by Sabrina York
Lights danced as her mind spun. A cacophony rose in her soul. An eternal skirmish, the strident clash between hope and fury. “Is this a hallucination?” Surely it was. The pain, the drugs… Maybe she’d died and this was heaven. If it was, she was going to complain, because everything hurt.
“No, Sam. No hallucination.” She had no idea why he smiled. This wasn’t funny. Not funny at all.
“So you never forgot me?” Not a frail whisper, but a vitriolic snarl. It made him flinch. She didn’t care that it did. She was far too furious. “Then why did you send back all my letters?”
He paled. Seemed to diminish somehow. “Letters? You sent letters?” He took a tentative step into the room, but her glare forestalled him and he stopped.
“Of course I sent letters. I needed you. I begged for your help. But you never even opened them.”
“I never got them.” His voice was harsh.
“Right.” She crossed her arms over her chest and then winced because it sent a shaft of pain through her. But she refused to let him see her agony. “So you’re saying that someone else received them and sent them back to me?”
“Yes!” He lurched forward
“Who the hell would do that? Who the hell would be that cruel?”
“I don’t—” He froze. The muscle in his cheek bunched. He spun away. “Goddamn it.”
His anguish seemed so real, so poignant, she had to think he wasn’t pretending.
Trouble was, she didn’t know what to think about that either. She’d spent ten years hating him for his apathy, and now she was faced with the tormenting truth that he’d never forgotten her. He still thought of her.
He wrote to her every day.
Every day of the last ten years, she had been in his heart and mind.
He turned back to her, raking his hair. “It had to be my mother,” he said in a ragged voice. “She wanted me to forget you. Move on. We fought about it a lot.”
She stared at him, unable to speak.
The muscle in his cheek throbbed. “I swear to God, Sam. I was crushed when you never wrote. When the letters I sent you came back undeliverable. And then…” His voice broke.
“And then…what?”
His jaw worked as though he were grinding his teeth. “Then I saw it. The story on the news.”
Oh God. She knew. She knew what he was going to say.
“They said you died.”
She had.
She’d walked away from everything she’d been, everything she’d cared for. Even him.
It had been a hard choice, but she needed the anonymity to survive. And of course, she’d thought he’d deserted her.
But he hadn’t.
“Sam?”
How did she face him? What could she say? “Well, I didn’t die.”
“I know that…now. Where the hell have you been all this time?”
She turned away. “It’s complicated.”
“I want to know. I need to know.”
Not all of it, surely. It was a tawdry tale. “After my parents died, I went to live with a nice family in Wisconsin.”
“Wisconsin?”
“Great cheese.”
“I wish I’d known.”
“Everyone knows about the cheese.”
He growled. “You know what I mean.”
“I wasn’t allowed to contact anyone. I was dead. Besides…”
“What?”
“I thought you didn’t care anymore.”
“Fuck. I always cared. Always loved you. I never stopped.”
A familiar bitterness swelled. “That’s cute, but I’m not the same girl I once was.” She wasn’t.
“You are the same at your core, Sam. The same person.”
“I’m not. I’m a killer. I’m a highly trained operative who doesn’t think twice about taking a man down.”
Silence blanketed them as he stared at her for far too long. Then his lips quirked. “What’s your point?”
“Don’t be obtuse.”
“I’m not. Sam, I’m the same. The same as you. A hard-ass soldier. We’re very much alike.”
She couldn’t deny it. “But you can’t love me. You hardly know me.”
“I know enough. Enough to be certain I don’t want to let this, let you, go. And I won’t.”
“It’s too late for us.” God, those word hurt. Burned her throat.
“Is it?” His question was harsh, angry. “Goddam it, Sam. After you died, I didn’t care about anything. Didn’t give a shit. I joined the navy…they beat that out of me real quick. And then I realized what I really wanted was to be an avenger. I wanted to protect the people who couldn’t protect themselves. And I wanted revenge. For you. That was my one thought, every day. But now…”
“Now?”
