“Hello, Ellena.”
Oh, God.
This wasn’t some medication-induced hallucination nor was it a figment of her imagination. It was the voice from her dreams, only this time, she was very much awake.
Ellena started to swing her head around, but the movement—and the man she now realized was standing in the shadows by her room’s large window—made her dizzy.
She closed her eyes and waited for the nauseating wave to pass. When she opened them again, she met a worried gaze.
“Are you okay?” Gabe asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
“Gabe?” She’d whispered his name with utter disbelief because, holy shit.
He’s actually here.
Stepping out of the shadows and into the dim light, the man who’d once vowed to stay with her forever stared down at her. “Hi.”
Her heart stuttered, and her mind whirled. For a moment all she could do was stare.
In some ways, he looked exactly as she remembered. In others, it was almost as if she were staring back at a total stranger.
Physically, Gabe still looked like the same tall, handsome SEAL she’d fallen in love with years before. Even more fit than she remembered, his dark gray t-shirt stretched over a sculpted chest and a set of strong shoulders.
The same ones she’d held onto countless times while they made love.
His shirt loosened around his narrowed waist, and though she couldn’t see them, Ellena knew there was still an impressive six-pack hiding behind the thin material.
Lowering her gaze, she noticed the way his taut thighs stretched a pair of well-worn jeans, and damn. Denim shouldnotbe that freaking sexy.
And then there was his hair.
Tearing her eyes away from his lower half—and memories of how those same legs used to press against hers as he drove himself deep inside her greedy body—Ellena found a bit more salt in his short, dark tresses and trimmed beard than was there before.
The frustratingly handsome man could’ve coined the phrase ‘silver fox’, and for some reason, the thought made her want to cross her arms and stomp her feet like an angry child.
Good thing you’ve got a sling and a hospital bed to stop you because that would be very embarrassing.
Okay, so her thoughts may be a little higher on the pity-party scale than usual but comeon. The guy could’ve at least made this a little easier on her by going bald and gaining a couple hundred pounds.
Not that she ever thought that would happen.
Gabriel Dawson had always been handsome and fit, but staring into his dark eyes now, Ellena realized he’d somehow become evenmoreattractive over the last few years.
It was something she would’ve sworn was impossible. It was also ridiculously unfair and frustrating as hell.
There was one thing, however, that was exactly as she remembered.
Something that had nothing to do with his body or hair. Something that made her heart hurt for him. Forthem.
It was there, dulling his perfect, gorgeous eyes.
Despite his having been a big, bad Navy SEAL, Gabe’s dark chocolate eyes had always been filled with his passion for life...and his love for her. But that was before.
All Ellena saw now was the same closed-off expression he’d worn the day he told her he was leaving. The one that screamed ‘Keep Out’.
As memories of the past collided with his being here, now, Ellena’s stuttering mind tried to make sense of what she was seeing.
This wasn’t some pointless dream or fantasy. It was real. After all this time, Gabe had finally come home.
