Runaway Heart (A Game of Hearts #2) (5 page)

She grabbed the hammock and stood. “Well, that was enough fun for one night.”

“Where ye goin’ with that?” I asked with a slight chuckle.

“Getting it as far away from the both of us as possible.” She opened the door and pitched it out onto the sand. A warm breeze blew in through the open doorway, cooling my heated skin.

Hannah plucked at her shirt, fanning it. “It’s like ten degrees cooler out here. We should leave it open.”

Scrubbing my hand down my face, I fought back a yawn as I moved to the mattress on the floor. “Whatever ye like, love.”

I’d just pulled my arm over my eyes when Hannah nudged my foot with hers.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Trying to sleep, and so should ye. Unless, of course, ye want to have another go, without the net.”

She dropped beside me on the mattress without a word. I pulled my arm from my eyes, wondering what she was about.

She leaned in, close enough that her face hovered over mine. “If I wake up and you’re spooning me, I’ll kick your ass. Got it?”

“Got it. No spooning.” I gave her a cheeky grin before I rolled onto my side, facing away from her.

After she got settled, she sighed. Deeply. “Ed?”

“Yes, love?”

“You aren’t going to tell Maggie and Philip about this… right?”

“Not bloody likely.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me, love. If ye knew the reasons why I plan on keeping it to myself, ye’d slap me.”

“Oh? Now I’m curious.”

I rolled over, propping myself up on my elbow as she rolled over to face me. “Curiosity killed the cat, didn’t ye know?”

She rolled her eyes. “Good thing I’m not a cat. So?”

One side of my mouth curled up. “If ye must know, I’ll be keeping our entanglement to myself to think about when I’m lonely and in need of a good shag, but there’s no lass about.”

She sucked in a breath as her mouth opened and closed.

“Now, close your eyes and get some rest,” I said, grabbing a handful of her arse and hauling her next to me as I pulled her alongside my chest.

She pushed against me halfheartedly, but gave up, bumping her chin into my chest with a sigh. “You’ll pay for that tomorrow, but right now, I’m just too damn tired to even try.”

Hannah, it seemed, was a real spitfire. One who liked to cuddle. I damn sure wouldn’t have pegged her for that.

My eyes drifted closed as I savored the feel of the warm woman in my arms.

MY MIND TEETERED ON THE edges of sleep as the distant waves crashed along the shoreline. I dreamed of being caught in a spider web with a strange-looking spider making its way toward me.

I knew I was in a situation I needed to get out of.
Fast.
But no matter how hard I struggled, I couldn’t break free.

My heart went into full panic mode.

I rolled and twisted, trying with all my might until I rolled right off the mattress with a light thud onto the floor.

My eyes shot open.

Thankfully, Ed was nowhere to be seen. With a deep breath, I moved back onto the mattress and pulled the sheet over my burning eyes, recounting the events of last night in mortifying horror.

The entanglement. The jokes. The fondling… God, but the fondling.

“That really happened,” I said to myself, shaking my head as I rubbed my eyes.

Not only had I tackled him while I was asleep, but we basically acquainted ourselves with every inch of each other’s bodies, while never getting a lick of pleasure out of it.

Well… maybe that was a tiny lie. Maybe I did sort of enjoy his sick, twisted sense of humor. And his large, rough hands. And his well-endowed—

I palmed my forehead. “No, Hannah! Absolutely not!”

“Talking to yourself, love? And here I thought your crazy stopped at sleepwalking.”

Of course. Of course, he’d be standing there listening to me as I have a mini morning meltdown.

“Too bad you can’t handle this version of crazy,” I said in a suggestive tone, belying how easily he had thrown off my game in the very few hours I had known him.

I pulled the sheet from my face and rolled so I could get a better view of him. He stood still in the doorway, fingers of golden light haloing around him as he held a plate of pancakes drizzled with syrup and melted better. The scent hit me seconds later.

My stomach growled loud enough for his eyes to rise up.

“That bad, eh?”

