Free Dream of Me by Delilah Devlin

pale.
    Her stomach dropped, but she kept her expression neutral. Was this the kiss off? Nice knowing you. Nice fucking you. Hope you have a happy life? She held still as he strode closer and dug a hand into his pocket.
    “I should have given this to you before. Something Marc sent to me, because he was afraid you’d find it in your apartment before he could surprise you.” He took a deep breath, and then pulled out a small jeweler’s box.
    Blood pounded in her ears. Ash stared at the box, knowing what it held.
    “He planned to propose, Ash. He loved you. Wanted you to be his wife.”
    She heard Sam’s words and vaguely noted his roughened voice. Slowly, she reached out, and he placed the box in her palm. Her fingers closed around it, but she didn’t look up. Numbed, a chill shivered through her.
    Sam drew another deep breath and stepped closer. “I spoke to Nicky. If I don’t get back in time, she’ll drive you to the airstrip. She knows how to contact the pilot.”
    She nodded, but stood quietly, Marc’s ring feeling like a lead weight as her heart thudded slow and hard inside her chest.
    He took another step closer. “I’m sorry I—”
    The heat from his body warmed the space between them. “Don’t. Thank you,” she bit out.
    “Dammit.” He reached out and gripped her upper arms, then pulled her against him. He pressed a kiss against her forehead. “This isn’t over, Ash.”
    “You have to go,” she croaked, wishing he’d leave before she released the sob burning the back of her throat.
    Sam moved his hands to cradle her face. His mouth thinned as his gaze bored into hers. “Baby, listen. I will see you again.” He leaned his forehead against hers. “ Dream of me ,” he whispered.
    After a long exhale, he released her and took a backward step.
    At last, she raised her gaze to his, tears blurring his dark outline.
    Without another word, he turned and walked through the door, shutting it with a definite click.

Chapter Six
    ‡
    F or Sam, the weeks dragged. With his team activated to perform an extraction of a high-value hostage from ISIS-held territory, they’d been under blackout orders. No comms in or out other than via scrambled satphones with the mission commander.
    The team had staged the rescue from a camp in Iraq. Rehearsing for every scenario, they’d used an abandoned, nearly crumbling compound in the desert. They’d kept at it, day in, day out, until at last, weather and the chaotic whims of the ISIS forces provided their break.
    Only in the early morning hours during those grueling days, before his team stirred, did Sam allow himself to think about Ash and how he’d left her. He didn’t dare dwell on their single night together—not and keep his shit together.
    She’d stood so still when he’d handed her that little black box. Shock and despair making her shake and lending an alarming pallor to her already pale skin. He’d wanted nothing more than to wrap her inside his embrace and settle them on the sofa to give her time to cry. To keep her company through her pain. Instead, he’d abandoned her.
    Even now, he still felt the crushing weight of her grief. Dream of me , he’d said. But he was the one who’d done nothing but think of her in the quiet hours, in his dreams. Although he’d warned himself from that first moment he’d spotted her on the tarmac, he’d let her get under his skin. Now, he dreamed of a different future for himself—one where she stood at the center of his life. In just a few days, her quiet courage and haunting face had found a place deep in his heart.
    He couldn’t imagine a future without her in it. But very likely, he would only be a painful reminder of everything she’d lost. If she was ready to move on with her life, wouldn’t she want a fresh start—one free of her past, one without an old buddy of the man she’d loved so much?
    His abrupt departure ate a hole in his gut. If a chance existed for them at all, it was long gone now. Away from