Fated Hearts

by Elliott, Kelly

  After ordering brisket sandwiches with potato salad on the side, we were on our way.

  I turned into the driveway of my house and drove around to the back where the separate garage was. “I used to live in a townhouse, but I bought this place a few years ago when I got tired of hearing my neighbors fight all the time.”

  “Oh, wow. How old is this house?”

  “It was built in 1879.”

  Annalise got out of the truck and grabbed the bags from the restaurant. “This lot is stunning. Look at these trees.”

  I looked around at the large elm and pecan tree that stood on each side of my house. “Yeah, the lot was one of the features that sold me on the place. That, and there’s a home office here. I hate being stuck at my office over on Main. Neighbors are still a bit too close, though.”

  Annalise nodded as she looked over her shoulder at the house next door. The lot was a good size, but I could still see the houses on either side of me. “I bet this is a much more enjoyable place to work.”

  We walked through the back door that led into the mudroom. From there, we went straight into the eat-in kitchen. Annalise stilled when she walked into the space.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  Her eyes were as wide as saucers as she looked around the kitchen. “This kitchen is magnificent. I mean, it’s so big!”

  I laughed. “Well, maybe you can put it to good use, seeing as I hardly ever use it.”

  She turned and looked at me, a twinkle of excitement in her eyes. It made me happy to know I was the reason it was there.

  “Do you want to eat in here or the game room?” I asked. “That’s where I spend most of my time.”

  I could tell she was intrigued by the notion of checking out my personal space.

  “Let’s eat in the game room. Should we get silverware and plates?”

  I shook my head. “No, we’re good. Unless you want a plate for your sandwich.”

  “No, I’ll be fine,” she said as she waited for me to lead the way.

  We walked through the main dining room and the largest living room. I hardly ever set foot in that room either.

  Motioning for her to head up the steps, I said, “It’s upstairs. Second door on the left.” Annalise started up the stairs and I tried like hell not to stare at her perfect ass.

  The moment she walked into the game room, she nearly dropped the bags she was carrying. “You have a pool table?”

  “I do. You play?”

  With a slight shrug, she replied, “Not that often, but I have a time or two.”

  She suddenly turned and looked at me. I knew that expression—and my entire body trembled with anticipation.

  “Want to make a wager?” she asked.

  I raised a brow in question. “What kind of wager?”

  “Best out of three pool games. Winner gets to pick where we have sex next.”

  I swallowed hard. Where would Annalise want to have sex in my house? My bedroom? Fuck. No way was I doing that. I couldn’t make love to her in a bed where I had been with other women.

  She picked up one of the cue balls and examined it. “I mean, how hard is it to hit this little ball with a stick?”

  A slow smile spread over my face. I was totally going to win this one.

  Annalise

  I WATCHED AS Roger took our food out of the bags and set it all up on the small coffee table in the game room. I’d nearly died when I saw the pool table. And when he took the bait, I fist-pumped internally. He didn’t need to know that my father had started teaching us all the game from the moment we were tall enough to make a shot.

  I glanced around the space, taking it all in. There was a fully stocked bar on one wall, with a large sectional and coffee table in front of it. On the other side of the room were old video game machines, such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, with a closed door next to them.

  “What’s behind that door?” I asked.

  “The theater room.”

  I let out a whistle. “Man, oh man, you’ve got everything here.”

  Roger grinned. “It was all here when I bought the house. The games, the pool table, the bar. The guy who lived here before me had a number of things done to the house. He wanted it to be perfect for his bachelor ways, yet good enough to sell to a family when the time came.”

  “He just happened to sell it to another bachelor.”

  Roger glanced over at me. “He was a client of mine, and I helped him with a…problem he had.”

  I tilted my head as I studied him. “Tell me you’re not one of those types of lawyers.”

  “And what type would that be?”

  “The bad kind. The kind who work for the type of people who don’t believe in the law.”

