Worth Fighting For Read online

  Worth Fighting For

  Zoe Blake

  Blushing Books

  Contents

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  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Author’s Note

  The Cowboy’s Revenge

  Chapter 1

  About the Author

  EBook Offer

  Blushing Books Newsletter

  Blushing Books

  ©2017 by Blushing Books® and Zoe Blake

  All rights reserved.

  No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Published by Blushing Books®,

  a subsidiary of

  ABCD Graphics and Design

  977 Seminole Trail #233

  Charlottesville, VA 22901

  The trademark Blushing Books®

  is registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office.

  Zoe Blake

  Worth Fighting For

  EBook ISBN: 978-1-61258-223-8

  Cover Art by ABCD Graphics & Design

  This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the author's advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.

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  Chapter 1

  “Forget the television! It’s too heavy. Grab the iPad!”

  Conner opened one eye and quickly shut it against the glaring afternoon sun. Dammit. In his exhaustion, he’d forgotten to close the bedroom shades.

  “Don’t worry about the clothes or the cheap stuff.”

  Conner rolled onto his stomach, tossing a pillow over his head to block out the two female voices from across the hall. Telling himself he didn’t give a damn what they were about. After twenty-two hours in the dank cargo hold of a C-17 with two hundred other men on a flight from Afghanistan to Washington with a five-hour layover in Germany, he didn’t care if they were murdering someone next door, all he wanted was sleep.

  “What about the bastard’s PlayStation?”

  “Fucking smash it to pieces!”

  That’s it, thought Conner. Murder was one thing, but standing by while another man’s PlayStation was destroyed, even a stranger’s, was another. It was guy thing.

  Jumping out of bed, heedless of his half naked state, he confidently strode across the small apartment. Promptly smashing his toe into some random boxes in the middle of the living room floor. “God damn it!” he ground out as he limped for a step or two. The short burst of pain not improving his already sour mood.

  The apartment was not his. Having gotten in a little after 3:00 am he didn’t get a chance to really get the lay of the terrain before face planting in the bed. Having no home of his own, Conner was crashing at a buddy’s during a five week leave. Knowing his friend, he should have guessed the place would be barely furnished and littered with half empty moving boxes. His friend spent almost as much time deployed overseas as he did.

  Ten years ago, Conner walked away from a tenured professorship to become a Marine. His friends and family blamed his failed marriage. Said he was just confused and going through a phase. Bullshit. Men didn’t go through phases. It was simple. He married the wrong woman when he was too young. Fate stepped in and saved him. Well, fate in the shape of a rich, car dealer. His wife wanted pretty, sparkly things, and he wanted more out of life than a shallow wife who only wanted pretty, sparkly things. All’s well that ends well. The ink dried on his enlistment papers before it dried on his divorce papers. He sold everything he owned and lived only for the Corp ever since. He had never been happier. His life had purpose. He made a difference. He relished his role as protector and fighter.

  Although, at this particular moment, there were two unknown females who were going to need protection from him.

  Sage was breaking the law.

  It was for a good reason, but for some reason, she didn’t think the cops would see it that way if they got caught. It was all in the service of her long-time friend, Melissa. Sage loved her friend dearly, but she also dearly tried her patience. For all her intelligence, Melissa had rubbish taste in men. This last one was a real doozy. After two weeks of dating, her friend was in love and had moved in with “Ricardo.” It took half that time to realize Ricardo was not his real name… shocker! Her friend’s Lying Latin Lover had also run up her credit cards, put a mysterious large dent in the passenger door of her car and stolen her iPhone. The last straw for Sage was when Melissa showed up at her apartment with a black eye.

  It had taken two bottles of pinot grigio, one disgusting roll of raw cookie dough and both The Notebook and Sleepless in Seattle but Melissa finally agreed to leave the
lying, probably cheating bastard. The only problem was, the apartment was technically his. So they had waited till he left for work to sneak in/break in to retrieve her stuff and well… perhaps do a little payback while they were there.

