Reckless Heat: A Hostile Operations Team Prequel Read Free Page A

tell him it feels right, right now , but I can’t form the words. And he won’t take me up on it anyway. My heart hammers and my skin tingles where he touches me, but this is as much stimulation as I’m going to get from Matt Girard.
    I wish I was brave enough to close the distance between us and press my lips to his, but I’m not. Instead, I hold my breath and stare into his eyes and pray— pray —he’ll make the first move.
    He smiles at me, a soft curling of his lips, and my pulse quickens. He’s everything I ever wanted in a guy, but he doesn’t look at me that way at all. I can see it in his smile, feel it in the way his finger rests beneath my chin. There’s no reciprocation here.
    He sometimes looks at me with a hard, faraway look, but it doesn’t last long. Faraway and friendly are his two settings for me. It is what it is, no matter that I wish it were more.
    He leans away, dropping his finger, and my heart aches with disappointment.
    “You ready to get home?” he asks, but he’s starting the car without waiting for my reply.
    I nod, because an answer isn’t really needed. He turns around and heads back out to the road. Again he cranks up the music, Creed this time, and we fly toward town.
    We go down Main Street, past the shop where Mama works—she’s going to buy it someday—past the old general store and the café, and then he turns and heads for the railroad tracks that divide Rochambeau in two. First we pass through the historic district, filled with old homes, huge trees, and pristine lawns, before driving over the tracks and into the poorer section of town.
    My section. I shouldn’t be embarrassed. After all, Matt’s been here before. He’s seen the little home I live in, the dirt driveway, the ramshackle siding, the clothesline that hangs near the house, and he’s never said a negative word about any of it.
    We pull up to the house, his shiny Corvette seeming out of place, and Julie walks outside. She’s got Sarah, my six-year-old sister, with her. Sarah waves like mad and Matt waves back. Sarah knows Matt, but not too well since he never comes over anymore. Still, she hasn’t forgotten.
    “Thanks for the ride home,” I say, wrapping my hand around the door handle.
    He swings his silvery gaze to me. He looks sad, but I don’t know why. “I won’t forget you, Evie-girl. We’ll always be friends.”
    My throat is too tight to speak, so I just nod. I step out of the car and he backs out of the driveway. I stand there until the Corvette is gone.

Chapter Four
    MATT
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    I jack the car up to a hundred miles per hour. It’s dangerous for more than one reason. First, it’s a two-lane road with sharp bends and trees that obscure the view up ahead and make for short sight distances. Second, you can never tell when something might run out in front of you. It isn’t dark yet, which means the chances are less than if it had been, but it’s still a risk.
    And then there’s the possibility of coming up too fast on a slower car around a bend. Someone could get hurt.
    Reluctantly, I slow my speed. Three more weeks and I’m out of here. Three more weeks of enduring my life before it changes forever.
    I can’t fucking wait. And I don’t need to screw it up before it happens. It wasn’t easy getting into West Point.
    I did the entire application process with the school counselor. I left the old man out of it, though it would have been easier to get the recommendation of the state’s representative to Congress if I’d asked my father for help.
    I didn’t want his help. I told Mr. Biggs that I wanted to do it on my own, wanted to surprise my old man with my initiative and ingenuity. If I didn’t get in, no big deal, I said—it wasn’t like I wouldn’t go to college if I didn’t. But if I did, then it was something I did without my father’s help.
    And something I could do without his interference. Truthfully, it was a big deal to me—and now I’m in and I’m not fucking it up.
    I