When Two Hearts Collide (Game of Hearts Novels Book 3)

by Sonya Loveday

  “How about you?” he asked candidly.

  “Me?” I squeaked.

  “Yeah. How have you been?”

  “Oh, you know, good. Very good. I finally got my business up and running. Everything’s been solid. My customer base is steadily rising as word spreads—”

  “And yer love life, if you don’t mind my asking?” he said, cutting right to the chase.

  My mind went fuzzy and warm, like how you felt when you were asked to stand in front of a group of people and introduce yourself. “I do mind,” I said, looking away from him as an irrational fear that he was able to read my mind surfaced.

  He turned back to face forward, and I mentally kicked myself. Leave it to me to make everything awkward. “Sorry,” he said a second later. “I do that sometimes.”

  “What?”

  “Pry in on the people who interest me,” he answered, his voice deeper. When I glanced over at him, it was like flames danced in his eyes, lighting me up inside.

  My body went tight, electric, all at once. “Well,” I said, trying to take a steadying breath. “I… I don’t have a love life,” I admitted. “And it’s by choice. Not because I can’t get a man,” I quickly added, unsure of why I felt the need to explain myself.

  “Of course not, luv,” he said, wearing a small grin. A conquering kind of grin that made me uneasy.

  “We’re here,” I said as I turned down the gravel path leading to the beach house my grandparents left me in their will. Salvation was only a few feet away. I felt like banging my head against a wall and running all at the same time. Anything to shake off the blundering, artless way I carried the conversation with him. “I haven’t been by in a while, so I’ll need to tidy up a bit. I live about thirty minutes away from here, closer to town.”

  “This place is bloody gorgeous,” he said, leaning forward to take it all in.

  It had been a while since I actually looked at my childhood summers. Seeing it through someone else’s eyes woke up the need to appreciate its beauty. It was breathtaking. A two-story manor overlooking a canal that opened up to the ocean. White pillars. Pruned hedges. Rocking chairs and a porch swing. My heart cracked a little at the sight, thinking back on my grandparents and how much I missed them. How much they meant to me.

  It was my hope to find a love as full and timeless as theirs was. A love meant for storybooks.

  After parking the car and popping the trunk, I came around the back to meet him, determined to amend the earlier awkwardness, but, before I could get a word out, his stomach growled loud enough to break the silence.

  “I can order food if you’d rather stay in and rest tonight,” I offered, shoving my hands in my pockets. “I could be back with it before you get out of the shower.”

  “That would be ace,” he said, shutting the trunk, but not really looking at me.

  My stomach did an uncomfortable swoop. I wasn’t sure if I had made him mad. Maybe he was upset over me not being upfront about my love life. But then again, I always thought I made people upset.

  I headed for the porch stairs, key in hand, trying not to over think things. “Okay. How about I run into town and grab the food as well as some cleaning supplies?”

  “Sounds perfect,” he said.

  I unlocked the front door and pushed it in, allowing him inside before me. Everything was dark from the curtains being kept shut. I quickly opened a few and turned a couple of lights on.

  “Anything specific you like to eat?” I asked as I pulled a few white sheets off the furniture. Dust kicked up like tiny glittering clouds through the sunlight streaming from the windows.

  A sly smile crossed his lips before disappearing, and then he tapped his stomach as he said, “I’m a human garbage disposal. As long as it’s edible, I’ll eat it.”

  “Okay,” I said with a small laugh. He smiled. That had to mean something. I was probably just over thinking it like I always did.

  “This place is really yours?” he asked as I showed him to his room.

  “It was my grandparents. They left it to me.”

  His smile faded a little. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

  A sharp blade of grief cut through me, deep and fast. “It’s okay,” I said, eyes dropping to the floor. I still hadn’t completely gotten over the fact that they weren’t on this earth anymore. “I-I’m going to go grab that food now. Chinese sound good?” I asked, moving into the hallway.

  “Perfect,” he replied, turning to unzip his suitcase. Even from across the room, I could see the invisible weights dropping on his eyelids. Maybe he just needed rest.

