Heart's Desire
an Angel Fire Rock Romance
ELLIE MASTERS
JEM Publishing
Click here to visit Ellie’s Website (www.elliemasters.com) where you can view excerpts, teasers, and links to her other books.
Copyright © 2018 Ellie Masters
Heart’s Desire
All rights reserved.
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This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this ebook ONLY. No part of this ebook may be reproduced, scanned, transmitted, or distributed in any printed, mechanical, or electronic form without prior written permission from Ellie Masters or JEM Publishing except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it to the seller and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
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Image/art disclaimer: Licensed material is being used for illustrative purposes only. Any person depicted in the licensed material is a model. Interior chapter heading base images provided by Elias Raven.
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Editor: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing, www.unforeseenediting.com
Cover/Interior Design/Formatting: Ellie Masters
Published in the United States of America
JEM Publishing
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This is a work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, businesses, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 978-0-9993888-3-9
Created with Vellum
Warning
This story contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and might be considered offensive to some readers. Heed this warning, and enter the world of HEART’S DESIRE: an Angel Fire Rock Romance.
This book is for sale to adults ONLY, as defined by the laws of the country where you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely and where they cannot be accessed by underage readers.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my one and only—my amazing and wonderful husband.
Without your care and support, my writing would not have made it this far. You make me whole every day. I love you “that much.” For the rest of you, that means from the beginning to the end and every point in between. Thank you, my dearest love, my heart and soul, for putting up with me, for believing in me, and for loving me.
My husband deserves a special gold star for listening to me obsess over this book and for never once complaining while I brought these characters from my mind to the page.
You pushed me when I needed to be pushed. You supported me when I felt discouraged. You believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. If it weren’t for you, this book never would have come to life.
Contents
Also by Ellie Masters
Acknowledgments
I. Tia
1. Hell
2. Surgery
3. Shower
4. Forest
5. Tour
6. Dear Jane
7. Revenge
II. Ryker
8. Smiley
9. Bass
10. The Ritz
11. Surprise
12. Hum
13. Beat
III. Bagram
14. News
15. Surprise
16. Maze
17. Rebound
18. Convoy
19. Baby
20. Knocked Out
21. Truth
22. Dreams
23. Rebound
24. Heaven
25. Pleasure
IV. Tour
26. Lover Boy
27. Bent
28. Set List
29. Front and Center
30. Labyrinth
31. Mine
32. Reckoning
33. Safe
34. Home
35. Mission
36. Gone
37. Shots
38. Pyrotechnics
39. Move
40. Loss
41. Choice
42. Wembley
43. Coming Home
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SNEAK PEAK of Heart’s Collide, Book III
More Books by Ellie Masters
About the Author
Connect with Ellie Masters
Final Thoughts
THE END
Also by Ellie Masters
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/vusy9wqgfs
The Angel Fire Rock Romance Series
Heart’s Insanity
Ashes to New: a prequel
Heart’s Desire
Heart’s Collide (Summer 2018)
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Romantic Suspense
Twist of Fate
The Starling
Redemption: The Collective Season II
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BDSM
Changing Roles
Off Duty
Nondisclosure: a Fidelity Kindle World novel
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Learning to Breathe The Box Set
The Ballet: part I
Learning to Breathe: part II
Becoming His: part III
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Sensual Secrets: Not Your Mother’s Coffee Table Book
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Contemporary Romance
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Finding Peace
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~AND~
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Ellie Masters writing as L.A. Warren
Science Fiction
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Vendel Rising: a Science Fiction Serialized Novel
(Fall 2018)
Acknowledgments
This book wouldn’t have been possible without the tireless support of my friends. I would like to thank my Alpha readers, Cindy and Melissa, who saw this first and provided me with tremendous guidance. You helped me make HEART’S DESIRE: an Angel Fire Rock Romance something I can be proud to introduce to the world. To the ELLZ BELLZ for simply being awesome, listening to me talk all about books and other crazy things. The BELLZ are my chosen family.
