“But somehow you sound okay with that,” Lily said on the other end.
Lindsay smiled. “I am.” Rachel and Nathan’s furniture may not have been to her taste, but it was family friendly, life friendly.
“When does Luke arrive with the furniture?”
“Any minute,” she said, going to the window and pulling back the curtain.
“Are you going to watch PPV tonight?”
Lindsay glanced at her television screen where the eighty-dollar pay-per-view fights were paused. “Of course not,” she said.
Watching them with a hand covering her eyes wasn’t really watching, was it?
“You’re such a bad liar,” Lily said.
The sound of a truck pulling into the yard caught her attention. “Lily, Luke’s here. I have to go.”
“Call me later. Let me know if he wins.”
“Will do,” she said, disconnecting the call and tossing her phone onto her hall table as she opened the door.
“Hey, Lindsay. Should I start bringing stuff in?” Luke asked, opening the tailgate of the truck.
“Yeah, I’ve made a path,” she said, tying her hair back quickly and rolling up her sleeves to help.
Once they’d carried in the sofa and love seat and new end tables, they removed her white furniture. “Harper would have this stuff destroyed in about three minutes,” Luke said with the smile of a proud papa.
“She’s beautiful, Luke. Not that there was any doubt with you and Vic as parents,” she said.
He laughed. “Thanks! I thought you were going to actually let me leave without flirting with me.”
She blushed. For once that hadn’t been her intent with this man. “Uh, um...”
“Lindsay, I was kidding,” he said with a wink.
“Well, that’s a huge relief!”
She laughed.
“So, when is the B and B reopening?”
“In a couple of days. Heather has agreed to work the desk during the day and my mom and Mrs. Mason offered to help out in the evenings.”
“A family affair.”
“Yeah, we’ll see how it goes... I swear, some days, I wish those two still weren’t talking to each other. Life was simpler back then. Now they compete over showering Harper with gifts and attention.”
“Tell them I have five kids here they can shower with gifts and attention anytime,” she said.
Luke touched her shoulder. “You’re doing good, Lindsay. And our door is always open to you and the kids...just like it always was.”
So he remembered the days from their childhood when his family seemed to have everything together and she and Nathan could only find brief respite with them from their mother’s emotional turmoil. Not trusting herself to speak, she nodded.
“Okay, I’ll take this stuff to Kayla’s.” His youngest sister had bought all of her furniture a few days before.
“Thanks, Luke.”
He climbed back into his truck and drove away with the last remaining evidence of her single life.
* * *
THE TATTOO SHOP’S neon sign flashing caught his eye as Noah sped toward the highway. Ten minutes earlier, when the sun was still cresting the horizon, he may not have noticed it, but now it was like a beacon. He slowed the motorcycle slightly. He was desperate to get back to Brookhollow, to Lindsay...but in case his walking away from fighting wasn’t enough proof of his commitment and love...
He pulled the bike into the lot and, cutting the engine, he removed his helmet and went inside. A small part of him hoped they didn’t take walk-ins...mostly the side of his jaw that was already causing him pain. Brandon hadn’t messed around with that punch.
“Can I help you?” A young girl asked, glancing up from a tattoo sketch on the desk in front of her. Her long, bright red hair, shaved on one side to reveal a head tattoo suited her. As did the tattoo sleeves from shoulder to wrist.
“I was wondering if you took walk-ins?”
“Not usually, but there was a cancellation an hour ago... Sit, and I’ll go check with Skull.”
Skull? “Yeah...sure...okay,” Noah said, as she disappeared toward the back of the shop through a swinging door.
The sound of a tattoo gun made him wince. He wasn’t afraid of much, but needles...ones that repeatedly pierced the skin...and made that noise... His heart rate increased and he glanced outside toward his bike. He could leave before Skull got his hands on him.
“Hey,” a man’s voice said behind him.
Too late. He turned and almost laughed in relief. Skull was hardly what he’d been expecting. Five two maybe and a hundred pounds, he looked like that lead singer...the skater-dude from Fall Out Boy. His head-to-toe tattoos and the large ear loops in his ears gave him credibility as a tattoo artist however and Noah relaxed a little. “Hi. I was wondering about getting a tattoo,” he said.
“What did you have in mind?” the guy asked, reaching for a binder behind the counter.
“Honestly, I don’t really know...I decided to do this three minutes ago.” He had an idea of what he wanted, but the lifelong commitment of such a gesture made his pulse soar...but in a good way.
“Have you been drinking?”
He shook his head. “No. I’m an MMA...was an MMA fighter.”
Was.
“Wouldn’t have guessed,” the guy said sarcastically, and the receptionist laughed.
