Hurricane Hearts

by Nina Levine

  Melissa grabbed her bag, threw one last glare at us, and exited the room as fast as her husband had. Max’s tirade had shifted the dynamic between the three of them. She wasn’t used to being put in her place, and appeared lost for how to respond.

  As I stood, Winter rubbed the back of his neck and said, “Fuck, I could do with a drink.”

  I moved into him, putting my arms around his waist. “Let’s pack our stuff and find a hotel, meet with the funeral director, and then get you all the drinks you want.”

  He contemplated that for a few moments before saying one of the nicest things he’d ever said to me. “I wish Max had found someone to love him how you love me. We’re not even together and yet you honour me with the kind of compassion and respect that she wouldn’t even know how to find for him, let alone show him.”

  I smiled and rested my head against his chest. His arms circled me and we held each other for a long time. When I finally looked up at him and said, “I never stopped loving you,” I admitted to myself that he was right—that I wanted to be with him as much as he wanted to be with me.

  He took hold of my face and brought his lips to mine. His kiss was gentle, the desperate passion of our last few kisses missing. But I still felt all his passion. Winter didn’t have to do wild and sexy for me to feel that, because he loved with an intensity I felt even during his silence.

  When he ended the kiss, he said, “Thank fuck. I never stopped loving you either. And I never will.”

  15

  WINTER

  Max and Melissa didn’t show up for the meeting with the funeral director. He didn’t call. He didn’t text. It was radio silence. As far as I was concerned, it was the best damn thing that had happened since I’d arrived in Brisbane this morning. It meant that my brother was finally facing some of his demons. I couldn’t recall one time in our lives when he hadn’t shown up and handled his responsibilities. Even when he had so much shit going on it could have buried him, he showed up.

  It didn’t matter that he wasn’t there to help us with the funeral arrangements. Dad had planned his own funeral and detailed his wishes in his will. All I had to do was hand those instructions over to the funeral director and ensure we were on the same page.

  “Are you thinking about Max?” Birdie dragged me from my thoughts.

  “Yeah.”

  We’d checked into a hotel in the city and then headed to The Victory for a drink after I’d called some of Dad’s friends to let them know he’d passed. I wasn’t sure if Max had managed to make the calls, but I figured it wouldn’t matter either way. These were family friends I’d lived my entire life knowing; it was important to me to have a conversation with them about Dad. It had taken me just over an hour, and that had been one of the most difficult hours of my life. The glass of whisky I was halfway through would be the first of many after the day I’d had.

  Birdie moved closer to me on the bench we sat on. “I think his marriage is in trouble. Like, I think it was in trouble before your dad’s death.”

  Fuck, she smelled amazing. And she was too damn close for comfort. That was, if I was to have any hope of not trying to get inside her tonight. But since she’d told me she still loved me, I was rethinking my position on waiting to sleep with her. It took everything in me to go as slow as I was with Birdie. Now that I knew for sure how she felt, I was ready to speed shit up.

  “Winter, did you hear what I said?”

  I lifted the glass of whisky to my lips again, meeting her gaze. After I drank some, I said, “Yeah, I did, but I’m thinking about how good you smell, and I’d rather discuss you than my family.”

  I knew by the way her eyes softened that she liked what I’d said. I also knew by the way she took a deep breath that she wanted to continue down her path of conversation rather than mine.

  “We can discuss me later. I think you probably need to talk about the stuff going on. Talk to me. That’s what I’m here for.”

  Talking about Max’s marriage was the last thing I wanted to do. Hell, talking about anything was the last thing I needed right now. I was wiped out from the events of the day. Dredging up family shit from years ago. Dealing with everything that had to happen now. Thinking about my father. I could cope with a lot of shit in life—had coped with a lot—but this, this was pushing my boundaries. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since I’d learned Dad had died, and yet it felt like a fucking lifetime. I didn’t need conversation now; I needed to feel like I wasn’t alone in this shit. In this life. And I needed that from Birdie.

  I placed my glass down and ran a finger down her cheek. Slowly. My action full of intent. “There’s been enough talking today. I’m ready for something other than talking.”

  Her eyes searched mine. Her breaths quickened. “I thought you didn’t want to fuck me.” Hell, her voice had turned all breathy, her desire laid bare. Birdie’s voice alone, like this, was enough to test my restraint. Every last ounce of it.

  “That was before you told me you loved me.”

  She traced her finger over my lips, causing my dick to harden more than it already had. “Just because I love you doesn’t mean we should be together again.”

  My hand snapped around her wrist, frustration filling me. “Stop denying what you want, Angel. You love me. I love you. We’re meant to be together. End of fucking story.”

  She turned quiet for a moment before saying softly, “You don’t know how much I want that, Winter. But—”

  I cut her off, unwilling to listen to her denial again. “Yeah, I do, because I want it too. And I’ve waited a long time to make you mine again. Too fucking long. Life is short. Just say yes and take what you want.”

  Her teeth slid over her bottom lip as she contemplated that. If only she could see herself, she’d see how much she blazed with want for me. I’d been patient this long, but all my emotions were a tangled mess that fucked with my thinking and my ability to wait for her to see sense. I needed Birdie in a way I wasn’t sure I could hold out much longer.

