Tangled Hearts

by Laurie Ames

  WARNING: This Ebook contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language. It may be considered offensive to some readers. This Ebook is for sale to adults ONLY.

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  Valentino Publishing

   Copyright 2020 by Valentino Publishing All rights reserved.

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

  Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

  Table of Contents

  Contents

  Tangled Hearts

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Includes Romance Box Set:

  Just Let Go (Lesbian Romance)

  College Educated (Taboo Lesbian Romance)

  Just Peachy (Lesbian Romance)

  Searching for Her Golden Girl

  Healed by Her (Lesbian Romance)

  The CEO’s Assistant (Lesbian Taboo Romance)

  More Than Stepsisters (Lesbian Taboo Romance)

  Finding New Love (Lesbian Romance)

  Behind Closed Doors (Lesbian Twist Romance)

  Holding Hope (Menage Romance)

  Message from the Author

  Tangled Hearts

  A Steamy Lesbian Love Story

  By: Laurie Ames

  Prologue

  ______

  Sophia and Alex are two strangers who meet after having endured tremendous ordeals in their individual lives.

  Sophia is trying to run from her sordid past. When she moves to a small town and meets Alex, she eagerly spends as much time as she can with her, offering help and advice whenever possible. As their friendship develops, Sophia becomes infatuated with the spirited Alex. Can she reveal her lesbian attraction and share a secret she tirelessly guards?

  Alex has an eventful past of her own. She has built a solitary existence in her hometown and spends each day hoping to find the answer to a burning mystery she has spent years to solve. She is reluctant to accept Sophia’s sexual advances, knowing her eccentricities may cause her to be rejected.

  Soon Sophia and Alex are swept up by events that have escaped their control, stirring up the little town they both call home.

  Content Warning: Scorching hot sex, explicit love scenes and naughty language 18+ only.

  Chapter One

  ________

  The machine powered through the countryside as if making a desperate attempt to escape the hustle of the big city. The green fields turned to brown as the train shuffled into another town, another point in its journey, where the beast would spit out its passengers and abandon them to a place they needed to be.

  The passengers rode mostly in silence, heads bobbing to the rhythm of the train. Some whispered to each other confidentially about nothing at all. Others seemed to be engaged in ‘civilized conflicts’ where one party would speak quietly into the other’s ear before turning their head in an act of defiance. Lover’s quarrels and nagging mothers. It was all so normal. Sophia loved it. After all the drama that had been her life in the past year, she looked forward to welcoming the mundane. A quiz developed in her mind as she deliberated about the first thing to do when she arrives at her new home in Bryony.

  Make a cup of green tea

  Set up the bedroom and take a nap.

  Phone Alex

  Have a relaxing hot bubble bath.

  As the quiz went on, a scrawny young man watched Sophia curiously. He sat two rows behind her, observing the back of her head as it turned toward the window before bowing to examine the coarse hands that lay in her lap. When she fanned out her right-hand fingers to criticize the severely chipped nails, he chided her hands as well. He liked a woman who took stellar care of herself--never mind that he looked like a vagabond.

  The young man wore a stained denim jacket and oversized jeans held up at the waist by a blue makeshift belt. The jacket poorly hid an allegedly white tee shirt and a notebook stored next to his chest. He carried a worn army green rucksack, weighed down with God-knows-what. The black sneakers on his feet were caked with dried mud. The smell that drifted from them told its own eloquent tale.

  Just then, the train pulled into Bryony Station. Both Sophia and the young man stood up and headed to the doors. He was pleased to see they were going to the same place. Dragging a small suitcase behind her, Sophia stepped onto the platform and headed toward the collection of buses parked outside the station. The ride to her apartment building took only ten minutes. She was relieved to find a friendly man waiting for her with the keys to her door. The landlord gave her a quick tour of the small apartment and left. Two minutes later, Alex had won the quiz. Sophia took a deep breath and put on her best professional tone as she dialed her number.

  “Hello?” A woman’s voice inquired.

  “Hello. This is Sophia. I called some days ago about the assisting job. We weren’t able to finish our conversation and I couldn’t get through to you after that.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. The position has just been filled.”

  Sophia felt her heart sink and prepared to end the conversation.

  “I see,” she started.

  “But … How tall are you?” the voice at the other end of the line asked.

  Taken aback by this strange question, Sophia instantly forgot her own measurements.

  “Not very tall. About average,” she managed.

  “Average is perfect! Stop by this time tomorrow,” the voice said enthusiastically.

