"There was no place for me in your life."
"No. Not when I was with Nevin."
Because back then there'd been no room for someone who happened to be both her best friend and a man who loved her. He'd become an awkward problem she didn't want to deal with anymore.
He didn't love her now, that was for damn sure, but desire was making itself known in the swollen flesh pressing against the button fly on his jeans.
"No place for the little people when you were married to LA elite." The words might be bitter, but his tone wasn't.
He'd been hurt back then at her rejection, but he wasn't naïve to the ways of the world. Even if he was from a small Alaskan town.
He hadn't fit in with the Los Angeles glitterati, even when he'd been a student at USC.
Her perfect bow shaped lips twisted in a grimace. "You won't understand, but Nevin handpicked the people in my life, from my Yoga instructor to the woman who called herself my best friend. He saw you as a threat, though I didn't realize it until much later, so..."
"I got kicked to the curb."
Her head dipped, as if that shamed her. "Yes."
She was partially right about him understanding. He couldn't imagine allowing anyone to have that kind of power in his life now, but there had been a time he'd left the life he loved behind because that was what this woman wanted.
"You must have loved him very much."
"I don't know." Kitty's blue eyes clouded with inner confusion and pain he didn't want to see. "Maybe I loved him once."
She'd given up her education, her family...she'd given up Tack for Nevin Barston's sake. Of course, she'd loved him. And Tack didn't like dwelling on that truth anymore today than he had eight years ago.
She shrugged, a move he was quick learning to dislike. It was way too noncommittal for the Kitty Grant he'd known. No way he could be sure when Kitty had started changing, but change she had. When they'd been friends, she would have argued her point of view, even in the face of irrefutable evidence.
The woman standing in front of him wasn't about to do that.
The truth of the difference between Kitty then and Kitty now hit him hard and right between the eyes though. Shit. Piss. Damn.
That urge to take a little trip south and beat the ever-loving shit out Nevin Barston washed over Tack again.
"It’s complicated, Tack." Kitty made an aborted move with her hand. "And I’ve had a really long day."
Tack didn't believe it. Oh, he believed it was complicated alright. . However, Tack knew the flames of her nature might be doused, but he refused to accept that an ember didn't still burn somewhere deep inside her.
"Kitty, I know you’ve been through hell--"
Kitty interrupted before he could go any further. "I go by Caitlin now."
"Well, maybe you need to find Kitty again."
"And you think I'm going to just because you use that name?" She might not realize it, but there was a tinge of the old Kitty snark in that tone.
He grinned. "I don't know, but I'm not calling you Caitlin."
"You haven't changed."
"You're wrong about that too."
"Too? What else am I wrong about?"
"You're stronger than you think."
"Because I finally divorced the monster who claimed to love me?" She laughed, the sound hollow, no amusement in it at all. "That was an act of desperation, not some grand stand."
"You still did it."
"He was out of the country. If he hadn't been, I would never have had the courage to take the first step and walk out."
At first Tack didn't know how to respond to that. Kitty so afraid of her husband she wouldn't have left him while he was near enough to do something about it? The idea boggled Tack's mind, but it pissed him off even more. Tack's hands curled into tight fists, but he did his best to keep his anger from his face after Kitty's earlier reaction.
Nevin Barston was one lucky son-of-a-bitch that he was in LA right now.
"Why didn't you call?" She'd needed help; she had to know Tack would have been there.
"Would you have answered?" she asked, with an apparently genuine desire to know the answer.
Because she didn't already.
Had she forgotten everything they were to each other?
"How could you doubt it? Even if you hadn't been my best friend for most of my life, you were from Cailkirn. Anyone in this townwould have helped you." But him most of all.
"You were the last real friend I had and I treated you like crap." Remorse infused her words with sincerity and her self-disgust was clear.
He couldn't argue with her though, even if he felt like he should. She was just so damn fragile right now.
