Runaway Heart (A Game of Hearts #2) (15 page)

“We knock bitches down and win, or that’s the plan anyway,” Cherry answered, gripping her pint.

After getting Hannah inside, I’d kept her close, putting my arm over the back of her chair. My fingers played with the ends of her hair. I couldn’t help it, having her so close made keeping my hands off her impossible.

It took Hannah a while to settle in and stop fidgeting. I’d ordered her a pint and she downed it like a sailor come home from sea, so I ordered her another one. Two pints later, she was laughing along with the girls and seemed to be enjoying herself.

The conversation remained light until Cherry asked, “So, Hannah, tell us the story of how you and Ed met.”

“At a friend’s wedding,” I answered.

“Through mutual friends,” Hannah said at the same time.

“Rum Cay?” Charlie asked, eyes twinkling.

Hannah’s forehead creased at Charlie. “How does he—?”

“I knew you were the English guy,” Charlotte squeaked as the table shuddered underneath our glasses.

“Ah, so you’ve heard about me?” I moved my arm from around Hannah and leaned forward, interested to hear more.

Cherry rolled her eyes. “Maybe Charlotte has, but I haven’t. Hannah hasn’t said much about her trip. She’s just been pining about like some sad, little pup—”

Cherry grunted a second later as she reached under the table to rub at something with a scowl directed at Hannah.

Twin patches of red blazed along Hannah’s cheeks. It was clearly unraveling her.

I couldn’t help but take advantage.

“You didn’t tell her about our interesting first night together? I’m wounded, love.” I gave her a wink.

“Don’t you dare,” she hissed back at me in warning.

I knew she was ready to either bolt or hide under the table to dodge the pressure for details coming from her teammates.

Hannah needed a good laugh, and I was just the one to give it to her.

“Did Hannah tell you where we stayed the night before the wedding?” I asked my captive audience.

“AND THERE I WAS WRAPPED up like today’s fresh catch. In my own hammock!” I said, as Cherry slapped the table with contagious laughter.

“I was sleep walking!” Hannah defensively interjected, making those around us laugh even harder.

“You made a good first impression, love,” I said, giving her a slight shrug as if to say,
Well, it was the best I could come up with on short notice.

She shook her head at me as her lips curled into the beginnings of a grin. “Well, if you think that’s a good one. Try this… Mr. Bartender here swiped a bottle of orange liqueur and didn’t realize it until after he’d made his getaway.”

“Nasty stuff that, but I made it right,” I answered, putting my hand to my heart.

“Please, tell me ye didn’t drink that stuff,” Charlie piped in, screwing his face up, pretending to gag.

“No, we didn’t. When Ed realized what he’d done, he took the bottle back and brought me a real drink,” Hannah said, omitting the best part of the story.

“Not just any drink, love. I brought ye an orgasm on the beach,” I said as the jeers started, then continued on, “courtesy of the bartender who said, and I quote. “First one’s on me.”

The table erupted with laughter. Even Hannah joined in.

“That was the start of a beautiful friendship,” I said, catching her hand and placing a firm kiss to her knuckles.

She pulled her hand back sharply with a warning glare I ignored.

“So, when is it ye compete?” I asked, taking the conversation away from Hannah and me before someone got up the nerve to ask what else happened when we were stranded together during the hurricane.

“We have a bout tomorrow night. If we win, we advance on and so forth,” Cherry answered.

“I know we’ll advance because we have an amazing team of ladies to get us there,” Hannah said, lifting her glass up. “To Team USA!”

“You guys should come,” Cherry said, pushing back from the table. “And on that note, as team captain, I think we should call it a night.”

Hannah and Charlotte followed suit.

I wasn’t ready to let Hannah leave. Even if it was just for the night.

“Where are you staying?” I asked as I stood to help her with her coat.

“It’s a bed and breakfast a few blocks from here,” she answered, not giving me the name of it.

“Cherry said she’ll get us tickets to their bout tomorrow. We just have to pick them up at the gate,” Violet said, popping up by my shoulder, interrupting us before I could pry the name out of Hannah. Violet’s arm snaked through mine as she all but bounced up and down. “Isn’t that exciting?”

“Very,” I answered, not taking my eyes off Hannah, whose brow had furrowed together while watching Violet.

“Charlie’s offered to walk them back. They’re just down the street at Granny Day’s Inn. You coming?” Violet tugged my arm to get my attention.

“Of course.” I pulled my jacket from the back of my chair and held my other hand out to Hannah. “Ready?”

Her eyes zeroed in where Violet had a death grip on my arm, and then she pushed her way past us without answering.

“Is she okay?” Violet asked, as we both watched her hotfoot it outside and walk briskly past the others.

“Violet, can ye just…?” I untangled her arm from mine.

“Oh, sorry.” She fell into step with me. “I forget, ye know? Might be best you tell her about me.”

I nodded, and then picked up my pace to catch up with Hannah.

She sighed heavily as my stride met hers. “What, Ed?”

“I’ve missed ye terribly,” I said, hoping she’d admit the same.

“It shows,” she gruffly answered.

“What’s amiss?” I bumped my shoulder into hers.

