Out of Her Dreams

Chapter Five

“Ms. Hastings!”

She was waiting on the airport curb for her cab when Joe Garcia hurried up beside her, shoving her latest novel in front of her with a pen. “We just pooled our spending money and bought this in the airport gift shop. Could you sign it for us?”

She grinned at the hulking group of young men surrounding her and she wrote a few lines then signed her name. She handed the book back to Joe, who held it up to read it.

“Wow. That’s some autograph, Ms. Hastings. Thanks!”

“Let me see!”

“Keep your paws off. You’ll get it dirty!”

“What’d she write?”

Sam smiled at them and said softly, “I wrote, ‘To a great bunch of guys, especially you, Joe, who is such a great fan of Chance’s. Your friend, Samantha Hastings’.”

She was about to move to the cab that had pulled up when one of the guys said, “You gonna be at the event tonight, Ms. Hastings? You can go with us.”

“I don’t have a ticket, boys. But thanks for the offer,” she smiled, as the cabbie started loading her bags into the trunk while she juggled the cat carrier and her bag.

“Hey, we can let her use Jim’s. He couldn’t get the cash together for the plane ticket.”

Joe fished in his camouflage jacket pocket and came up with a handful of tickets. He looked them over and then handed her one. “We were gonna try to sell it to get the cash back but Greg’s right. You can go with us, Ms. Hastings.”

Sam blinked at them as they waited eagerly for her answer. “Wow. That’s so sweet of you. But I really can’t take the ticket unless you let me pay for it.”

Joe flushed and shrugged. “If you really wanna. It was kinda expensive.”

“When does the event start?”

“Seven. We were gonna sit around the arena until it’s time to go in. We have some cash left for hot dogs and stuff,” one of the other boys piped up.

“Well, how about this. Since you were kind enough to invite me to join you tonight, how about I pay you for the ticket now and meet you all at the arena tonight?” She handed them three twenties, which they crowed over excitedly, and she waved as they headed for the shuttle area while she climbed into her cab.

The front desk clerk ran his finger down the list. “I have you listed as Mr. Braza’s guest, Ms. Hastings, in his suite.”

Sam blinked. “But I reserved a single of my own…”

“The hotel reservation was changed when Mr. Braza came down earlier.” He gazed at her, waiting. Sam sighed and shrugged. She might as well enjoy the free stay. She would sort out the sleeping accommodations later.

“That will be fine. I have my cat with me.”

“No problem at all, Ms. Hastings.” The man signaled a bellhop and she was whisked into the elevator with her luggage and her cat carrier as if she were royalty.

She tried to tip the bellhop as he left, but the man smiled and shook his head. “That’s all been taken care of, Ms. Hastings. Enjoy your stay.”

Once Snowball was nicely settled into the large bathroom with his food dish, water bowl, litter box and a few minutes of loving, she made her way back to the bedroom and tossed her largest case onto the king-sized bed. She searched for the proper attire for her excursion. She wasn’t sure what would be best to wear to the event, so she chose a pair of designer jeans and a tank top worn under a light cardigan sweater. She dragged her unruly mop up into a ponytail and pulled on her western boots. That should, hopefully, be casual enough to sit in a shrieking crowd of wrestling fans.

She glanced at her watch as she emerged from the bedroom into the sitting room. She explored his marvelous luxury apartment, hovering with a smile over a bowl of fruit on the glass-topped dining table. There was time for a meal, but since she wasn’t terribly hungry she opted for an apple and a huge orange rather than trying to find ingredients and fix anything more substantial to eat.

He lived in decadent luxury. Who’d have thought that high-class hotels had apartments for permanent residents? She sighed and munched the apple she’d chosen as she poked her head into the guest bedroom. She had an hour before she had to leave for the arena. She decided to move her stuff into the smaller bedroom, so Snowball could wander a bit and not be stuck in the marble-tiled bathroom.

By the time her things were neatly stacked in the guestroom and Snowball was curled up on her queen-sized bed, it was time to call for a taxi again. And despite her misgivings about being in a crowd of thousand of screaming people, she was actually looking forward to going. Besides, she would have her own bodyguards. A phalanx of strapping, tattooed, pierced and otherwise menacing-looking young guys who would see that she came to no harm. Right?

Stepping out of the taxi, she was instantly surrounded by the guys who had been watching for her arrival. She took the soft pink cylinders that Joe handed her and frowned. “What are these for?”