To those who serve, and have served, in the Armed Forces, my fellow Brothers and Sisters in arms, thank you for your service and sacrifice. I, too, am a proud Veteran of our Armed Services. You keep us free and for that YOU ROCK!
I’d like to thank my editor, Jovana Shirley. She took my words and polished the rough edges, filled the holes, and helped me to dress up my baby for its first tentative steps into the world. There aren’t enough words. Thank you!
To Elias Raven who graciously gifted me photos of his guitars to use with the back cover of the printed book, thank you. They were an amazing gift.
To My Readers
This book is a work of fiction. It does not exist in the real world and should not be construed as reality. As in most romantic fiction, I’ve taken liberties. I’ve compressed the romance into a sliver of time. I’ve allowed these characters to develop strong bonds of trust over a matter of days. This does not happen in real life where you, my amazing readers, live. Take more time in your romance and learn who you’re giving a piece of your heart to. I urge you to move with caution. Always protect yourself.
Part
One
Tia
Chapter One
Hell
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Hell would be paradise compared to this wasteland. Every breath seared Major Tia Meyers’s lungs. The air was too damn thin, sucked away precious moisture, and crisped the soft, spongy tissues of her lungs. The fault lay in the rugged, mountainous terrain of Afghanistan. Her lips cracked. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. Sweat didn’t linger long enough to dampen her fatigues. And her head? It pounded with each step.
She sipped water from the tube attached to the CamelBak tucked into her ruck. She hadn’t peed in hours. Frankly, that wasn’t such a bad side effect of dehydration. As the only female member of a six-man team, not having to squat in the middle of the desolate landscape came as a welcome relief. She would pee when she was dead.
“Doing okay, T?” Lieutenant Colonel Mike Collins called to her over his left shoulder.
The determination of his stride pushed the entire team forward at a relentless pace. He didn’t ask how any of the others were doing. He didn’t need to because the rest of the team was male. Assumptions were a bitch, but she learned to fight the battles that truly mattered and ignored all other slights against her gender.
Collins led their team. He was their trauma surgeon and the shortest man. Only a few inches taller than her, he barely broke six feet. All the others on the team were ripped and stacked, alpha males with plenty of muscles and endurance and egos too big for their heads. Tall and wired with ropes for muscles, Collins was lean, whipcord strong, and demanded nothing but the best from his team. A person might discount him, but his endurance put the rest of the team to shame. The man ran ultra-marathons for fun.
“I’m fine, Colonel,” she said, stepping up her pace. Damn, when had she fallen so far behind?
Technical Sergeant Ryker Lyons glanced at her, his eyes narrowing with concern. As their team’s respiratory technician, she worked closest with him and dealt with his overbearing protectiveness far too much.
If he were an ugly bastard, she’d be able to deal with his looks and assumptions with far more grace, but Lyons had been breaking hearts from the day he was born. A stunning man, he had a smile that made it impossible to hate him. A prominent jaw framed his face. Twining cords of muscles shaped and defined his entire body. Everything about him was strong, powerful, and male. From his thick arms to his broad shoulders, his physique continued down to a ripped abdomen angling to muscular thighs. No one feature made Lyons handsome, but those eyes of his turned women stupid, needy, and horny as fuck, and his smile, at once genuine and mischievous, was a heart-thudding, sexy-as-fuck, irresistible force. The pull was real, irresistible even. When he lifted his cheeks and broke out that grin, his entire being illuminated with charisma and sexual charm. She fought the force of it every day.
If it wasn’t for her fiancé waiting back home, she might give in. Not that she’d ever sleep with Lyons, but he had certainly starred in one or two of her dreams along the way. She was engaged, not dead. Afghanistan nights were long and lonely, but dreams were harmless things.
He had lots to say with his eyes. His concern and overprotectiveness were more frequent than she liked. Beneath his look, a simmering lust lingered, and his eyes were as suggestive as they were protective.
People often spoke of the color of a person’s eyes, as if that were important to their character. She didn’t have a preference. Hers were the darkest brown, nearly the same color as the coal black of her hair. Her fiancé, Scott, had chocolate-colored eyes, deep wells of affection and love. She could lose herself in them for hours. With her olive complexion and his natural tan, they would make stunning babies one day.
