He watched her. Some of the tension eased out of him.
“I should never have said what I said at the hospital, but at the time it all felt like too much.”
“I get that, Lizzie.” His tone gentled. “But this is me, and this is my life.”
“I know that, and I also know that I am strong enough to be in that with you. I can be your safe place if you’ll let me.” She raised her chin and took the leap. “I love you, Sam. I miss you like hell. Nothing is the same without you. My days are flat and dull without you in them. And it’s not that I can’t survive you, Sam, because if you turn me down, the sun will come up tomorrow and the earth will keep turning, but I don’t want to be without you. I choose you, and that means everything about you.” She took a deep breath for the biggie. “And I want you back. I love you, and I want you to love me back.”
Sam watched her. The silence in the kitchen shrieked. Finally he sighed. “You know, Lizzie, if we’re going to make this work, you’re going to have to let me be better at something. At least some of the time.”
She didn’t know what else he was babbling about but the making things work thing she heard loud and clear. She crossed half the distance between them and stopped. “What are you talking about?”
“That was an awesome fucking speech, Lizzie.” He grinned at her, his beautiful generous heart in his eyes. “That was so much better than what I had planned.” He closed the distance between them and stopped when their toes touched. “I was coming to see you in the morning. I had this speech planned about teammates and working together. You know, making the play together.”
“How very romantic.” She couldn’t resist a second longer and slipped her arms about his waist. Pressing her face into his neck she drew the scent of Sam deep into her bones. “I missed you so much.”
“I’m not much of a romantic, Lizzie, and I’m pretty sure I’m crap boyfriend material. I forget important dates, and on the off chance I remember, I’ll probably be playing that day anyway.” He rested his cheek against her hair. “But I’m your crappy boyfriend, Lizzie.”
She laughed against the warm skin of his neck. “I think you should stop talking and take me to bed.”
“In my mother’s house.” He sounded shocked.
Elizabeth wriggled far enough back to see his face. “Sam Stone, I know for a fact this is not the first time you’ve had a girl in your room.”
“I knew it.” He frowned down at her. “I knew you were spying on me.”
“Oh, please.” She rolled her eyes. “I have much better things to do.”
Sam’s face softened and he kissed her. “I don’t.”
Yeah, he had her there. “Me neither.”
Sarah Hegger
Born British and raised in South Africa, Sarah Hegger suffers from an incurable case of wanderlust. Her match? A hot Canadian engineer, whose marriage proposal she accepted six short weeks after they first met. Together they’ve made homes in seven different cities across three different continents (and back again once or twice). If only it made her multilingual, but the best she can manage is idiosyncratic English, fluent Afrikaans, conversant Russian, pigeon Portuguese, even worse Zulu and enough French to get herself into trouble.
Mimicking her globe trotting adventures, Sarah’s career path began as a gainfully employed actress, drifted into public relations, settled a moment in advertising, and eventually took root in the fertile soil of her first love, writing. She also moonlights as a wife and mother.
She currently lives in Ottawa, Canada, filling her empty nest with fur babies. Part footloose buccaneer, part quixotic observer of life, Sarah’s restless heart is most content when reading or writing books.
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Books by Sarah Hegger
Urban Fantasy
The Cré-Witch Chronicles
Prequel: Cast In Stone
Vol l: Born In Water
Vol l1: Purged in Fire
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Sports Romance
Ottawa Titans Series
Roughing
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Contemporary Romance
Passing Through Series
Drove All Night
Ticket To Ride
Walk On By
Running On Empty
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Ghost Falls Series
Positively Pippa
Becoming Bella
Blatantly Blythe
Loving Laura
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Willow Park Romances
Nobody’s Angel
Nobody’s Fool
Nobody’s Princess
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Medieval Romance
Sir Arthur’s Legacy Series
Sweet Bea
My Lady Faye
Conquering William
Roger’s Bride
Releasing Henry
Love & War Series
The Marriage Parley
The Betrothal Melee
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Western Historical Romance
The Soiled Dove Series
Sugar Ellie
Miz Peaches
Kansas City Kate
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Standalone
The Bride Gift
Bad Wolfe On The Rise
Wild Honey
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Table of Contents
ROUGHING
Dedication
Copyright
Contents
Praise for Sarah Hegger
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Sarah Hegger
Books by Sarah Hegger