Fight Like A Girl: An Opposites Attract Romance (Fighting For Love), Harley Reid [top 100 novels of all time txt] 📗

take a few moments to clean the kitchen, and then we head out to the park. It's a ten-minute walk from the house, so we get there in no time. Within seconds, Madison is running towards the swings to greet a few of her school friends who are playing happily.

Not wanting to embarrass her, I sit at one of the benches just outside the park and watch her run around, having fun.

As I observe them all playing, I think back to my childhood. I remember how dad would take me and Lexi to the park when mum was busy, he'd push us on the swings, spin us on the roundabout and just spend time with us.

I'm abruptly pulled from my thoughts when my phone starts buzzing in my pocket.

It's Lexi, probably calling to see how I'm doing after Peter's bombshell last night, so glancing over to check that Madison is okay, I answer.

“Hey sis, how's the head this morning?” She chirps, way too happy considering she continued drinking after I left, “Did you think about what I said last night?”

“I did, and I actually set up a profile but so far it's mostly been rude pictures and dirty messages.”

“Hang on, I'm just logging on to check your profile.” The line goes quiet for a few seconds, and then she starts giggling, “Babe, you are so not the Netflix and Chill type.”

“What do you mean? I like watching Netflix and I like to chill. What's wrong with that?” I glance over at Madison again to see her pushing one of her friends on the swing. Oh, good, she's fine.

“That is so not what that means, Mia.” She's laughing so hard now that I have to pull the phone away from my ear.

I'm just about to reply when I catch a glimpse of Madison on the ground, bawling her eyes out and holding her head.

“Lex, I need to go. I'll call you back later.” I hang up, shoving the phone back into my pocket as I run over to where Madison is sitting.

Her friend on the swing has somehow managed to kick her in the face and I can already see a huge red bump forming above her left eyebrow. I need to take her home and get some ice on it to reduce any swelling and redness before Ethan sees her.

I've only had the job a week and I've already disfigured his daughter. He's going to kill me.

I arrive back from my morning run at around seven-thirty and as I walk past Mia's room, her alarm is going off. Usually, she'd be shuffling around in her room by now but judging by all the noise I heard last night when she got home, I'd say she is probably suffering a little this morning.

Saturday's are her day to do what she wants, and I look forward to spending the day with my girl. Yesterday we went to an adventure park, and I was so proud of the way that Maddie wasn't afraid of anything. She took to the obstacle course without hesitation and when they put her in a climbing harness, so she could go on the high ropes, she was fine. Samantha was so scared of heights that she couldn't even step one rung up a ladder, so I'm glad that Maddie hasn't inherited that trait from her.

When we got back last night, she was so tired that she didn't even want a story after her bath, so I tucked her in, gave her a kiss goodnight and spent the rest of the night in the lounge playing video games because I couldn’t face more fight analysis. I left the alarm off when I realised that she wasn't home and was about to get ready for bed when I head the taxi pull up outside, gazing out of the window just in time to spy her stumbling towards the door.

I could tell she was trying to be as quiet as possible — the self-shushing was a good indication of that — but she was like a herd of baby elephants stomping down the hallway and into her room. She doesn't strike me as someone who drinks a lot but that sister of hers strikes me as being a bit of a live wire, so I'm guessing she's not the best influence.

One week down and so far, there have been no big disasters and I'm actually feeling pretty great after the training sessions. I was sure, after two years off, getting back into heavy lifting and sparring would be a killer but I forgot how much I enjoy it.

Having a woman around the house isn't so bad either. Each morning after training I go into the kitchen and there's a little plate of breakfast waiting for me and all of a sudden, the house smells like a cake shop thanks to the amber and vanilla blossom scented candles she burns.

Today I've run about three miles as a warm-up for my resistance training session this morning and I'm currently waiting for Jamison to arrive.

He's late as usual.

Thirty minutes later, I hear a knock at the door and Jamison stands there sheepishly.

“Sorry, car trouble.” He mutters as he walks past me and rounds the corner to the gym. I catch a glimpse of Mia scuttling between the bathroom and her room in a skimpy towel and my mouth starts to water. Every morning she forgets her clothes and has to make a dash from the shower trying not to be seen.

Squats, dead lift, bench press and some shoulder exercises make up the next hour and a half of training.

“How's things with the new nanny?” Jamison asks as he watches them walk down the drive through the large picture window.

“Yeah, not bad.” I hold my breath as I pull the hundred kilos of weight off the floor and push my hips forward to complete the movement, “She keeps herself to herself mostly, but Maddie seems to like her.” I