Eternal Hearts Read Online Free PDF Page A

distinguish one before it collided with the next.
    “Took ya long enough,” 8-Ball laughed close to her ear. “I thought you were just gonna stare at me. I almost told ya to take a damn picture.”
    Toni squeezed him even tighter as cold tears welled in her eyes. She’d prayed for this moment over a thousand times, but now that she was here, she didn’t know what to say. How could she explain what it meant to hear a familiar voice so close, to feel the arms of a friend around her…to finally come back home?
    She couldn’t. There just weren’t enough words.
    When 8-Ball started to pull back, she released her death grip on him but caught his handsome face between her hands before he could slip away. “You have no idea how good it is to see you.”
    He flashed a purely arrogant smile. “Of course I do.” He straightened to his full height, which was well over six feet, and then pressed a large hand to the center of his muscular chest. “I see this every day.”
    She smiled despite his huge ego. “You haven’t changed at all.”
    He shook his head, his dark green eyes filled with humor. “No need to change perfection. Once it’s right, it’s right. But look at you,” he said as he reached out and tugged the long sleeve of her black t-shirt. “You’re still so…so…short.”
    “Wow.” She blinked hard then shook her head, her smile still firmly in place. Only to someone like 8-Ball would 5’8” be considered short. “You haven’t seen me for how long, and the only thing you can think to do is tease me because you think I’m short?”
    He broke into a huge grin. “Don’t worry, I like my women short.”
    She returned his grin with one of her own. “You also like to leave a twenty on the dresser when you’re done with them.” She purposely made a display of flipping her long hair back over her shoulder. “You’re gonna have to start snacking a little farther up the food chain before you’re ready for something like this.”
    His bronzed face sobered for a few seconds before only the corners of his mouth rose again. “Now there’s the little Latina spitfire I remember.” He reached out and playfully tapped her nose. “I knew she was in there somewhere.”
    “Yeah,” Toni said as she lowered her gaze to the snow dusted sidewalk. He hadn’t meant for his comment to hurt, that much she knew, but knowing didn’t stop the dull ache from thrumming in place of her heartbeat. She dragged the toe of her boot through the glittering white flakes while she summoned the courage to ask the question now burning in her mind. After inhaling a deep breath, she raised her eyes to meet his. “I know it’s been a while…but have I really changed that much?”
    8-Ball held her questioning gaze for a long moment, hesitation playing across his face. “Am I being honest?” When she nodded, he stared off at something behind her. “Yeah, Toni…you’ve changed that much.”
    She closed her eyes. Deep down, she knew she’d changed. She knew the last night she’d spent in Chicago had forced her to become someone else, maybe even something else. But to hear 8-Ball say the words, to hear him essentially confirm what she feared most...
    Toni bit the inside of her lips as the tears from earlier threatened to return. What hearing 8-Ball say those words did was reaffirm her fear that the monster coiled deep in the pit of her stomach wasn’t just a part of her – it was her. She couldn’t blame what she’d done so long ago on a loss of control, couldn’t even blame it on a single lapse of judgment. She’d allowed the beast to take control that night because she’d wanted nothing more than to rip Natasha Stryker’s blonde head off.
    Unfortunately, once the nearly blinding flash of rage had faded, Stryker hadn’t numbered among the nine casualties.
    Toni’s thoughts scattered when she felt 8-Ball’s heavy hand touch her shoulder. She opened her eyes and focused on his blurry face. “I’m sorry. I missed