Thankfully Miz Alma called them to the table, her tone impatient, before Tack found himself saying things he shouldn’t.
~ End Excerpt ~
Look for Wild Heat April 28, 2015 from your favorite bookseller.
More Books by Lucy Monroe
Northern Fire
WILD HEAT (April 2015)
HOT NIGHT (Dec 2015)
FLASH POINT (April 2016)
More Single Title Contemporary Romance
CHANGE THE GAME
WIN THE GAME
THE REAL DEAL
Mercenaries & Spies
READY
WILLING
AND ABLE
SATISFACTION GUARANTEED
DEAL WITH THIS
THE SPY WHO WANTS ME
WATCH OVER ME
CLOSE QUARTERS
HEAT SEEKER
Anthologies & Novellas
SILVER BELLA
3 BRIDES FOR 3 BAD BOYS
DELICIOUS: Moon Magnetism
by Lori Foster, et. al.
HE'S THE ONE: Seducing Tabby
by Linda Lael Miller, et. al.
THE POWER OF LOVE: No Angel
BODYGUARDS IN BED:
Whose Been Sleeping in my Brother’s Bed?
by Lucy Monroe et. al.
Series Contemporary - Harlequin Presents
THE GREEK TYCOONS ULTIMATUM
THE ITALIAN'S SUITABLE WIFE
THE BILLIONAIRE'S PREGNANT MISTRESS
THE SHEIKH'S BARTERED BRIDE
THE GREEK'S INNOCENT VIRGIN
BLACKMAILED INTO MARRIAGE
THE GREEK'S CHRISTMAS BABY
WEDDING VOW OF REVENGE
THE PRINCE'S VIRGIN WIFE
HIS ROYAL LOVE-CHILD
THE SCORSOLINI MARRIAGE BARGAIN
THE PLAYBOY'S SEDUCTION
PREGNANCY OF PASSION
THE SICILIAN'S MARRIAGE ARRANGEMENT
BOUGHT: THE GREEK'S BRIDE
TAKEN: THE SPANIARD'S VIRGIN
HOT DESERT NIGHTS
THE RANCHER'S RULES
FORBIDDEN: THE BILLIONAIRE'S VIRGIN PRINCESS
HOUSEKEEPER TO THE MILLIONAIRE
HIRED: THE SHEIKH'S SECRETARY MISTRESS
VALENTINO'S LOVE-CHILD
THE LATIN LOVER 2-IN-1 HARLEQUIN PRESENTS
(WITH THE GREEK TYCOON'S INHERITED BRIDE)
THE SHY BRIDE
THE GREEK'S PREGNANT LOVER
FOR DUTY’S SAKE
HEART OF A DESERT WARRIOR
NOT JUST THE GREEK'S WIFE
SCORSOLINI BABY SCANDAL
ONE NIGHT HEIR
PRINCE OF SECRETS
MILLION DOLLAR CHRISTMAS PROPOSAL
SHEIKH'S SCANDAL
AN HEIRESS FOR HIS EMPIRE
A VIRGIN FOR HIS PRIZE
Historical Romance
ANNABELLE'S COURTSHIP
The Langley Family Trilogy
TOUCH ME
TEMPT ME
TAKE ME
Historical Paranormal Romance
Children of the Moon Novels
MOON AWAKENING
MOON CRAVING
MOON BURNING
DRAGON'S MOON
ENTHRALLED anthology: Ecstasy Under the Moon
&nbs
p; WARRIOR'S MOON
For more information on Lucy's books, visit http://www.lucymonroe.com.
About the Author
With more than 7 million copies of her books in print worldwide, award winning and USA Today bestseller Lucy Monroe has published over 60 books and had her stories translated for sale all over the world. While she writes multiple subgenres of romance, all of her books are sexy, deeply emotional and adhere to the concept that love will conquer all. A passionate devotee of romance, she adores sharing her love for the genre with her readers.
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