  Sage was desperately shoving Melissa’s belongings into a tiny Hello Kitty suitcase she found next to the sofa. Why a twenty-eight-year-old woman had a Hello Kitty suitcase was a conversation that would have to wait for another time. During the euphoric high from too much wine and ridiculously raised romantic expectations (she blamed Hollywood), this all seemed like a great idea, but now Sage was terrified Melissa’s somewhat large, violent boyfriend could return at any moment.

  She needed to get Melissa out of here.

  Grabbing a teddy bear from the bureau, then sliding her arm along the top to dump all Melissa’s makeup, jewelry and random hair crap into her backpack, Sage rushed back into the living room.

  At that moment, the front door crashed open. Sage’s heart stopped. Filling the doorway, was over six feet of very angry male. Correction. Over six feet of practically naked, very angry male. Good lord! The man was a huge wall of solid muscle, from his broad chest to his thickly, toned arms. He even had the deep ridges from six pack abs that you usually only see in magazine underwear ads. Speaking of underwear. He was wearing navy blue Calvin Klein’s that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Sage reflexively swallowed. If that’s what his cock looked like slack, it must be positively frightening hard and fully aroused! The illicit thought sent a deep flush to her already pink cheeks. Needing to distract herself from the stranger’s large cock, Sage dragged her eyes up to his face. Big mistake.

  Christ! The man was gorgeous. Right down to his slightly crooked nose. Probably broken in a fight, Sage mused. Yes, a fight. Where he got all sweaty and worked up… and… and…

  “What the fuck is going on in here?” Conner growled.

  The deep, masculine voice startled Sage out of her school girl daydream.

  “Your eyes match your underwear,” she blurted out.

  “What?” he asked, thoroughly confused.

  Sage just stood there, mouth agape. Mortified. While it was true his eyes were a deep blue that perfectly matched the dark blue underwear that still hugged his considerable package, she had no intention of telling him so! She had no choice but to go on the offensive.

  “I meant… just who do you think you are barging in here?” Sage ordered in her most haughty, commanding voice.

  Conner ran his hand down his face. Reaching deep into his training for calm and discipline. First some recon.

  This apartment was larger than his buddy’s, but the layout was similar. Unlike his buddy’s, it was filled with furniture and various belongings, most of which seemed to be tossed on the floor. In the corner was a female in her late twenties, rather tall with curly red hair. She froze the moment he entered, which was good since she had a PlayStation suspended over her head.

  It was the second female who really caught his attention. Also in her late twenties, she was petite with wavy, honey-brown hair cut a few inches above her shoulders. It seemed to twirl and bounce every time she moved her head. The early afternoon sunlight played off what he was certain were faint pink highlights, showing she had a bit of a wild streak about her. Despite her small stature, she had nice tits which were gloriously on display in a tight, baby-doll t-shirt which also showed off her small waist and curvy hips. Conner would need to think of a reason to make her bend over so he could check out her ass.

  It was a good thing he didn’t become too distracted by those amazing tits and finally looked up to see her face, otherwise he would have missed those gorgeous, big, brown eyes checking out his cock. He felt his shaft stir to life. Down boy. He still needed to assess the situation. The last thing he needed was a raging hard-on while possibly confronting two thieves, regardless of how beautiful one of them may be.

  The red head moved, raising her arms higher, preparing to drop the PlayStation.

  Conner pointed a menacing finger in her direction and said in his most authoritative voice, “Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to put that down, right now.”

  Melissa lowered her arms and looked to Sage for guidance.

  “You can’t tell her what to do!” cried Sage. “Smash it, Melissa!”

  Melissa raised her arms again.

  “Ma’am, I’m warning you.”

  Melissa lowered her arms.

  “Don’t call her ma’am!” ordered a frustrated Sage, arms akimbo. “Melissa, if you don’t smash that, I will.”

  The little one was quite the spitfire when she was angry, thought Conner with a smile. That kind of energy was usually equally as fun in bed. He really did enjoy a woman with spirit. He had to admire her loyalty to her friend as well, not many women would face larceny charges in the service of a friend. Not to mention face down a complete stranger who was as intimidating as himself.

  Melissa raised her arms again.

  “Ma’am is a sign of respect which I am trying to show you despite the fact you are probably both thieves,” said Conner as he took a step further into the room, his eyes focused on the petite one. Without turning his head or losing focus, he warned Melissa again, “Put that damn thing down before I lose my patience.”

