Hearts on Fire (The Hunter Family)

by Ashley Blake

  “You ready, baby?” His words caught in his throat as he struggled for air, his body tensing as he pumped. I nodded and he gave one last deep thrust and then his whole body went rock hard as he released inside me. He collapsed onto me, holding me tight for a minute and the rolled off of me, giving me a quick kiss on the lips.

  “Holy shit, Abby, that was unbelievable!” He linked his fingers through mine and lay there beside me, still panting for air.

  I looked over at him. “You were amazing, but I don’t want you to think I do this kind of thing all the time. I’ve never done this before.”

  He looked totally shocked. “You’ve never had sex?”

  “No, silly, of course I’ve had sex, I just never had sex this soon with someone I just met.”

  He gently stroked my face and smiled at me. “It was incredible. You looked so sexy in your little shorts, tank top and hair on top of your head when you opened the door, I wanted to attack you right then.”

  “Yeah right, I don’t have a stitch of makeup on.”

  “You don’t need any, you’re beautiful just like that.”

  My hair had fallen out of its bun and was still damp. Zane lazily played with it as we lay there next to each other, and then he rolled over on his side and propped himself up on his arm. His eyes held mine and they were soft, yet serious.

  “So Abby, I’m going to ask you again. Can I see you when we get back to New York.”

  I was silent for a couple of minutes, letting him squirm a bit. There was no way I was going to say no, I had just spent an incredible night with him and I wanted to have more nights like that with him. Yes, Scott broke my heart, but since I decided to let Zane in, I felt like he could help it heal.

  I smiled at him. “I would love to see you when we get back to New York.”

  The End

  Hearts on Fire

  Chapter 1

  As the airplane started to descend, and I watched New York getting bigger, I glanced over at Claire sitting next to me as she dozed in her seat. We had just had the most amazing vacation of our lives in Cancun, and we had both met really awesome guys. That had never happened to us before. Usually we had to fight off losers or only one of us met a decent guy. On this vacay, we both met someone and we already had plans to see them again when we got back to New York.

  Never in a million years would I ever think I would meet someone like Zane Andrews. Not only was he gorgeous, he was a super talented singer and he was sexy as hell. I thought about the first time I saw him when he pretended to be a waiter and came up to me on the beach and asked me if I wanted a drink. He was so delicious-looking, I was instantly attracted to him. When my sister Claire and I saw him performing on stage when we went out one night, we were totally confused and shocked that he wasn’t really a waiter. We found out that his band was on tour and that Cancun was their final stop. I was secretly glad he wasn’t a waiter at the resort, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but because it meant that he didn’t live there.

  Claire fell hard for the drummer, Logan, and I had never seen her act the way she did around any other guy. My twin sister rarely let her hair down the way she did in Mexico, and I was really happy that she had met someone she liked. The fact that the guys in the band lived in New York was icing on the cake for both of us, and I couldn’t wait to see Zane when we got home. Claire and I both had plans with them that Sunday so I only had to wait two days to see him.

  The plane touched down and Claire finally woke up. She was a bit dazed at first as she looked around the plane and then looked at me with red, tired eyes.

  “Are we in New York yet?”

  “Yep, we just touched down.”

  I was surprised that her eyes were still red after a few hours. I probably shouldn’t have been because she cried like a baby when she had to leave Logan. I had never seen anything like it. He was very sweet and kept reassuring her that he would see her in a couple of days.

  She combed her fingers through her hair. “I can’t wait to get home and take a shower, I need to perk up. I have a ton of things to do before we go to mom and dad’s for dinner.”

  “Claire, I’m sure whatever you have to do can wait until tomorrow. We have to be at their place at 6:00, so we don’t have a ton of time before then.”

  “You know what? You’re right. Mom hates it when we’re late. Well, you’re the one that’s usually late.”

  “Am not! I usually arrive right on time for whatever’s going on.”

  She laughed at my words. “Oh, okay Abby. You keep telling yourself that. Anyway, the stuff I need to do can wait until tomorrow. I can’t wait to see Logan on Sunday!”

  “Claire, I swear you’re a completely different person around him. I really like that side of you!”

  “He brings out my fun side.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled at me.

  “Yeah, we need to see more of that.” I muttered the words under my breath.

  “I heard that!”

  I giggled as the fasten seatbelt light dinged and we got up and grabbed our purses. “Let’s go home!”

