Riding for Blake: Knockout Love Trilogy, #3

By Laura Day

Riding for Blake is book 3 and the finale of the Knockout Love trilogy!

Ivy
I hate him. I hate his cocky arrogance. I hate those stupid tattoos he’s covered in. I hate that s***-eating grin he’s got on his face when he looks at me.

I hate how he makes me feel every time those unsubtle eyes tell me exactly what he wants.

I hate that he’s living in my house.
Walking around half naked.
Tempting me with those rock-hard muscles.

I hate that I want his strong arms to grab me.
To hold me.
To pin me and make me scream.

I hate that he's totally off limits--
--when all I want is for him to make me HIS.

***

Blake
I don’t believe in this thing called love. F***king a different woman before every fight has been my tradition ever since the first day I’ve gone pro. Nobody but me sleeps in my bed for more than a night.

Ride her, take her, and leave her screaming my name hadn’t failed yet 

But that was before Ivy.
She’s like no girl I’ve met before. 
Innocent, pure, and forbidden.

Everything in me is screaming for me to corrupt her.
To tease her.
To make her find her inner bad. 

To make her MINE.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBook Publishing World
• Release date: Dec 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386259527

Book preview

RIDING FOR BLAKE: Knockout Love Trilogy (Book 3)

By Laura Day

IVY

I hate him. I hate his cocky arrogance. I hate those stupid tattoos he’s covered in. I hate that s***-eating grin he’s got on his face when he looks at me.

I hate how he makes me feel every time those unsubtle eyes tell me exactly what he wants.

I hate that he’s living in my house.

Walking around half naked.

Tempting me with those rock-hard muscles.

I hate that I want his strong arms to grab me.

To hold me.

To pin me and make me scream.

I hate that he's totally off limits—

—when all I want is for him to make me HIS.

BLAKE

I don’t believe in this thing called love. F***king a different woman before every fight has been my tradition ever since the first day I’ve gone pro. Nobody but me sleeps in my bed for more than a night.

Ride her, take her, and leave her screaming my name hadn’t failed yet

But that was before Ivy.

She’s like no girl I’ve met before.

Innocent, pure, and forbidden.

Everything in me is screaming for me to corrupt her.

To tease her.

To make her find her inner bad.

To make her MINE.

Chapter One

Ivy dropped her purse onto her couch and slumped down next to it. She put her feet up on her coffee table and stared off mindlessly into space. She had no idea what to do with herself. But she wanted to do something. Darryl had been chipping away at her life for too long and she was ready to do something about it. He had started with little things, strange phone calls and gifts and Ivy thought she could handle it. It got worse, vague threats and personal visits to her apartment, and she thought she could handle that. But the list of things he was capable of just kept growing and she wasn’t sure she could handle it anymore. He had involved Blake. That was the breaking point. It wasn’t just her and Darryl anymore; Blake was stuck in this mess now, too. She was like that little boy with his finger in the dyke. Darryl was constantly creating new holes and she was running out of ways to stop the coming flood.

Ivy put her head in her hands and sighed. She didn’t know if leaving Blake’s had been the right move or not, but it was important for her to try to minimize the damage Darryl did to the people she loved. She didn’t know any other way to protect him other than leaving him. It had been Darryl’s order, but Ivy’s decision. She wasn’t happy, though, and she wasn’t sure if it had been the right thing to do.

There was a knock on her door. Ivy sat up straight and looked over towards the white solid wood of her door. Darryl was still in jail; she was sure of that. But she knew he didn’t work alone. He had friends who provided alibis and other friends who sometimes did his dirty work for him. They weren't friends, really; Darryl obviously had no friends. They were people he paid. So it might be one of his employees at the door.

Ivy took a deep breath and walked the short distance between her couch and her door, her treading quietly over the hardwood floors. She looked through the peephole. But it wasn’t Darryl standing there. It was her father. Confused and wondering if she should have been expecting him, Ivy quickly opened the door, but the face that greeted her wasn’t a pleasant one.

Jonas looked haggard. His thin hair was messy on his head and there was dark, heavy bags under his eyes. His clothes were wrinkled and the lines on his older face seemed to stand out more than they usually did. But what struck Ivy the most was that he looked unhappy. Normally anytime she saw her father he had a smile spread from ear to ear. He was always so happy just seeing her, but this was different. He looked miserable.

Dad, Ivy said. Is everything okay? Where’s Ellen?

Ellen is with Blake, Jonas said. Ivy moved aside to let him in. Jonas moved slowly and delicately, as if the act of walking was painful. He was wearing a scarf and he slipped it off from around his neck and then sat down on the couch still in his coat. He didn’t say anything else. He just sat there and stared off into space, the same thing Ivy had been doing only moments before.

Is everything all right? Ivy asked as she closed and locked the door and walked over to the couch to join him. She sat down next to him leaving a space between them. Something about her father was off and wrong. She had never seen him like this before. Normally he was jovial and sweet and always smiling. But, now, it was as if there was a heavy cloud hanging over his head.

Blake’s arrest has been all over the news. Everyone is waiting for his statement. I saw the footage of the two of you leaving the courthouse. His voice was low and even and he refused to look at Ivy. Some reports are suggesting that you and he have a romantic relationship. Is that true?

Yes, Ivy said. In the instant before she spoke that word she went through about a million possibilities of what she could say. She could have lied. She could have tried to buy herself some time with half-truths and empty words. But, the truth was, she was in a relationship with Blake. She loved him, more than she had ever loved anyone else. She knew in that instant that if she couldn’t be with Blake, she would never be with anyone. She would rather be alone.

But now that Ellen and I are engaged the two of you are calling it off, right? Jonas asked.

Ivy didn’t say anything. She stood up and slipped her hands into the pocket of her jeans and looked at the floor as she debated what to say. We...it actually started recently and we wanted to see where it could go. You know how close he and I were back in high school.

Yes, back in high school when you were both kids, but you’re older now. I thought you had learned your lesson about Blake. He broke your heart in high school, if you remember.

I do remember. But he’s different now and so am I, and, at the same time, we’re exactly the same. We’re really good together, Dad. There’s no other way I can explain it.

Ellen and I are getting married.

I know.

That will make you and Blake stepsiblings.

I know, Ivy said. Her voice was barely above a whisper and even though she and Jonas were in the same room and having a conversation, neither could look at the other.

And you’re okay with that? Jonas demanded and Ivy could hear the tinge of disgust in his voice.

I wish it could be different. But it is what it is. I don’t want you and Ellen to break up-

So you and Blake need to end it, Jonas said interrupting her. "Ellen and I want to spend the rest of our lives with each other. We are in a serious, committed relationship. You and Blake are just fooling around. I’m