  “Okay. Be back in a bit.” I headed out the front door, feeling more out of sorts than I ever had.

  What have I gotten myself into?

  “BLOODY HELL!” I SHOUTED, SCRAMBLING up the bed until I slammed into the headboard.

  I was past confusion. In fact, I’d shot somewhere between disorientation and freaked the hell out. It took me a minute to calm my heart. Another minute to decipher that the rubber-masked bandit standing over me wasn’t going to stab me to bits with her glitter-encrusted horn.

  “Gotcha ya!” she jested, giggling. “You should see the look on your face. Priceless!”

  I came off the bed in one single lunge, set out to unwind the grin I heard in her voice. Charlotte let out a unicorn-worthy squeal and made for the door.

  I was faster.

  “Where ye goin’, luv? Didn’t ye know unicorns can’t run once they’ve been seen?” I asked, hooking my arm around her waist and hefting her up in the air.

  A full, throaty laugh escaped from behind the mask and did something very odd to my chest. Something I wasn’t ready to touch on.

  “You can’t capture a unicorn! We’re allusive and majestic. No mortal man can touch us without losing a piece of his soul,” she shrieked as I spun her around and dumped her onto the center of the bed.

  “Oh? And which piece of my soul would you like? The dark crusty bit here?” I asked, pointing over my heart. “Or how about here?” I pointed just under my ribs. “That’s the spot that shriveled up and died when ye woke me with your majestic presence.”

  She pulled the mask off, hair sticking up on end, and tossed it on the bed. “Well, what was I supposed to do, let you sleep all day?”

  I hadn’t noticed it until then. The light peeking past the curtains was brighter than it had been when I decided to lay down after my shower. Charlotte hadn’t been back from picking up dinner yet. The bed had looked comfortable. Inviting.

  Heat crawled up the back of my neck. Fighting the surge of embarrassment, I said, “Ye should have woke me.”

  “In case you didn’t know, you sleep like the dead,” she said, throwing her legs over the edge of the mattress and holding her hand out for me to help her stand.

  That was news to me. Usually, the slightest noise woke me. I’d never been what you’d call a heavy sleeper, but then again, I’d never been on such a long flight either. The time difference had thrown me a bit too. My mouth opened and closed several times as I tried and failed to say something witty. Some smart-assed comment back. It never came, so I closed my mouth and then shrugged my shoulders as she watched me intently.

  “Does it hurt?” she asked, giving me an impish grin.

  I wasn’t awake enough to banter, so I rolled my eyes and shuffled toward the bed. Maybe if I had a few more hours of sleep, I’d be back on my game.

  “Oh no, you don’t. You won’t sleep tonight if you go back to bed now,” Charlotte huffed. She stepped in front of me and pushed her hand square in my chest as she walked me backward out of the room and into the kitchen. “Sit.” She all but shoved me into the closest seat at the kitchen table.

  I did as she asked only so I could put my head on my arms and close my eyes. “Just leave me here. I’ll be good. I promise. I won’t even pee on the carpet,” I said, wondering if she even heard me past the barrier of my arms.

  “I don’t think so,” she said. Bumping my arm with something, she adde
d, “Inhale the aroma of the Gods and then drink it.”

  I could smell it then. The strong, bitter smell of coffee. And as much as I wanted to ignore it and her, I couldn’t. I felt like the colorful toucan on that cereal commercial—follow your nose and all that rubbish.

  Charlotte wasn’t going to give in and let me go back to sleep. It would be best if I drank my coffee and tried my hardest to wake up.

  The chair closest to me slid out. “So I was thinking…”

  “Dangerous, that,” I grumbled as I lifted my head. Scowling, I picked up the mug in front of me and took a big gulp. Fire erupted in my mouth, scorched my throat when I swallowed, and left me gasping as my eyes teared up.

  “Careful. It’s hot.” Charlotte’s warning came a little late.

  I looked at her, really looked at her, noticing the slightest twinge to her lips.

  I scowled. “Funny, is it?”

  Her face went blank as she batted her eyelashes at me. “Not a bit, but for future references, I make my coffee a little hotter than normal.”

  “Brew it in hell, do ye?”

