Free The Fight for Us by Elizabeth Finn Page A

the thought of him. “We married, but we ended up divorcing five years ago. He moved back to the mainland where he was from, and we don’t hear too much from him. He shows up occasionally, though it’s rarely to see his daughter. He’s not the most impressive man in the world or decent for that matter.”
    “How so?”
    This wasn’t a direction she was willing to let this conversation go. In fact, there was no chance in hell she’d be sharing just what a douchebag her ex was with this man. “He’s just not, that’s all.”
    “Hmm…”
    “Are you really a cop?”
    He laughed for a moment. “Where’d you hear that?”
    “Harper. She said Natalie told her.”
    “I see. Well, I was a special agent with the FBI. I worked out of the Chicago field office until I resigned a year ago. Care to tell me what else my daughter has been telling yours?”
    She wasn’t sure this was a good idea at all, but since Joss usually liked to worry about those things after the fact, she opened her mouth. “She said Natalie’s mother…your wife…passed away—a year or so ago?”
    “A year and half ago, yes.” He was silent.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Thanks.”
    “Does that have something to do with why you don’t want to be attracted to me?” Now this one she was surely going to regret.
    “It’s complicated.”
    “Hmm… How did she die?”
    “I’d rather not talk about it.”
    His answers were becoming more obscure by the second, and with that response, the conversation seemed to fizzle. He was suddenly silent, and she couldn’t think of anything further to say to keep him talking.
    “I guess I should go.” Her voice sounded unsure as she said it. “Good night, Isaiah.”
    He was silent for a moment, but just as she started to pull the phone from her ear, giving up on hearing any appropriate response, he did speak. “Joss.”
    She took a deep breath. “Yes?”
    “Whether I want to be attracted to you or not seems to have no real effect on how fucking attracted to you I am.”
    “Well, in that case, I’m sorry.” It was a rather sarcastic response, but she wasn’t entirely sure how else to respond.
    He chuckled. It wasn’t nearly so easy as it had been minutes before though. “Good night, Joss. Enjoy your warm bed.”
    “Good night.”

Part II: His Fight

Chapter Eight
    Isaiah didn’t expect his doorbell to ring the following Sunday afternoon, and what he didn’t expect even more was to see two pair of bright blue eyes peering at him as he opened the door. One belonged to a teen he’d derogatorily likened to a female dog the first time he was made acquainted with her antics, the other, he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about. Much of that thinking revolved around things he’d not allowed himself to think about for a very long time but that he was discovering he was suddenly obsessed with thinking about.
    “Hi. What—” His head was shaking from side to side in confusion.
    “Hi. Listen…”
    His lips pulled up, and he cleared his throat to hide it from Joss.
    She realized her slip instantly and rolled her eyes at herself while her daughter fidgeted beside her. “I mean…” She literally looked like she could barely contain the word that so wanted to come out. It was a habit he was guessing, perhaps a nervous one, but a habit nevertheless.
    “It’s fine. You can say it if you must.” He smirked, and she took a deep breath, laughing nervously.
    “I thought maybe our daughters could spend time together. You know get to know one another more. I thought—”
    “That forcing our children to be friends was a good idea?”
    He very intentionally furrowed his brow as he looked down at her, making it very clear just how crazy he thought she was, but she nodded her head anyway. The sudden insecurity on her face though gave away her unease. He was making her nervous, and he knew it damn well, but he held his eyes on her, enjoying the way she wriggled under his stare.
    “Let me guess, you’ve been