Hardball
Page 32
With a smile, he sat up and made room for her beside him. Holly didn’t hesitate. She grasped the wine glass and snuggled close to him, tucking her legs up beside her.
“That smells good. Okay if I have a tiny taste?” she asked softly. Despite the bath, she still felt a bit cold—more inside than out—and the hot brew suddenly seemed more inviting than wine.
He held the cup to her. “Careful, it’s still hot.”
She took a sip, and sighed at the aroma and taste. “Mmmm, for a jock, you make a good cup of coffee, Carter.”
He gave her a guilty grin. “It’s got a little added something.”
“Quite a lot of added something,” she said, savoring the kick of Jack Daniels. It felt so easy and right to be with Nate again. She’d missed him terribly, even though he’d been gone less than a day. And thank God he’d come back early, or—
An image of that gun, pressing into her forehead, flashed through her mind. She let out a soft moan and snuggled up closer to Nate.
“Hey, hey, it’s all over now,” he said. He set down the cup and enfolded her in his arms. “You’re with me, and that crazy bastard will never touch you again. Nobody ever will, as long as I’m around.”
Holly nodded, willing the image of the gun to fade. But even though Nate had set the living room mostly to rights, she could still visualize everything that had happened in that room with sickening clarity.
“I don’t think I can live in this house anymore,” she said. How could she ever work in that kitchen again without thinking of Lance Arnold’s disgusting body hammering her into the counter?
“Of course not,” Nate said, squeezing her even tighter. “You’ll stay with me until you find another place. As long as you like.”
Her immediate instinct was to agree, but caution held her back. Despite everything that had happened between them today, they had yet to articulate what it really meant. And she had no intention of pushing him to do it tonight.
“You don’t have to do that,” she said. “I appreciate the offer, but I’ll figure something out.”
But not right now. Tonight she needed him to hold her, and she needed to start letting go of the nightmare of the last few weeks. Everything else could wait till tomorrow.
He nuzzled his bristly cheek against hers, tickling her a bit. “Holly?”
“Mmmm?” she murmured.
“Leaving you this morning was the stupidest thing I ever did in my life.”
She pulled back to look into his eyes. She saw guilt and more than a hint of anguish in those dark depths.
“Don’t say that,” she said, stroking his cheek. “I told you to go. Even after…well, you know.”
A latent heat flared momentarily in his gaze, then he grimaced. “Yeah, I know, and I still can’t believe I went. I should never have left town until the cops caught that nut. I should have known he could be waiting for me to leave.”
She hated that he felt so guilty. They had all made mistakes in underestimating Arnold. “Nate, stop. There’s no point worrying about what we should have or shouldn’t have done. The past is the past. Anyway, you didn’t do anything wrong. You came back early and saved my life, you big hero. By the way, why did you come back so early?”
His gaze seemed to look past her at something only he could see, but then he refocused on her. “All I can say is that it felt wrong not to be here with you. My gut told me to get back as soon as possible.”
“Thank God for your gut, then,” she said wryly. “Remind me to listen to it more often.”
A shudder seemed to go through him, and he tightened his hold on her. “I can’t stop thinking about what would have happened if I’d lost you.” He inhaled a huge, deep breath. “I can’t lose you, Holly. Not ever. I’m telling you that now.”
She stared up at him, taking in the hard cast of his jaw and the determined look in his eyes. And it seemed like he had more to say.
“Go on,” she prompted.
“It’s about the trade,” he said. “One of the reasons I was dying to get back here tonight was so I could tell you that I made up my mind. This morning, it hit me like a hammer. I knew for sure what I wanted to do.”
Her breath seized in her throat, and she had the urge to shake it out of him. “Yes?” she whispered.
“I’m staying right here, with the Patriots. It doesn’t matter how much money L.A. might have decided to throw at me. I’m not going to leave my team, or my city, or my friends. Not for more money and glitz. None of that’s worth the cost.”
Overwhelming relief almost choked her, but a flash of anxiety pushed her into speech. “Are you sure? You won’t regret someday that you passed on that kind of opportunity?”
He snorted. “Hell, no. I try not to look back once I’ve made a decision. And, anyway, why would I leave when everything I want is right here?”
She gazed into his eyes. “Everything?”
“Everything,” he said, cupping her face in his hands. His lips moved in a tender smile. “I don’t want to go anywhere without you. You’re everything I want. I know that now. But even if you don’t want me…” He paused and swallowed hard. “Even if we can’t be together, I’m staying here. In Philly, with my team. With my friends and fans.”
Tears started to well in her eyes. “Nate, it’s not that I don’t want you. You know I do. It’s…” The words caught in her throat.
He gently raised her chin, dropping a soft kiss on her lips before pulling back. The depth of emotion in his eyes made her want to sob with joy. “I almost lost you forever tonight.” He inhaled deeply again. “That would have been the end of me, I swear. I love you, Holly. I never want to be with any other woman. Not as long as I have you. I couldn’t make that promise before. But you showed me what it meant to really be a man, and I can make it now. And I can mean it.”
Holly sagged into him, pressing her head into his warm shoulder as she absorbed the words she’d thought she’d never hear him say. “Truth?” she whispered.
He hugged her tight. “Truth. I’m making you that promise. Forever.”
When he kissed her, it was with such tenderness that every cell in Holly’s body rang with the truth of it—rang as loud as the bells in a thousand church steeples.
After all, true Patriots stay loyal. Forever.
About the Author
V.K. is a wife/husband writing team—Vanessa Kelly and Randall Sykes—who write romantic suspense and single title contemporary romance.
When Vanessa’s not writing as V.K., she slips into a telephone booth and emerges as Vanessa Kelly, author of sizzling hot Regency romance novels for Kensington Publishing. Her first novel, Mastering the Marquess, hit the shelves in April 2009. You can check out Vanessa’s books and other fun stuff at www.vanessakellyauthor.com.
Vanessa was born a Jersey girl, but not in Tony Soprano country. Rather, she grew up in a gorgeous little colonial town just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. After completing her Master’s in English literature from Rutgers University, Vanessa headed to Toronto to work in a Ph.D. program, and stayed in the frozen north. Eventually, she found her way into the public sector, and spent many years writing reports and briefs.
Randy started out as a prairie boy, with a heritage in the starkly beautiful wheat fields of southern Saskatchewan, Canada. As a graduate student in economics, he migrated east to prestigious McGill University. After completing his Master’s in labor economics, he ended up working in the public sector in the nation’s capital of Ottawa. Writing endless reports and speeches honed his writing skills, but too often bored him senseless. When he finally turned his pen (or rather his keyboard) to fiction, life changed in a hurry. His “I can do this!” quickly became “Holy cow, this is hard!” And before he knew it, he was immersed in a strange land of romance fiction writers, almost all women, learning why books require such things as emotion and conflict to get readers to actually pay money to read them.
V.K. likes to write about favorite locations—especially Florida and Las Vegas. Vega
s is Vegas, and Florida is an unending inspiration and a wonderfully rich source of characters and situations.
Connect With V.K. Sykes
Find more information about V.K. Sykes online by visiting:
The Homepage: http://www.vksykes.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ - !/VKSykes
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