  “Nope. Just a commercial coffee pot that allows me to adjust the heat settings for the optimal coffee experience.” She grinned. “You’re my guinea pig today.”

  My eyebrows tightened. “Waking me up with a unicorn head wasn’t enough for ye? Thought you might finish me off… death by internal combustion.”

  She laughed. “Oh, come on. You know you want to laugh. How many times can you say you’ve been woken up by a unicorn?”

  “None,” I answered, blowing steadily to cool the coffee before I took another sip.

  “Well, there you have it. You’re welcome.” She leaned forward, resting her elbow on the table. Chin on her open palm, she asked, “So, what do you think?”

  “About?” What was it with girls always wanting to dissect every little thing?

  She huffed. “The coffee, genius.”

  “Luv, I can’t feel my tongue right now, so I can’t tell you what I think.” After that thorough scalding, she couldn’t expect me to tell her what anything tasted like for at least the rest of the day. I tested the tip of my tongue to the roof of my mouth and flinched when it touched the beginnings of a blister.

  Concern etched along her brow as she stumbled across an apology. “I’m sorry. I should have warned you. I—”

  I let her off the hook. “Don’t worry about it, luv. I’m fine.”

  She gave me a look of disbelief. “Don’t sugarcoat it, Charlie. I know you burnt the roof of your mouth. Guess I’ll have to lower the brewing temp before I can serve it at the shop.”

  “You serve coffee?” I asked, trying to remember what Hannah had told me about Charlotte’s shop before I’d left home.

  “I’ll have to take you by the shop while you’re here, so you can try some of them and tell Hannah how good they are. Maybe make her feel a little guilty she didn’t get to,” she said, winking at me as if we were sharing some kind of inside joke.

  Hannah had felt terrible about not being able to come. Sitting with Charlotte, knowing Hannah wished more than anything to be the one enjoying the time I got to spend with her, made me feel a twinge of guilt. But only a small one. Selfish as it was, I planned to take advantage of every single moment I could with Charlotte.

  “So what’s on the agenda for today?” I asked.

  I’d changed topics on her so fast that it took her a second to answer me. “Well, I was going to take Hannah around to some of the shops on the strip. An easy day to get over the jetlag, but you’re not really a fan of shopping…”

  “I’m game for whatever,” I said, realizing I actually meant it.

  “Hmm…” She squinted, looking at me until I fidgeted, and then said, “How about skating?”

  “Skating?” I asked, repeating it like a terrifying question.

  “You know… four wheels, round rink, wood floors. Skating.” Her mouth pulled at the corners as she fought to keep her face straight.

  “The only skates I’ve been on have metal bars on the bottom and usually end up causing me to fall on my backside, leaving me with not only a severe case of bruised pride, but also a nice black-and-blue arse to boot.” I waited, hoping she’d say we’d skip it. One battle scar a day was enough for me.

  “It’ll be fun. I won’t let you fall, I promise,” she said, holding her hand out to me as if that would make it all okay.

  Sucker that I was, I took her hand and allowed her to help me up from the table. “It’s on you if I can’t move tomorrow.”

  I’D NEVER LIVE IT DOWN if any of my mates saw how I clung to Charlotte’s arm, bracing myself against the inevitable fall I’d surely take while wearing what I thought to be a pair of four-wheel death contraptions.

  I jerked and wobbled, stumbled and tripped, the entire time we were on the isolated rink Charlotte had let us into with her very own rainbow-colored key.

  “It’s all about confidence, Charlie. If you tell yourself you’re not going to fall… then you won’t fall,” Charlotte crooned as she held my hands while she skated backward.

  I felt like a giant, uncoordinated caboose. “I don’t think I was meant to be on wheels. Seems dodgy to take my life into my own hands like this.”

  She threw her head back with a laugh, one leg kicked out behind her as she pulled me into the turn. And, like with every turn, my skates went one way and my feet fought against the heavy pull. I tried to overcorrect it. That was when flight kicked in and I tried to run. True to her word, Charlotte kept me on my feet, even when my skates went in different directions, and, by all rights, I should have been sprawled out on the floor.

