Free Knockout (Fighting For Love Book 1) by Evelyn Glass

hadn’t had with her mother before she left or when her father died. She is determined to have it with Grayson.
     
    Before she can change her mind, she picks up the cell, typing in her address faster than she knew she could. His response comes up almost immediately, as if he were waiting by his phone. Thirty minutes, she had thirty minutes to get herself ready to meet Grayson Fletcher.
     
    She flies to her bedroom and starts raiding her wardrobe, pulling virtually all her clothes out. But nothing seems quite right. She tries on what must be a hundred outfits, but they all look like she’s trying too hard. That’s because you are , the voice in her head tells her.
     
    You don’t have anything to prove to this man , she tells herself before putting on the shorts and tank top she’d been wearing before her sartorial frenzy. She looks at herself in the dressing table mirror. What she sees isn’t overly inspiring. Her hair is a complete mess; she pulls it up into a high ponytail and pinches her cheeks to get some color back. She swipes the mascara brush over her eyelashes and examines herself again. Before she can come to any kind of a conclusion, the doorbell rings.
     
    “Guess you’ll have to do,” she tells her reflection. She grabs a little jacket from the top of the pile without pausing to second guess her choice and heads towards the door, preparing herself to spend an afternoon with Grayson Fletcher, the only man who she had ever loved.

 
    GRAYSON
     
    Nervous wasn’t really part of his vocabulary, especially not around women. He’d become used to them fulfilling a primal need for him, nothing more. He doesn’t remember the last time he’d had an actual date. But is that what this is? Standing outside Adriana’s front door, he starts to wonder if he should be here at all, if she even wants to see him. As the door opens, he realizes it’s too late to turn back and, besides, he doesn’t think he’d be able to move even if he’d wanted to.
     
    “Hey!” Adriana smiles at him and locks him in with those eyes that she should need a permit for.
     
    “Hey.” Grayson can’t seem to say anything else. His throat is suddenly dry, and the sound of his own heart beating is deafening in his ears. She’s so beautiful that she literally takes his breath away. They stand awkwardly until Grayson regains the power of speech. “Nice place.” He nods over Adriana’s shoulder towards the apartment behind.
     
    Adriana makes a face as if to contradict him. “It’s seen better days, but it’s home.” She shrugs noncommittally. “Shall we head out?” She doesn’t wait for an answer before pulling the door closed behind her and locking it.
     
    Grayson finds himself relieved that at least one of them isn’t having any trouble making a decision. He nods, not trusting himself to say anything else, not when she’s so close that he can smell her. The rose perfume he’d noticed the night before is intoxicating, and he wonders how the hell he’s supposed to drive with her in his car.
     
    He opens the door of his Jeep for her, something he hasn’t done for any woman before. He wonders where this sudden sense of chivalry has come from; it sure as hell isn’t anything he’d inherited from dear old dad. As he settles himself into the driver’s seat, he becomes acutely aware of her presence next to him.
     
    “So, where are we headed?” Adriana looks at him expectantly.
     
    Grayson curses himself. He hadn’t actually gotten that far in his plans. Just working up the courage to see her had taken up most of his thoughts. He says the first thing that comes into his head, a theme that seems to be recurring around Adriana. He’d forgotten how she had made him feel completely tongue-tied. He had never been able to bullshit her, and it seems like that’s one thing that hasn’t changed between them, even if so much other stuff had.
     
    “I thought we could head down to South Beach. You still like to walk?”