Ultimate Kill (Book 1 Ultimate CORE Trilogy) (CORE Series) Read Online Free Page A

blinked, looked to the ground and took a couple of more steps until he stood within arm’s reach. When he met her gaze, she expected anger and resentment, instead she found anguish, longing and heat in his dark eyes.  
    She pressed her lips together to stop her chin from trembling and swiped at an errant tear. She’d hurt him. Because she’d loved him so much, she had no choice but to leave. With too many deaths on her conscience, she’d refused to add Jake to that ugly list.  
    Her mom, dad and brother’s dead bodies chased through her mind.
    “School nurse?” he asked and tilted his head toward the building.
    Unable to speak, afraid she’d burst into tears in the parking lot where buses, kids and faculty were only a short distance away, she nodded.
    “That’s probably a nice change for you. Better hours, less stress.”
    She gave him another nod, while her mind and heart continued to race. Why now? Why was he here? She broke eye contact and glanced at his left hand. No ring.  
    A surge of relief swept through her, but when she met his gaze again, it quickly dissipated. While the heat remained, his eyes no longer held a trace of hurt, but definitely anger.
    “Are you happy here?”
    I’ve never been truly happy since I left you. The words were there, but she couldn’t say them. Still too stunned to speak, too afraid she’d turn into a puddle of mush in the school parking lot, and worried people might be watching them, she gave him another lame nod.  
    “I know this is a shock,” he said, his voice holding resentment. “Coming here was a mistake. I’m sorry.” He turned his broad shoulders and moved toward the SUV.  
    Don’t go. Don’t go. “Don’t,” she said and choked back a sob.
    He stopped and turned his head slightly. Not enough to face her, but enough where she could see the hardening of his strong jaw.  
    “Don’t what?” he asked, his tone bitter.
    “Don’t leave. Nothing with you was ever a mistake.” Except when I was forced to leave you.
    He looked over his shoulder. The doubt in his eyes had her letting go of the car door and moving a few steps. Although not prepared to cope with the past, to cope with everything she’d given up, she wasn’t ready to let him go. Again.
    “You came here for a reason,” she said. “I’d like to…catch up and see how you’ve been. Just not in the school parking lot.”
    Nodding, he faced her. “I saw a diner on the way in. Can I buy you a cup of coffee?”
    “No.” She refused to deal with their reunion in a diner. There were too many issues left unsaid. “I—”
    Andy Webber, the school’s gym teacher, strolled by and waved. After he walked past them, Jake took a step back.  
    “You don’t want me to leave, but you don’t want to—”
    “That’s not it.” She looked to see if anyone else was coming by and turned to him. “Follow me back to my house. It’ll be more comfortable than the diner.”
    His handsome face relaxed, but his eyes probed and questioned. She suspected his being here wasn’t a ‘just passing through the area’ visit but something more calculated. Jake had always been a balls-to-the-wall type of guy. Now that the initial shock of seeing him had abated slightly, she went into self-preservation mode. Next to the loss of her family, leaving Jake had been the lowest point in her life. Whatever his reasons for being here, she’d need to keep her shields up and her heart guarded.
    Lately, years of running, of looking over her shoulder, the lonely days and nights and not having someone to share them with, had been catching up with her. Although it had been years since they’d been together, she could easily see herself falling into his strong arms. Picture them making love, imagine them going back to the way things used to be between them.  
    But they couldn’t. She’d run from him for a reason. Until the bastard who’d murdered her family and forced her into this self-imposed exile was rotting in Hell,