“Ear plugs. It’s gonna be real noisy in the arena. No acoustics in there. Just a lot of noise. You’ll be deaf after a couple of hours of that. We always bring them.”

“Thanks.” She tucked the earplugs into her jeans pocket and said, “Okay, entourage, it’s time to rumble.”

The arena was packed from top to bottom with twenty-five thousand roaring, yelling fans and she pressed the pink plugs into her ears gratefully as she followed the five young men down a long stairway from the mezzanine entrance to the seats blocked out at ringside. As she sank onto the chair they pointed out to her, between Greg and Joe, she was completely amazed by the number of people who were holding up colorful homemade signs and blowing horns and making all sorts of racket in a frenzied carnival atmosphere. Good Lord, it was wilder than New Orleans at Mardi Gras!

She shook her head. This was the kind of notoriety he knew. This screaming, raucous mob of frenzied wrestling fans who idolized him. One purple-haired woman had his likeness actually tattooed on her cheek. Others swore skimpy T-shirts with his black eyes glaring out of them. More than one girl of about thirteen was holding up a banner that read, “CB, will you marry me?”

Sam had never seen anything like it. She hadn’t exactly lived a sheltered existence but this type of adulation was surreal. When the ring announcer at last climbed the steps at the corner of the ring and bent to enter, the place went even wilder, if that were at all possible.

“Welcome, Chicago! We at the FPW are thrilled to be back with you once again. I’m sure you’re going to enjoy our main events tonight. We have two world championship diva matches for your enjoyment!” A roar went up. “And three FPW challenge events to see who gets a shot at FPW bad boy Chance Braza and his world title. The winners of all three matches will join up in a three-against-one free-for-all. Watch out, Braza, they’re coming after your title!”

Another couple of minutes of screaming and yelling and then it started with a few warm-up matches between those in the FPW who were still working their way up the steep road to mega-stardom, just to get the arena worked up for the main events. As Sam watched the antics in the ring, she wondered what on earth would possess grown men to behave in such a macho, embarrassing manner. There was enough testosterone running rampant in that ring to sink a battleship. Muscular, sweating bodies-totally denuded of body hair-and grunts of exertion and rage that would rival a herd of fighting bulls running the streets of Madrid before the corrida.

But when the divas climbed into the ring, Sam couldn’t believe what she saw. The women had enough raw silicone on board to make the guys’ tongues hang out and they were dressed in some pretty skimpy bits of clothing, which pleased the guys seated around her as they shouted for their favorites and gave bawdy advice to the women. If these were the females who worked arm in arm with David Chance, what the hell was he doing chasing her sorry ass? She had never seen so many stunningly gorgeous women in one place outside Hollywood.

Even so, Sam felt a grudging admiration for the women in that ring. The matches may have been choreographed but the girls were taking some damn serious hits. She could see the mat scrapes on knees and elbows and one of the blondes really gave it to a small brunette as she came flying off the ropes. Sam knew enough about martial arts and momentum to know that the brunette was really gasping for breath after a slam to the mat.

After the diva matches came the elimination matches for the right to join forces against David. Sam winced and closed her eyes several times and nearly jumped out of her skin when one of the hapless wrestlers came flying out of the ring and landed smack in the row of seats two rows ahead as spectators ran for safety. She realized numbly that all five of the young men were on their feet, ready to catch any flying bodies that appeared to be coming too close. She grinned as she realized they were taking their jobs as bodyguards very seriously.

When the match between the towering, menacing Wolfman and another heavyweight with a bald head and a big belly began, Greg was on his feet like a madman, cheering on the Wolfman. Sam recognized the giant from the match she’d seen on TV in Council Bluffs and she held her hands over her mouth as she watched. He was seriously huge. The Wolfman made fast work of his unfortunate opponent, throwing him over the ropes and into the front row on the far side of the ring, where the man lay groaning and acting as if he couldn’t move.

At closer quarters, Sam could see that most of the slamming blows she’d thought were terrifically hard were, in reality, quite gentle, considering the size and weight and sheer animal power of these huge men. But “gentle” was only a relative term, because if any of those men hit a normal person that hard, it would knock them for a loop. She grimaced as she thought about what damage David Chance could do to her if she angered him. She gave a little shudder and hoped he was in a really good mood tonight.