  Roger laughed, letting his head fall back. “God, no. I mostly work for large corporations around San Antonio and Austin. I’m also on the payroll at my father’s company, which is one of the largest cattle companies in Texas. He owns pretty much everything southwest of Boerne.”

  “Goodness. Are you a cowboy underneath the suit?”

  Roger tipped a pretend cowboy hat. “Why, yes, ma’am, I am. Does that turn you on?”

  Lord, just looking at him turned me on. “No,” I replied, and he gave me a fake pout. “Your intelligence turns me on. And your smile—oh, and your dimples.”

  “My dimples, huh?” Roger asked as he handed me my food. “Do you mind if we just sit on the floor and eat?”

  “Not at all.”

  One bite into the brisket sandwich, and I let out a moan that made the corner of Roger’s mouth twitch.

  “Keep that up and I’m going to take you right here on top of all the food,” he said.

  I feigned innocence. “Now that would be a waste of all this yummy food.”

  He rolled his eyes. “I haven’t really asked you how you’re liking Boerne so far. And the job. You’ve been at The Montclair three weeks now. I’d think you’d have a good feel for things by now.”

  I set my sandwich down and took a drink of water. “I love it. It’s so completely different from New York. I’ll be honest with you, though. I think you’ve made the transition easier for me.”

  He pointed to himself. “Me?”

  “Yes,” I said and reached for his hand. “Just having someone here that I know. Of course, the sex helps as well.”

  He gave me a fake shocked expression. “Why, Ms. Michaels, are you using me for sex?”

  My conversation with Elizabeth popped into my mind, and quickly I swept it away. “Of course not.”

  We finished dinner and then talked for a little bit while our food settled.

  “I’m actually going to be selling this house soon,” Roger announced.

  That made me sit up and take notice. “Sell it? Why?”

  “I’m going to buy a ranch close to my father’s. It’s about twenty miles outside of Boerne.”

  “Wow, are you getting into ranching, too, like your father?”

  He let out a bark of laughter. “Not anytime soon. I would like to put some cattle on it, but not until things slow down for me at work. Right now, I’m too busy. I do love the country, though, and I miss it. Plus, this ranch has been owned by the same family for a few generations now. None of us wanted to see an investor come in and break it up into lots.”

  “I don’t blame you for that. From what I’ve been reading and hearing from some of the locals, that’s happening a lot…families selling off their large ranches to people from out of state.”

  Roger nodded. “And then they break them up into small lots and sell them at crazy prices. Folks are buying them up, though, so that’s one of the reasons I’m buying the ranch. Plus, I really do love being in the country.”

  “I’m sure it’s beautiful.”

  A look passed over his face. Was it regret of some sort…? “I’ll show it to you when the sale is final. You can help me decide on paint colors.”

  “I’d love that.” We sat in comfortable silence for a bit, and then I glanced ove
r at the pool table. “Ready to play?”

  A slow, sexy smile spread over his face. “Do you need me to show you how to hit the ball?”

  I gave him a neutral expression. “If you want to.”

  Roger stood and held his hand out for me. After helping me up, he laced his fingers with mine and guided us over to the pool table. My stomach always felt full of butterflies whenever Roger took my hand or touched me when I wasn’t expecting it. I placed my hand over my middle to settle it down.

  “Let’s pick out our cues. Those are the sticks,” he said with a wink.

  I walked to the rack on the wall that held about ten cue sticks. I looked for the smallest length and found it. I waited, though, and let Roger get his first. He reached for the one I had my eye on and handed it to me. With an innocent smile, I took it and followed him to the end of the table and watched as he set up the balls.

  “Come here,” Roger whispered in a voice so seductive, I almost dropped the stick and climbed him.

  He smiled, and his dimples came out in full force. He leaned over the table and prompted me to do the same. “This is called your bridge hand.”

  I mimicked his stance. “Okay, bridge hand.”

  “Hold it like this.”