  Sophia did not know what to make of this but had nothing to lose by stopping by. She thanked the voice and then remembered to ask if she was speaking with Alex.

  “Well, yes! You’re talking to Alex. Nice to finally meet someone open-minded enough to imagine I might be an Alex,” the voice replied, as if amazed.

  Sophia laughed and after a brief exchange, said goodbye. The thought of securing a job on her first full day in town filled her with optimism. It seemed that life was opening up to her. She felt sure the little town of Bryony would bring her a renewed energy. What could go wrong in a pleasant place like this?

  A grumbling stomach pulled her out of her thoughts and in the direction of the bedroom. She would try out the diner that Maxwell, the landlord, had told her about. Retrieving some towels and a tube of shower gel from her suitcase, Sophia headed to the bathroom.

  Chapter Two

  ________

  The only bookstore in Bryony sat at the corner of Laine Street and Hannover Avenue. As Sophia approached the bookstore, she observed a woman sitting at the crossroads with her palms pressed on the pavement, her pert chest stuck out, and her knees pulled together. The woman wore a dark blue pair of jeans with a floral blouse clumsily tucked into them. Her feet were bound by a pair of strappy sandals and her pretty face wore a serene expression, aside from her eyes, which were squinting playfully against the glaring sun. Sophia could have easily watched this stunning woman all day long. The figure at the crossroads stood out from the bystanders, a visual force of nature. Her gut tugged at Sophia’s heartstrings, confiding that this woman was Alex.

  At that moment, Alex’s calm expression broke into a smirk and she rose. She had spotted Sophia scrutinizing her and guessed who she was. Sophia ignored the timeliness of this coincidence, offering a
hand in greeting. Alex took the hand and looked into Sophia’s eyes for what felt like infinity. Looking into Alex’s amber cat-like eyes felt like looking into the sun for too long - it almost burnt, but the burning sensation was pleasing to Sophia. The two women stood there, while Alex claimed Sophia’s heart. Only a full minute later did Sophia realize the other woman had been talking to her.

  “Are you alright?” Alex asked. “Did you hear a word I said?”

  Sophia couldn’t find her voice and her cheeks were flushed hot pink. She mumbled something about the sun affecting her and felt Alex wrap a concerned arm around her waist, guiding her into the bookstore.

  “I’ll get you a glass of water. Take a seat. I won’t be long,” Alex said, and hurried away.

  The bookstore fell silent as Sophia cursed herself for behaving like an adolescent that had just discovered lust.

  Having regained her composure, she surveyed her surroundings. It was just an ordinary bookstore, packed with literature and void of customers. For the second time, she wondered why a bookstore would require an assistant when business was probably slow. Most were struggling to stay open, and rarely ever hiring.

  She looked across the street at the barber shop. A man cradled a baby in one arm and with the other, accepted a cigarette lighter held against the end of a Marlboro cigarette. Sophia felt a growing urge to bitch at him but having escaped one bothersome situation, did not want to jump into another. She turned away disgustedly but immediately brightened when she saw Alex approaching with a glass of water in hand.

  “That’s Rob,” Alex explained. “Responsible father of five. Believe me, we’d all like to give him a good talking-to. But what would it solve? He couldn’t care less.”

  Sophia opened her mouth to speak but found it hard to string together a coherent sentence. Her faculties were known to fail her whenever she was in an uncomfortable situation. Alex continued.

  “I have a job for you. But it’s not what you expected.”

  “What is it?”

  “I want to hire you as my assistant, but you won’t be working in the bookstore. You’ll be running errands,” Alex offered.

  “But I thought you had already hired someone.”

  “He was too tall.”

  Sophia stared back at Alex, astonished.

  “Don’t worry. You’ll understand soon enough,” was all Alex would say.

  “What kind of ‘errands” do you need help with?”

  “You’ll see.”

  A car had just parked outside, distracting Alex.

  “How can I accept a job I know nothing about? You have to give me more information,” Sophia pressed.

  Alex leaned back in her chair, eyeing Sophia interestedly.

  “Well … Just how badly do you need a job?”

  Sophia stared back silently.

  “You start tomorrow. Eight a.m. Bright and early,” Alex said.

  With that, she rose from her leather chair and walked to the back of the store. Sophia, somehow knowing Alex wouldn’t be coming back, saw herself out. As she crossed the threshold, a man stepped out of a black Mercedes and sauntered toward the bookstore. An air of arrogance clung to him. People like to describe folks who step out of expensive black luxury vehicles as typically sexy or good-looking. This is what Sophia tried to do but she could not in good conscience label this man as handsome. Instead, she guessed that he was one of those people who appealed to a woman because of his abstract qualities. Confidence, maybe, status, yes definitely. A bit of something that careened between a carefree attitude and downright selfishness. He strode across the pavement as if everyone knew who he was.

