The Balled And The Beautiful: A College Sports Romance Story by Nicole Chance Page B

holding in a shriek of terror. Just as she was sure they were going to collide with the oncoming car, William jerked the steering wheel to the left. They flew off the road and into the underbrush. The world became a blur of rocks, trees and the crunch of metal. She glanced back and saw to her relief that the SUV had veered away at the last moment, and was currently smoking against the rock cliff. Her relief was short lived, though, and as she looked forward again the scream she had held back before ripped from her throat. William slammed on the break but it was far too late and the car tumbled over the edge of another hill.
    The last thing Amanda remembered was the scream of metal on stone, and the flash of mind numbing agony.

Chapter 8
     
    She woke in another perfectly white bed, staring up at the lazily turning fan. Pain sang along her right side, making her vision blur as she fought to keep from crying out. Her hands flexed, clenching as she fought against unconsciousness. One of them twisted tightly into the bedding, but the other strained against another warm hand, one that tightened around hers as she fought her way back from the precipice. She swallowed back a
    wave of nausea, letting her head fall to the side.
    William stared at her, his dark eyes haunted and bloodshot. A dark bruise covered one high cheekbone, and long scratch disappeared down his neck and below his shirt.
    "Are you okay?" she whispered, her throat dry and rasping. He blinked in surprise, a harsh laugh falling from his cracked and swollen lips.
    "Am I...Am I okay?" he asked, a hysterical edge in his voice. She frowned, wincing as it pulled at something sore on her scalp.
    "Yes," she agreed. "Are you okay?"
    He stared at her in disbelief for a long moment before he laughed that harsh crow's laugh again, his head falling forward to the bedsheets. His shoulders continued to shake, but she couldn't tell if it was laughter or tears.
    "William?"
    He shook his head, his hand clenching around hers. She squeezed it in return and lay back, watching him as he continued to shake beside her, too exhausted to do anything else. Finally he looked up, his eyes wet and a little crazed.
    "How can you ask me that?" he whispered, roughly. "How can you care in the least how I am, when all I've done is kidnap you and risk your life? You almost died -"
    His rant choked off, and he stared at her. It was all she could do to meet that guilt ridden and panicked gaze, drowning in pools of mahogany. Another hysterical laugh ripped from his chest and he lurched forward, faster than her pain fogged mind could follow.
    But when his lips pressed desperately to hers, the pain fell away and the only thing she could feel was the warmth of his kiss. Her free hand flew up against his chest, tangling in his shirt. He pulled her impossibly closer, tilting his head to kiss her more firmly. She responded in kind, and when his tongue brushed her lips they opened welcomingly. The sweet press of his tongue to hers made had him pulling back with a quiet gasp, only to lean forward and press another light kiss to her willing lips. Then another. And another.
    "I'm sorry," he choked out. "I'm so, so sorry."
    "Shh," she murmured, shifting her hand from his chest to run through his hair gently. "It's okay."
    He pressed one last kiss to her lips before resting his head in the crook of her neck, breathing raggedly. They lay there for a long time. Slowly the world returned, including the aching pain in her side made her teeth clench. She ignored it, pressing another kiss to his hair.
    "It's all my fault," he murmured against her neck, making
    Her shiver. She took a breath, running her hand along his back.
    "What is?" she asked. She felt him swallow hard.
    "All of it," he replied. "Everything." "Trust me," she whispered. "Tell me."
    And he did.
    "I didn't know how it was going to end up, when I started," he began quietly. "After my master's degree I was offered a job reverse engineering weapons collected