Fight for Her

by Kelly Favor

  She wrapped the towel tightly around her torso as she continued out, and watched him pacing and talking.

  He hung up his cell and then glanced at her. “Hey,” he said, and broke into a wide smile.

  Immediately, she felt more assured. There was the connection she remembered.

  It was strong and real. It would survive the truth. It had to.

  “Hey,” she said in return. “Everything okay?”

  “Well, depends on how you look at it.” Gunner ran a hand through his hair.

  “That was Ryder. He said your car had a few problems that are going to take him longer than anticipated to fix. He had to order a new part.”

  “Oh, no,” she said. “That’s not good.” In reality, she knew that whatever the cost, it would be dealt with by the UFF and wouldn’t be an issue for her. But she couldn’t act like it meant nothing—that would have been suspicious.

  “I’m sure it’s no big deal. Ryder said the car should be ready later today—

  tomorrow at the latest.”

  “Tomorrow?”

  His smile faded a little. “Is the thought of hanging with me another day that horrible?”

  “No, no. It’s not that. It’s just…well, I need to get back…”

  “I can drive you back to Boston if you want,” he said. “Do you have class or something?”

  She shook her head. “It’s no big deal. Honestly, I’m just being silly.”

  He watched her curiously. “Something’s wrong. What is it?”

  She looked at him.

  Just tell him. Tell him now.

  But she couldn’t. She needed to call Drew Ellis first, quit her job. She needed to make a statement so that Gunner would believe that she wasn’t just playing him.

  She imagined herself telling Gunner. I used to work for the UFF, but I quit. I chose you over them. And I’m sorry I lied to you. I made a huge mistake, but I was willing to sacrifice everything to make it up to you.

  Would it be enough?

  She didn’t know, and she was scared to find out.

  ***

  About an hour later, they were sitting down to breakfast at The Middle River Inn, and Cole was pouring them each a cup of coffee.

  The place was busier than usual. “Sorry, I can’t do small talk today,” Cole apologized. “We actually have customers for a change.”

  The ding of the bell from the kitchen caused him to turn abruptly and leave without either of them even having a chance to say anything in reply.

  Gunner laughed and shook his head, sipping his coffee. “Cole’s a good guy.”

  “What’s his story, anyway?”

  “Funny you should ask.” Gunner lowered his voice. “He and his brother Caden were New York firefighters. They were in the towers when the shit went down. They just barely got out in time.”

  Krista gasped and put a hand on her chest. “That’s horrible.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, it was rough. After that, they both stayed on for a couple more years, but it was all too much. Too many memories, too many ghosts, you know?”

  She looked down at the table, shaking her head with disbelief. “They seem so happy. I never would have guessed.”

  “They decided to start fresh. So they moved here about seven or eight years ago and started this restaurant. I think it suits them pretty well.” He took another long sip of coffee.

  “Are either of them married?”

  “Nope. Both single. We should do one of those auctions where they put single guys up on the stage and the highest bidder gets a date with them. Caden and Cole would net a bunch of dough for some charity, don’t you think?”

  “Definitely.”

  Suddenly, a boy about thirteen years of age came over to the table with his dad.

  “Excuse me,” the boy said, “but are you Gunner King?”

  She assumed that Gunner didn’t like this sort of thing, but surprisingly, he smiled warmly at the boy. “I am.”

  The father interjected. “My son is a huge, huge fan. Any chance I could take a picture of the two of you together?”

  “Absolutely,” Gunner said. He slid his chair back.

  The dad took his cell phone and prepared to take a picture.

  Krista, seizing the brief opportunity, took out her own cell phone and quickly pulled up Drew Ellis’s number. Then she tried calling him.

  A few other people had gathered around Gunner and were asking him questions.

  He was even signing an autograph or two.

  This was the perfect time to call Drew and tell him she was done working for his company. She felt a sense of relief, realizing that somehow she’d lost herself in trying to prove her worth to him. Meanwhile, he was never going to truly be impressed with her, no matter how hard she worked.

  Drew Ellis was only out for himself. He played a zero sum game and everyone else always lost.

  Well, she was going to tell him what she thought of his business practices.

  Except that her call kept going straight to voicemail.

  So just do it on a message, she thought. Tell him to go screw and be done with it.

  But somehow that didn’t seem right. Then she would be almost as bad as him. She wanted to say it to his face—or at least to his voice.

  Gunner was finishing up with his fans, so Krista texted Drew Ellis and told him to call her back as soon as possible. Then she put her phone away, as Gunner sat back down.

  “Sorry about the distractions,” he said, watching as the small crowd dispersed.

  “It’s totally fine.”

  “Funny how people are,” Gunner said, smiling a little. “I’m aware that most everyone thinks I’m a total coward for pulling out of this fight. But in real life, everyone around here treats me with nothing but respect. They don’t say all that nasty shit to me.

  It’s only on the Internet that people are calling me a loser and all of that nonsense.”

  Krista realized that she’d been operating off the assumption that people would be treating Gunner disrespectfully, but in actuality she was seeing that regular folks were happy to get an autograph or a picture—they appreciated him.

  Maybe she’d been wrong about a lot of things. Maybe his legacy wouldn’t be destroyed simply because he had walked away from one fight.

  One poor decision didn’t define anyone—not even her. Maybe Gunner would appreciate that more than most.