  “I think I’m done, luv. There are only so many times I can humiliate myself in one day, and I hit that point about two turns ago,” I said, squeezing her fingers as I pleaded with my eyes for her to end my embarrassment.

  She towed me toward the wall. “You lasted a lot longer than I thought you would.”

  “Heard that before,” I said under my breath.

  “Don’t flatter yourself. It isn’t attractive,” Charlotte replied, letting go of me and exiting the rink before my hand could grab hold of the wall.

  With the connection gone, my ability to stay upright left me in one swift glide. The skates tied to my feet shifted my center of balance, causing me to pinwheel my arms to try to correct it. It was too much motion going in separate directions. I couldn’t stop myself from falling. There was nothing to grab hold of. I hit the floor with a bounce and felt the most excruciating pain explode up my tailbone.

  “DO YOU WANT ME TO get you a pillow?” Charlotte asked, hovering over me as I tried to sit without showing just how much I hurt.

  There was no way to tell if my tailbone was broken, but it damn sure felt like it. I also knew there was no way I’d be able to sit comfortably for the next few days. Landing on your tailbone like I had made even standing uncomfortable. Sitting? Almost impossible. It wasn’t the first time I’d landed on it, and it probably wasn’t the last either. But no matter how I looked at it, it was quite a pain in the ass. Literally.

  “Whiskey. Lots of it,” I hissed as I lowered myself into the most comfortable-looking chair in the living room.

  Bloody fucking hell, actual tears coated my eyes the minute my backside felt the slightest bit of pressure.

  The ride home had at least been bearable since the numbness hadn’t quite worn off. And it hadn’t until I made the shift to get out of the car.

  Charlotte blanched at the string of foul language that ripped through the air. Cursing a blue streak, I made my way from car to cottage under the power of every explicit word I had in my arsenal. And I had a lot. It wouldn’t have surprised me in the least if I had a hairline fracture straight up my backbone.

  Pain radiated and throbbed in what seemed like double time as I tried to catch my breath and get out of the chair at the same time.

  Charlotte’s hands slipped between my arms and flattened against my back as she took most of my weig
ht to help me stand.

  “Charlie, I am so sorry. I shouldn’t have let go of you. I thought you would roll right to the wall. I…” She stammered to a stop as I fought to keep from hollering out against the pain.

  When I didn’t move, didn’t speak, she pulled her cell phone from her pocket. Keeping her eyes on me, she brought the phone up, darted a quick look at it, and then put it against her ear as it rang.

  “S’up, boss lady?” a distinct feminine voice answered loud enough I could hear it.

  Charlotte kept her eyes on mine as she spoke. “Cherry, I need you to come to the cottage. Charlie’s hurt.”

  “Get a little rough with him, Char?” Cherry snickered.

  “Something like that,” Charlotte answered, worrying her lip between her teeth.

  I couldn’t let her beat herself up over the fact I fell. It was my fault. My own lack of balance. She’d kept up her part of the bargain and never once let go the entire time we were skating. She’d assumed I’d make it the last three feet to get to the wall.

  I reached out and skimmed my knuckles against her chin, trying my hardest to give her something like a smile, but it crossed my lips about the same time I shifted. I hissed low under my breath, eyes squinting tight against the pain.

  “Damn, girl. Don’t you know you’re not supposed to break ‘em right away? They ain’t toys. Ya gotta go into it slow and steady. Build the stamina… then ya ride ‘em like one o’those mechanical bull thingies.”

  God love her, I laughed. I couldn’t help it. I laughed and then I gasped, immediately regretting I couldn’t truly appreciate Cherry’s humor. As soon as my ass stopped hurting, we were going to compare notes on sexual innuendos, because I had a feeling there were plenty more where that little zinger came from.

  “Damn it, Cherry. Just get over here, okay?” Charlotte snapped. “And bring your bag with you.”

  “All right, shorty. Be there as soon as I can,” Cherry answered, the humor not leaving her voice.

  The phone call, as odd as it was, seemed to make Charlotte feel better. “Cherry will be here soon. She’ll know what to do.”