Lyons’s eyes were a brilliant Amazon green—bright, vibrant, and shocking. They said people with green eyes were lustful creatures, and Lyons had her believing that myth because he never lacked female companionship. The problem was, when he turned those eyes on her, she would stare back longer than socially acceptable, and she hated how her thoughts tangled. She was probably sending the wrong signals to a man she had little interest in. Not that she could help herself. It was nearly impossible to look away.
Tempered by a ferocity barely kept in check, Lyons had been created to protect and defend those weaker than himself. Whatever he held dear, whomever he cared for, they bore the full brunt of that innate intensity. His fuck-me gaze brought women to his bed and taunted her at every turn. Not that there would ever be anything between them. Not only was she engaged, but she was also an officer. He was enlisted. That, more than anything, would keep them apart. Besides, his bed was an ever-revolving fuckfest of horny enlisted females. If he had any interest in her, which he didn’t, she would shut him down. It didn’t help that he was a horrible tease and probably couldn’t turn it off if he tried.
Even if it wasn’t for her fiancé, rules and regulations against fraternization would keep her and Lyons separate. The worst part? Lyons knew he was a badass. He was a force of destruction, a bad boy with the girls, and he tore through hearts with the same ferocity he brought to the field. Arrogance came with that knowledge, and he wore it like a badge of honor.
She didn’t have time for games like that or men like that.
Lyons’s gaze continued to linger. His eyes strayed to the heavy pack on her back, and then he returned his attention to her face where he traced every feature, as if he were absorbing her into his soul. Her jaw clenched, and she hooked her thumbs under the shoulder straps of her ruck and jogged past him. He met her glare with an uplift of his left eyebrow. His grin, complete with requisite dimples, filled his face while he took humor in whatever was going on in that head of his.
Staff Sergeant Mike Warren huffed beside Tia. The silent one of the bunch, their surgical tech carried the blades, the retractors, forceps, sutures, and everything the surgeons needed in his pack. Many people overlooked surgical techs, but Warren carried himself with a quiet dignity and an endless reservoir of strength.
Each member of the special ops surgical team was vital to saving lives at the front lines, behind the front lines, and basically anywhere in between the lines.
She hefted the pack on her shoulders. A glance at Lyons revealed the faintest shimmer of perspiration on his brow, but with the dry air, it disappeared between one moment and the next. She felt better about not being the only one pushing herself. They all forged ahead, pitting their endurance against the rigorous terrain.
Collins raised his fist, and everyone came to a sudden stop. They took a knee and crouched on the ground.
“Five minutes,” he said. A glance at the map had his features screwing into a mask of concentration.
She crab-crawled over to him, balancing the weight of the pack. It almost pulled her over, something she wouldn’t live down. Seventy pounds? Yeah, she’d be a turtle trapped on its back. Lyons would laugh his ass off. Warren would offer a hand. Collins would do nothing. He demanded she pull her weight and not slow down the team. For him, she had to earn every breath. The other two members of their team—their orthopedic surgeon, Major Drummond, and their emergency doc, Major Marks—might as easily help her or not. Those two tended to keep to themselves, which was fine. Their arrogance annoyed her most days, but they were beyond phenomenal physicians, smooth as silk under pressure.
“Need help?” she offered.
The terrain they humped could challenge the best navigator.
“We’re off target,” Collins said.
Agreed. It looked like they were hiking along the wrong ridgeline.
He waved a hand. “It feels…empty.”
Empty was an understatement. They’d been hoofing it for ten clicks. Dropped in far behind battle lines, their team headed into a hot zone. Wounded men, too critical for aeromedical evacuation, waited for her team to stabilize them before help could come. In this case, it meant emergency surgery in the field.
A glan
ce upward revealed a featureless expanse of faded out blue. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Nothing but a bright ball of fiery brilliance blazed down on them, but even the sun seemed washed out. The air tasted dry and lifeless, and there was nothing but rock and sand as far as the eye could see. The entire world was desolate.
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