Fight Like You've Never Lost (Summer Lake #14) - S.J. McCoy

Chapter One

Leanne slid her laptop back into her carry-on case and her feet back into her shoes. She hated flying. At least, she hated flying commercial. The whole security thing drove her nuts. She slung her purse strap over her shoulder and pushed her case in front of her glancing up at the board as she went.

Once she’d confirmed that the gate on her boarding pass was still the one being displayed, she scanned the stores. Another thing that she hated about flying was that she couldn’t bring her water through security. She needed to get a new bottle and … She stopped dead, frozen in her tracks.

It couldn’t be.

She drew in a shaky breath.

It was.

That was Ryan standing in line for coffee. Her hand shook as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and allowed herself to drink in the sight of him. He was still gorgeous. He looked older, but it suited him. He’d always been a big guy—tall and built. He looked even more solid, if that were possible. His shoulders were broad, his waist narrow, though not so narrow as it used to be.

Her heart raced. He was still the most attractive man she’d ever known. How could he still have this effect on her? She realized she was frozen to the spot and gave herself a little shake. She had to move. She gave him one last glance before she started heading for her gate. She could get water farther down the concourse—or on the plane if she had to wait until then. There was no way she was going to risk going within a hundred yards of him if she could help it.

She froze again when he turned to look in her direction. Her heart leaped into her mouth. She wanted to look away, but he caught her gaze and held it with his deep blue eyes. She might not be able to make out the color of them at this distance, but she could never unsee that blue; it was etched too deeply into her heart.

He didn’t smile. She wouldn’t expect him to. He just stared into her eyes, as though he could see right into her soul. The busy concourse around her faded away. They were the only two people on earth. Neither of them moved—not until the woman standing behind him touched his arm and said something to him with a smile. He frowned, still holding Leanne’s gaze for a long moment before he dragged his eyes away to turn and smile back at the woman.

All the air rushed out of Leanne’s lungs and she hurried away. Damn him. Damn him all the way to hell and back. Her heels tapped out a staccato rhythm as she put as much distance between them as she could as quickly as she could. She wasn’t going to wonder who the woman was. What did it matter? It didn’t. It didn’t matter a bit. Ryan was the past. The long gone, dim and distant past. She didn’t need to waste another thought on him.

~ ~ ~

Ryan tried to focus on the woman behind him in line.

She was still smiling. “Are you waiting?”

He glanced back at Leanne. No matter what lies he told himself, he’d wait for her until hell froze over—but there was no point. Then he came to his senses. The woman wasn’t asking about Leanne. She was talking about the big gap in the line in front of him that had lengthened while he’d been staring at the only woman he’d ever loved.

He shook his head and gestured for her to go ahead of him. The guy behind her made a move to follow, but Ryan frowned, and he stood back. He’d let the woman pass since he’d held her up, but he still needed coffee. Hell, right now, he needed something much stronger, but coffee would have to do.

Once he had it, he made his way toward his gate. He should erase all thoughts of Leanne from his mind. He’d done it for years—repeatedly, since she always found her way back inside his head. But today, he didn’t want to. There was always the chance of running into her when he was back in San Francisco, or at least he liked to believe there was—if he cared to admit it, the truth was that he hoped there was. Her long blonde hair and big blue eyes had haunted his mind and his dreams for years, but most of the