Hopeless Hero: Savage Soldiers, #2

By Nicole Elliot

I've got my finger on her trigger. 
People say I'm dangerous. 
Ex-Savage Soldier with a bad attitude. 
But everything changes when I see Alicia Joppa, the one that got away. 
All I want is to get my torpedo in her target, but the way she's looking at me? 
Ain't gonna happen. 
Things weren't easy for her while I was away and she's always been good at hiding secrets. 
What she doesn't realize is I know how to torture her for information. 
With my lips, my hands, my missile… 
She doesn't stand a chance. 
However, the bomb she just dropped could ruin us both. 
She had my baby while I was overseas. 
She may have won the battle, but I will win the war... 
Of her heart. 

Hopeless Hero is the second in a new series by USA Today Bestselling Author, Nicole Elliot. These heroes are all about the heat.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nicole Elliot
• Release date: Dec 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386325260

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Alicia

I held her in my arms and inhaled her sweet scent while tears ran down my cheeks.

I loved her, but couldn’t keep her.

When they pulled her away from me, she cried as they left the room. The sound made my heart shattered.

I turned over and felt the scratchy hospital sheets against my skin, crying just like she was. It wasn’t because I was hungry or tired though. I was scared and my heart was completely broken.

And it was entirely his fault.

I died a little that day.

Five Years Later

I watched his eyes, knowing precisely what was coming before it happened.

Don't say it, don't say it, I pleaded in my head

It's not you, it's me.

Whoop there it is. He fucking said it, just like the seven other guys I’d dated in the past three years.

Why was there always something wrong with them? I was starting not to believe them anymore—instead, thinking there was something wrong with me.

I put a hand over my forehead and tried to ignore prying eyes from nearby tables. My dark ringlets fell over my face, covering my reddening cheeks.

This was another restaurant I would have to cross off the list. Thank goodness New York had thousands of them, because I'd suffered break-ups in at least a dozen by now.

I stared at the napkin on the table. Loose Joe’s.

Sorry Joe, I thought. No matter how loose you are, we’re never seeing each other again, which sucks because this cheesesteak reminds me of home.

I mean, I guess I'm just not ready for how serious you are, my new ex began to explain. I need a little bit more fun in my life.

So I’m not fun? I immediately wished he’d kept his explanation to himself because it was just making things worse.

I sighed. Not that this isn’t great information and everything, but I think it's time for the check.

Minutes later, I was rushing to the door. I tried my best to be inconspicuous, but accidentally ran directly into a waiter, who subsequently spilled water all over me.

Clearly, it just wasn’t my day.

As I attempted to hail a taxi, my phone rang. I looked down, seeing that it was my older sister, Allie. I wanted to press ignore, but it was the third time she’d called me; if I kept ignoring her, she would just keep calling.

What the hell have you been doing all day besides ignoring my calls?

Hi Allie, I said. How are you? Wonderful? Great, because I'm just peachy. A taxi pulled up in front of me and I got in. 642 56th Street, please.

Are you in a cab?

Yes. Why?

Oh shit, were you on another breakup luncheon? I swear last time this happened, I told you to refuse the next guy who asked you out to lunch.

So I’m just supposed to drag out a relationship with some guy who doesn't like me?

Alicia, I hate to tell you this, but I don't think there are any guys who like you in New York anymore. So if you can snag one that has a good job and a 401(k), you should just let it drag out as long as possible. Hopefully all the way down the aisle.

You sound like Mom.

Well, you've got to start listening to someone. I swear to God, I'm going to be dead before you finally meet a man.

You're so lovely at this time of day. Or actually any time of day, I said, sarcasm dripping off my words.

Speaking of death, we need to talk about Uncle Jimmy's funeral.

I sighed. This is why I had been avoiding her calls. There was no way in hell I was going back to Savage, Colorado for some ridiculous family reunion and the depressing funeral of my Uncle Jimmy, who I hadn't seen in at least a decade. I'm not talking about Uncle Jimmy's funeral right now. I already told you, I have to work.

Well that's hilarious because I called Adam and he told me that he could clear your schedule for all of next week. So I expect you to be here tomorrow.

Adam, that Queen. He was officially on my shit list now.