  Fuck.

  I was done with waiting. Unable to stop myself, I leant forward and claimed the kiss I needed.

  Goddam, Birdie’s kisses were everything.

  Every single fucking time.

  No way was I going without them or her another day in my life. Tonight I would make her see we were meant to be together.

  By the time I ended the kiss, Birdie had moved to my lap, straddling me. Her hands were in my hair. Her ass was in my hands. And the way she was looking at me told me she wanted what I wanted tonight.

  “Fuck.” She gripped my hair, pulling it, wild abandon filling her features in the most beautiful way I’d ever seen. “Take me back to the hotel.”

  16

  BIRDIE

  Holy fuck I’d missed Winter’s hands on my body. Five years without the man I loved was far too long. Tonight I was throwing all my caution to the wind and finally allowing myself what I desperately wanted. Winter had certainly given me enough hope that we could navigate a new relationship, leaving behind past mistakes. If there was anything I knew for sure in life, it was that my man was stubborn and committed to what he wanted. Winter wasn’t someone who easily walked away or gave up, so maybe my sins wouldn’t be enough to come between us.

  I let go of all my worries and thoughts about how we’d ever make this work and embraced what he was giving me tonight. If nothing else, we’d always have this night.

  I barely remembered the walk back to the hotel. Winter’s hands and mouth made sure of that. It felt like with every step I took, he reached for me to kiss me again. And with every kiss, his touch grew more insistent. Demanding. Greedy. By the time he got me in the hotel lift, I struggled to recall my name, let alone anything else.

  My mind and soul were filled with Winter.

  He was my centre of attention. Everything else faded.

  “Fuck, you’re sexy like this,” he growled as he pushed me up against the corner of the lift, one hand making its way up my leg under my dress,
the other planted firmly on my breast.

  I lifted my leg and wrapped it around his body, grinding myself against him. Practically panting, I managed to get out, “This is what you do to me.” I arched my back and gripped the back of his neck as he found my panties and slid a finger under the edge of them. “Oh, God, don’t ever stop what you’re doing.”

  His mouth moved to my ear. “Not planning on it, Angel.”

  He then found my mouth. Then my clit, and it was like an explosion of every good thing a girl could ever wish for as he rocked my world with his lips and his fingers.

  It had been too long since I’d been with a man who knew what he was doing, and who knew exactly how I liked it. Winter had almost brought me to orgasm by the time the lift made it to our level. When it dinged to signal our arrival, he pulled his mouth from mine, and as he stroked me one last time, he said, “My fingers belong here and I’ll be fucked if I’ll ever allow anyone else’s here again.” His voice deepened, filled with a dark tone I wasn’t used to from him, as he ordered, “You’re mine, Birdie.”

  I was almost completely sure it was those last three words, spoken with such force and conviction that sent me over the edge. It may have been his magic fingers, too, but mostly those words.

  I wanted to be his.

  With every fibre of my being.

  Hearing him claim me was both hot as hell and something that made me feel like everything was right in my life again.

  I grasped his arms as my orgasm detonated through me. Before I knew what was happening, he’d lifted me over his shoulder and had me out of the lift and onto the bed in our room.

  Hands to his belt buckle, eyes consumed with need, he looked down at me and rasped, “Tell me you’re mine.”

  This was the moment we’d been working our way to. This was the moment of no return. This was the moment we’d either move forward from or end everything in. I knew this as sure as I knew anything.

  I left the bed and stood in front of him. Unable to give him anything but the truth, I said, “I’m yours, Winter. Always.”

  He didn’t respond instantly. Instead, his eyes searched mine in silence, his emotions as transparent as they’d ever been. Love and hope and passion and so much more swirled in the depths of his brown eyes.

  I wasn’t sure exactly what I expected, but from the intensity that had been blaring from him, it wasn’t the gentle way he took hold of my face and kissed me. Sex with Winter had always ranged from urgent and demanding to downright filthy. It had never been gentle in any way, so this surprised me. But it also made me feel like a queen being loved on by her king. And I was all about that. I’d take gentle Winter any day of the week.

  He took his time with this kiss. It felt like a beginning. He explored me slowly, like he was getting reacquainted with me.

  His tongue slid over mine.

  His hands lifted my dress over my head.

  His erection pressed against me.

  When he finally ended the kiss, he ran his finger over my lips and repeated what I’d said. “Always. I won’t let you go again, Angel.”

  I placed a hand to his chest. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  I meant every word I said.

  I couldn’t walk away from this man again, and would fight for him if it ever came to that.

  I’d always thought getting pregnant had been my biggest mistake in life. I’d been wrong. Thinking I could live without Winter had been my biggest mistake.

  17

  WINTER

  She’d finally given herself to me again. And when I told her I wouldn’t ever let her go again, I hoped she understood that I wasn’t just saying words. I was speaking from the depths of my soul. Birdie could piss me off, make decisions I hated, fight with me, or fuck shit up, and I would not walk away from her. And I’d raise hell if she tried to leave me again. She was my soul mate. I would take my last breath knowing she was mine.