  According to Sophia, there were three types of people. There were people who became what everyone thought they should be. The “little” people who tried as hard as they could to fit the norm. Sophia knew she was of this nature and thought it was just as well. Someone had to do it to create room for the more eccentric individuals. If more people were “different”’ or unusual, what would the world possibly be like? She wondered if Alex ever thought about these things. Probably not. She was above all that. She had no time for philosophy when there was life to be lived. At least that was the impression Sophia got from the brief interaction she had with Alex. She struck off the nagging feeling that this defiant streak in Alex seemed to have gone stale, as if Alex had once been a wild beauty but had succumbed to a terrible episode in her life.

  Then there were people who thought they were one thing but were another. This man strongly represented this second category. He seemed to think he was royalty, a prince, yet there was something cheap about his demeanor. He modeled expensive gadgets but held the glare of an indiscriminate character. He lacked the nobility that gives substance to wealth. His mannerisms were forgeries of the real deal. Now, he yanked the door of the bookstore open and stood in front of Alex as if he had come to collect a debt.

  As Sophia watched Alex and the man talking, her heart skipped a beat as she immediately got a bad feeling there was some unresolved history between the two. He eyed Alex suspiciously as he talked. At one point, he stroked Alex’s sleek black hair smugly, the arrogance in his manner apparent. He said something that made Alex shake her head and turn away, then smirked in response and started toward the door. Quickly, Sophia walked away, not wanting to be caught watching them. She wondered if he had anything to do with Alex’s “errands.”

  The third category was undefined: the can’t-quite-put-my-finger-on-it type of people. This is probably where Alex belonged. She appeared nonplussed at the man’s dominant stance. Actually, she did not seem to care that he was even in the room. Yet, when he had parked the car in front of the shop, she had squirmed in her seat. Alex could be anything she needed to be at the given moment.

  Chapter Three

  ________

  The next morning, Sophia appeared at the bookstore at 7:55. Alex unlocked the door, disgruntled by the foul weather. Rain had been predicted by noon.

  “We might have to cancel our plans for today. We need a clear day for what I have in mind,” Alex said.

  They made coffee and began chatting about the derelict bookstore. A corner had been cleared at one end of the room so that the leaky roof wouldn’t damage books.

  “There were actually prosperous times, in the old good days when my father owned this bookstore,” recalled Alex. “Back then business was booming, and this store was a real beehive of activity.”

  Sophia listened intently, sympathizing with her new friend. Briefly on occasion, she caught herself fantasizing about Alex. Whenever their eyes met, it was enough to make her go weak at the knees. She longed to reach for Alex’s manicured hands and caress them. She knew this was much more than just simple infatuation.

  Alex liked Sophia for her manners and contemplative nature. That was hard to come by nowadays. She cast a gaze over Sophia’s figure as they talked. “Sophia, your body is perfect.”

  “Oh really? How so?” Sophia asked in a low sweet sexy voice. Her stomach began to flutter.

  “Well, what I meant to say is your body physique is perfect for the job.”

  “Oh really?” said Sophia sounding glum and feeling embarrassed. “Okay, so what did you have in mind?” She finally asked.

  “It’s pretty simple; I’m looking for something. I have an idea where this something is. The problem is, I have no access to it.”

  “I’m guessing that’s where I come in.” Sophia grimaced. Why must I always land myself in these situations? How did I end up with the one employer in this town who could get me into trouble?

  Alex pushed, “No one knows you around here. No one will suspect you.”

  “No. Not Interested.”

  “Sophia, this is important. I--”

  “No! And you can keep the job.”

  Sophia placed her coffee mug on the table, got up and began to walk away. Alex watched her one last opportunity leave and scrambled for a convincing line to feed her. Words failed her; the hopelessness of her situation overw
helmed her.

  “Sophia, please! I have no one else to turn to. I wouldn’t ask a complete stranger for help unless I was desperate, would I?”

  The panic in Alex’s voice brought Sophia to a halt. She paused to look at the frightened woman and felt the chaos of the past year wash over her. For a few moments, she relived that fear and uncertainty all over again, emotions she had grown to know well. She sensed these same tormentors in this young, yet worldly woman and felt deeply for her. She then knew that she could not desert her.

  “Okay, I’ll help you, but only if you tell me everything. And you don’t have to pay me. I know what else I could do for money.”