When the Wolfman picked up and body slammed his opponent, she realized that the mat absorbed about fifty percent of the slam as it recoiled and bounced back. “Way to go, Wolfman!” Greg shouted at the top of his lungs, but she was sure there was far too much noise for the man to have heard him.

The huge wrestler held his opponent up against the ropes and slugged him in the head five times in quick succession, but she could see that he was not applying full force. He was pulling his punches and allowing his half-curled hand to close so that it looked like he was really slamming the guy in the head hard.

”That’s gotta hurt!” Greg was swinging air punches and howling.

After the eliminations ended, another match gave the big guys a breather and then the place went crazy as the Wolfman, another hulking bald-headed giant and one totally huge Japanese sumo-looking wrestler all entered the ring to greet their nemesis, Chance Braza.

Oh. My. God. The sight of those three waiting for her dream lover left her trembling in genuine fear for his life, despite the fact that this was all supposed to be a well-rehearsed act. The pyrotechnic display was enough to scare the hell out of the local fire marshal as the crowd rose to its feet with a roar and Joe pulled her up with him. “It’s Chance!”

She wasn’t tall enough to see over the heads of the two rows of jumping, shouting fans that separated her from the aisle and so she sat back down. But Joe and Greg dragged her back off the seat and hoisted her by the waist high enough for her to see him walking down the long ramp to the ring, wearing that ornate championship belt about his massive body. The sight of him was enough to set off all her inner alarms and make her wonder if she had a damn brain in her head to agree to come here and give him another shot at her screaming libido. She swallowed hard and, as he mounted the metal steps to the ring, they lowered her back to her feet.

“Thanks, guys.” Her voice was shaky. Like her legs. And her body.

“No problem, Ms. Hastings,” Joe grinned.

She watched as Chance jumped onto the ropes and held up his fists and shouted and the fans went crazy. Then he was standing on the ropes on her side of the ring and she bent her head and put her hand over her face, suddenly afraid that he might see and recognize her.

“Who’s the best?”

His deep voice boomed out over the audience and everyone around her was screaming “Chance Braza!” at the top of their lungs. Joe grinned down at her and nudged her in the side with a teasing elbow.

“What’re you hiding for? I’d be up letting him know I was here.”

“No thanks. I’d rather not.” She blushed hotly.

Then the announcer gave the rules for the match. There was only one rule-when a man was knocked out of the ring, he had one minute to get back in or forfeit. The last man standing in the ring would own the ornate championship belt that David was now hoisting over his head as he turned in a slow circle in the center of the ring.

Her eyes drank in the hot, rippling body that she remembered so intimately and she put her hands to her cheeks to cool them. What if he got hurt? What would she do? Would she faint? No. She’d probably go up there and beat the crap out of the guy who hurt him. She bit her lip and tried to remember that he was a big man, with a great deal of physical power and that he had been doing this stuff for a very long time.

When the match began, the four big men taunted and circled, until the big sumo-looking wrestler slammed a fist into David’s gut and Wolfman tried to toss the bald-headed giant over the ropes to eliminate the third challenger. After that, they seemed to pair off in twos, with the Wolfman still going after the hulking giant and the huge sumo-looking guy charging David, head down.

While the other two slammed each other, threw each other and slugged each other, David had his hands full with the four-hundred-pound sumo. He was about two hundred pounds lighter than his opponent, who seemed to be oblivious to the hardest blows to body or head. He got a hold of David and hoisted him over his head, flinging him into the other pair of men, which resulted in those two ganging up on David while he was down on the mat, as well.

Sam whimpered and covered her face several times but Joe kept saying, “He’s okay. He’s back up.”

She tried to not look at the ring and instead let her eyes wander around the crowded arena and it was only then that she realized the event was being televised. Cameras were rolling from the back of the arena, from the area just behind the floor seats and from ringside.

And then Joe was pointing at the huge screens that were fifty feet in the air above the ring, so that the fans in the upper reaches could get close-ups of the action-and she followed his gaze to see her own face as she sat, her hands covering her mouth, looking stricken.

Holy shit!

“Oh no!” she gasped, ducking down and hiding behind the people in the seats in front of them.

The cameraman on her side of the ring had apparently been alerted by someone that the woman Chance Braza was searching for was in the arena, sitting at ringside. From the videos being shown overhead, it was obvious that he had been moving closer and closer until he’d gotten a good, clear shot of her face in the reflected light from the spots on the ring, and had been recording her face and reactions. They were cycling her shocked looks and wide eyes onscreen whenever David took a particularly hard slam or blow.