I can't just pick up and be there tomorrow! That’s not how it works here. I have clients and appointments—

Adam has cleared all of that for you already, Allie interrupted. "By the way, he says he is very sorry for your loss."

I sighed again. You're not giving up, are you?

"You missed Christmas, Mom and Dad are pissed as hell at you, and no one wants to talk about you because they think you're sad and lonely. Now I know that you are sad and lonely, but I still want to see my baby sister. So come home. Pack a bag and get on a plane tomorrow. Do I make myself clear?"

I hated the way she bossed me around, but she was right. I hadn't gone home for Christmas because a friend surprised me with tickets to the Rockettes on Christmas Eve. I had never been before even though I'd been living in New York for five years, so it had been an opportunity I hadn’t wanted to pass up.

Fine. I'll come, I said begrudgingly. "But don't expect me to be excited about it. And I want my own room! I'm not paying to stay at some rinky-dink hotel up there for a week. Mom and Dad have plenty of space, so they can put me up. Or even better, you can."

Nope, Allie said quickly. We’re already full, so you're definitely staying with Mom and Dad. And the best part is Aunt Ira is staying with them too.

Great. So I can get judged from all sides.

Always.

I glanced out the cab window, seeing that we were nearing my apartment. Well, I guess I gotta go pack now. Bye.

Ta-ta for now! Allie said, and hung up.

I leaned back and closed my eyes for a second. My sister was an over achiever who made me want to vomit ninety-five percent of the time. She was our parent’s favorite, had stayed close to home, gotten married, and had kids. Basically, she’d done everything the right way.

But not me. I was the black sheep of the family. The super-successful, yet unmarried lawyer whom they were never satisfied with. There was a reason I had run away.

But now I was going back. It was going to be a long week, that was for sure.

CHAPTER 2

Alicia

When the taxi pulled up to my apartment, I paid and reluctantly climbed out. In that moment, I would have preferred staying in a musty old taxi cab forever than face going back home for a week.

I couldn’t believe that after just one phone call, my sister had gotten me to agree to an entire week in Savage. I was nowhere near back in town yet, but I already hated her for it.

There was a lot of pride among Savage residents. With the town’s military connection—being the base of the Savage Soldiers—there was a strong sense of patriotism there. Most families in the area had been there for many generations and had no intentions on leaving.

Hence, those who left, like me, were frowned down upon.

After letting myself into my apartment, I pulled my dark hair back into a ponytail and grabbed my suitcase from my closet. I sighed deeply and rolled my eyes. The last thing I wanted was to go back to Savage, but there was no way out of it now.

My entire life started and ended in that small town. I was always the girl who wanted out. When I went to college just a few miles away, it was with one goal in mind-- get the hell out of Savage. College had been my one chance to start the life I’d always wanted.

Yet, that was the reason my parents had always liked Allie better. She was the townie and was totally happy to stick around Savage forever. She’d gotten married at the ripe old age of nineteen and had popped out three kids in five years, just like most of the girls in the area tended to do.

But me? I’d had other plans. Plans that hadn’t included Savage.

In my last year of college, I’d been still living at home with my parents. They’d been secretly hoping I would give up my dream of becoming a big city lawyer and settle for practicing family law right there in my hometown.

Wouldn’t that be nice? my mother had asked a hundred times. You could still help people and this way, the people you help would be the very same people you’ve known forever. What could be better than that?

My response was always the same. New York City, Mom. New York would be better than that.

I had never even considered staying in Savage until I met Zane Prewitt.

Zane was muscular, broody, dark, mysterious, and a Savage Soldier—the kind of man every twenty-one year girl wanted, and I had been no exception. While I wished I had played hard to get, I had fallen for him hard and fast.

I would have loved to say that he’d wooed me slowly, but that’s not how it happened.

Zane had simply walked into Kellan’s Pub one night and boom—I was a goner. From the second his dark brown eyes locked with mine, I fallen head-over-heels for him. And the more time we spent together, the more I liked him.

Our sexual chemistry had been intense, unlike anything I’d ever experienced. There had been nights when we couldn’t keep our hands off each other no matter where we were. We would collide in the backseat of his car, or even in the bathroom at Kellan’s.

Anywhere, any place, our bodies reacted to each other like magnets.

But most importantly, he understood me. I could talk to him about things my family only made fun of. I’d even told him how I wanted to move