  Cole brought their breakfast over—hash and eggs for Gunner and a broccoli and cheese omelet for her.

  “So when your car finally gets repaired and you go back,” Gunner said, after a few bites of his meal, “will I see you again?”

  Krista looked at him, surprised that he even needed to ask. “Of course. You didn’t think I’d want to see you again?”

  “I don’t know.” He smiled at her and his eyes were warm and kind. “I just know how I feel.”

  Krista was stunned by how much had changed in such a short time between them.

  All she knew was that she was thankful he felt it too.

  “I can’t wait to see you again,” she said. “Even though I’m seeing you right now.”

  “So it’s settled, then.”

  She nodded, taking another bite of her eggs. “Definitely.”

  Gunner said, raising his cup but not drinking just yet. “I want to take you on a real date.”

  She felt her cheeks flush. “You do?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “Like, when we see each other again.”

  “Definitely. I can fly back from Vegas anytime, and we can…” she stopped cold, shocked at her own stupidity.

  Gunner was looking at her, his cup still raised halfway to his lips. He squinted at her, like she was some strange new creature he’d never seen before. “Wait a second. Did you just say, fly back from Vegas? Why would you be in Vegas?”

  She stuttered, her words babbling, nonsense. She tried to formulate a response, but the lies were piling up in her mind like a car crash. She didn’t even want to lie.


  She’d wanted to say the truth—just…not like this.

  “Krista,” he said, his voice lowering. “Please tell me why you would be flying here from Vegas. Tell me why.”

  She looked down at her plate. She could already feel tears stinging behind her eyes. Her hands twisted against each other nervously. “I wanted to tell you this before now,” she said. “But I just…I got confused.”

  “Confused about what? Confused about where you live?” He put his cup down.

  “I don’t understand what’s going on. You live in Boston, right?”

  She couldn’t meet his eyes. So she just shook her head no. “I live in Las Vegas.”

  “Why did you lie to me about that?” He sat back in his chair. “Look at me, Krista. Look at me, at least.”

  She forced herself to meet his gaze. He looked as though she’d just hit him with a sledgehammer. “I’m not a journalist student,” she said. “I don’t go to Boston University.”

  He continued staring at her, his face growing pale. “I don’t get it.”

  She took one last, deep breath, and exhaled, knowing the time was now. “I work for Drew Ellis and the UFF,” she said. “I was sent here to see if I could convince you to come back and fulfill your obligations to the company for the pay-per-view fight with Zane Davis.”

  Gunner’s eyes filled with a look of disgust, hurt and betrayal. She’d never seen such a complex range of emotions cross someone’s face in such a short time. And then his expression hardened, turned to stone. There was nothing there, no emotion—Gunner King was gone and whoever replaced him wasn’t someone she recognized.

  “Thanks for the info,” he said, and his lips twitched. “I guess that’s it for me—

  my appetite’s kind of spoiled.”

  “Gunner, please, I need to explain. I’m quitting my job. I care about you. Let me—just give me a chance to explain how it happened.”

  He took out his wallet and threw forty dollars on the table. “This is like a total déjà vu moment,” he marveled. Didn’t I basically do this exact same thing the last time you and I were in this restaurant?” He shook his head.

  “Please, don’t leave,” she said. “Please, Gunner.”

  People were starting to stare.

  “Listen, just so you know, your car is ready,” he told her. “Ryder fixed it up, but I told him to hold off on giving it back because I wanted more time with you.” Gunner said it as if he was disgusted even with himself for feeling that way. “I’ll call him and tell him to bring the car here so you can leave town as soon as humanly possible.”

  “Don’t do this.” She felt her whole body trembling. He was going to ruin everything because he wouldn’t let her explain, but if he would only just listen…

  “You still have a pretty good story to tell,” Gunner said. “Who knows, maybe Drew Ellis will pay you to tell it to the whole world. Nothing would surprise me anymore.”

  And then he left the restaurant and didn’t look back.

  THE END OF BOOK ONE OF FIGHT FOR HER

  Book 2 will be coming soon. If you enjoyed this book, please leave a review and let us know. You can find Kelly Favor on Twitter @kellyfavorbooks.

  If you want to read another romance by Kelly, check out the New York Times bestselling For His Pleasure series.

  FOR HIS PLEASURE (FOR HIS PLEASURE, BOOK 1)

  When twenty-two year old Nicole Masters gets a highly coveted internship working for one of the largest advertising companies in the world, she can't believe her luck. But Jameson International isn't just any company. It's owned by thirty-two-year-old business mogul and celebrity, Red Jameson.

  Red is known for his high flying lifestyle; dating models and hanging with the rich and famous.

  The powerful billionaire can have any woman he wants, and the naive college graduate can't imagine making much of an impression on her new CEO. But when Red Jameson takes notice of her and invites her up to his secluded office one day, everything changes.

  As it turns out, the powerful businessman also has a voracious sexual appetite, and it's been whetted by none other than Nicole herself. And Red needs to be in charge at every turn.

  Nicole isn't just any girl though, and Red Jameson's shocked to find that the young intern is more than a match for him in a battle of wits and will.

  For His Pleasure is a 30,000 word tale of lust, submission, power and ultimately--a love story for the ages. The entire series is available for purchase now.