The Fight for Love (Contemporary Romance) Read Online Free PDF

victor in the ring he felt infinite. It was an amazing feeling and one he’d yet to experience elsewhere. His heart was dancing to a crazed rhythm in his chest as he did his best to soak up the atmosphere in the arena. People were on their feet, cheering his name. The main lights had come on so that the crowd was no longer shadowed in darkness. As Dalton looked out at the sea of faces he saw her. Lucie was there, politely clapping her hands together and smiling. There was no mistaking that bright blonde hair and those eyes. Why was she there? Had she come to see him?
     
    Questions began to bombard Dalton’s thoughts but he couldn’t deal with them, not there. He continued his victory lap and then, as he disappeared from the ring and headed backstage he searched for his agent, Lee.
     
    “There’s a journalist here called Lucie Walters,” he told him briskly. “If she asks to come backstage let her through.”
     
    Lee opened his mouth to say something but Dalton had already disappeared into his dressing room where he wasn’t to be disturbed. After a fight he liked to be left alone for a while to let the excitement inside him settle down.
     
    Dropping onto the sofa in the dressing room, Dalton reached for a nearby bottle of water and checked his phone. There was a congratulatory message waiting from Steve. Steve always watched the matches at home with his wife, apparently he found the intensity of being in the arena too stressful and Dalton didn’t blame him. Unlike other coaches he preferred not to be at the sideline, which was unusual but Dalton didn’t mind. He respected Steve, however unorthodox his methods might be. He figured it had a lot to do with the fact that Steve had once been a fighter himself.  Dalton was just replying to Steve’s message when someone knocked on the dressing room door.
     
    “Come in,” Dalton called out.
     
    The door opened and Lee peered round, his latest layer of fake tan making him look almost orange. Dalton always wondered why his agent didn’t just try and get some good old-fashioned sunshine instead of risking looking like he belonged in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.
     
    “There’s a Lucie Walters here asking to see you,” Lee explained.
     
    “Send her in,” Dalton nodded at him. He quickly pulled on a T-shirt and hoped that he didn’t look too sweaty and disheveled following his bout in the ring.
     

***
     
    Lucie was so nervous she thought she might faint. On the off chance that Dalton had seen her in the crowd, she’d tried to get backstage and to her utter surprise she’d been allowed. Granted, her media pass let her in places many of the public couldn’t go but Dalton was notorious for rarely giving post-fight interviews.
     
    “Thank you,” Lucie nodded gratefully at Lee and then entered the dressing room. Dalton sat on a plush-looking sofa wearing a plain white T-shirt and black jogging bottoms. His skin glistened with sweat.
     
    “Congratulations on your win,” Lucie told him with a smile.
     
    “Thank you,” Dalton replied modestly, his voice so deep and rich it sent chills through her body just to hear it.
     
    “I didn’t expect you to be here,” he told her.
     
    Lucie nervously lifted the lanyard round her neck. “Duty calls,” she shrugged.
     
    “So…are you here for an interview?” Dalton frowned at her.
     
    “Umm…no,” Lucie looked down at her feet. An interview with Dalton Hughes after such an epic win would be a real coup for The Standard. But that wasn’t why she was there and she felt compelled to be honest with him.
     
    “I got everything I needed during the match,” she told him. “I just came by to say…well done!”
     
    “Is that right?” Dalton was standing up and walking over to her with those same powerful, confident steps he used in the ring. But Lucie didn’t feel afraid, she felt aroused. He was now so close that she could smell the sweat and dull musk of cologne on him. She chewed her lip and