Unbreak My Heart (Rough Riders Legacy #1)

“It’s not Marty. I assumed you forgot to enter in this appointment.” She sent another quick glance over her shoulder. “You want me to send him packing?”


“No. Show him in.” I printed out my questions for Marty. I planned to pick his brain about what to look for when hiring a headhunting firm. PCE had reached the stage where it needed a full-time paid administrator.

From the doorway I heard, “A corner office already?”

That voice. For years it’d haunted me, a deep rasp that couldn’t possibly be as sexy and compelling as I’d remembered.

I went utterly still behind my computer screen.

What the hell was he doing here?

A snarky inner voice said: He told you he’d track you down.

An equally bitchy voice retorted: So? He told me many things and never followed through with any of them.

“I’m impressed, McKay.”

And then Boone West sauntered through my door as if he had every right to be here.

I might’ve ordered him out, if I hadn’t been so busy drinking him in. I’d been too feverish in Sundance to mentally catalog the similarities and differences in Old Boone and this Second Edition Boone.

Old Boone had shuffled along, shoulders slumped, chin tucked down, hair obscuring his face.

Second Edition Boone had that military swagger: chin up, direct eye contact, super-sized body on full alert.

He’d filled out, becoming taller and broader. The extra height and weight looked good on him. Before, he’d worn his dark hair a little too long; it’d constantly flopped in his face. Now he sported a military cut. The shorter style accentuated the perfection of his face: the high cheekbones, the wide jaw, the broad forehead, those soulful brown eyes that sucked me in.

Boone West was still the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.

Snap out of it. You aren’t a dreamy-eyed girl. You are a busy, professional woman and he does not have an appointment or the right to waste your time.

I forced my gaze to Nikki, who was openly gawking at Boone’s ass.

She offered me a sorry-not-sorry smirk. “Buzz me if you need anything.”

“You can leave the door open, Nikki. He’s leaving. Immediately.”

“No, Hi, Boone, how are you today? No, I’m sorry I ditched your calls when I was in Wyoming because I pulled a muscle in my phone-dialing finger? Just, He’s leaving. Immediately?”

My mouth dropped open. “You remember that conversation?”

“I remember everything that happened between us, Sierra. Everything.”

“Then you’ll remember why I have nothing to say to you and why I’m telling you to get out of my office.”

Boone shook his head at me. “I’m not leaving until I get what I came for.”

Pushy bastard. “How about I give you what you deserve instead?”

“Which is what?”

“A swift kick in the balls.”

He grinned. “Luckily I wore a cup. Just in case.”

“Bully for you. Go away, Boone.”

“Nope. We have unfinished business.”

“Wrong. We were finished the moment you got on your bike and left me and the state of Wyoming behind. Since seven years have gone by, we’re past the legally recognized statute of limitations for immoral acts and criminal behavior—not that being a selfish, lying asshat is against the law. So if it’ll speed things up and send you on your way, I’ll accept your apology even when it’s years late.”

His eyes narrowed. “I’m not here to apologize.”

“Of course you’re not.” I pointed to the door. “Please let it hit you in the ass on your way out.” I returned my focus to my monitor, dismissing him completely.

Five seconds later he slapped his big hands on my desk.

I jumped.

Boone peered over the edge of my computer screen. “Your reflexes are good. So how are you feeling? Any lingering issues from the strep virus?”

“You came all the way to Phoenix for a house call?”

“Not hardly.”

“Then why are you here? I doubt the army just lets you flit around from place to place whenever the mood strikes you.” Dammit. You were supposed to act uninterested.

He smirked because he knew he’d hooked me. “I’m glad you asked. I’m here on leave for two weeks. I intended to tell you in Wyoming that I was already scheduled to be in Phoenix directly after my stint in Sundance.”

Do not react. “And this affects me…how?”

Boone’s intense gaze encompassed my entire face. “Us being in the same place, at the same time isn’t a coincidence, Sierra.”

“Yes it is.”

“No it isn’t. It’s fate.”

My stomach cartwheeled.

“You knew it. That’s why you ran from me in Wyoming.”

“I didn’t run. I drove.”

He shrugged. “And yet, no matter how we got here, we are both here.”

Do not get sucked into this conversation.

Awkward silence distorted the air.

Boone stepped back and sat in the chair across from my desk.

“By all means, make yourself comfortable.”

“I will. Thanks.”

“I was being sarcastic.”