  Kissing her after she’d told me she was mine felt different than kissing her before. Before, I’d been demanding she open herself back up to me. Now, I was letting her know I was completely hers. That I would love and honour her. That I would safeguard her heart. And I was finding us again. With every touch, every taste, every moment, I was reconnecting our bodies and our minds.

  After she told me she wasn’t going anywhere, my restraint finally snapped. Raw need consumed me and I was unable to slow myself down.

  Undoing my jeans, I stripped, all the while watching Birdie watch me. Her eyes didn’t leave my body, checking out every inch of my skin. Fuck, it wouldn’t matter if I had the eyes of a million women on me for the rest of my life; if I didn’t have Birdie’s eyes, I wouldn’t have anything.

  Once I was naked, I lifted her onto the bed. There were many ways I wanted to fuck her, but tonight, for our first time back together, I needed her under me. I didn’t give a fuck if it was caveman or controlling or any of that shit; I was giving in to the side of me that wanted to take everything from the woman I loved. By the time I was finished, I would be branded all over and inside Birdie. Fuck, anyone who came near her from here on out would smell me on her if I had anything to do with it.

  Pushing her legs apart, I settled myself right where I should have been for the last five years. “Fuck,” I groaned as my dick slid through her wetness. I wanted to draw this out, but with every passing second, my self-control was slipping, and knowing how wet she already was only pushed me closer to breaking point.

  She wrapped her legs around me and took hold of my face, bringing it close to hers. “I’m so ready for you that we don’t even need foreplay.”

  “Baby, we’ve had five fucking years of foreplay, but that doesn’t mean I’m not taking a taste of you before I fuck you.”

  Her fingers dug into my cheeks as she gripped me harder. When her lips met mine, I growled into her mouth and devoured the fuck out of her while grinding my cock against her clit.

  It was another long kiss, quickly becoming a frenzy of hot lust, moving us closer and closer to the edge of ecstasy. Birdie’s hands moved from my face to the back of my neck where she clung to me until she couldn’t take it any longer. Letting me go, she pleaded, “I need you inside me.”

  Keeping my eyes glued to hers, I moved down her body to the place I’d spent too many hours thinking about while I couldn’t have her. I loved Birdie, everything about her, but fuck me, I could never get enough of her cunt.

  The first stroke of my tongue was dedicated to her clit.

  The second, to her sweet opening.

  The third, I was all in.

  “Oh my God!” she cried, her back arching and her fingers tangling in my hair. I welcomed the pain she inflicted when she pulled my hair harder than she ever had. It shot another round of need through my veins to my dick.

  I had my woman back.

  Fuck.

  And she tasted better than I remembered.

  I settled in, licking, sucking, tasting.

  I was a hungry fucking man.

  The world fell away as I focused on the one woman who could steal my attention like no other.

  By the time she came, my beard was coated in her. Exactly the way it should be.

  I knelt and put my forearm to my beard. Wiping her from it, I dragged my gaze over her curves. Arms flung wide, face resting to the side, eyes closed, the pleasure I’d given was written all over her. Seeing her like this was hot as hell. If I didn’t get inside her soon, I’d blow all over her, so I left the bed in search of a condom.

  When I came back, sheathed, she smiled up at me. “You came prepared this time.”

  I positioned myself over her. “Stop talking, Angel. Every word you say is wrapping itself around my dick like it’s your mouth. I’m so fucking hard for you right now.”

  Her smile grew as she reached her hands up to my neck. “Good. Now you might finally fuck me.”

  Her words were lazy and sexy, and I didn’t hesitate another second longer. I also didn’t take this slowly. I thrust into her with e
very ounce of longing five years without her had left me with. I was a starved man. We had hours ahead of us before I’d even begin to feel like I’d had my fill.

  Birdie met me thrust for thrust. We were a wild hurricane of skin and limbs and greed and the kind of sex that is never forgotten.

  I came just after her, barely holding on until she’d found her bliss. I came harder than I ever had. It’d take me a bit to come down from. This was more than a physical reunion for me, and by the way Birdie was looking up at me, I knew it was the same for her.

  My gaze followed hers as it dropped to my chest. To the tattoo I’d put there for her.

  Touching it, she said, “I love you so much, Winter.” Her eyes met mine again, glistening with tears. “I’m so sorry I hurt you.”

  A part of me wanted to know what the hell had happened years ago to make her leave me, but a bigger part of me just wanted to put that shit behind us. Life was fucked up half the time and so were our minds. Whatever it was, I was just fucking happy that she’d moved past it and come back to me. I didn’t need details. I simply needed her love.

  I bent my face and kissed her before shifting onto the bed. Resting on my side, I cupped her face and stole another kiss. “That’s in the past, Angel. Leave it there. We’ve got the rest of our lives to make up for those lost years.”

  Her eyes flickered with an emotion I couldn’t get a read on. She seemed troubled by something. But she didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, she curled up against me, arm over my chest, and nodded her agreement. Tracing her finger over the bird tattoo, she whispered, “We have forever.”

  18