Free Fight to the Finish (First to Fight #3) by Jeanette Murray Page A

won’t keep you.” The relief that shone in her gaze was almost tangible. “But promise me something.”
    She let out a little laugh that sounded like a combination of confusion and frayed nerves. “At this point, I owe you a month’s worth of favors.”
    He let that one go. He didn’t want to be a debt to her. He wanted to be
there
for her. “Promise you’ll come to the match this weekend. Bring Zach.”
    She was going to argue. He saw it.
    â€œIt’s not as violent as you think,” he said quickly to cut her off. “Not like a full-on match. And Zach might like seeing what we’ve been up to.” He smiled a little. “We like showing off for the kid. It’ll be fun all around.”
    She looked away a moment, and he saw her mouth tighten. “I’ll think about it.”
    It was all he could ask for. “See you later.”
    With something akin to a deer-in-the-headlights expression, she sank into her car, closed the door and started off.
    As Graham entered his quiet house, without even a kid sleeping in the guest room for company, he knew his life without those two would be a very emptyone.

CHAPTER
    6
    â€œS hould we be here? This late, I mean?” Kara passed the caution tape to Marianne and waited for her friend to loop it around the banister, then pass it back for her to do on her own side. “What with all the vandalism and other stuff going on, I’m not sure we should be here so late by ourselves.”
    â€œThree tough women against one vandal?” Marianne scoffed, then glanced down to where Reagan was shuffling around the gym floor in the slippers she kept in the training room. “We’re good. Right, Reagan?”
    Reagan held up a hand making the OK sign, and continued on her way with a measuring tape and painter’s tape, marking off the set-up for the crew in the morning.
    The match was the next evening, and according to Reagan, their dingy little gym would somehow be magically turned into an arena for spectators, mimicking the grandeur of a legitimate tournament. In the morning, hours before anyone would be admitted to the gym, a maintenance crew would come inand set up a ring, the bleachers and more. Since Reagan would have been setting up alone, Marianne had volunteered to stay and help, and called in Kara to complete the trio. Zach, to his disgruntlement, was at home with the babysitter.
    â€œPlus, with us having the whole gym lit up like a Roman candle, I can’t imagine anyone would want to come in here and stir up trouble tonight. It’s obvious they’d be caught.” Her friend ripped the end of the caution tape off and used a piece of duct tape to secure it to the top of the banister. “And now we do the other side.”
    â€œIt’s nice, having you guys help. Have I said thank you?” Reagan called from below.
    â€œYou’re welcome!” Kara and Marianne said in tandem.
    â€œKara, I owe you a night of babysitting.”
    â€œNo you—”
    â€œShe sure does,” Marianne cut Kara off, glaring. “You paid for tonight’s sitter, when you could have put that money toward an attorney. So yes, she can babysit for you another time.”
    â€œOnly fair,” Reagan agreed.
    â€œI’m coming tomorrow, and bringing Zach,” Kara said cautiously.
    â€œFun,” Marianne said absently, winding the tape around the starting post. “He’ll like it. He loves the guys.”
    â€œYeah, he does.” One particular Marine more than the others, it was turning out. Despite being in deep shit for his runaway stunt, Zach couldn’t stop talking about the evening he’d spent with Graham. How the man had let him order dinner so he got the right food, how he’d not even complained once about the weird food Zach had ordered, that they’d watched a movie Kara likely wouldn’t have allowed in her house, but also wouldn’t object