She stopped at once, spinning on me. “Amiss? Look… I understand that you have a life. One that is separate and outside of the time we spent together, but don’t you think it’s a little unfair to Violet the way you’re behaving?”

She was bloody pissed. It was obvious in the way her mouth pressed in a cute little scowl as her eyes were scrunched on me, trying to hide the hurt.

Even with knowing I could easily remedy it, I couldn’t bring myself to correct her right away in hopes she’d slip up and tell me I’d been on her mind too. Maybe it was a tad selfish, but I needed to know.

“Unfair? No, I don’t think I’m being unfair.”

She shook her head in disdain. “That’s a really shitty way to treat your girlfriend, Ed. You ignored her most of the night and, to add insult to injury—you kept touching me in front of her. You’re just lucky that she was caught up in all the conversation around us.”

She jabbed me in the stomach when I tried to put my arm around her.

“What if I told you a million Violets could never compare to you?” I baited her.

“I’d say you were a big, fat jerk,” she answered, picking her pace up to get away from me.

I caught up easy enough and put my hand on her shoulder, halting her. “I’m serious, Hannah. There’s not a single person that could be more to me than you are. And Violet isn’t my girlfriend. She’s just a friend.”

She snorted. “Does she know that?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “She does, yes. Besides, she’s more likely to be
your
girlfriend than mine.”

Hannah’s head tipped to the side as a look of confusion rolled over her face. “What?”

“She’s gay,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “I met her a while back at the pub when Charlie had a girls’ night with strippers. Violet, not one for that sort of atmosphere, ended up needing a ride home. I offered because I wasn’t all that interested in being manhandled after the two blokes Charlie hired finished rousing them all up. After that, we became really good friends.”

Her hands came up, fisting the front of my jacket. “You’re an unbelievable asshole.”

I’d have thought she was mad if not for the telltale twist of her lips as she fought the urge to smile.

In that moment, I really wanted to kiss her until neither of us could see straight.

“I really have missed that smart mouth of yours, love,” I said, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her close, completely content when she allowed herself to lean against me.

The moment was broken all too quickly when she heard the rest of our group coming up the street and stepped back. I let her go, choosing to give her some space.

“How long are ye staying?”

“About two weeks. The tournament is only set to run until next week, and then we decided to take a few extra days to sightsee before we head back home for Christmas.” She dipped her head as she scuffed the rubber soles of her boots against the pitted sidewalk.

Two weeks,
I thought, my heart jolting with excitement.

“So plenty of time to see ye then.” I lifted her face and placed a kiss to her cheek.

Her body stiffened. Uncertainty and mistrust danced circles in her eyes. “Ed, we really shouldn’t. What happened back at Rum Cay… that was—”

“Just the beginning, love,” I answered right before Charlie bumped his fist into my arm, giving me a chance to turn away from her protests.

“So, Charlotte told me the girls will be here a while. It wouldn’t be proper not showing them ‘round, yeah?” Charlie winked in Charlotte’s direction.

She rolled her eyes, but betrayed herself by giggling.

This is my in.
My way of keeping Hannah in my orbit.

“Right.” I looked back to Hannah’s face, which was painted in confusion. “That’s the best idea ye’ve ever come up with.”

Hannah worried her teeth back and forth over her bottom lip as she listened to us making our plans. She looked like she couldn’t decide if she wanted to run for the hills, or stay put.

“Does that sound good, love?” I asked, barely touching the tip of her elbow to gain her attention.

She nearly jumped. “What?” she asked, her eyebrows forming a V.

“Meeting up tomorrow after your match¬—”

“Bout,” she corrected,

I smirked at her. “
Bout
,” I repeated. “Does that sound good?”

Her eyes opened and closed on an exaggerated sigh. I had to restrain myself from touching her. Kissing her.

She tugged me away from the others as they talked about all the places they’d really like to see.

“Okay, but only if we can set some ground rules,” she said as she tried to mask the fear in her eyes with confidence.

For you, anything,
I thought. “I happen to be an excellent rule follower.”

She still looked a little unsure. “Okay, so…” she started to say, laughing nervously. “Umm, I think we should keep ourselves inside a casual friend zone. There shouldn’t be any needless touching or flirting. And definitely no kissing.”

“Especially not the kissing,” I added, getting a kick out of how hard she was trying to come up with rules I knew we’d both end up breaking.

She looked at me, unimpressed, and continued, “And no long conversations where we talk about our pasts and grow closer. Oh, and no gifts or phone calls. Basically nothing except you showing us around town and me leaving when the time is up.”

“Sex?” I asked, sounding hopeful, tuning out her desire to run away from me.

“No. No complications.” She crossed her arms tight against her chest.

I cleared my throat, pointed my finger in the air, and stopped her mid-sentence. “Can I add a rule?”

“Of course.” She tilted her head to the side. “This is a two-way street.”

“Exactly, which is why the only thing I want to add as a rule is that there’s no lying to each other and to ourselves about what we feel. I hate lies. They never end well, yeah?”

She dragged in a long, slow breath, as if she couldn’t decide if she wanted to accept that as a rule or not.

“A two-way street,” she repeated under her breath. She looked back up at me. “Okay,” she replied. “No lying.”

I had her right where I needed her to be. “Okay then. So, tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow,” she answered, a slow smile forming on her lips.