  A couple of hours later I was soaking in the tub, thinking about Zane and I could not wait to see him again. As I squeezed the sponge over my shoulder and the warm water rolled down my back, I remembered his soft kisses down my neck and the way his hands gently caressed my skin. He was easily the best kisser I had ever been with and I couldn’t wait to do it again. For a hot second I felt guilty that I had slept with him so soon, but that quickly went away when I thought about how good it was. He knew exactly how to touch me and where to touch me to drive me crazy. My hand started to slowly make its way down between my legs when Claire knocked on the door, startling me out of my reverie.

  “Abby, I’m going for a run, I’ll be back in about an hour.”

  “Okay, just make sure you’re back in time to shower and be ready to go to mom and dad’s!”

  “Okay!”

  I heard the door slam and closed my eyes, trying to get back to where I was in my head before she interrupted me, but it didn’t work so I hopped out of the tub and got dressed. Claire came back about 30 minutes later and stood in the doorway of my bathroom, covered in sweat and I glanced over at her and turned my nose up at her.

  “Uh, hop in the shower missy. You can’t go looking like that.”

  “I know, I will. Abby?”

  The tone in her voice was serious so I gave her my full attention.

  “What’s wrong?” I could feel myself tensing up because I could tell that something was really bothering her.

  “I can’t stop thinking about Logan.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that it was nothing serious.

  “Well you’re going to see him in two days so try to just relax and have a good time tonight.”

  “I know but that seems so far away.”

  “Seriously, Claire, you’re going to see him in two days, calm down.”

  “I know, I know, alright, I’m sure I sound super obnoxious. I’ll stop. Hey, you better not tell daddy that Zane and Logan are in a band. He’ll go ballistic.”

  “No he won’t. Those guys are different from the kind of guys that I’ve dated before. They are actually making money doing what they love. Daddy will respect that.”

  Claire burst out laughing. “Yeah, right! I’m telling you Abby, don’t tell him. You know that he thinks guys in bands are always up to no good and they sponge off of everyone they know to pay the bills. He hasn’t changed his thoughts on that. He wants us to date guys who have normal jobs with real salaries and if they don’t have that, he at least wants the guy to have some sort of ambition. Remember what happened when you brought Jeremy home? You and daddy didn’t talk until you broke up with him. Look, if you tell him about Zane, at least don’t tell him Logan is in the same band.”

  She was right about that. I had dated Jeremy a couple of years before, he was in a band with a few of his friends and he was positive they were going to be the next big thing. Th
at didn’t happen, they couldn’t even get a paid gig in a bar. Dad was livid and thought I was wasting my time on a loser. Daddy wasn’t so much concerned that the guys we dated had a lot of money, he was more concerned that they had ambition and some sort of life plan. He didn’t want us to be with someone who was going to use us for our money and family name.

  “Well how can I tell him about Zane without telling him about Logan? I’m not going to lie, Claire.”

  “Abby, come on, please! I don’t want to hear it from him once he finds out Logan is in a band.”

  She looked desperate so I gave in. “Okay, fine.” I pointed at her and raised my eyebrows. “Neither of us is going to talk about either one of them, at least not until our relationships actually go somewhere.”

  She jumped up and down like a crazy person with a huge grin on her face. “Deal!” She went to her bathroom to shower and I watched her skip down the hall.

  My sister was starting to freak me out a little bit so I decided that I would have to kind of monitor her relationship with Logan. I had to think of a way to get the info on him from Zane without being too obvious about it. With as smitten as she already was, I wanted to make sure he wasn’t some huge player who was just using her.

  ~*~*~

  My mom was at the door as soon as she heard my keys and she pulled me in for a big hug and then wrapped her arms around Claire.

  “Oh girls, I’ve missed you so much!”

  I rolled my eyes and smiled at her as we walked to the living room. She was such a softy. “Mom, we just saw you last weekend.”

  “I know, but when you girls go out of town it feels like I haven’t seen you forever. How was Mexico? Were you both able to relax and enjoy yourselves?”

  “Yes, mom, we had a wonderful time. Thank you for sending us.” Claire smiled at her as she plopped down on the couch. “Where’s daddy?”

  “You’re welcome, honey. He will be home in about a half an hour, he had to finish up a couple of things at the office.”

  “Where’s Jonny? Is he having dinner with us?”

  “He should be here any minute, he’s out with his friends.”

  Our brother Jonathan was 17 and Claire and I both adored him. When he was a baby we used to pretend that he was our own living doll and we couldn’t get enough of him. As he got older we both became super protective of him, probably overly protective, but we wanted to make sure that he was always happy.

  As we were chatting with mom in the living room, we heard Jonny come in, the music blaring in his ear buds.

  Claire smiled at him and shook her head. “You’re going to go deaf with that music so loud!”

  He bounced to the music for a couple of seconds with a teasing grin on his face. “I can’t hear you!”