  “Sage, I can’t hold it any longer. It’s heavier than it looks,” whined Melissa.

  Sage? Conner laughed. “What the hell kind of name is Sage?”

  Sage drew her shoulders back, affronted. The offended movement was lost on Conner since it only served to push her breasts out more prominently. Sage had been teased about her odd name her whole life. She would be damned if she would explain to this arrogant ass about her unorthodox upbringing with her two chef parents. Besides, Sage was the lucky one, just ask her sister, Damiana, named after a Mexican aphrodisiac herb her parents enjoyed before Damiana was conceived.

  “Forget it. Just grab your stuff and let’s get out of here,” directed Sage to Melissa. “We have already wasted enough time.” The last part was uttered with a disgusted look directed at Conner.

  She didn’t care if he was one of the sexiest men she had ever laid eyes on. He was distracting them from their purpose, which was to grab Melissa’s stuff, destroy a little of Ricardo’s crap and get the hell out of there.

  “What exactly is going on here?” he asked again. Trying to keep his attention on the matter at hand and not on her beautiful pink lips and all the possibilities with them that came to mind.

  Clearly they were not going to make a clean get away until this man got his explanation thought Sage. Sensing he had a very low tolerance for bullshit, she decided that an abridged version of the truth was her best bet. She also needed to get as far away from him as possible, as soon as possible, before she truly embarrassed herself by staring too long or saying something really bad like blurting out please fuck me! Besides, they had already done enough damage to the Lying Latin Lover’s apartment.

  “Not that it is any of your business,” responded an exasperated Sage, “but my friend just broke up with one of your asshole kind and we are here to retrieve her stuff.”

  Conner raised an eyebrow, taking in the completely trashed apartment behind her.

  Without missing a beat, Sage said archly, “We were in a hurry.” By way of a completely, unapologetic explanation.

  “Uh… huh,” said Conner, trying to look serious and failing. The fact was, he was a Marine, not a cop. He didn’t even know the poor bastard these women had targeted. As long as they weren’t leaving with the television or anything really expensive, he didn’t see why it was his business to get more involved.

  Turning to Melissa, he stated, “Well, ma’am, on behalf of my asshole kind, please accept my apologies. Carry on.” Conner turned to leave.

  Just as he was crossing the hall, he could hear the spitfire’s friend loudly whisper, “Why didn’t you ask for his number?”

  “Are you serious?” asked Sage.

  “Why not?” said Melissa. �
�He’s hot.”

  “Um… maybe because he caught us in the middle of committing a felony and we’re lucky he didn’t call the cops!” rejoined Sage. “Now, grab this stupid Hello Kitty suitcase of yours, and let’s get the fuck out of here.”

  Melissa was right. The guy was incredibly hot but it wasn’t just the circumstances that were all wrong. Sage could tell he was one of those arrogant take-charge types. She was far too independent to ever even consider dating a guy like that. Plus, the whole felony larceny thing would probably be a deal breaker anyway.

  Conner closed the door on the rest of their conversation. Making his way back to the bedroom, careful to avoid the pile of boxes this time, he collapsed on the bed. The moment he closed his eyes, a vision of almond-shaped, doe brown eyes and large pink lips assailed him. Grabbing a pillow, Conner smashed it against his face and groaned. He was only in town for a few weeks before he left for training, then more than likely, another deployment.

  He needed a woman who was game for a few laughs and a quick fuck with no strings. Any idiot could see Sage was not that kind of a woman. Despite being grouped together with his temporary unknown neighbor, he was not the asshole kind. As a Marine, he was a man of honor. He took that seriously. It was why, despite their obvious attraction, he didn’t pursue it. Didn’t try to ask for her number like he wanted. A woman like that deserved some steady nine-to-fiver like an accountant. Someone who would wine and dine her. Not fuck her and leave her.

  “Fuck, he’s back early. Quick, get in the car, Melissa,” cried out Sage.

  Conner was on his feet in an instant. He heard Sage through the open living room balcony door. She was out front in the apartment parking lot. Dammit. The asshole-kind, bastard boyfriend must have returned. Throwing on a pair of jeans, he started for the front door.