  I did as he said. When he leaned his body over mine and covered my hand with his, I knew I wasn’t going to have to fake missing this shot. The man made me turn to jelly whenever he touched me.

  “Now, you’re going to hit it right in the middle of the ball, like this.” He pulled the cue stick back and then gently hit the middle of the ball. “Of course, you’ll want to hit the ball harder.”

  “Okay, I think I’ve got it.”

  “You can make the ball go whichever way you want by hitting it at different spots on the ball. Just watch me a few times.”

  He picked up the cue ball and then lined it up.

  “Can I try?” I asked, right when he leaned over the table to take the shot.

  “You want to break?”

  “Break what?” I asked, desperately trying to keep a straight face.

  He laughed. “No, that’s what it’s called.” He waved it off and stepped to the side.

  “Here goes.”

  “Hit it hard. You want to spread the balls out onto the table. If you make a solid or a stripe go in, that’s your ball.”

  I nodded, leaned down, and fumbled awkwardly with the cue stick at first—before I placed my hand solidly on the table, pulled back, lined up my stick, and hit the cue ball as hard as I could.

  Balls went everywhere, and I sank two. A solid and a stripe.

  Daddy would be so proud.

  I moved around the table and took it all in before I found my next shot. “Are we calling shots ahead?”

  When Roger didn’t answer, I turned to look at him. His chin was practically to his chest and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. “Calling shots?” I asked again.

  All he did was look at me, then narrow his eyes. “Yes, we’ll call shots.”

  “Good.”

  Turning back to the table, I said, “I’ll take solids, number four in the left corner.”

  Of course, I did exactly what my father had taught me and sank the four ball.

  “Motherfucker,” Roger whispered from behind me.

  This time, I let a little giggle slip free as I moved around the table and pointed out my next shot. “Seven, side pocket.”

  The crack of the two balls hitting was a sweet sound, but hearing my ball drop in was even sweeter.

  Roger walked toward me. “You little lying brat.”

  I glanced over my shoulder to him. “I didn’t lie.” Then I focused back on the table and said, “Three ball, back right.”

  Another ball in.

  “You said you didn’t know how to play!”

  Leaning against the table, I smiled. “No, you asked if I wanted you to show me how to shoot, and I said you could if you wanted to. You can’t blame a girl for letting a handsome man teach her how to shoot a pool cue, now can you?”

  His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. “You’d make an excellent lawyer. Do you know that?”

  I tossed my head back as I let out a deep laugh.

  Roger walked up to me, and I found myself holding my breath. “I want to up the bet,” he said.

  I raised one brow. “Really?”

  “If I win, I get to fuck you right here, with you bent over this table.”

  My legs went weak, and I had to hold myself up against the side of the table. “And if I win?”

  His eyes turned dark. “I’ll do anything you want.”

  I pulled my lower lip between my teeth and thought about what I wanted. “What if I want the same thing as you?”

  A slow smile spread over his face. “Do you?”

  The pulse between my legs grew, and I had the urge to squeeze my legs together to ease it. I tried to speak, but my answer came out as a whimper. “Yes.”

  He leaned in closer, and I closed my eyes and opened my lips slightly, inviting him to kiss me.

  And then the heat was gone—and I opened my eyes.

  “Take your shot,” Roger said matter-of-factly.

  “Wh-what?” I asked, shaking the daze away.

  He pointed to the table. “Call your next ball.”

  I pushed off the table and glared at him. “I see what you did there. You thought you could render me sex-stupid.”

  He looked befuddled for a moment before he laughed. “Sex-stupid?”

  “Yes. Press your body to mine, talk to me about how you want to fuck me bent over the pool table, almost kiss me… You wanted me to lose my touch.”

  Roger swallowed hard and reached down to adjust himself. “God, Anna. Don’t talk like that, or I’ll take you right now.”

  Spinning around, I studied the table. “One ball, side right pocket.”

  Hit. Sank.

