Free The Omega Team: Hot Rod (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Sabrina York Page B

though she still suffered the sting of his betrayal.
    She loved this man, and she would love him until the day she died.
    It eviscerated her that they could not be together—especially after that scorching tryst—but she didn’t see how such a thing could work. She was too damaged to succeed at anything as fragile as a happy ever after. And she didn’t think she could trust him—really trust him—again.
    So there it was.
    An afternoon of delight meant to sustain her for an eternity.
    Hardly enough. But it would have to be. She could stretch it thin and make it last.
    Although her soul rebelled at the thought.
    “Ready?” he asked. His voice was bleak.
    She shouldered the pack. “Yup.”
    “I calculate about three hours to town, barring any major deviation.”
    “Sounds good.” She shot one more look around their shelter, ostensibly checking for things left behind, but it was more than that. It was one last glimpse of what could have been if fate had not stepped between them and ripped them apart.
     
    Two horny people scratching an itch.
    Her words circled like buzzards in his head. Goddamn her.
    How easily she had shattered his fragile hope.
    For years, he’d searched for this. This feeling. This glory. This connection.
    He’d never found it, not with any woman since Sam. Not until now. It had been an awakening, an epiphany, a redemption of sorts. He wanted to hold on to it. It was a visceral ache, a hunger, a need.
    To her, it had been a casual fuck, a conflagration of hormones and adrenaline, an itch to scratch.
    His fury fueled his pace as they lit out of the cave into the darkening night. She had to scramble to keep up with him, but he didn’t care.
    And yeah, that was the heart of it. The crux of it.
    He’d spent much of his life trying so hard not to care about anything, because a world without his Sam wasn’t worth his attention. He’d focused on his career, his job. He’d struggled to be the best goddamn SEAL, the best goddamn agent, the best goddam warrior he could be. It had become his everything. Filled his mind, his heart and his soul. Driven him.
    But now he saw that for the illusion it was.
    He’d just been killing time. Walking through each and every day, a wraith, an empty shell.
    For ten years, he’d been nothing more than a machine following his program.
    But now…now he’d glimpsed a reality, a life that was warm and fertile and that fed his soul.
    Now, he realized how utterly bereft his existence was.
    Now, he needed more.
    Two horny people scratching an itch.
    He couldn’t believe she felt that way. How could she, when he’d been so certain, so convinced, that this had been no less than transformative for them both?
    He shot a look at her beneath his lashes and studied her expression as they made their way over the rocky landscape. Her features were tight, hard, determined.
    Something flickered in his chest. If she truly were apathetic about what had happened, she would not seem so defiant, would she?
    Judging from her cries, her passion, her desperation during their lovemaking, he knew he’d reached her core. He’d touched her soul and she’d touched his. At least she could admit that.
    But she hadn’t.
    No. Her response had been the immediate erection of her battlements—battlements he’d taken down stone by stone. He hated to see that wall go back up, but a part of him acknowledged it was indicative of something.
    One didn’t need such protection if one didn’t feel threatened. And one didn’t feel threatened unless one felt at risk of losing something.
    That in itself proved her indifference a lie.
    Matt set his teeth and increased his pace, almost to a jog.
    Yeah. He was going to get her to safety, and then he was going to seduce her again.
    He was going to make her admit the truth. That she felt this connection as deeply as he did.
    He would make her admit it. Or die in the attempt.
     
    They arrived on the outskirts of Salvation in record time, probably because