I got up, refusing to let him unravel me any further than he already had. I was Hanibelle Lecter—the confidant, man-eating blocker who didn’t do romance and butterflies. Who wasn’t easily unnerved by men. Who didn’t think twice about having a good time with a good-looking man, because it was me who sat in the driver seat. Who controlled the pace of the situation and walked away before anything got too heavy.

So what makes this situation any different?

The fact that in the two times I’ve seen him in daylight, he had that sexy, just-rolled-out-of-bed dark hair that checked off on my long list of things I looked for in a guy and made my fingers itch to bury themselves in. Bright, sexy, unwavering eyes with faint laugh lines around the corners. Lips that had to have seen their fair share of experience, a killer sense of humor, a seemingly genuine heart, and a body I personally felt in the moonlight and deemed was too beautiful to be covered in overrated clothing.

He was the kind of guy a girl would kill to settle down with, and, well, I just wasn’t the settle-down type.

I stopped in front of him, enjoying the wanton look in his eyes as he drank in my form covered in just the oversized t-shirt I wore. Sometime during the night, I kicked off my pajama pants.

It was too damn hot for pants.

“For me?” I said, playfully batting my lashes at him.

With a smirk, I picked the fork up and took a large, very satisfying bite, hoping to get a rise out of him. But then I groaned as the bite hit my stomach and made my taste buds scream for more.

I took the plate from him and ravenously continued eating, unable to stop. They were so warm and delicious. So syrupy and yummy.

“It’s a good thing I brought them for ye,” he said in a conversational tone, watching me eat with a grin that lit his eyes up as bright as stadium lights. “Figured ye might be hungry after all the floundering around last night.”

A hoard of warning bells sounded off in my mind as thousands of dusty feelings fluttered around inside my stomach.

They—whoever
they
were—said food was the way to a man’s heart, but they totally missed the mark by not including women with that statement.

This girl and delicious food go together like peanut butter and jelly.

I swallowed as best as I could as my eyebrows screwed up. “You brought them for me? Intentionally?”

He looked around the room. “Don’t see anyone else with us.”

Just the elephant in the room,
I thought with a snort.

“Umm. Thanks.” I gave him a twitching smile that felt misplaced on my face.

He had just thrown a syrup-laden wrench into my nefarious plans of toying with him. Not only was he good looking, but under that humor was also a sweet side. A thoughtful side. Even I knew it wasn’t fair for a cat to play with such a sweet, little mouse.

Lord, please help me.

“I’m going to umm… go find Maggie,” I said, masking the hesitation in my voice by clearing my throat.

“In only your knickers?” A barely there smile wavered on his face.

I fought against the need to fidget under his heated gaze. The look on his face was a look that said he had me all figured out and would patiently wait until I finally gave in.

I could not let that happen.

Moving around him as if he were contagious, I hurriedly pulled my pajama pants on, grabbed my plate of pancakes, and then marched across the sand, heading straight inside Maggie’s home with the zeal of familiarity.

Putting the plate down on the kitchen table with a heavy thud, I sighed and sagged into the chair. Both she and Phillip looked up at me from their plates, foreheads forming that questioning V look.

“Don’t ask,” I said as I grabbed the bottle of orange juice, poured myself a glass, and then downed it in one good, long sip.

“Phillip,” Maggie said, watching me from the corner of her eye. “Why don’t you grab Ed and go check to make sure the staff has the arbor ready on the beach?”

“But we just checked this morning. You know they’re—”

She gave him that look that said, “Shut up and leave.”

He caught on quickly, looking over at me with furrowed eyebrows. “Oh. Okay.”

I saluted my fork at him, giving him a fake smile.

“Did you have sex with him?” she blatantly asked once Phillip was gone.

I almost choked on my bite. “What? What kind of girl do you take me for?” I asked, trying to act aggrieved by her assumption.

She returned the stare with pursed, knowing lips.

