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Back Heart of the Sun
Chapters (56)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise for the novels of Mia Sheridan
  3. About the Author
  4. NOTE TO READERS
  5. Dedication
  6. prologue
  7. chapter one
  8. chapter two
  9. chapter three
  10. chapter four
  11. chapter five
  12. chapter six
  13. chapter seven
  14. chapter eight
  15. chapter nine
  16. chapter ten
  17. chapter eleven
  18. chapter twelve
  19. chapter thirteen
  20. chapter fourteen
  21. chapter fifteen
  22. chapter sixteen
  23. chapter seventeen
  24. chapter eighteen
  25. chapter nineteen
  26. chapter twenty
  27. chapter twenty-one
  28. chapter twenty-two
  29. chapter twenty-three
  30. chapter twenty-four
  31. chapter twenty-five
  32. chapter twenty-six
  33. chapter twenty-seven
  34. chapter twenty-eight
  35. chapter twenty-nine
  36. chapter thirty
  37. chapter thirty-one
  38. chapter thirty-two
  39. chapter thirty-three
  40. chapter thirty-four
  41. chapter thirty-five
  42. chapter thirty-six
  43. chapter thirty-seven
  44. chapter thirty-eight
  45. chapter thirty-nine
  46. chapter forty
  47. chapter forty-one
  48. chapter forty-two
  49. chapter forty-three
  50. chapter forty-four
  51. chapter forty-five
  52. chapter forty-six
  53. chapter forty-seven
  54. chapter forty-eight
  55. epilogue
  56. acknowledgments

I let out a surprised laugh when I saw a glint of amusement in his eyes. “Are you comparing me to a horse now too?”

He gave me a small tilt of his lips and his fingertips exerted the barest bit of increased pressure. “Not even close,” he murmured. The moment stretched as our gazes held, one of his hands still on my lower back where he’d held me steady as he’d treated the wound. He released a breath, looking away as his hand dropped. My smile faded. I immediately missed the warmth of his palm on my skin and the way that, for a moment, I’d felt held together by his touch in some way I couldn’t describe. And I felt strangely rejected too. I gave my head a miniscule shake. That, however, was a ridiculous thought. There was no rejecting going on because there was no offer. Quite the opposite, in fact. “You always did have a book,” I said. You and your damn books.

“Some things never change.” He reached for a tube of ointment or cream or whatever was contained in the emergency kit.

Some things never change.

But others alter drastically. Like you.

So why did I suddenly feel unsure of that? Why did he confuse me so much? Still?

Because everything is on shaky ground right now. Nothing is certain. Of course you’re confused and off-kilter.

And the moon is strange, its pearly glow filtering through the trees and making this moment feel like the vestige of a dream.

As though he’d heard my inner turmoil, or maybe felt it too, he glanced up quickly before focusing back on dabbing the cream on my wound and spreading it over the red outer portion. I watched his hand as it moved over that small section of my body and a shiver went down my spine. I tried not to react physically but saw his eyelids flutter as goose bumps broke out on my skin. The skin he was currently up close and personal with. “Does it hurt?” he asked, and I released a silent breath of relief that he’d assumed my reaction had to do with pain and not… What, Emily? What did that reaction have to do with?

“No,” I said, the word emerging in a rush, the volume not quite appropriate for the lack of distance between us and the quiet of the night. I pulled in a deep breath and let it out. “I mean, a little. But it’s manageable.”