Hardball (41 page)
Authors: V.K. Sykes
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.
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. Vegas is Vegas, and Florida is an unending inspiration and a wonderfully rich source of characters and situations.
Find more information about V.K. Sykes online by visiting:
The Homepage:
http://www.vksykes.com/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ - !/VKSykes