“No,” I forcefully reiterated. “Absolutely not. I would never. Ever. He’s not even my type. I hate hazel eyes and English accents. They’re so overrated. And his sense of humor is lacking. He’s a complete bore. And… and he snores.”

“Hannah…” she dragged out.

I sighed. “Okay, so he’s cute. And funny. So what? That doesn’t mean I slept with him. Or that I will.”

She winged her eyebrow at me.

“What?”

“What yourself?” she threw back. “You’re the one over there making your own conclusions and freaking out over him.”

“I’m not freaking out. Who said I was freaking out?” I repeated, stuffing my mouth full with as many bites of pancakes as I could fit. “Definitely not freaking out over here,” I mumbled past my food.

Maggie giggled. “It’s okay, Hannah. You’re allowed to like him.”

I swallowed. “Technically you have to
know
someone in order to like them. He’s a complete and total stranger, ergo, I do not
like
him.”

“Right. And Phillip’s parents love me,” Maggie shot back. “Listen, just do me a solid and let yourself go on this one. As my maid-of-honor, you kind of have to do what I say on my wedding day. It’s the rules.”

I jerked back. “Who’s rules?”

“Mine,” she said unwaveringly. “And I’m telling you as the bride-to-be that you should enjoy yourself while you’re here. It’s not every day you’re in Rum Cay with a hot, English dude.”

Hot’s putting it mildly,
I thought as his earth-shattering smile wormed its way into my mind.

I leveled my eyes on her. “Say what you want, but nothing is going to happen. It can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

“Because why?”

“Because… because…” I touched my finger to the indent above my top lip. Nothing came to mind. No excuse. No reason. Just his eyes. And his hands. And his… My cheeks blushed. “Damn you,” I said, standing. “I need… I need a shower.”

“Down the hall to the left,” she called with a smirk. I wanted to reach across the table and choke her a little.

I traveled down the hall, forcing my thoughts from Ed and onto the pictures of Maggie and Phillip lining the hallway. All smiles and love in every one. They had that kind of relationship. The kind you see on a movie screen. The kind you know deep down in your gut was not a possibility for yourself because people didn’t just wake up and meet the right guy at the right time.

It was like witnessing a shooting star. Or winning the lottery. Maggie was one of the rare few who got to taste what love was. And I couldn’t be happier for her because she deserved it with every do-gooder bone in her body.

But me?

I was damaged goods. Set in my ways and not willing to budge. It would be unfair of me to put my burdens on someone else’s shoulders because love didn’t erase seventeen years’ worth of witnessing the man you should be able to trust and admire hurting your mother in countless, endless ways. It didn’t take back the hurtful words and the broken bones.

And it damn sure didn’t heal scars.

AFTER A VERY LONG, VERY cold shower, which did nothing to ease the ache left from last night’s tease, I found Maggie in her room with her dress hanging from the closet door. Autumn lay in the middle of the bed, surrounded by pillows, kicking her feet.

“It’s gorgeous,” I said, sitting on the edge of her bed in my towel.

She spun around, holding a lacy, white, halter-style dress. “This is for you,” she said, walking over to me.

“Only the bride should wear white,” I said, taking the beautiful dress from her.

“Yeah, well, this is my wedding, and that’s what I want you to wear,” she defiantly said. “I make the rules today, remember?”

She handed me the dress.

It was all lace and silky lined softness my tanned skin screeched for me to try on. “Secretly, I’m so glad you didn’t go for the horror-film bridesmaid dress.” I stood, holding it up in front of me. “I love it.”

She watched me as I stood in front of the mirror. “Me too.”

I saw her sigh, her smile relaxing as she sat on the edge of the bed.

“Phillip’s parents should be landing any minute now.”

I spun to face her. “That’s a small start, right?” I said, trying to keep it light. Panic swam in her eyes.

“It’s something,” she said, sounding somewhat leery.

“Listen, if his mom tries to give you any shit, I’ll just do my maid-of-honor duties and push her ass in the ocean. Okay?”

She giggled before sighing heavily. “I’m so glad you’re here, Hannah.”