Page 6 (1/2)

Prologue

Kellen watched the hearta beat when Sara’s pulse rate unexpectedly jumped dozens of points at once

He turned his head to look at her and found her brilliant blue eyes open and fixed on him for the first tinizable Her face had hollowed, lips gone as pale as the sallow skin surrounding theo But her eyes, her eyes were always the sa her colassy

“Sara” Her name erupted as a broken whisper

“How long have you been sitting there?” she asked Even her voice was foreign—tired and weak and hoarse—when it had once been so vibrant and passionate, especially when she shared her ardent opinions

Kellen had been sitting at her bedside for days Maybe a full week by now—he couldn’t be sure “It doesn’t ?”

“Tired,” she whispered, and her eyelids fluttered Her wince of pain had his gaze darting to her IV bags to one eo”

He chuckled and squeezed her frail hand “You still have a lotto do before they let you out of this place”

“That’s not what I etting better”

He knew that The doctors knew that All their friends and family knew she would never leave the sterile hospital alive, but no one ever said it aloud because reality was too fucking depressing to comprehend, much less put into words

Kellen leaned in to kiss her cheek, the salt of her tears teasing his tongue It took hi, not her She’d always been stronger than him

Her hand ave up the effort after a few seconds “After I’one—”

“No” If they ad to die, if they said the words, he’d lose his grip on the thin threads of hope he so desperately clung to Hope was the only thing he had left He couldn’t lose that as well

“Kelly, please listen I don’t have the strength to argue I barely have enough to speak”

“Then stop,” he said “Save your strength for living”

“After I’one”

He tried to cut her off again, but his throat had closed with anguish, and he couldn’t get another word out

“I want you to find someone to love you as much as I do”

He shook his head “I proathered her hand between his,fluids and pain relievers and who the hell knehat else into her wasted body He kissed her knuckles and pressed the his eyes shut “I’ll never break my promises to you Never”

He’d made many pro heart Her life ht lack permanence, but those promises could be eternal

“You have to” He shook his head, but she continued “I’ll haunt you if you don’t”

Her soft laugh fluttered through his chest and stole his breath Oh, how she used to laugh He should have cherished every one of them when he’d had the opportunity

“Then you’ll just have to haunthis head to stare into her eyes “When I said forever, I meant forever I’ll love you forever, Sara, whether you’re here with me or not”

“You’re too young to not love again Too passionate not to share that with another Promise me you’ll find someone”

He sed and shook his head again He’d made a lot of proether, but replacing her was one he couldn’t make

“Stubborn,” she said, closing her eyes with a shallow sigh

It was the last word she ever said to him

Chapter One

Kellen rubbed at the borroatch around his wrist, watching the motion so he’d keep his eyes off the pretty blonde near the back of the bus

Sara had been haunting Kellen for five years now Apparently she was better at keeping her pro his Even nohen he’d found a woht be worth the torment of his soul, Sara watched him Well, Lindsey—not Sara, he re Owen at theat his insides

You broke your promise to me, Kellen You did it with another woman

It Oh, he’d done it all right, and he’d like to do it again, but he wasn’t sure he was capable Not with her voice flitting through his conscience

His conscience wasn’t giving hiroupie wasn’t carrying Kellen’s child That was one benefit of being abstinent all those years; no surprise babies showing up on his tour-bus step His conscience was talking about so andwell, perfect He’d done it with a woht beside hi and run far, far away from his messed-up emotional ties A woman, unlike Sara, ouldn’t be e

And he was convinced that his broken promise to Sara hy Lindsey was there He knew in his soul that Sara was there to tornant and rese Sara so closelyHe couldn’t even look at her without guilt tearing into his gut

Any rationalwoman couldn’t be a reincarnation of his lost love Lindsey couldn’t have been born more than a few years after Sara So even if he had believed in reincarnation, Lindsey couldn’t possibly be his Sara reborn But Kellen wasn’t feeling rational at the moment What host he’d slighted?

Lindsey coughed, and his eyes autoht her A mistake

God, they looked so elic blue eyes The exact sah waviness to e curl outward The same heart-shaped face Same wide mouth Same skin tone Same soft jawline Lindsey’s uncanny rese his body so stiff that he ached And why else would Lindsey-not-Sara show up nohen Kellen had brought a woman on tour with him for the first time? When he’d stuck his dick inside another woman after five years of abstinence? He couldn’t even deny he felt so deeper than lust And he’d even come inside her He hadn’t looked at Dahen he’d blown his load, and his prohts the entire time he’d betrayed her, but that didn’t nant now—not six o? Why now? He knew exactly why

Sara was there to haunt hihts this time, but in a physical form Kellen didn’t believe in coincidence He believed in fate, in destiny Lindsey turning up noas not a coincidence She was a flesh-and-blood re at her ate hi at Owen—the worshipful way Sara had once looked at him—made Kellen want to vomit

At his side, Dawn lifted Kellen’s hand and kissed his bare wrist The pulse beneath her soft lips leaped and raced He forced himself not to pull away, but he watched for Lindsey’s reaction to Dawn’s show of affection Sara would have been spitting mad and jealous if a woman as beautiful, talented, and accomplished as Dawn O’Reilly had dared to touch hi to catch Owen’s attention to pay Kellen anyat him with narrowed eyes Kellen couldn?

??t bla pissed off Kellen had been purposely avoiding him for hours But his avoidance had very little to do with Owen and even less to do with Dawn In truth, he was avoiding Lindsey so that he didn’t have to feel so guilty about Sara For the entire bus ride from Beaumont to New Orleans, Lindsey had been Owen’s shadow Maybe once they reached their destination, they could get away froet to know his best friend a little better and for Owen to sayaround the guy, Kellen would maintain his distance

He gave himself a hard mental shake and turned to Dawn

“You seem distracted,” she said She lifted a lock of hair from his bare shoulder and ran it between her thuer

“Who, rinned at her “Must be your beauty Totally distracting”

She rolled her eyes at hi for her in particular or pregnant woeneral?”

Gabe, as sitting across the aisle and reading, snorted “Jacob is the one with the pregnant-woman fetish”

Jacob backhanded Gabe, but since Gabe was quick, Jacob caught only Gabe’s arertips

“I don’t have a thing for her,” Kellen said “She just reminds me of someone”

“And ould that be?” Dawn asked

“Sara,” Gabe said,her question