“Don’t you see? We have a second chance.”
“For what? A picket-fucking-fence? I’m hardly the housewife type.”
His grin was crooked. “Did I ask you to marry me? I don’t remember asking you to marry me.”
“Fuck you, Devereaux.”
“Here? In the hospital?”
She tried to smack him but he dodged out of the way.
“All I’m saying is that we should give this a chance. As Matt and Sam—not Vixen.” He waggled a finger at her. “Would you be willing to try?”
Willing to try? It was a dream she’d held close to her heart and never dared expose.
Could she now?
Yes. She could. Because she had nothing left to lose. Without him in her life, she was an empty shell and she knew it.
She shot him a wary glance and muttered, “I suppose.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re going to have to do better than that.”
“What do you want?”
“A lifetime of devotion?” That promise, between two star-crossed kids, echoed across the years. “At the very least, a promise to give us a try.” His gaze burned into hers. “Could you do that? Could you do that for me, Sam?”
She set her palm on his cheek, on those annoying, delicious bristles. “Yes, Matt. I will,” she whispered.
His smile unfolded like a glorious dawn. The dawn of a new chance for them both.
When he lowered his head to kiss her, she tried to maintain her aplomb, but the frantic beeping of the heart monitor by her side gave her away.
If you loved Hot Rod, don’t miss Sabrina’s other steamy novellas in Kindle Worlds!
Guard Dog (Stone Hard SEALs/Hot SEALs Crossover) by Sabrina York
Herding Cat (Stone Hard SEALs/Hot SEALs Crossover) by Sabrina York
Check out all the OMEGA TEAM
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The Soviet Connection - Kate Richards http://amzn.to/1TrxeWr
Texas Stand-Off - Sable Hunter http://amzn.to/1Kr7sim
Hot Rod - Sabrina York http://amzn.to/1oLeHHP
Keeping Karen - Heather Long http://amzn.to/1oLeIvm
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Assisting Aimee - Susan Stoker http://amzn.to/1oLeLHz
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Her Royal Hotness, Sabrina York, is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of hot, humorous stories for smart and sexy readers. Her titles range from sweet & sexy to scorching romance. Visit her webpage at www.sabrinayork.com to check out her books, excerpts and contests.
For more information, or to connect with Sabrina, visit SabrinaYork.Com
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br /> Books by Sabrina York
CONTEMPORARY
Stand Alone
Heartbreak on a Stick (Contemporary Romance)
Pool Man (Sexy Vacation Debacle)
Whipped (Contemporary Romance)
Fierce (One Night Stand, Decadent Publishing)
Snow Angels (Calendar Men Series from Decadent Publishing)
Stone Hard SEALs—Action Adventure Romance
Stone Hard SEALs (Action-Packed Military Romance Duet)
Guard Dog (Stone Hard SEALs/Hot SEALs Crossover)
Herding Cat (Stone Hard SEALs/Hot SEALs Crossover)
Tryst Island Series—Steamy Contemporary Romance
Rebound Book 1
Dragonfly Kisses Book 2
Smoking Holt Book 3
Heart of Ash Book 4
Devlin’s Dare Book 5
Parker’s Passion Book 6
REGENCY
Stand Alone
Tarnished Honor
Untamed Highlanders!
Hannah and the Highlander Book 1
Susana and the Scot Book 2
Lana and the Laird Book 3
The Dundragon Time Travel Trilogy
Laird of her Heart Book 1
Her Hot Highlander Book 2 (Coming Soon)
His Highland Lass Book 3 (Coming Soon)
COLLECTIONS
Luscious—Seven Nights of Sin (Regency)
Protect and Serve—Cowboy Justice 12 Pack
Come Hell or High Water—12 Alarm Cowboys
Lithium’s Rescue—Elite Metal Ghosts
Sterling’s Seduction—Elite Metal Collection
The Real McCoy—Cowboy 12 Pack
