The Hardest Fight

A man in a suit and tie entered the gym, eliciting the biggest smile from Jeremy’s new friend. The guy climbed the bleachers and joined a woman holding a baby girl a couple of rows down from where Dylan and Eugene were sitting. He kissed the woman and promptly stole the infant away from her, planting more kisses on the chubby baby’s cheeks. Dylan felt a tinge of jealousy at the sight of the happy family. As much as he wanted that life, the possibility of ever getting it seemed slim to none. There weren’t many opportunities to date when he worked eighty hours a week, and no one he had dated held a candle to the woman he had wanted to be the mother of his children.

The buzzer sounded, cueing the teams to get ready to play. Jeremy gave them one more quick glance before paying closer attention to his coach’s last words of advice. Dylan had never bothered to look in the stands when he was a kid. He knew no one would be there. His dad had been a trader at the Chicago Stock Exchange, while his mother billed her hundred hours a week for Stevens and Ellis. The nanny dropped Dylan off and picked him up but never stayed for the game. That was why he swore he’d do things differently when he had kids. Jeremy wasn’t his but close enough.

“How’s work going?” Eugene asked as the boys ran up and down the court, no one able to get the ball through the hoop.

“Same as always,” Dylan replied. His phone rang and the caller ID told him it was his mother. He rejected the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket. If he didn’t answer, she might think he was busy with something work-related.

Eugene chuckled. “That’s what I get for mentioning work, right?”

“Yeah, knock that off.”

“Maybe if I ask if you’ve met any pretty ladies lately, one will call you and ask you to dinner.”

It was Dylan’s turn to laugh. “I wish.”

Jeremy got the ball under the basket, but instead of taking a shot, he passed it off. The other boy scored and everyone cheered. The family with the baby screamed the loudest.

“Good assist, Jer!” Dylan shouted.

“So, met any pretty ladies lately?” Eugene asked.

Dylan was about to answer when none other than Lucy Everhart slipped through the gym door. He pulled his baseball cap down to hide his face as she scanned the crowd.

His chest tightened and his mouth went dry. What in the world was she doing here?

CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_e8e93b99-2aa7-542c-a4b0-000bbc770ea7)

LUCY WAS LATE for Simon’s game and had no one to blame but herself. She’d spent the better part of the day talking Paige out of calling Mrs. Kerrington and taking her pathetic offer. Today’s meeting had planted dangerous seeds in Paige’s head and made all of the board members question if selling Safe Haven was the right choice or not.

The thought of Dylan and his sparkling blue eyes, pleading with Paige to think of all the good she could do with the money from the sale, was enough to make Lucy scream. As if he had any idea what it took to make a difference in the world working at Stevens and Ellis. Years ago, he had sworn he’d find a way to fight for those without a voice instead of selling his soul to his mother’s affluent and avaricious clients, but it appeared he had done just that.

Kendall waved to get her sister’s attention. Lucy smiled and began trudging up the bleachers. Kendall’s husband, Max, bounced their daughter on his knee. The man was completely smitten. Five-month-old Darcy had her father wrapped around her little finger already. Kendall was in for trouble when that one got big enough to ask for things.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said, taking the spot next to Max and holding out her hands for her turn with the baby.

“I just got here,” he protested. Darcy loved new attention more than anything and lunged for her aunt, so Max reluctantly let her go.

The baby girl’s screech was earsplitting. It was her way of saying hello. Lucy made a funny noise in return and Darcy giggled, showing off the two cute baby teeth in her mouth. Her adorable laugh always made Lucy smile. Kendall made amazing babies. The tiny, delusional part of Lucy’s heart that wasn’t completely convinced she didn’t have a family in her future ached a bit more than usual.

“Simon scored a basket.” Kendall reached across Max to give Darcy a toy. “Just before you walked in.”

