Rolling With the Punches by Samantha Westlake Read Free Book Online

over most of the other, much smaller well-dressed gentlemen around him. Some of the men were undoubtedly shouting to Rhodes, and I could see hands patting him on the back and shoulders, but he was ignoring them all. He had accepted a towel from one of the offerings, and was rubbing it over his damp face and through his sweaty hair.
    The man was looking around, and he seemed to pause once again as he spotted me watching him. I froze too, feeling a bit like a rabbit caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. Considering the man's huge size, perhaps that was an apt comparison.
    My body wasn't moving, but it wasn't unfeeling - and I could feel a strange tingle creeping up from the tips of my limbs, suffusing my muscles. I wasn't sure what this was from, but as it slid up my neck, I suddenly found myself picturing that moment in Rhodes' dressing room, his hands ripping at my skirt as I had kissed him passionately. Was that what this was about?
    As I forced myself away from this inner vision, I looked up - and a squeak of shock slipped out from between my lips. While I had been lost in pleasant recollection, Rhodes had managed to shoulder through the group of people in the boxing ring that stood between us - and was now at the edge of the ring, staring down at me through the ropes!
    In an easy motion, the man reached down with one big, strong arm, and lifted up the ropes. He ducked under, and jumped down, landing right in front of me! I could barely take my eyes off of him, but I briefly caught Alexis's face out of the corner of one eye. For the first time that I could remember, she looked just as shocked as I felt.
    "What are you doing?" I managed to get out after a second, as Rhodes continued to advance forward towards me.
    The man bent forward, his lips only inches from my ear. "Why, claiming my prize," he whispered to me, as if this should have been obvious. I could feel his hot breath on my neck as he spoke, and despite myself, those visions came creeping back into my head.
    "Claiming your prize? What are you talking about?" I demanded.
    At least, that was what I started to say. Somewhere around the question mark, the damn boxer, apparently tired of waiting, simply reached forward and wrapped his big hands around my waist. With seemingly zero effort, he lifted me up and slung me over his shoulder!
    In a blur of motion, I found myself suddenly upside down, my face all but squished against a very broad back, hot and slightly damp with sweat. In this upside-down pose, I could feel my breasts shifting inside my dress, and currently only the pressure against this man's back was managing to keep them from spilling out!
    My rump was pointed right up into the air, and I had a momentary flash of panic as I remembered how short the hem on this sundress was. What if it was riding up? I was almost certain that it was riding up. What if everyone else in this arena was able to see my panties right now?
    I kicked my feet back and forth in protest. I wasn't quite sure what I was protesting, mainly because I wasn't quite sure what was going on. But as I managed to pull my head up from Rhodes' back, I saw that the ground beneath him was moving. He was walking somewhere!
    "Hey! I didn't sign up to be kidnapped!" I shouted, swinging my feet. Unfortunately, my current folded-over, upside-down position meant that my lung capacity was somewhat diminished. My heroic shout instead came out as a little simper.
    Similarly, my leg-kicking wasn't having much of an effect either. I managed to get a couple good hits in on Rhodes' chest, and I felt briefly satisfied that I must have caused him some pain - until I remembered my previous looks, very admiring looks, at the man's abs. They probably didn't even feel my blows after what he was used to facing in the arena. I was probably doing more damage to my feet.
    A second later, even that route was closed to me, as Rhodes' other hand wrapped around my knees, holding my calves against his chest and stopping me