After she ducked, the cameraman turned his camera back to the ring but the video footage they already had kept playing again and again at appropriate moments.

She imagined that David had to be aware of her presence by now. The whole damn arena was aware of her presence. She noted heads craning to see her and she groaned as Joe nudged her again with that sharp elbow. But David seemed to be too hard pressed by three opponents to acknowledge her in any way.

She returned her attention to the ring just as all hell broke loose around her and David came flying over the ropes as if launched from a catapult. People in the two rows in front all scattered as his heavy body slammed into the chairs right in front of her with a sickening crash.

Joe and Greg were on their feet as David struggled up from the bent and broken chairs and turned toward her. The pain on his face was very real but when his eyes met hers, a crooked grin replaced the grimace of pain as he flung two chairs aside and towered over her, much to the rabid, screaming delight of twenty-five-thousand wrestling fans.

Joe gave a whoop and shoved her to her feet and before she could blink or move out of David’s way, she was being dragged into his arms, against his perspiring, blood-spattered body and being kissed silly in front of the entire wrestling world.

Oh, how good he tasted. How good he felt. Her body melted as he dragged her against him, letting her feel every hard, rippling muscle from chest to thighs. He was sweaty and hot and the veins stood out on his face and body like rivers on a map. He was totally amazing. Totally beautiful. And he wanted her, Sam Hastings.

Her mind deserted her. Her glands took over again and she wrapped her arms and legs about him and kissed him back, taking the initiative as she swept her tongue into his hot mouth, seeking his. She heard the deep, rumbling groan that shook his chest, felt it in her mouth as he devoured her like a starving sailor trapped on a desert island without food or water. His large hands slid down to drag her ass closer to his hips and she whimpered.

It didn’t matter that she was on TV. It didn’t matter at all that the guys were shouting encouragement to David. All that mattered for that one, marvelous moment was that he was kissing her again like she had been kissed in her dreams, in his bed.

And then all hell broke loose again.

Powerful arms snaked around her from behind and she was dragged painfully away from him as he was dragged away from her by two of his opponents, who had apparently followed him out of the ring. She realized that the man holding her in midair and laughing was none other than the Wolfman, because the other two were dragging David back to the ring and flinging him back under the ropes.

Struggling to regain a footing as she was being held tightly in a pair of massive steel arms, she was too shocked to think lucidly-until she felt the wrestler’s hand give her left breast a familiar squeeze. A deep laugh and hot breath close behind her ear galvanized her into action. “Nice. Real nice.”

“Put me down, you jerk!” she yelled as she kicked backward. The heels of her boots found his shins and ankles and she slammed her head back into his face. She felt cartilage snapping and she was released instantly to fall on the floor as the huge wrestler put his hands to his face and gave a muffled curse.

The crowd roared as she was dragged up by her young bodyguards and she turned to see that she had broken the Wolfman’s nose. Blood was running between his ham-sized hands and she gasped, “Sorry. But you should know better than to grab someone’s breast!”

The enraged look on that bloody face made her give a little shriek of fear and she bolted through the mangled chairs toward the ring, nearly knocking the cameraman off his feet as the roaring wrestler behind her gave chase, flinging chairs every which way as he pursued her.

“Dear God, how the hell do I get myself into these messes?” she gasped as she dodged around the ring. He followed her, his eyes narrowed with anticipation. He would tear her head off. The second time around the ring, she dashed up the metal steps, flinging herself under the ropes and clambering to her feet, her eyes on the man who was now climbing the steps slowly, his face contorted into a blood-smeared, leering grin as he bent to step between the ropes.

She whirled around to see David being held down on the mat by the sumo guy while the other giant was climbing the corner ropes. Horrified, she wasn’t exactly considering that this was all just an elaborate act. She simply reacted instinctively and charged the huge man balancing on the ropes for a dive onto David’s body. She caught him at thigh level with her palms and shoved him backward as hard as she could, sending him sprawling into the outer area where he landed with a resounding crash on the announcers’ table, as both of those men bolted with yells of shock.

She shrieked as she was grabbed from behind again and she struggled helplessly as she was hoisted bodily over the sumo guy’s head by the seat of her pants and the back of her tank top and sweater. She gave a cry of shock and closed her eyes, expecting to be flung from the ring to land on top of the man who was trying to climb out of the mangled table.