Of course he had. Keeping Safe Haven from going into foreclosure wasn’t going to be easy, and every minute Lucy spent working was a minute she wouldn’t get to spend with her family. Lucy’s anger toward Prime Developments and Dylan Hunt resurged.

“Your little one dropped her toy,” someone said behind her.

Max snatched up the elephant rattle and shook it in front of Darcy, much to her delight. Lucy tried to push the negativity she felt aside. She was here to watch Simon and enjoy her time with Kendall.

“Thanks,” she said to the older gentleman behind them. The hair at his temples was gray and his beard was more white than brown. He gave her a nod and a gentle smile. Just as she was about to turn back around, Lucy made eye contact with the man sitting beside him and her temper flared. “Are you following me?”

Dylan sighed and readjusted the brim of his hat. “No, I’m not following you.” He dared to sound indignant. “Are you following me?”

Lucy handed Darcy back to Max. She wasn’t going to dignify his question with an answer. “What are you doing here, then?”

“I’m here to watch a basketball game. What are you doing here?”

She faced forward and tried to pretend he wasn’t sitting back there. If she ignored him, it would be as if he didn’t exist. Kendall made Max switch seats so she could be next to Lucy. She hooked arms with her sister.

“Is that who I think it is?” Kendall whispered, glancing over her shoulder.

“Don’t look at him,” Lucy demanded. She wasn’t surprised by her sister’s uncertainty. Kendall had lived out east when Lucy and Dylan were together. “And don’t let me look at him.”

“Well, aren’t you the queen of the cold shoulder? No one does it better than you, Lulu.”

How dare he use that name not once, but twice, today. As much as she wanted to keep her cool, exhaustion was making it impossible. She swung her head around to find Dylan glaring back at her.

“I’ve had just about enough from you,” she snapped.

“I’m sorry, but what exactly did I do that offended you so much?”

“Oh, like you didn’t know I was going to be there today! Just like you probably knew I was going to be here tonight. No one does more research than the almighty Dylan Hunt.”

His eyes narrowed into angry slits. “Hate to burst your self-absorbed bubble, but the world does not revolve around you. I had no idea you were going to be here.”

“Oh, that’s right. Your world revolves around your family’s money and power.” Lucy could feel her skin tingling with her own indignation. “I hope you know I’m not going to let the board sell Safe Haven today, tomorrow or ever. Whatever your big plan is, you can forget it because we’re not interested. You can leave me alone now.”

“I’m already done with you,” he sneered. Those words stung more than she expected. “You don’t really have a say. Your role at Open Arms doesn’t give you the power to decide what you do with that house on Western. Your board will realize Prime is offering them an easy out. There was more than one person at that table today ready to accept our offer even before Elizabeth sweetened the deal. I could tell.”

It burned her to know he was right. She hated that he could read people so well. Some of their fellow students in law school had actually believed he was psychic. Lucy knew better than to buy into that baloney. He was observant, that was all. Too observant.

“They’ll never sell, and if by some miracle they do, it won’t be to anyone associated with you. I’ll make sure of that.”

Kendall tugged on her arm. Hard. “Lucy, stop.”

It was unclear how many times Kendall had already said that before it finally registered. The quarter had ended and the referee walked up the bleachers, stopping before he got to Lucy’s row.

“I’m going to have to ask you both to leave. This isn’t the place for whatever is going on between the two of you. You need to take it out of the gymnasium, please.”

“You’re kicking me out?” Lucy’s embarrassment heated her cheeks.

“I’m asking you to leave the gym, yes.” The ref glanced up at Dylan, as well.

“Fantastic,” Dylan mumbled under his breath, which for some reason struck another nerve.

“Don’t act like this is my fault. You’re the stalker.”

“Get over yourself,” he said, rising to his feet and shaking hands with the man next to him. “Tell Jeremy I’m sorry I couldn’t watch him play. I’ll be at the next one—as long as we sit as far away from certain crazy people as possible.”

Lucy huffed and grabbed her purse. “I’ll be outside,” she said to Kendall.