Never Surrender Read Online Free PDF

the stupidest choice he’d ever made in his entire life. He was divorced before he’d met Bay, hurting and wounded by the experience. He’d thought he’d known what love was, but he hadn’t.
    Meeting Bay changed his life, but Gabe had been afraid to act on it for any number of reasons. And only in those thirty incredible days after she’d returned home to his arms, did he understand what real love was about. She’d given him her heart without games, manipulations or lies. That was the only way Bay knew how to be. And she had healed his heart in the process, taught him how to laugh once again, to love another once more.
    A ghostlike smile curved the corners of Gabe’s mouth as Bay’s shallow breath continued to calm him, anchor him to the here and now. At Camp Bravo as soon as they’d made eye contact, something magical, something beautiful, had occurred between them. He ran his fingers slowly up and down her arm. Her heart thudded slowly against his rib cage, and Gabe absorbed every beat of it into his soul. Bay was alive, so sensitive and kind to everyone.
    He continued to be amazed that she’d spent three years, half of them in combat with black ops teams, and still retained that sweet, simple disposition of a woman who held hope out for the hopeless. Bay had the inborn ability to pick someone like him up and, literally, change his life for the better. What kind of titanium steel backbone did she possess? A damned strong one, for sure. Combat changed people, and yet, Gabe had watched her handle it. Bay was...remarkable. A stunning example of a strong, passionate woman who knew what she wanted out of her life.
    Gabe felt the corners of sleep tugging at him, dragging him downward as his heart started to beat in rhythm with Bay’s. She had chosen him as her partner. How lucky could he get? Of all the men on earth, Bay chose him. His last feelings were a deluge of love smothering him, dissolving his mind and taking him to that place of peace and tranquility, his woman in his arms, at his side. As it should be.
    * * *
    B AY AWAKENED SLOWLY , wrapped in a sense of protection and love. Dragging her eyes open, she lay on her left side. Gabe’s slow, deep breathing brought a soft smile to her lips. She was home. She was at his side once more. Easing up on her elbow, she watched the morning light peeking around the dark drapes at the window that faced the Pacific Ocean, which surrounded Coronado Island.
    Her gaze moved lovingly across his sleeping features. Gabe’s hair was military short, mussed, softening the hard look and lines in his weathered, darkly tanned face. In sleep was the only time he looked vulnerable to Bay. Awake, he was a SEAL warrior, alert, always watchful, on guard. And how sweetly he bristled over his need to protect her. He was like a knight from King Arthur’s Round Table that she’d read about so often when growing up as a child. She remembered her mama reading about Sir Galahad, Sir Lancelot and beautiful Guinevere. At times she would lay out in a field of wildflowers, hands behind her head, watching puffy white clouds slowly move by. Sometimes, she imagined shapes within them of these powerful knights on mighty chargers who saved others.
    The corners of her mouth tugged upward as she absorbed Gabe’s sleeping face. She took in his rugged features, trying to imagine his childhood, how horrible it had been on him. His drunken father had used him as a punching bag. He’d made sure to conceal the damage and bruises done by his fists and leather belt. And his father had made sure it was hidden from his mother, Grace. All he’d known as a kid was that fatherly love packed a fist and a punch. His father had sworn he’d kill his mother if Gabe ever breathed a word of his punishment to Grace. Bay couldn’t imagine how it would have affected her emotionally.
    Tears gathered in her eyes momentarily as she imagined his past. A few dark strands lay across Gabe’s broad, lined brow. She wanted to