“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!”
Chapter Six
When they were out of sight of the arena crowd and heading back toward the dressing rooms, he dropped her onto her feet and caught her by the waist to keep her from bolting. He ignored her angry attempt to shrug him off and he shook his head slowly. “That was one hell of a performance, Sam. You really should have warned me you were coming to the event tonight.”
She scowled, ineffectually trying to peel his hands off her. Her eyes slid to her excited gaggle of young bodyguards. “A lot of good you guys were. You should have stopped that guy from grabbing me!” It was hard to stay angry with David’s strong hands sliding over her body.
“Stopped the Wolfman? You gotta be joking, Ms. Hastings. We’d be nothing but bloody mush right now if we’d tried.” Greg shook his head. “Besides, we knew they were just making a big show of it. He wouldn’t have hurt you.”
Sam started to disagree hotly but Greg’s suddenly huge eyes and the sound of a deep laugh behind her made her turn her head sharply.
“You’re one tough little gal, you know that?” a deep, gravelly voice said and she looked up to see the bleeding Wolfman grinning at her from his seven-foot height. He was using his fingers to squeeze the bridge of his nose to slow the still oozing nosebleed.
She blushed hotly and swallowed. “I- I’m terribly sorry about that, Mr. Wolfman. You grabbed me somewhere personal. I reacted badly.”
The huge man laughed and held up one hand as if to ward off another attack. “My apologies, dollface. It ain’t often I get to cop a feel off a classy broad. Thought you were part of the show. They usually put someone who knows the ropes out in the audience. Most of the time, I end up with a couple of the divas piling on me.”
Sam tried hard not to smile, still breathlessly aware of David’s hands wrapping even more possessively around her waist as she turned to face the taller man. “From the look of those divas, I’d say you should be thrilled about that.”
“You bet, honey. And he’s damn lucky we don’t take it personally when he says we aren’t classy broads.” The tall blonde who had won the match earlier was walking out of her dressing room, wearing artfully torn jeans and a tight pullover sweater that showed her augmented body to perfection. She reached out to shake Sam’s hand and she gave her a smile. “Nice to meet the woman who finally roped and saddled
“Virgins?” Sam blinked, her eyes moving from the statuesque blonde to David’s face. Now there was a word she would never have attached to David Chance-at least since the age of consent.
“Never-married males, honey. He’s managed to evade every noose tossed at him, until now.” The diva grinned at her, waved at the drooling guys and walked off with a sensuous grace, out the door to the street.
David glanced at the guys and he said quietly, “Can you keep her from running off until I go get dressed?”
“You bet!” Greg grinned.
“Traitors!” She frowned as David slowly released her and Joe took her elbow gently.
“It’s worth free front row tickets to the next event here at the arena.” David’s voice floated back over his broad shoulder.
When he was out of sight, Joe released her wrist and said quietly, “Look, if you don’t wanna stay, we’ll get you back to the hotel.”
She rubbed her ribs where she knew bruises were forming. She smiled at him and shook her head. “No, it’s okay. Thanks for the offer. But it’s a brave guy who’s willing to stand up to Chance Braza for a lady’s honor.”
The small brunette diva named Heidi was walking toward them, wearing knee-high spike-heeled boots and skin-tight jeans. She gave the guys the eye then grinned at Sam. “Got yourself a harem, huh? Wanna share the wealth?”
Sam smiled and shook her head. “You took some pretty solid hits out there. I admire you.”
The woman was obviously older than she’d looked in the ring but she was still gorgeous enough to give Sam a pang of envy. She tilted her head and grinned. “One of the hazards of the job. I heard you handed out some nasty shit to the guys. Good for you. These guys get to thinking that women are the weaker sex. You showed them!”
“Yeah.” Sam made a wry face. “I showed them by getting myself thrown around like a rag doll,” she grinned, shaking her head and rubbing her bruised ribs gently.
“But look who caught you, honey.” The dark eyes of the woman were slightly sad. “A lot of us would give our right arm to have him catch us.”
Sam watched the woman walk seductively down the corridor and out to the street and she drew a deep breath. She wondered how many other women had fallen head over heels for David Chance and ended up being left in the dust as he moved on to the next woman who caught his eye. That one most probably had. She wondered how long it would take before he decided Sam Hastings wasn’t what he wanted either. Could she handle that rejection when it finally came? She shuddered and shook herself back to rational thought.
It only took about fifteen minutes for David to reappear in the corridor, dressed in dress slacks, boots and a lush Egyptian cotton shirt. Someone had placed a neat little butterfly bandage over the cut on his face and he looked none the worse for wear. She couldn’t help but stare as he moved toward where they waited in a tight knot in the corridor outside the dressing rooms. He seemed to know exactly how he affected her, as he smiled wickedly and sent a wave of sexual heat streaking along every nerve in her skinny, unsexy, silicone-free body.
“You guys need a ride somewhere?” he asked as they turned to face him, surrounding her protectively.
“We’re staying at the Friendly Motel a few blocks down.” Joe’s dark eyes moved from the wrestler’s face to Sam’s. Her eyes shifted to David’s and she hoped he wasn’t going to rip her young bodyguard’s head from his shoulders.
“No problem.” David didn’t miss a beat and, as he led the way out the street door to where a large crowd had gathered, he caught her elbow and pulled her tightly against his side. As they left the glass doors, he leaned in close and breathed in above her ear, “Got yourself a fan club, I see.”
But before she could make any response to his teasing murmur, they were mobbed by what seemed to be hundreds of fans who waited outside the exit, waving autograph books and various pieces of FPW merchandise, hoping for an autograph. David laughed softly and entered the melee. Security staff kept them moving toward the limo that waited as David paused every other step to laugh and joke and sign and grin at his fans.
“Chance! Sign my shirt!”
A middle-aged woman stuck her ample breasts in front of him and he took her felt-tip pen and said softly, “Hold still now so it won’t smear, okay?” as he scrawled his autograph across the top of her breasts. When he had finished, she grabbed him around the neck and dragged his head down so she could plant a kiss on his smiling mouth. “I love you, Chance!” she shrieked, as a security team member efficiently dragged her away.
“It’s wild!” one of her young companions said as they were escorted slowly through the jostling crowd of autograph seekers, a number of whom attempted to get an autograph from Sam as well but were not allowed to do so.
Once in the safe shelter of the stretch limo that waited at the curb, the young men began to talk all at once, asking David about the FPW stars and if they could get some autographs from the others. He grinned at them and said quietly, “You boys gonna be here for the second show tomorrow night?”
“Nah. We have to fly back to Council Bluffs on the ten fifteen plane.” Joe shook his head and looked disheartened.
“Well, I owe you. Stick around. You’re officially my guests for the event tomorrow night. Backstage passes. And I’ll pay your ticket change fees so you can fly out after the event. You can join the autograph party beforehand and
