knowledge.

  But hearing the last name of the shortstop did make her insides flutter because it made her think of Sonny. Up until him, it was the first time she’d even heard the last name.

  “Well, there you go,” Noah said, already wrapping one of her hands. “They may be well-known athletes to other people. But to you, they’re nobody. You’ll be sparring in a room with a few strangers watching. Just think of them as other trainers like Gus here watching you.”

  “Yeah, with cars that cost more than my parents’ house,” Gus said, shaking his head.

  Noah glared at Gus then got back to wrapping Lila’s hands. Once he’d managed to convince Lila to just get in her zone like Gio had been training her to do and drown out everything else in the room, he told her more about Odessa. He wasn’t at all worried about Lila being able to handle her and gave Lila the go-ahead to give it her all.

  “No holding back,” he said, lifting a brow and looking her straight in the eyes. “Odessa’s a big girl and is ready to take it. We want these guys to see your power and your strength.”

  Odessa walked in just a few minutes later. She was a tough-looking black girl wearing cornrows as Lila did, today. Odessa was bigger than the other two girls Lila had fought, but just like no one ever had, she didn’t scare Lila. It was how she’d felt her whole life. Unless anyone Lila brawled with had a gun or another weapon that could take her down, the only way she’d go down was if she couldn’t move or breathe anymore. As pumped and enraged as she could get, she’d fight to the death if she had to.

  The only thing that scared her was that there’d be a room full of people watching. If this girl did get a good hit on Lila, they’d be witness to the ugliness it would spawn. She punched her gloves together, glancing at her reflection in the wall mirror. Ever since that first time in the ring when her hair had given her such issues, she’d since decided cornrows were the way to go. She’d been watching women’s boxing matches on YouTube, and it was how most wore their hair in the ring. It made sense. In Lila’s opinion, it wasn’t the most attractive, but then she wasn’t trying to impress anyone with her looks when she was in the ring. Just her skills. And just like with the first girl and now Odessa, it did make her look tougher—harder. Gio said getting in your opponent’s head was another as
pect of fighting.

  Noah had told her they’d explained to this girl and her manager they needed to borrow her for a friendly spar so they could unveil what they thought might be the next big thing in women’s boxing. They needed someone who could last a little longer against her than some of the girls she’d gone up against. If this girl was any better with sports knowledge than Lila was, then seeing the big names here today for Lila’s unveiling would be enough to get in Odessa’s head. Lila looking even tougher than normal was just another plus.

  After several minutes of punching the pads with Gus for a little, with Hector coaching while Noah walked over and spoke with Odessa and her trainer, Noah turned back to Lila and asked if she was ready.

  She was as ready as she’d ever be, if that meant anything. Noah told Gus to go tell Gio she was ready, and Lila’s insides were instantly roiling. She had this. She knew she did, but it was still nerve-wracking. Gus came back in the room first. “They’re on their way,” he said, walking over to Lila, who was stretching her legs a bit and then jumping in place to loosen up some more. “So, what’s your deal?” Gus asked, sizing her up as she continued to stretch from side to side. “You single or what?”

  Lila didn’t even look at him. That should be answer enough. Single or not, she wasn’t interested. That was all he needed to know. Felix walked in first, holding the door open for the rest of the guys that filed in behind them. She glanced away, taking a deep breath when she noticed all eyes focused on her immediately. When she glanced up again, she made eye contact with Gio, who smiled and waved her over as more people continued to walk in. She’d nearly reached him when she saw him.