But instead of flying out of the ring, she felt him turn toward the center and she looked wildly around to see David rising from the mat after having taken down the bleeding Wolfman. He shot her a quick, unreadable look, dragged the Wolfman up from the mat and, hoisting him overhead with a Herculean effort, flung the wrestler from the ring onto the floor, where the man lay moaning.

As David turned to face the gigantic man who was holding her over his head, she realized that he actually looked alarmed. She saw that he was shouting but couldn’t hear what he was saying over the roar of the crowd and her earplugs. She felt the man pull back to throw her and she automatically drew herself into a defensive ball as she felt her body being launched.

She screamed as she flew through the air in what seemed to be slow motion-until she slammed into a solid object that seemed to absorb most of the momentum of her flight and then she was rolling across the mat, miraculously unhurt.

She scrambled to her feet and turned to see the huge sumo guy go flying out of the ring to land on the staggering Wolfman, who had regained his feet just in time to catch the flying sumo. She saw David wheel around to face her across the ring and she realized he was saying something to her. She dragged the earplugs out and shouted above the roar of the arena, “What? I didn’t hear you!”

“I said, what the hell were you thinking?” He was bleeding from a cut above his left eye as he stalked across the mat toward her like some jungle cat after its prey. His face was oddly pale and his eyes were furious. “When you jump into the ring, you’re fair game. You’re goddamn lucky I caught you!”

She swallowed hard, taking a shaky step backward. “What? Didn’t you see that big jerk chase me up here?” Her voice was shaking as she backed away another step.

“He wouldn’t have hurt you. He was just playing the heel.” His dark eyes slid over her rumpled, disarranged top that had been dragged up to bare a large section of her midriff.

“Well, he didn’t look like he was gonna hug me after I broke his nose!” she yelled, taking another step back as he took another step forward. She tugged her top down jerkily.

“You did what?” His face changed from a black scowl to an amazed grin.

“He grabbed me where he had no business putting his damn hands and I head-butted him in the face.” She glared at him. “And it’s not all that funny!”

David stopped where he was and grinned broadly at her. “Maybe you should be the one who gets the belt.” He planted his hands on his hips and shook his head. “And what the hell are you doing here? I figured you’d be safely tucked away in the apartment.”

“Well, I got a ticket from some pals of mine and I decided to come see you in action.” She noted his forward movement and backed off again.

“And what did you think of the action?” Another step closer.

“I think every damn one of you is completely insane!” she snapped, and tensed as he moved closer. “You keep away from me!” She jabbed her forefinger toward him warningly.

“You do realize that we are having this discussion in front of twenty-five-thousand fans and a TV audience of millions more?” His eyes were gleaming with laughter as hers widened and she bit the corner of that lush lower lip.

“I don’t give a damn. You just stay over there. I’m going now. Don’t you even try to stop me!” She held up one hand as if to hold him back by sheer willpower.

She backed to the ropes and bent to climb between them, her wary eyes on his face. Once on the outside of the ring, she made her way around to the metal steps, hurried down and, as she turned to face the screaming, roaring crowd, she swallowed hard and looked around nervously for her five companions. She spotted Greg and Joe leaning over the barrier of the aisle and she started toward them.

“You gonna let her get away again, Chance?” voices shouted.

“Hell no!” His voice was right behind her and she gave a little shriek of shock as he swung her bodily from the floor and flung her unceremoniously over one broad shoulder and walked briskly up the ramp to the entrance, amid the cheers and screams of the crowd.

Of all the damn nerve! His hand was planted possessively on her ass as he carried her like a sack of potatoes past cheering spectators who were urging him to make sure she didn’t get away this time. She kicked and squirmed and pounded his hard back with her fists, her face bright red with humiliation.

“Put. Me. Down!” She could feel his hand clamping even more possessively over her butt as he ignored her.

Joe and the guys were shoving through the crowd toward the top of the ramp and she saw them outside the railing as her captor carried her toward the curtains. “Help me! You’re supposed to be my bodyguards, dammit!” she yelled in frustration.

“No way, Ms. Hastings. He won you fair and square!” Joe laughed, holding both hands up in helpless surrender.

David paused to glance at the young men who were grinning at her. “You’re the pals who gave her the ticket?”

Greg nodded.

“I owe you one. Come on!”