Hero - The Ambush: Special Forces Romance Read Online Free PDF

for a breathless moment, she tipped her chin up, moving her lips closer to mine.
    No one could see us from the street. The art gallery was divided into small box-like rooms that were further divided by white display walls. We stood in the far corner behind a display wall of narrow panel paintings that depicted a whale swimming through skyscrapers as if they were kelp waving in the deep ocean.
    I could kiss her. I could take this stolen moment and let my body say what I couldn't. There was no one to interrupt us, no reason I shouldn't confess how she was seared in my mind, how she had been for four long years. A flame that defied every sharp breeze. Something I couldn't change, even if I'd wanted to.
    And then she spoke and the weight between us shifted.
    “How dare you help my brother endanger his life again,” Leighton hissed.
    I blinked. “What? I'm the one who saved him in the first place, remember?” My hands flexed on her waist.
    “Why exactly did you do that?” Leighton scowled up at me. “So he could go on and get blown up again somewhere else?”
    I tried not to think about how much I still wanted to kiss her and focused instead on the more important subject. She needed to understand. “It was your brother's choice to enlist in the first place. I did my duty, and all your brother wants to do is his.”
    “That's it, isn't it? All you're capable of. Doing your duty.” Derision dripped from every word.
    I yanked her more tightly against me, my voice low. “What do you want me to do, Leighton?”
    “It's not about me.” She pushed hard against my chest. “I know you think I'm a selfish person, but it's not about me. Ian can't re-enlist. He can't risk his life again. He's my family.”
    “Every soldier has a family,” I said softly as I let her go.
    “And that's supposed to make it okay?” Leighton spun away, but not before I saw tears pooling in her bright blue eyes. “If Ian dies, that's it. My family's gone.”
    “What about your grandfather?” I pointed out gently.
    She gave an unladylike snort. “You don't get it. I knew you wouldn't.”
    I reached out to her, but she took a step back.
    “Did you know that Paris has gone to live in New York for a few months?” Leighton changed the subject. “She texted me to say the West Coast is too boring.”
    I went still, trying to figure out where Leighton was going with this particular train of thought. “I'm sorry.” I hesitated, and then added the truth. “I know she's your best friend, but I never thought she was a good friend to you.”
    Leighton wrapped her arms across her stomach, and I could see the pain on her face. It took all of my self-control not to take her in my arms.
    She sighed. “Ricky's having too much fun in Monaco. He says I should join him. He wants me there. Says I really knocked him out at the party and we should be together.”
    “I thought you said he followed some blonde there,” I said.
    She laughed, but I could see the shine of tears in her eyes. “You don't know him like I do. He gets distracted easily. But he always comes back to me.”
    The words cut me, but not as deeply as her tears. I reached out a hand again. “Come on, Leighton, I think we should go have a talk with your grandfather. I'm sure he's heard from Ian about re-enlisting by now.”
    She laughed again, even more bitter than before. “Dear old Grandfather is away on a business meeting. He remembered to call an hour ago. He said he'd be back in a day or two, which usually means three or four. Trust me, Ian hasn't told him.”
    She pushed away from the wall and shook out her arms. When she brushed back her hair, the tears were gone and her voice was flat. “Ian will leave soon whether or not he's told the old man. But it doesn't matter. Everyone leaves. Sometimes they just drive away and never come back.”
    I let her push past me into the hallway. Leighton never talked about her parents, about their death in a car accident when she'd been just