  I moved to the other side of the table and made the mistake of glancing up at Roger. My breath stalled in my chest.

  He studied our game, his brows pulled in slightly, a soft smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He’d put on a baseball cap and…turned it backward. When in the hell had he put that on? And, oh dear heavens above, why was it so freaking attractive?

  I had to pull my eyes away from him and look at the table. Where was my shot? There!

  “Six ball, off the side, into the back left pocket.”

  “There’s no way you’ll make that shot.”

  I positioned my hand and looked up at him. Our eyes met. “Care to wager on it?”

  He smirked. “Why not? But let’s make it interesting.”

  My heartbeat picked up. “Go on.”

  “If you miss, you have to let me tie you up and…explore.”

  “Tie me up?” I squeaked out. “As in…tie me up with something?”

  All he did was nod.

  I lifted a brow. “Is there something you want to tell me, Roger? Are you into kinky stuff? Because now would probably be the time to alert me.”

  He chuckled. “I’ve never tied a woman up before in my life. Never had the desire to.”

  “But with me, you do?”

  Roger drew in a long breath before he exhaled, letting his eyes move over my entire body. “With you, I so very much want to.”

  I swept my tongue over my suddenly dry lips. The idea of Roger restraining me turned me on so much, I could hardly think. That wanton woman from Chicago was back. “Okay, I accept.”

  “And if you sink it?”

  A wicked thought came to my mind. “I get to tie you up.”

  He laughed. “I do love the way you think, Ms. Michaels.”

  I turned away from him and took in a few deep breaths before I focused on my shot again. As I lined it up, I had a strange thought.

  What do I want more? To tie up Roger, or to have him tie me up?

  “You’re trying to decide which you’d prefer, aren’t you?” he asked with a smirk on his face.

  “As a ma
tter of fact, I am. I can’t decide.”

  He walked over to the pool table and studied it. “I tell you what, you sink it, we’ll do both.”

  My eyes lifted to his, and I smiled.

  He shook his head and chuckled. “That confident, huh?”

  With a deep breath in, I slowly exhaled, lined up the shot, and hit the cue ball. I barely missed the pocket.

  “Oh, damn. Sucks for you,” Roger said, then he quickly got to work sinking five of his balls in a row until he missed the eleven in the back left pocket.

  I managed to sink the rest of mine and studied the eight ball. I had zero shots.

  “What’s the matter, princess? No shot?”

  I glared at him before attempting to bank the cue. I barely missed the eight.

  Roger puffed out his chest and said, “Let’s get this over with now so I can have some fun with you.”

  Rolling my eyes, I let out a dramatic sigh.

  Roger lined up the cue ball and then hit and sank the eight.

  “I hate losing,” I grumbled. “I believe we said best out of three.”

  He tossed his cue stick onto the pool table and stalked over to me. He picked me up, tossed me over his shoulder, and smacked my ass.

  Laughing, I tried to get down, but he quickly moved through the house and into a bedroom that didn’t appear to be his own.

  “Strip down. I’ll be right back.”

  Before I had a chance to utter a single word, he was out the door. I glanced around the room as I sat up in the bed. Was this a guest room? Had he just been that eager? I turned to see the wrought-iron bedframe and smiled. Maybe that was it.

  Slipping off the bed, I walked over to the dresser and opened it.

  Empty.

  I checked the closet next.

  Empty.

  Before I had a chance to think about it more, the door opened, and Roger walked in, stark-ass naked with something around his neck. As he moved closer, I laughed.

  “Are those your work neckties?” I asked.

  He flashed me a wicked smile and motioned for me to get on the bed.

  “Lie down, Anna.”

  I completely forgot what I was going to ask him as I let my eyes travel down his perfect body. His large, muscular chest led to a narrow waist. Washboard abs gave way to that famous “V” women went mad over. And his dick…oh, my goodness. It stood erect, bobbing against his body and perfect in every way.