Page 65 of Love From Left Field (Knights of Passion)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Lucas waited inhis office, anger that had started a slow simmer had turned into a full boil the longer it took Miranda to come to him. He had always prided himself on his rigid control of his emotions so this anger took him completely by surprise, but it shouldn’t have. Callahan had been pushing from day one and only a saint would have remained calm. And no one would have ever called Lucas a saint.

He took the delay for Miranda to come to him to take deep calming breaths, and force his clenched muscles to relax. He tried to see her perspective, to understand her position, torn between her father’s health and doing what was best for him and doing the right thing for the Knights, but, like before, her indecision was not only harming the team, she was killing herself. Placing herself in the middle was tearing her in two and now that he was closer to her, it was driving him crazy and he wanted to save her, protect her, and solve everything. But this was something she had to do for herself. She had to make a choice.

He wasn’t sure she’d make the one he wanted.

Miranda poked her head in his doorway. “You have a minute?”

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

She closed the door behind her and walked around his desk to lean on his desk. “God, that was horrible. I don’t know what to do.”

He arched a brow, not giving an inch. “Seriously? You know what to do but you don’t want to do it.”

“He’s my father, Lucas, and my boss. I already have one person about to resign. I don’t need you to pull this on me, too.”

“Maybe that should tell you that you need to act instead of sitting still. Your father isn’t the only one clinging to the old way of doing things.”

She shoved off the desk and started pacing. “You’re kidding, right? You want me to add more stress to my father, a man who had bypass surgery two months ago? No, I need to keep him calm.”

Lucas also stood but didn’t go any closer to her, burying his hands in his pockets. “Then kiss your team goodbye. Following this track will force a sale by the end of the season, if you last that long. By then, most of your staff will have left and the fans will flee, making it much harder to get them back.”

She stopped and fixed a gaze on him. “What do you know?”

Suddenly, he realized he might have spoken too soon, revealed too much. Damn, but she needed to know. “If you can’t make your bills, the league can force a sale. You know this.”

“Fine. We’ll make the payment somehow.”

His frustration finally exploded. “You’re living in the land of denial with your father. Things are bad, Miranda, and you’re running out of time and options.”

“Why do you care?”

“Because I love you, dammit, and I don’t want to see this happen to you. You’ve worked too hard to lose now because of one man’s stubbornness.” The words just spilled out. He didn’t even know he was going to say that, he had barely acknowledged it himself.

Her eyes widened, a sheen of tears in them. “You love me?”

“Yeah.” He laughed a mirthless sound. “And your father hates me. Stupid, aren’t I?”

She walked close to him and laid a hand on his arm. “No, Lucas, you’re not stupid. He’s just under a lot of pressure. We’ll figure something out.”

Lucas took a step back, trying not to feel hurt that she hadn’t actually said she loved him either. He was too proud to ask her. He just needed this conversation to end. Pronto. “I get that. Forget I said anything. We’ll figure it out.”

She laid two fingers on his chin and turned it to her.

She pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “I love you, too. I didn’t want to say anything, was too scared, honestly, but I love you.”

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, burying his face in her hair, relief flooding him.

He let out a breath and kissed her head. “We’ll figure it out. Somehow.”

She pulled back and looked up at him. “Love conquers all, right?”

“We can only hope.”

*

After one lastkiss, Miranda almost danced out of his office, but reality waited for him. His phone flashed a voicemail and missed call from Roger Martinelli. He didn’t know what to say to Roger, but he knew one thing. He had to address the issues about the team and Roger’s investors, before Miranda or her father found out. He was hanging by a thread with the team. Seamus could kick him out, reject his help. The league could strongly suggest and even bully, but bottom line, Callahan could refuse his help. Roger wasn’t going to keep an asset sitting, twiddling his thumbs, doing nothing. He would redeploy Lucas to a place where he could do the most good.

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