“What about names? Can you do those?”
The guy shot a look at the redhead. “Yes...” He said slowly. “But...you just admitted to giving this tattoo no thought whatsoever...and now you want a name? You need to be sure about this. Are you?”
“A hundred percent.”
* * *
LINDSAY HAD FINALLY gotten both babies to sleep when the doorbell rang. If that was Scouts selling those chocolate-covered almonds again, she was going to lose it.
Just in case, she grabbed her wallet on the way to the door.
Swinging it open, her eyes widened.
Noah.
“The fights are over already?” she asked.
They were still paused on her television, as she hadn’t been able to bring herself to watch any more. Her eyes surveyed the large bruise and slight swelling on the side of his cheek. She was relieved to see it seemed to be the extent of his injuries.
“Mine is,” he said softly.
“Well, you know where the clinic is.”
She went to shut the door but he held it open.
“I didn’t fight.”
She paused to study him.
“Tell that to your face,” she said, cocking her head to the side.
“Brandon did this,” he said with a wide smile. “Who knew the guy was that good a shot? I thought he was coaching because he was such a lousy fighter.” He laughed and touched his bruise, then winced.
Lindsay stared at him in disbelief. “Why would Brandon punch you?”
“To get out of paying the penalties for me bailing on the biggest MMA organization in the world.”
He stepped forward. “I quit fighting.”
Her heart pounded in her ears. “Noah, it’s late. I just put the kids to bed and now I have to sit down and figure out where we all go from here, so I’m going to say good-night before this gets complicated.”
“I’d say we’re too late for that.” He pushed the door open and stepped inside, wrapping his arms around her. “The thing is...I love you and I’m sorry it took me so long to figure out what I had to do to make you believe that.”
“Noah, you can’t walk away from fighting for good. You love it.”
“Not as much as I love you,” he said.
She swallowed hard, desperately wanting to believe him. “It’s your career.”
“Ethan offered m
e a full-time job at the fire hall. I’m going to take it.”
“But that’s not your dream. You won’t be happy.” If he gave up fighting, he would only resent her in time.
“Being with you...and these kids...will make me happy.”
She sighed. “And that’s it? No more fighting?”
“No more fighting.”
She still hesitated.
Reaching into his pocket, he took out his phone and handed it to her. “Read the text message from the fight match-maker for the organization.”
Lindsay scrolled through the messages to the one he meant and her heart stopped. “You’re done fighting MMA.”
She handed him back his phone.
“Noah, I can’t believe you did this.”
“Make it worthwhile. Tell me you’ll finally give me...give us a chance now.”
She looked around her home, littered with toys. “I come as a package deal of six.”
“I’ll take it... Maybe we can become eight or nine...” He kissed her cheeks and her nose. “So, is that a yes? You’ll give me a chance now that I’m running toward burning buildings instead of fighting?”
She kissed him quickly. “That’s heroic, not stupid. Besides, there’s a fire in Brookhollow once every twenty years.”
He pulled her closer and rested his forehead against hers. “What about the one that’s been burning between us? What do we do about that one?”
Her gaze met his and her heart swelled with love for the man who’d put a future with her above everything else.
“Let it burn,” she whispered, standing on tiptoe and steadying herself against his chest as she kissed him. A soft, slow, torturous kiss as she gave herself over completely to him.
He’d given up fighting for her. For a future together. She’d never asked and he’d done it anyway.
“Oh, there is one more thing,” he said, taking a step back and pulling up the sleeve of his leather jacket.
She gasped at the sight of her name in black ink across his forearm. “Tell me that’s not real.”
“It better be after I braved all of those tiny, painful needles,” he said.
She gently touched the swollen, red skin around the tattoo then punched his shoulder. “I can’t believe you did this.” Just when she thought his recklessness was a thing of the not-too-distant past.
“I thought you’d like it.”
“You’re crazy,” she said, the corners of her mouth betraying her with a smile.
She loved it. She loved the gesture. She loved him.
“Maybe.” He pulled her close again, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
“I mean, what if I didn’t love you?” she teased.
“That didn’t stop me from loving you before.”
She swallowed a lump in the back of her throat. “I do love you...despite my best efforts and common sense. I love you, Noah.”
“That’s great news, because my other option was to date women named Lindsay from now on,” he said against her lips, a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
“Shut up and kiss me again.” She pulled him closer, but he resisted.
“Just a sec.” He bent, removed his shoes and placed them on the rack next to the door, next to her shoes and five sets of little ones. “Better,” he said, wrapping his arms around her once more.
“Better,” she whispered as his lips met hers.
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781460381656
Fighting for Keeps
Copyright © 2015 by Jennifer Snow
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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