  “Come here silly, and give me a hug!”

  She wrapped her arms around him so tight I thought she was going to suffocate him.

  “Alright Claire, let go, the poor guy can’t breathe!” I gave her a playful, scolding look and gave Jonny a quick hug.

  “How are you, little brother?”

  “I’m cool.”

  “Yeah, what were you listening to?”

  “Some new underground band Aaron told me about. They’re pretty good.”

  Both Claire and I quickly glanced at each other as my mouth suddenly went dry.

  “Oh, yeah? What’s the name?” I tried to sound nonchalant as my heart banged against my chest.

  “The Blitz. Do you want to listen?” He handed the buds to me and I smiled at him as relief enveloped me.

  “Maybe later.”

  Jonathan loved to sing and he and a group of his friends liked to pretend they were in a band. Our mom loved it when he would sing for her but our dad made it very clear that singing for him would always only be a hobby. Dad was grooming Jonathan to take over the family business and he was not going to allow anything to change that. Jonathan started working at the family company, Hunter International, the day he turned 15, and dad had him go in every Saturday for a couple of hours since then. There was no question that Jonny would be working for dad, no matter what he might want to do with his life.

  Claire and I felt a little bit sorry for him, but we knew it was the way things had to be. He was inheriting a huge responsibility, along with our cousins, and he would be rewarded beyond his imagination. It was hard for Jonathan to see that at his age because all he wanted to do was hang out and do the band thing with his friends. But I was sure that one day he would see things differently.

  “Okay, you guys go wash your hands, your father will be home any minute and then we’ll eat.” Mom double-checked the table settings as we all quickly went our separate ways.

  Just as I was drying my hands I heard mom giggling and I knew that daddy was home. They had this unbelievable chemistry and dad only had eyes for mom. I wanted what they had one day. I had never seen any of my friends’ parents act the way mine did around each other, and I knew what they had was rare.

  When I walked into the living room, he had his hands around my mom’s waist and was whispering something in her ear. She was totally glowing and they looked like teenagers in love. It was the coolest thing to see. I cleared my throat so that they knew that I was in the room.

  Dad looked over at me and smiled, gave mom a quick kiss on the cheek, and came over to give me a big hug.

  “Hi honey, how was your trip? Are you feeling better about the ex?”

  Whenever I broke up with a guy my dad never said his name around me again, he always called him ‘the ex’, and I thought that was so cute.

  “The trip was amazing, dad, thank you for sending us.”

  “Of course, honey, everyone needs a break from time to time. You and your sister have been working very hard with the dance company so you deserved a little R&R.”

  “Yes, we have been working hard.” Claire had just walked in.

  My dad turned to Claire. “Claire, honey! It’s good to see you! Mom and I are so proud of how well you are doing with the dance company.”

  For a brief second I felt a pang of jealousy, which kind of freaked me out. I had never felt that with my sister before, at least not he way I was feeling it then. As our dad greeted Claire I tried to figure out the reason I was feeling weird. It had never really bothered me that I was Claire’s understudy, I knew that she was a better ballerina than me. And it wasn’t like I never had a chance to have the lead in a production, they were just usually held in small venues. I was totally fine with that, or at least I thought I was. The whole jealousy thing really threw me off but I decided to push it out of my mind and think about it later, I just wanted to enjoy the night with my family.

  We all caught up over dinner and then afterwards we relaxed in the living room for a bit.

  “So, girls, what’s on the agenda for the weekend?”

  I almost blurted out to my dad that we both were going out with guys we met on our trip, but the nice evening we were having would have ended right then and there, so I caught myself and I was very vague.

  “We have rehearsal tomorrow so I’m sure we’ll be exhausted after that.”

  Claire and I both looked at each other and I saw my mom see it. She raised her eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

  “Not going out with friends or anything? That’s not like you girls.” For some reason my dad was more interested than normal in our social life.

  Claire chimed in. “Um, Katie invited us to a barbecue Sunday afternoon, so we might do that, but I think we both probably need a vacation from our vacation so I’m sure we’ll just chill.”

  Claire didn’t lie about the barbecue, but there was no way either of us would ever go. Katie was the least trustworthy person on the planet and she was always up our butts trying to be our friend.

  I looked over at my brother. “What are you doing this weekend, Jonny?”

  “There’s a dance at school on Saturday night and Colleen really wants to go, so that’s what I’m doing.”

  Colleen was Jon
ny’s girlfriend and they were so cute together. He really liked her but I could tell that he wasn’t smitten, and that was good thing. He was too young to get too wrapped up in a girl.